The Things We Couldn't Forget

Chapter 38.

"Aries, the-."

"No." He cuts me off. "You've gotta listen to what I am saying to you, ok? Just listen. Will you do that, please?"

"Aries..." I cry his name and he tries to hug me again but he lets me push him back.

"When I came to your house, Missy," he starts speaking. "I just wanted to talk to you. You weren't taking my calls or replying to my messages and I had to see you."

"I don't want to hear this!" I cover my face with my hands, sliding down the wall to the floor.

He drops to his knees in front of me and puts his hand on my head while I cry into my knees.

"I didn't hurt anyone, Missy." He says. "When they brought me in the last time, when they started showing me all of this evidence on me. The boot prints at the scenes that matched mine perfectly...I knew something was wrong. I wasn't there, Missy. I swear to you. I followed you to that alley but I never went in, and I never came back." He tells me urgently, talking so fast my brain can hardly separate the words flowing from his mouth. "The only way they'd have that stuff on me is if I was getting framed. I knew that then, but then when I got to your house and that fucking necklace was in my pocket, I was even more positive. I didn't have a choice but to run, Missy."

I lift my head to look at him, and he wipes at my tears with his hand. "I thought so too." I whisper. "I thought it was a cop who was trying to pin the blame on you, but now..."

"Listen, ok?" He begs. "I thought so too." He nods at me. "I figured it must be someone on the inside because that's the only way that anyone could create the evidence like this and plant things on me."

"It's not though!" I fire back, leaning away from his hand on my cheek. "I saw a cop with the truck...or what I thought was the truck...fuck. I thought it was Gillians trying to railroad you to cover his own tracks. So I came here to warn you and now...god, I'm so stupid."

"You're not stupid, Missy." He shakes his head. "Not at all, don't say that." He says quickly.

"You're here with all of this stuff, Aries!" I shout. "I'm absolutely stupid because I refused to believe anyone else! I trusted you!"

"I know you did." He reaches out for me again but I lean away. "I know it looks bad, ok? I get that. But that's why I needed you to come here. I needed you to see it and hear me out."

"What is there to hear you out about now?"

"When I left your place I knew I was fucked." He tells me. "I knew that's all they needed to lock me up and there would be no explaining my way out of it, so I tried to think of someplace to hide. Somewhere they wouldn't look and that I could squat for a while to try to figure this shit out. I figured a cop was setting me up, and I didn't trust talking to anyone but you. But after the way you looked at me that day, I didn't even know if I could trust you either."

I balk at him. The audacity to accuse me of being the one not trusting him when he's given me nothing but reasons not to.

"Look, I knew Mrs. Statham was taking ownership of this place so I figured it was a good place to go and try to get my head straight. Try to figure out a plan to either prove I'm innocent or a plan to get out of town." He goes on. "But when I got here..."

"What?" I ask and his features crumble again, his eyes going wet.

"Someone had been staying here, Missy." He tells me slowly, watching my face with scrutiny.

"What do you mean?"

He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "The back door was unlocked, so I didn't even have to break in like I'd been planning to do, and when I got inside it was obvious someone was living here." He says and my breath stills. "There was food in the fridge and the pantry and when I went upstairs there was a bedroom with a cot and sleeping bag and blankets and stuff like someone had been sleeping here."