Contained (Evolution Series Book 5) (6 page)

Anna raised an eyebrow.
“She deserved to be hit across the face?”

“Yes!”
I sucked in a sharp breath when I realised how easily I had become accustomed to punishing people for what they had done. And if I’d never hit Georgia for any of the many comments she’d made in the past about Aiden and me, did that mean I was really changing into the person I feared?

Trying to make myself feel better but essentially making excuses for my actions, I said,
“She constantly has something to say about Aiden and me. She wants Aiden again. Hell, Georgia’s in love with him and wants me out of the way so she can get him back.”

Anna’s expression softened.
“And do you think that’s what Aiden wants?”

“No,”
I said without hesitation. That was one thing I knew for sure, Aiden loved me and I never had to worry about his faithfulness. He knew in his heart that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me and nothing nor anyone could stand in the way of fulfilling his dream of the two of us never growing old together.

“Then there’s nothing for you to worry about and absolutely no reason to do what you did to Georgia. But,”
and here was the part I’d been dreading,
“that’s not what I was initially referring to and I think you knew that.”
She raised an eyebrow as one corner of her lip turned up.
“I want to know when you started showing signs of being able to hit someone from across the room with nothing but your mind?”

Sighing, I slouched back.
“Today, when we were out fishing I clipped Chelsea for some smartass comment she made.”

Anna nodded.
“And did you do it consciously or did it just happen?”

“No. It just happened, and before you ask, it was the same with Georgia. I never meant to hit her—or whatever it was I did to her.”

“Right.”
Anna sat there in deep thought before finally saying.
“Well, I guess you still have more surprises in store for us.”

Forcing a smile I said,
“I guess so.”
But deep inside, that was my biggest fear. What else was I capable of?”

“Okay, then,” Anna said, getting up. “We’re going off to find Dave and see what solution we can come up with. And I want you to just go and have fun—even if it’s only for an hour.”

“I’ll try,” I said, knowing there was no way that I could, when my life was falling to pieces.

Kai stood and rubbed his hands together. “I’m glad we had this talk.” He smirked.

I chuckled. “So am I.”

Just before I phased out, Anna said,
“Oh, and don’t worry, I will be having a word with Georgia about you and Aiden. After all, you are going to be my daughter-in-law one day.”
She smiled, a smile that reached her heart. Anna already thought of me that way, and if and when Aiden and I did decide to get married, it was merely a formality in her books.

Transporting to the bathroom, I found Aiden wrapping a towel around his waist. Looking up, he smirked. “If only you were a minute earlier.”

I sucked in a deep breath as a drop of water ran over his pecs and down his stomach. Stepping closer to him, I wiped it away before it reached his towel. I wanted to say some smartass comment in reply, but all that came to mind was my longing for the day I could just enjoy him. I’d thought everything was over when we first arrived back in Thailand, but I now knew that it was the calm before the storm.

“Hey,” Aiden said, lifting my chin with his finger. “Are you okay?”

Forcing a smile I nodded. I hated him seeing me that way and thinking of me as someone he had to comfort over and over again. That crap needed to stop.

Reading my cue, he moved on. “So, what did Anna want to talk with you about?”

I relayed everything his mum had said to me, including the part where she already thought of me as her daughter.

“I told you you’re one of the family.” He pulled me closer and planted a kiss on my forehead.

An image flashed through my mind of Aiden holding me close with one hand as he gently traced the face of the baby in my arms with his other.

Shaking away my thoughts of what our life could be one day, I tilted my head up, wrapped my hand around the back of Aiden’s neck and brought his lips down to mine. “I love you.”

He smiled. “I love you, too.” All Aiden wanted to do was show me exactly how much he loved me, but as usual, there were other things that always got in the way. “Do you want me to come with you to visit Marie?”

I hadn’t told him that I was planning on taking Chelsea to visit her mother. It was as if he could read my mind, but I knew for a fact he couldn’t. He just knew me. And knew I wanted to do the right thing by Chelsea.

“Yeah. That would be good.”

“And maybe we can leave them to chat while we do some sight-seeing.”

