Ayden's Secret (12 page)

“You guys like Elvis?” Ayden turned to face the boys waiting on the others to get situated in their vehicles.

“Who?” Gray asked.

“You don’t know who Elvis is?” Charlie feigned shock. “He’s the king of rock and roll.”

“My daddy likes rock and roll.” Chase nodded.

“I love Elvis,” Charlie told them.

“Me too.” Gray nodded.

“Yeah, me too,” Chase agreed.

“Good thing or you guys would be walking to the beach,” Ayden teased as he turned the engine on and waited for the minivans to pass before pulling out.

“Ayden,” Charlie scolded him playfully. “You guys sing?”

The boys shrugged. “Well you have to sing when you listen to Elvis.” Charlie hit play. She knew Ayden already had a CD in there. He rarely listened to anything else.

By the time they made it to the beach, the boys were twisting and crooning along with Ayden and Charlie to “Don’t Be Cruel.” Of course, they missed most of the words, but they were trying to make Elvis lips like Charlie had showed them. They knew the chorus to a few songs in no time. Their favorite song they were singing now.

“You ain’t nothing but a hound dog…” The boys shook their butts and curled their lips as they followed behind Ayden and in front of Charlie.

“What in the world?” Megan looked at her son and his cousin.

“Elvis, mom.” Chase gave her the lip.

“Oh I see.” Megan patted him on the head. “Thank you, Ayden.”

He winked at her, grabbed two small beach buckets out of the van and handed one to each of the boys. He grabbed a couple chairs by the straps and slung them over his shoulder, then grabbed the cooler.

“Come on guys. This is man’s work.” Ayden headed toward the beach with the toddlers trailing behind feeling useful.

“We’re men, mom,” Gray told Grace as he passed giving her Elvis lips.

They started singing again making Ayden laugh.

“What are they doing with their lips?” Grace smiled looking at Charlie.

“Elvis.” Charlie shrugged. “Can I grab anything?”

“We got it,” Joshua said as the rest of the men filed past with their arms full.

“You get used to the testosterone after a while.” Evelyn sighed and followed behind the men. “Joshua, you be careful going down the stairs.”

Charlie followed suit with Stephanie behind everyone else.

“Malcolm thinks we should plan for a quick wedding, like as soon as the church has an open day back home,” Stephanie whispered.

“Sounds like a good plan.” Charlie nodded.

“You and Ayden will be there, right?” Stephanie held Charlie’s hand tight.

“I know I will,” Charlie reassured her. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“No, I’m glad you’re here.” Stephanie beamed.

“You haven’t been in the water all day, darlin’.” Ayden stood over her dripping with both water and mischief.

“I’m not much for the ocean. Things live in there.” Charlie squirmed at the thought. People were fishing not too far from where they were swimming for crying out loud. Hadn’t he heard of sharks?

“You can swim, right?” Ayden put a lot of suggestion in that question.

“Yeah,” Charlie said cautiously.

“Good.”

Without warning he had her lifted right off the blanket and tossed over his shoulder like a cave man. Charlie squealed and squirmed, but that only made her afraid her boobs would pop out of the bathing suit top, so she held onto her top and tried to

talk him out of it instead.

“Ayden, there are sharks in that water.” Charlie squealed.

“Bullshit.” Ayden pressed into the ocean with his woman on his shoulder. Charlie was so girly squealing and protesting, it made him feel good to torture her a bit.

“Ayden!” she screamed as he dove right into the water taking her with him.

Coming up for air, she swatted him. “Jerk.”

“Oh, darlin’, you looked so hot on that blanket I thought you might like to cool off,” he cooed and pulled her close to him.

“Is that a fish on my leg?” Charlie wrapped around him instinctively trying to get away from the unknown in the water.

“No, I think that’s me.” Ayden wrapped his arms around her more thoughtfully now. This is exactly what he wanted. Charlie, as close as possible right now. He had missed her all day. She sat on the blanket or under the tent with Grace, chatted with the women as they came and went, and held the babies. She didn’t come out and play with him. He was admittedly a little jealous of not having her undivided attention. The need to touch her again rode him hard.

“Not that.” Charlie calmed down and enjoyed the fact that he was holding her so closely. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. He had been in the water or playing with the boys all day. She enjoyed his family, but she wanted to spend more time with him.

He smiled. Ayden relished the feel of her clinging to him now for protection. So much in fact, that he forgot his whole family was on the beach watching them.

When Ayden kissed her, she wasn’t prepared for it. It wasn’t a soft and gentle kiss like this morning. It was a hot biting kiss that could have boiled the water. Charlie opened her mouth and let him in. Her legs clenched around him as his sex began to grow against her. His tongue was thick and heavy, like everything else on his body. She could easily have forgotten where she was, but then something felt painful on her foot. Like a bite.

