Aidan's Obsession

15. Emmerson

"Okay," I say, drawing out the word.

"Those wolves they were..." He seems to be searching for the words. "Trained by someone. Trained to find you. Trained to kill you."

"What?" I let out a burst of laughter. "No. Is this... You have to be joking."

"Not a joke." He meets my gaze. "No one's laughing."

I search his face for some hint he's fucking with me and find nothing, just stoic certainty.

"In four weeks, I'll be in a position to make sure no one and nothing can ever hurt you. And I will. I will do that." He takes a deep breath. "Until then, I'm going to be your personal bodyguard. Follow you around campus. Go to work with you. Basically attach myself to you." He must hear my sharp intake of breath because he continues, "Without actually attaching anything to you."

"What happens in four weeks?" Half my brain is still stuck on the idea of any part of him connecting with me. I know which parts I'd pick.

"I have to do something unsavory, something I don't really want to do, but then I'll be really fucking powerful. Unstoppable for a little while, at least."

"It feels like you're leaving things out—important details."

"I am," he agrees. "Because I don't know if you'll believe them, don't know if you're capable of understanding them, and after tonight, I don't want to freak you out any more than I have to."

"What if I want to know?" Something about him makes me want to trust him, makes me think he could tell me anything and I'd believe him. I feel the same immediate connection to him that I did to Hailey in the foster home. Instant bond. Except with Hailey, I never wanted her tongue down my throat the way I do with Aidan. What I wouldn't give to have him touch me, rub himself against me—Aidan breaks eye contact with me and drags a hand down his face in quick, almost violent motions.

Then I remember I'm not supposed to be thinking these things about him, that he explicitly asked him not to. Never in my life have I been the pervy girl who couldn't keep her mind out of the gutter. Yet, here I am.

"Even if you wanted to know, I'm not sure I can trust you. There's some weird shit going on, Em. And I don't know how much the you inside there," he points to my head, "knows."

"I know we just met—"

"We didn't just meet. We've known each other for months." He looks toward the ceiling. "More like a year at this point."

"What?" I let out a laugh of disbelief. "I'd remember."

"You really wouldn't. Got any unexplained time gaps?" He searches my face, and he must see my confirmation. "Yeah, those are me. All of them."

"No."

"Yeah." His fingers graze my temple. "And somewhere in there, I think the memories exist. Hidden, or something. That's not how I thought it worked, not how I was told it worked, but I would put money on that being the way it works with you."

"Hailey isn't going to believe this," I whisper. It all makes a weird kind of sense, in that it doesn't make any sense at all. How can a single person's existence cause gaps in time? How can a pack of wolves be trained to stalk and kill someone? It's fantastical, and yet, given how weird my entire life has been, I can't discount any of it. Aidan seems sane, reasonable, and like he's telling me things he believes. Even if all of it feels unbelievable.

"You can't tell anyone any of this."

"She's my best friend. My only friend."

"That's not a request, that's an order."

I bristle at his arrogant tone. "You can't just drop into my life, claim we've known each other for months, tell me all this stuff that could be complete bullshit, and try to isolate me from the one friend I have. Fuck your order."

A laugh rumbles through his chest, and his serious expression morphs into a brief flash of teeth that isn't quite a smile, but still seems to communicate his amusement.

"Why is that funny to you?"

"The feisty version of you is a huge fucking turn on, that's all. Much better than the scared bunny."

The bunny comment sparks a memory, but I can't grab it, even though I can feel it on the edges of my consciousness. "Have you said the bunny thing to me before?"

"I have." This time his grin is real and cocky. "I've said all kinds of things to you."

I want to ask him why it can't happen again when he's clearly flirting with me, but I don't want to come across as desperate.

His smile fades, and he searches my expression. "You don't remember."

"No, but I think you're right," I say. "It feels like the memories are there, just out of reach."

He breaks eye contact to stare at his hands, and he seems deep in thought. "I'm not trying to isolate you. The safest thing to do right now when we don't know enough is to keep everything between the two of us."

"Earlier, on the path, you and another man were there after the wolves left."

"I'm asking for a lot, Em. I know. But you have to trust me. The only thing I care about is keeping you safe. In four weeks, you can tell anyone anything. I'll be strong enough to take care of any problems. Right now? We're vulnerable. Ripe for the picking. We have to be smart about this. Brains over brawn. Just for now."

"I won't tell Hailey," I say because I can see how much it matters to him and so it matters to me too. It's that simple and that complicated. Then I remember where I'm supposed to be tonight. "I'm late for work." I try to sit up. "And I don't have my phone. Shit."

"The power is out in Cape Beatrice. We're at the edge of the state park. The gator you normally take is waiting for us not far from here."

I'd ask how, but my brain is a little overwhelmed from all the other information. Maybe the second guy, the one Aidan didn't seem to want to talk about, organized those details.

"Can you walk on that foot?" He helps me to a standing position, and when I put a tentative amount of weight on it, I find a pinch of pain, but nothing like the searing agony from before.

"I thought it would be worse."

"That wrap is magic."

"Clearly," I say with a laugh. "Or I'm a wimp. Or maybe I was just too terrified to realize the cut wasn't that deep."

"Mmm," Aidan makes the non-committal noise.

We walk, mostly in silence, toward the state park. Aidan appears to be hyper alert, constantly scanning the darkness. When we get to the path I normally take with the gator, it's sitting facing the woods, my bike shoved into the back, my phone in the cupholder, and the keys in the ignition.

"Magic again?" I suggest.

"Thankfully, no," Aidan says. "I made a request, and someone listened."

"Impressive."

"Someday it will be."

"Well," I say, "thanks for everything. I guess I'll see you around?"

He chuckles. "Em, I meant what I said. For the next four weeks, I'm next to you. When I'm not, I'll have eyes on you through someone else. I'm not letting you out of my sight until I can guarantee your safety."

The trained wolves still seems farfetched, but the idea of having Aidan beside me for weeks on end is a perk I don't want to turn down. Having him around will be a sweet terrible torture. Window shopping with no money—everything I want, nothing I can have.

"Okay," I say, getting into the driver's seat.

Aidan slides into the passenger seat beside me.

"Oh," I say with a frown. "You meant literally beside me?"

"I'm a very literal person," he says.

And just like that, I'm suddenly very worried there really are trained wolves in the forest sent to kill me. 

Update: Wednesday

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