Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 66062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
“Yes,” Aiden said.
His mother’s lips thinned. “Aiden…”
“I know, Mom,” he said with a long-suffering sigh. “I know what you’re going to say. He’s bad for me, what I feel for him isn’t real, I should stay away from him, and so on and so forth.” He smiled, hugging his pillow. “I don’t care. He’s coming to the US next week, and I’m going to see him, just once. Please. Don’t ruin it for me.”
Looking pained, his mother closed her eyes and ran a hand over her face. “Aiden… That man should be in jail, not—”
“Mom.” Aiden got to his feet and moved to take her hands into his. “I know you’re worried, but I promise seeing him won’t hurt my recovery or whatever. I just need to see him. I need some closure. Please.”
She looked at him searchingly before sighing. “You’re not asking for permission.”
“I’m twenty-two years old, Mom. Of course I’m not asking for permission. But I’d like to have it. I don’t want to worry you.”
She shook her head. “Sweetheart…”
“Please, Mom.”
Her lips pursed tightly.
“All right,” she said at last. “But you will meet him in a public place where he can’t—where he can’t do anything to you. And you will take at least a few bodyguards with you.”
“All right,” Aiden said, beaming at her. Frankly, he would agree to pretty much anything, as long as he got to see Zain.
She shook her head, her eyes suddenly glistening with tears.
“What is it?” Aiden said, frowning again.
“It’s the first time you really smiled since you were returned to us,” she said, her voice strained. “I’m happy that you’re smiling again, but I wish it were for another reason, not him.”
Aiden didn’t know what to say to that.
So he said nothing.
Turning away, he couldn’t help but smile again.
He was going to see Zain soon.
That was the only thing that mattered.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lying was bad.
Aiden had always genuinely thought so. But he couldn’t bring himself to feel guilty about telling his mom that seeing Zain for one last time would give him the closure he needed to move on. For all he knew, maybe it really would.
Deep down, he knew it was a lie. He knew seeing Zain wouldn’t help him get over him.
But his conscience remained quiet, crushed by the far more persistent feeling in his chest: the bottomless hunger, the yearning he was afraid to give a name to.
Rationally, Aiden knew this meeting wouldn’t satisfy the hunger. They would be meeting in public, under the watchful eyes of Aiden’s bodyguards. Hell, Aiden wouldn’t be surprised if the bodyguards filmed them for his parents.
It still changed nothing. He was as excited as a kid before Christmas. Even his parents’ pursed lips and strained smiles couldn’t ruin his excitement as he left the house to meet Zain.
His bodyguards followed him at a distance as Aiden quickly made his way to the park nearby. He and Zain had agreed to meet at the entrance of the park at five o’clock. Aiden was twenty minutes early, so he wasn’t surprised not to find Zain when he arrived. He was still disappointed. And more than a little anxious.
Maybe Zain wouldn’t show up.
He tried to push the thought away as he waited, but it refused to leave. Zain hadn’t exactly sounded all that eager to meet him. He hadn’t called Aiden once since their phone conversation the other day. Well, to be fair, Aiden hadn’t called him, either, but that was because he didn’t want to look pathetic and clingy—look more pathetic than he already did.
There was a black car pulling up.
A tall man emerged out of it. He was wearing a dark suit, and for a moment, Aiden’s heart sank before he looked closely at the man’s face.
It was Zain.
Their eyes met and the world seemed to come to a screeching halt.
Aiden could no longer hear the children’s laughter and shouts. He could barely hear anything besides his heartbeat in his ears.
After a moment, Zain moved toward him. It seemed as though he moved with an excruciating slowness that made the scene feel as if it were playing out underwater or in a dream.
Aiden didn’t move. He didn’t trust himself not to run to him if he did. His eyes roamed hungrily over Zain’s chiseled features, over his tall body hugged by the splendid dark suit, before going back to those chocolate brown eyes that seemed to be trying to burn a hole in Aiden’s face.
Zain stopped two feet away from him.
Neither of them spoke for a long, charged moment. Aiden was distantly aware that he was trembling violently, his whole body straining toward the older man, needing to be closer.
The Adam’s apple on Zain’s stubbled throat moved. He opened his mouth, but seemed to change his mind as his eyes flicked to something behind Aiden.
Zain’s lips thinned. He pushed his hands into the pockets of his pants and said stiffly, “Do you really think you need bodyguards to protect you against me?”