Chapter 27 (ALREADY!!!)
I took a big breath before opening my mouth to let out my biggest secret to Aiden. A secret which had almost killed me emotionally, a secret which until now had been safely locked up at the back of my head. A secret which I was ashamed of.
“I was sixteen when it happened,” I whispered, snuggling closer to Aiden's chest. This was going to be a long story, might as well make myself comfier. “Sarah, Rosie and I used to be best friends. Almost as close as sisters. We did everything together; from waking up to sleeping in the same chambers at night, you name it. I guess, at one point we were so inseparable that everybody back at the kingdom believed that we were going to stay together for forever.
“Sarah was mum's maid's daughter, and when mum left us, Sara's mother was no use to the kingdom. But, because daddy knew how much Rosie and I both loved Sarah as our own, he gave Mrs Montague, Sarah's mum, an occupation as one of the many gardeners. So, through the years, Rosie and Sarah were the only ones who picked up the mess I was after mum's departure. They made me stronger. Dad was in his own world for a while after the incident, so he couldn't even look after himself, let alone me. With Sarah's and Rosie's help, I guess it made it easier for me to gradually ease the pain of mum's disappearance. They were with me 24/7. They never left me by myself. I had always been close to mum, and when she betrayed dad and I like that, she literally ripped me apart. At one point I hated her, but now, I realise that I'm no different from her at all,” I sobbed angrily. Even thinking about her made my blood boil. She wasn't my mother. She wasn't even worthy of the title. As far as I was concerned, I had a mum within my dad. She brought me up, at least unlike her, he wasn't a coward. He faced the reality, which she obviously didn't.
Aiden wiped the traitor tears off my eyes and pulled my lips to his, making me forget everything even if it was for a second only. “You are nothing like her,” he murmured in between the kiss, his voice full of promise and determination. I shook my head as more tears traveled down my cheeks and landed in between our gentle kiss, giving it a salty and yet a sweet texture.
“I'm exactly like her,” I replied pulling myself away from him. “You don't get it, do you? See, just like her I betrayed dad and the kingdom too. I just walked away from the reality and left dad by himself without telling him. He probably sees mum in my eyes now. I feel so horrible”
“You are anything but horrible Lau,” Aiden snapped roughly closing the distance I had made in between us. “But, can I just ask why you actually moved away from the kingdom?”
I sucked in a breath; could I tell him? Oh Gosh, just imagine how embarrassing it would be? He would think I was completely desperate! What kind of princess ran away from her people just to find a suitable man? No princess. Just me. I had abandoned my country, my family and everybody who had counted on me for selfishness. Just so I could find a bloody man.
“I-I don't want you to be disappointed in me,” I answered unable to meet his piercing gaze. His purple eyes always made me forget about the everything; its almost as if they took me to a different world. To Aiden Carter's world.
“I could never be disappointed in you Lau,” he said. “Never. After all this time, you have given us a chance, do you really think I would be stupid enough to just throw away that once in a life opportunity just to act like a dickhead?”
I giggled. “'One in a life opportunity?'”
Aiden suddenly looked embarrassed as he ran his fingers through his messy hair again. His hair flopped on his forehead, covering one of his eyes. It looked like he seriously needed a haircut. Although he could absolutely edible with his hair like this, but I was never into men with longish hair. Tracing my fingers gently over his face, I removed the hair from his eyes causing his to groan. Gosh, this man was insatiable. A simple touch could make him excited. Normally, I would be afraid of this but with Aiden I was over the moon to reaslise the fact that I was the person bringing that effect on him. For some reason, it made me feel more secure and proud of myself.
Aiden scoffed. “And that's all you got out of my oh so magnificent speech? I seriously wonder about you sometimes.”
I smiled at him and pecked his lips, allowing my lips to linger on for longer than necessary. “The reason I moved here was to find a man.”
There, I said it. Feeling scared of Aiden's reaction, I looked at his naked chest instead. And immediately, all my worried thoughts were replaced by naughty ones. Oh God, what I would do to rub hit chocolate all over his abs and just lick it all off. My mouth watered at my imagination.
“Whatever you are thinking of doing to me can wait,” Aiden teased looking at my lascivious look. “But on the serious note, care to elaborate on what you just said?”
Pulling myself out of my dirty desires, I sighed loudly. “Do I have to?”
“Yes.”
“Fine,” I whined. “Basically, it is in our family tradition for the princesses to go through the process of arranged marriage once they reach their 24th birthday. And next February I will be twenty-four, so I will have to be forced to marry a stranger. Somebody daddy has chosen for me.”
No,” Aiden growled possessively. Now, some girls would probably run off a mile seeing how possessive their man was, but not me. In fact it was quite a turn on to see him so protective over me. “I won't let you marry anyone!”
“Calm down tiger,” I chuckled gently nibbling his jaw. “That's why I ran off from the kingdom, to find a man I love. A man who is willing to look past my status and love me for who I am. I only have this month, then I'll have to return back to England. Somehow, dad has managed to keep away the paparazzi and all the curious questions, but he said he can't anymore. Everybody is getting restless about my whereabouts.”
“So, you only have this month?” he asked shocked. I could see the pool of sorrow gathered in his eyes. I nodded, catching onto his emotion. I really didn't want to leave Aiden behind. After all this time, I had finally found the man I had wanted, there was no way I could leave his be. I couldn't go through another few years of mending my heart. The experience was horrible.