“Ouch!” Charlie jumped. “Ayden, something…Oww!”

“What?” Ayden was alarmed because she was really hurting, and it wasn’t from the little nibble he gave her.

“My foot, shit.” Charlie lifted her foot, and it was bleeding.

“Son of a bitch!” Ayden grabbed her foot almost knocking her over. He grabbed her hand and pulled her back up. Then he grabbed the line that was attached to the hook now in the side of her foot. “It’s a fishing hook, darlin’. Hang on.”

“It hurts.” Charlie was a little shocked.

“All right, hold on, darlin’. We gotta get you out of the water, so I can see this.” Ayden lifted her up and began the march out of the water. Tears began to stream down her cheeks as she saw the blood dripping from her right foot. It ripped at him to see her in pain. The hook wouldn’t kill her, but she didn’t know that. He promised her nothing would happen today and here she was, bleeding.

“I don’t want stitches or a shot, Ayden.” Charlie sobbed. “I don’t want to go to the hospital.”

“We’ll see. Just hang on, Charlie. Let’s set you down and get a look at it.” Ayden sat her down on the beach and grabbed her foot.

Charlie saw the blood and felt squeamish.

“Oh, it’s okay, just a little fishing hook.” Ayden knew he had to minimize the damage. She needed at least a stitch, and he didn’t want to pull the hook out himself.

“Can you pull it out?” Charlie sobbed as Joshua and Tom approached and loomed over her.

“Pull what out?” Joshua bent to look at her foot that Ayden held with blood streaming down between it and his hand.

“Fishing hook.” Ayden sighed.

“You’re gonna have to go to the hospital to get it out, may even need a stitch or two.” Tom nodded.

“No!” Charlie cried. “Ayden, you can pull it out. I won’t cry.”

“Please don’t do that, darlin’.” Ayden swallowed hard. She was trying to suck up her tears and be brave. Just the mention of hospital and she was already on the verge of a panic attack.

“Noel,” Tom called up the beach to his wife and motioned for her. “She’s a nurse. If she says you need to go, then you need to go.”

“Ayden, please, I can’t go to the hospital. I can’t you know that.” Charlie began hyperventilating. The last hospital she was in she saw Michael in the morgue.

“Joshua, grab a paper bag please.” Ayden handed her foot off to Tom and moved beside her. He gave Tom a look that could have killed. Why did he have to keep saying hospital? “Charlie, it’s okay, baby. Just look at me. Breathe.”

Joshua returned with a paper bag and set Ethan, Chase, and Evelyn on crowd control. The last thing she needed was a bunch of people around her. Noel was looking at the foot now. Reassuring her it would be all right. Because of the holiday, EMT’s were staged around the beach, and two were on their way now as a crowd of people gathered.

Charlie could see Ayden, but she couldn’t hear him. Then he was fuzzy, then gone.

“Damn it!” Ayden shouted as she passed out. The EMT’s were there with the first aid kit and checking her out.

“What happened?” one guy said.

“Fishing hook, right foot.” Ayden pointed and held her head.

“This will probably need stitches,” the other guy spoke.

“No shit.” Ayden lifted Charlie up and began carrying her away.

“Sir…,” the first man started.

“It’s okay. He’ll take her to the hospital. Thanks for your help.” Joshua blocked the EMT. Ayden would tear the man up if he tried to stop him now.

“I’ll go get the seats out of the back.” Ethan ran to catch up with the Wolf who was making great time in bare feet while carrying a sixfoot woman. He grabbed Ayden’s keys and tossed his shoes in Charlie’s bag. The man would likely break into his own vehicle and hot wire it rather than walk back.

“Ayden,” Ethan called as the Wolf unlocked his door. He slowed down and gave him a quizzical look. “How the hell?”

“I keep a key hidden on the truck just in case.” Ayden nodded toward the door, and Ethan opened it.

“You never cease to amaze me with all of your super secret shit.” Ethan opened the back door to the double cab and unlatched the car seats. “Your shoes are in her bag and here.”

Ethan handed Ayden the keys. “Call us.”

“I will.” Ayden buckled Charlie in and headed around to the driver’s side.

Chapter 12

Charlie woke up with her head in Ayden’s lap. She was cold and uncomfortable. Her chest hurt and so did her head.

“Ouch.” So did her foot.

“Hold still. He’s almost done.” Ayden stroked her hair, and she relaxed closing her eyes again.

“Am I in a hospital?” she whispered and felt her chest begin to tighten again. Damn panic attacks.