“Except, we can’t go anywhere without being recognised.” Our pictures were everywhere, and the only places we could be left in peace were the third world countries where the majority of people didn’t have access to T.V.s or the internet.

“Then, I guess we’re lucky I don’t plan on taking you anywhere that has people around us.” He ran his hand down my arm, laced his fingers with mine, and then led me to the closet so he could get changed.

Once dressed, we transported to the rumpus room where we found the three of them splayed out on the couch. Chelsea was curled up in Lucas’s arms and Gemma was lying on her back watching another video on her phone.

“So, who’s up for a trip to Italy?”

Gemma practically jumped to her feet. “Me. Me.”

Chelsea sat up. “We’re going to visit Mum?” Her heart was aching to see her mother again, to see for herself that she was okay.

I nodded, holding out my hand. “We’ll go first, and then I’ll bring the rest of you to us.” I thought it would be less embarrassing if I accidently caught Marie in the loo if it was only Chelsea and me there.

Standing up, she took my hand. “Let’s go.”

We phased out and landed in a kitchen with pasta hanging from everywhere.

“Holy shit!” Marie clutched her hand over her heart. “You certainly know how to give someone a heart attack.”

Once she got over her initial shock, she smiled as she gave her daughter a hug. “I missed you.” Marie pulled back and studied Chelsea’s face, a grin playing at the edges of her lips that Chelsea was completely unaware of.

Chelsea was so taken with her mother’s recovery that she didn’t notice that her Mum knew something major had changed in her daughter’s life since the last time they’d seen each other.

“So, tell me, who’s the lucky guy?” Marie wiggled her eyebrows.

Chelsea tried to hide her grin but it was useless. Her smile practically took over her whole face. “Whatever do you mean, Mummy, dearest?”

Marie smiled. “Cut the crap, dearest daughter. I know when my little girl is smitten.” She pinched her cheek.

Chelsea swatted her mum’s hand away. “So, where’s Grandma?”

Marie shook her head as she chuckled. “She’s gone to pick up some tomatoes.”

I looked around at all the fresh pasta hanging out to dry. “Looks like the two of you have been having fun.”

Chelsea sighed with relief, thinking that she wasn’t going to have to go into any details about her relationship with Lucas just yet, but I had other ideas.

“I hope you plan on making enough for Chelsea’s new boyfriend as well,” I said.

Chelsea’s eyes widened in mock horror. She still felt bad for moving on so quickly from Ben and wasn’t sure how her mum was going to take it.

Marie chuckled. “When are you going to learn that I can read you like a book. I have since the day you were born and I will ’til the day I die.” She, of course, wasn’t aware that there was a good probability that day may never come. Harry was planning on keeping that one on a need to know basis until he had more evidence.

Laughing, I brought, Lucas, Gemma and Aiden to my side.

“Yes!” Gemma said, taking in her surroundings. “Hi, Marie,” she said as she wandered out of the kitchen, wanting a better look at where, exactly, we were.

“Hi,” Marie said, her eyes flicking between her daughter and Lucas.

Biting down on her fear of what her mother might think, she held out her hand to Lucas and he laced his fingers through hers. “Mum…” She didn’t know what to say and Marie just stood there waiting, enjoying her daughter’s discomfort.

Lucas chuckled but didn’t say anything. He wanted to hear her say it, but the problem was, I knew my best friend, and I knew how hard it was for her.

Sighing, I wrapped my arms around Chelsea and Lucas and hung my head in between them. “What Chelsea’s trying to say is that Lucas and she are now in lurve.”

Chelsea pushed my head out of the way. “We are not in love.” She thought
‘you bitch,’
knowing I could hear her. She also knew that I knew she was totally in love with the guy, but didn’t want Lucas knowing it. The problem was, Lucas was very close to confessing his love to her. How he’d actually gotten there so quickly was beyond me, and I didn’t want to delve into his mind to find out. There was only so much a sister wanted to know.

Marie laughed as she patted Chelsea’s cheek. “I’m happy for you, honey.”