“I don't want to leave you,” I murmured laying my head on his chest.
“And you won't,” he whispered determined.
“B-but, I have to! I won't be allowed to stay here with you Aiden, don't you get it? I can't be my mum; I can't abandon daddy and all my people back home. I'm going to be the queen after the marriage so my citizens need somebody to represent them.”
“We'll discuss this later, just tell me about that whore.”
Getting back on track, I began to carry on with our premier conversation. “We were sixteen, when Rosie and I saw past Sarah's innocence and her facade. We saw just how much of a low life she could be. It was the annual winter ball and my date Fredrick Summers had finally after all those years of waiting asked my dad to court me to the dance. See, I was over the moon. I thought I had loved his back then; of course I was juvenile and naïve, so any man that my eyes found attractive, I immediately classed as my 'love'. Both Rosie and Sarah knew just how infatuated I was with him. I thought about him day and night. And of course being the silly sixteen year old I was, I had no experience in men, so when he had shown me some interest I had naively allowed my heart to become possessed. It was stupid, I know. When I look back now, I simply laugh it off. I don't even know what I was in that lying good for nothing bastard anyway. So, during the night of the ball, us three girls had gotten ready at the castle and everything was perfect. Well, at least I thought so. We were all ready to be escorted to the ball by the knights men, and all of sudden Sarah announced that she was suffering from a bad stomach pain. She turned all pale and sickly, so Rosie and I took pity on her and decided to stay with our best friend. But, somehow she managed to force us to leave. After loosing the battle, we decided to drop her off to her house and depart. When we reached the ball, Fred was there, looking absolutely handsome. He literally swept me off my feet,” I finished, taking a huge breath. My voice had gone dry from all the speaking. So, I grabbed the abandoned orange juice from the bestdside table and took a long sip. Gradually, I felt the dehydration leave me . Without looking at Aiden's reaction, I carried on with my story before I drifted off again.
“We danced almost all night and we held me throughout the whole thing, he never let me leave his side. I had felt so special, after sixteen years I thought I had found a man aside dad who loved me as much as I thought I loved him. Soon, the night had ended and he left me mentioning something about having a sick sister at home whom he had to check up on. After he left, I had felt bad knowing he had neglecting his ill sibling just to spend the night with me. But, soon after that Rosie and I left too making sure to drop by at Sarah's to check on her health. We knocked on her door several times but nobody opened it, so we assumed that she was asleep, until we heard a crash coming from her bedroom. Naturally, we assumed that our best friend was in some kind of trouble so we grabbed the extra key that Sarah had given to Rosie and I to use. She always said her house wad ours. We were sisters so we shared almost everything. Anyway, we opened the door and quietly made our way to her bedroom thinking that a burglar may have broken into her house. Everything was dark in her room, the only thing we could see was the book rack by the side, due to the luminosity of the moon. We could hear Sarah's groans; we kind of thought that she was really ill, so we turned on the lights. A-and, there she was my so called best friend sharing the most intimate moment with the man whom I thought had captivated my heart...” Unable to carry on anymore, I closed my eyes tightly and let the tears drop. I hated that memory, every time it flashed before my eyes, it made me sick. It reminded me that I could trust no one.
I looked at Aiden and saw the frown on his forehead and his deathly eyes.
“Hey, whats wrong?” I whispered scared.
“Do we have a better connection?”
“Better connection?” I repeated feeling confused.
“Do you lo-like me more than you ever loved him?” I could hear the vulnerability in his tone.
“Aiden!” I scolded him. “How can you even ask that question?”
Every trace of happiness he had on his face vanished. “I'm sorry if I can never come up to his standard.”
Holy God! I can't believe he even thought to compare himself to that jerk?!
Pushing myself closer to his body, I forgot about words and used my lips to tell him just how much more he meant to me than Fred ever did. Our lips collided and instantly, he wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me on top of his half naked body. I could feel myself getting hot again. Our tongues met and massaged each other in turn. I traced his chest with my hands, feeling it hardness in his abs. He was so darn sexy, it was unreal. No man could ever compare to Aiden Carter's perfection. “You are the only one that has managed to capture my heart. Fred is my unwanted past, but you, you are my present and my future. If I could, I would kill myself to be with you till my last breath.”
Aiden's eyes widened at my words. We had already pulled away from the intense kiss and were simply gazing at one another. For the first time, I didn't feel embarrassed about admitting my feelings to him; sooner or later, I knew I would have anyway. I waited patiently for his reply. For anything.
“I love you,” he stated.
My heart stopped.
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OMG, finallyyyyy!!!! Finally, that stupid arrogant man actually said the three words-.- I was dying for this moment too:L I hope you liked it guys. I think, there'll be about ten more chapters and the story will be over)': Naaw, my poor baby's gonna be finished:O but hey, once this tory is done I can focus on “A criminal's touch” and “365 days with the Parker Boys.” Ah, life's good right now. Just hope that my exams went well-.- Anyhoo, how are you my lovlies? Thank you to everybody for constantly voting and commenting on this story, it makes me feel so happy(':
Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to @theresxfaithxinxlove because she is one of my new readers who actually voted on ALL the chapters and showed her appreciation for the story. So, I want to say a big thank you to her. I hope you like the chapter honey<3