“You’re with me. Keep your eyes closed and focus on me.” Ayden stroked her cheek. The doctor was tying the last little stitch, only three. There wouldn’t have been any, but the fisherman thought he hooked a fish and gave a good pull. The hook was barely in there, but Ayden wouldn’t take chances with Charlie. “You remember when I told you about SEAL training?”

“Yes.” Charlie closed her eyes tight and concentrated on Ayden. She was in a hospital.

“We stood out in the ocean all hours of the day and night, freezing our asses off.” Ayden still stroked her cheek. The doctor nodded quietly and left the paperwork on the bed with directions and a prescription for an antibiotic. “Never in a million years would I believe that some fisherman would catch your foot in a body of water that size.”

“I’m not a lucky woman.” Charlie laughed. It was absurd. They had been in the water all day. As soon as she got in, something happened.

She felt Ayden picking her up.

“Keep your eyes closed. Just talk to me.” Ayden walked out of the room and down the hall.

“Are we going back to the beach?” Charlie asked.

“No, I think everyone was packing up when we left.” Ayden guessed at that. They had planned to spend the day there and then catch the fireworks, but with all the excitement, he wasn’t going back. “We can see the fireworks from home.”

“I’m freezing,” Charlie admitted.

“That’s because you’re almost naked in an airconditioned building. We’re almost outside.” Ayden passed through the sliding doors and into the scorching July heat. “There we go.”

Charlie opened her eyes to the blinding sunlight. She looked at Ayden as he still carried her across the parking lot. “You’re cold, too.”

“That’s because I’m almost naked, darlin’. There wasn’t a lot of time to put clothes on and get you to the hospital.” He laughed as he sat her inside the truck. “Look what you did to my truck.”

Charlie looked at the bloodstained floor and felt bad. He loved this truck. It was immaculate. He opened the driver’s side door and slid in.

“I’m sorry about the mess.”

“I was just teasing you, darlin’. It’s just a truck. You hungry?” Ayden tilted her chin toward him. She was on the verge of tears again. “What’s wrong, darlin’?” “I’m embarrassed.” Charlie tried to look away, but he held her chin in place on

his fingers.

“About what?”

“Everything, crying, passing out, God I’m a mess.” Charlie had no choice but to look at him.

“Why are you embarrassed about that?” Ayden let her go and started up the truck. The hot sun had warmed them quickly, and he needed air again.

“Now everyone will think I’m a nut case.” Charlie fished through her bag and pulled on a Tshirt and shorts.

“If you are, then you came to the right place, darlin’. You know how messed up Noel and Evelyn are. Grace and Megan aren’t much better. Stephanie, well, she’s related to Joshua, so that should sum it up for you.” Ayden laughed. “Nobody’s perfect, Charlie.”

“You are.” Charlie looked at him.

“No, darlin’, I’m not.” Ayden let out a long breath. Here was the crux of his problem with Charlie. She thought he was perfect. How he had no idea. “I have flaws, Charlie, lots of them.”

“Not character flaws.”

How could he argue with that without telling her the horrible things he had done in his past? He didn’t want Charlie to look at him as a killer, but he had killed before. He didn’t want her to think of him as a failure, but he had failed her sister and the other girls by not catching on to the clues in time. He had failed Evelyn by not revealing himself as her brother until years after he knew her. The list could go on.

“I’m not perfect, darlin’.” Ayden left it at that. Charlie surprised him by sliding her hand over to his thigh and just resting it there. It felt nice, reassuring.

Charlie knew he blamed himself for a lot of things. Things he had no control over, things that he was required to do in the line of duty. Ayden wasn’t perfect, but he was perfect for her. He just didn’t understand that yet. She placed her hand on his thigh to reassure him that it didn’t matter to her.

He grew quiet and distant.

“I’m hungry.” Charlie squeezed his thigh.

“We’re almost home now. I’ll order us a pizza when we get in.” Ayden shook his head. She had to wait until they were on the bridge, less than ten minutes from the house, to say she was hungry.

“That sounds good.” Charlie smiled. “When is everyone leaving?”

“Sunday.”

“You’re ready for them to go?” She knew that tone of voice.

“Yep.”

“Me too?” She squeezed his leg again.

“Nope.”

“You sure about that?” Charlie smiled as they pulled up in front of his house, and he realized everyone was there, at his house, probably waiting on them.

“I’m sure.” Ayden pulled into his space and leaned over to kiss her, but the passenger door opened, and Joshua yanked her out. He was carrying her up the stairs while Evelyn and Noel fawned over her from both sides. “What the hell?”

“You coming in or what?” Tom poked his head into the truck and looked at Ayden. All the women were worried and so were the boys, so they packed up and came home. Ayden looked a little worn out. Tom understood why. He had a woman in his life. Tom gave him a knowing look and laughed as he walked away.