“Thanks, Mum,” Chelsea said, her eyes quickly darting to Lucas who winked at her.

Aiden took my hand in his. “We’re going to duck out of here for a bit. We’ll be back in an hour or so.”

Marie nodded. “Your grandma should be back by then and maybe we could all sit down for an early dinner.”

“Sure,” I said.

Aiden led me out of the house and I finally got to see where they were. Marie and Grandma were basically in the middle of nowhere. They were staying in a rustic cottage that was accessible by a long dirt driveway leading onto a dirt road running past the property. The nearest neighbour couldn’t be seen by the human eye, but I could see their house in the distance.

“Where are you two going?” Gemma asked. She was coming around the side of the house and was a little bummed after realising they were in the middle of nowhere.

“I’m stealing your sister away for a while,” Aiden said.

Gemma was elated, hearing him refer to us as sisters, but was completely grossed out by the idea of what we might be getting up to, and it was pretty obvious by her screwed up face.

Aiden chuckled as he led me away. “We’ll see you in about an hour.”

“Have fun,” I said.

Her face slumped as she wished she had someone she could sneak away with. Everyone around her seemed to have someone to share their lives with, except for Georgia but she didn’t count. Gemma couldn’t foresee anyone wanting to put up with that mess who was so clearly stuck on someone else’s boyfriend.

Figuring being in Italy was better than being stuck at home with Mum and her dad, she wondered back inside to hang out with Chelsea.

Aiden led me around the side of the house and through the meadow, stopping at a small stream running past a field of tiny red flowers.

“Where are we going?”

“Nowhere. Anywhere.”

Smiling, I stepped in front of him. “And here I thought you were going to whisk me away to some romantic, secluded, destination where we could pretend the world wasn’t falling to shit around us.”

Aiden chuckled. “Well, if that’s what you want.” Without any warning, Aiden phased out taking me with him.

When my vision came to, I was standing on the whitest sand I’d ever seen, staring out at crystal clear turquoise water. “Where are we?”

He shrugged. “Somewhere.”

I laughed. “What do you mean somewhere?”

Aiden shrugged again. “I don’t know. My parents took me here when I was little and I remember thinking that there wasn’t a soul around us for miles.

I smiled. There wasn’t another person within the reach of my senses. “It’s perfect.”

We walked hand in hand along the beach, saying nothing, but neither of us felt uncomfortable about it. We were enjoying the peace and quiet, something I knew I wasn’t going to see again for the foreseeable future.

Eventually coming to a stop, Aiden sat down in the sand shaded by a few coconut trees, and pulled me down beside him. “You know we’re going to get through this, don’t you? And even if the world turns to shit, as you keep saying, we can always come back here and set up a home in the trees back there and live like
Robinson Crusoe.
” He twisted around and looked into the forest backdrop. “Yep. We could put the main house in that tree over there,” he pointed to a big assed tree in the distance, “and use the surrounding tree’s as different rooms. And we wouldn’t even need to build bridges between the trees.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said with a laugh. “And what about food?”

“Well, I think we’ll be okay with fishing. We could use our awesome telekinesis to just pull them out of the water without the need for rods.”

As much as I loved the idea of being alone, in the middle of nowhere with Aiden, I sure didn’t envisage a life of hiding out like some castaway. “Somehow, I don’t think it’s going to come to that.”

Aiden knocked his knee against mine. “See. You know that we’re going to get through this.” He draped his arm over my shoulders. “You and me, we can take on the world.”

With what I saw in my vision, I didn’t doubt that for a second.

We lay there for the next couple of hours talking about our dreams for the future, and Aiden made me promise that none of the scenarios would have me turning into a murderer.

The sun had started to set and no matter how much we wanted to stay in our own little piece of paradise, obligations that we could no longer ignore called. Brushing the sand off, I took one last look around and sighed, thinking about all our promises for the future and wondered if any of them would actually come true.

“You ready?” Aiden asked, curling his arm around my waist.

Standing on my tiptoes, I kissed his lips. “No.”

Aiden smiled. “Then let’s do this.”