Possessed Soul

Chapter 51

"I'll go find him," Aaron offered. Before he could disappear, I grabbed his wrist.

"Let's go together," I suggested, since the last thing we wanted was for Kaden and Holden to come back. Then they'd have to go back to look for Aaron and it would just be a never-ending cycle.

Aaron shrugged, but didn't stop us from following him. I walked beside him, and we conversed quietly. Ryan was tagging behind us, because he now knew Aaron was nothing more than a friend.

"We were beginning to think you guys hadn't seen our clue," Aaron started. "You look like shit by the way."

"Geez, thanks." I rolled my eyes and laughed at his bluntness.

He righted himself after almost tripping over someone's feet; and after apologising for stepping on someone else's bag of potatoes, he continued talking. "You have a lot of explaining to do." He raised his eyebrows, causing me to bite my lip. I couldn't decide if I should tell him about my relationship with Ryan. He'd probably hate me when I told him I was the one responsible for Kaden's misery. Everyone would hate me: Flynn, Emma and even Holden, whom I suspected was already displeased with me. Ryan would never leave my side, but yet again the poor guy had no clue what was going on. Would he still look at me the same way when I explained everything to him? Something told me he wouldn't accept my murder stories as easily as Kaden did.

Ryan squeezed my hand in support, sensing my discomfort. Was I that easy to read?

It wasn't long before I spotted Kaden's dark hair. He was locked in a passionate embrace with a leggy blonde. When he picked her up and spun her around, I realised that it was Gina. I should have been happy that he was with her; if not for her sake, then for their unborn child; but as much as I tried, I couldn't force my tight lips to form a smile.

"Gina knows the way back." Aaron put his hand on my shoulder, his face a stone mask. He was trying to hide how shocked he was, but his wide eyes said that he was horror-stricken.

"I thought he didn't like her anymore." Holden approached us. I jumped at his sudden appearance, but then reminded myself that one of his superpowers was sneaking up on people.

"Yeah, so did I," Aaron responded. I was suddenly hit with the realisation that neither of them knew about Gina's pregnancy.

***

Flynn didn't seem at all fazed when we appeared on his doorstep. He took it in his stride and calmly allowed us into the house.

He was dressed in a grey blazer over a white button-down shirt. The focal point of his outfit was a red tie that was plump, and tied in a way that made it look like it had layers and vaguely resembled a rose. His hair was sleeked back with not a strand out of place. I found myself wondering if he had somewhere he needed to be. He gathered me into his arms and rested his cheek on my head. I wanted to pull away because I would likely dirty his suit, but it seemed like he needed this embrace more than I did.

"I was worried sick," he told me. His voice was relieved, and I could see the worry departing from his body as his muscles visibly relaxed.

"I'm sorry," I stammered.

"Don't be sorry," Flynn countered me. "You had your reasons for running away. I won't press you to tell me, but when you need someone to talk to, I'm here for you." His thumb grazed my cheek in a fatherly fashion, before he deliberately caught one of my teardrops on the tip of his finger. I hadn't even realised that his words had brought tears to my eyes.

"What is this place?" I questioned, swiping the back of my hand against my wet cheek.

"My ex-wife's house." Flynn looked uncomfortable as the words left his mouth.

I opened my mouth to ask him something else, but shut it. He didn't press me to tell him everything that was happening in my head, and I decided to offer him the same consideration.

Flynn's eyes had fallen on Ryan, whose lean frame was filling the door.

"Nice to meet you, sir," Ryan stuck his hand out in greeting.

Flynn raised his eyebrows in confusion, but shook his hand without a word.

"Where's Kaden?" Flynn asked, turning to me.

"With Gina," Aaron responded, stepping out from behind Ryan.

Flynn nodded his head in understanding and looked at me, almost to see if those words affected me in any way. I didn't meet his eyes, not wanting him to recognize the emotions that pooled in my eyes.

Aaron began guiding me to the living area.

"Do you mind if I shower first?" I asked, as I saw a well-dressed Emma conversing with another woman, who had her face turned away from me. Her hair was the same colour as mine and settled down her back in long waves. Neither of them had seen me and I wished to keep it that way, until I had cleaned myself up.

Flynn told me where the bathroom was, and as Ryan and I walked up the stairs, Flynn started speaking to Holden in a hushed tone. I was too tired to care about what they were talking about, but I had no doubt that they were talking about me.

"Who are these people?" Ryan interrogated when we were out of earshot.

"Friends," I vaguely replied.

"Is that the only explanation you're going to give me?" A smile was tugging at the corners on his lips, showing that he didn't really care how I answered his question or if I answered it at all.

"How about instead of talking we do something else with our mouths?" I enquired, pouting my lips and playing with the hem of the long sleeve T-shirt he wore.

"Music to my ears," he responded, before assaulting my lips with his.

***

When Ryan followed me into the bathroom, a pair of piercing green eyes started haunting me. I shook my head countless times, trying to shake Kaden's influence from my mind, but I found I couldn't. I sighed in frustration and gave Ryan a quick kiss before shooing him out of the en-suite bathroom and into the white and blue decorated guestroom, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I stripped completely and washed all the remnants of the forest away. The hot water of the shower filled the whole bathroom with steam, obscuring my vision and making me feel like I was lost in a hazy mist.

It was only after I found a towel hanging behind the door that I realised I had nothing to wear. The jacket I had been using was ripped and covered in spiky burrs of different sizes. The jacket had taken most of the damage, so my pyjama top was still relatively clean, but it still had the stench of my bodily odours. The thought of putting the pyjama top back on grossed me out, so I opted to just wrap the towel securely around my body.

Ryan's jaw slacked when he saw me and his gaze was fixed on my body, travelling up and down continuously. He averted his eyes and smiled coyly.

"Hey." Ryan stood up and splayed his hands on my bare shoulders. He lightly ran his hands down my arms, before stroking my damp hair. I didn't do anything; I just stood where I was.

Ryan cocked his head towards me, about to kiss me, but we were interrupted by Kaden. Kaden eyes flew to me; he barely acknowledged Ryan and my cheeks turned a very dark scarlet colour. He was shocked, but he tried to mask it with an apology. "Sorry for disturbing you," he mumbled, and he looked down at his feet. They were still bare, and he shuffled them uneasily. He made no move to leave, nor did he say anything else.

"Why did you come in the first place?" Ryan's chest rumbled, but his expression remained blasé.

"I just thought you'd want something to wear." Kaden replied and dropped the contents of his hands all over the floor. His bottom lip jutted down and he took it between his teeth as if he was trying to stop it from trembling. With one more look our way he left, but I found that I was unable to take my eyes off the spot where he had just been.

"I should have closed the door," Ryan whined remorsefully.