Running Wilde (#Wattys2015 #Urban)

Ch. 20 | After The Storm

SURPRISE!

First of all, thank you to all of you who have been reading. Running Wilde has over 50,000 reads and that is very awesome. I love you guys.

So after all of the dramatics of the last few chapters I was kinda stuck about how I was going to get to the next part of the story. I wrote version after version and I hated them because they just didn't feel right to me (I was low key making Aiden come across super crazy, and super crazy isn't sexy), but after much fretting I have found my literary footing again.

Thank you all for your patience. I hope you enjoy.

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***

I'll sing it one last time for you

Then we really have to go

You've been the only thing that's right

In all I've done

-Run

Snow Patrol

*

Aiden pulled into his driveway and pressed the button on his key ring to open his garage door. He would've preferred to return to his apartment in Brixton, but there would have been no inconspicuous way for him to remove Ava from the stolen vehicle. Instead he'd driven the extra forty-five minutes to his suburban residence in Croydon; a two storey semi-detached brownstone that Aiden rarely visited.

His neighbours had long since gone to bed and all the lights in almost every house were off, leaving the street quiet enough for Aiden to hear the occasional whoosh from a motor racing down the more or less empty main road a few streets over. Croydon sat just on the cusp of London; close enough so it still felt like a part of the city but far enough that it was easier to see the stars. He liked living out here. He'd always thought of it as his family home -the place he would retire to once he left the game and settled down with his wife and kids -now he was escaping here to hide himself and his captive from the world.

He'd tainted it.

He pulled up carefully next to his Ducati motorcycle and pressed the button again to close the garage door behind him. As the door lowered the lights flickered on and lit the room, highlighting the millions of dust motes swirling in the air. Aiden got out of the car, careful not to come into contact with the red live wire that dangled under the steering wheel, and went around the back to get Ava. She hadn't made a sound for the whole drive and Aiden had been too on edge to stop and check if she was still alive, but when her bent to pick her up he was relieved to find that she was still warm, though her skin looked paler than usual under the smudges of soot and streaks of dried blood.

 Using the connecting door at the back of the room, Aiden walked into the quiet house, entering through the kitchen, gritting his teeth as he cradled Ava against his chest. His adrenaline had worn off on the drive over and now the effects of his injuries and how truly he exhausted he was, were beginning to take their toll on him. He patted his hand against the wall until he felt the knob of the dimmer switch. As he twisted it the spotlights began to brighten, illuminating his large kitchen with its polished pinewood floors and cabinets, dusty blacktop surfaces and spotless chrome fittings. He carried her to the island in the centre of the room, shifted his empty glass fruit bowl to the side and laid her down gently. He promptly drew the curtains behind him that looked out upon his jungle of a garden and the backs of some of his neighbours' homes. Although every window he could see was dark, Aiden didn't want to run the risk of anyone seeing anything they didn't need to. He liked his neighbours and they liked him –well, the man he pretended to be when he was here. It would be a shame if he had to get rid of any of them over a technicality.