Page 37 of His to Cherish
Aidan pressed his lips together and stared over my shoulder for the briefest of moments before he bit down on the inside of his cheek.
His chin wobbled and more tears fell from my eyes.
Crap. If this man lost it in front of me, I was going with him. I knew it. I couldn’t see him cry.
His nose twitched as if he was fighting back the tears and his voice was scratchy when he said, “Last week was really bad.” His hand tightened on my wrist. I didn’t move. Or speak. Or breathe. “I didn’t want you to see me like that. I don’t even know why, I just didn’t, but I could have told you that instead of being an asshole.”
He had been, but maybe I’d expected more than he could give me.
“I’m so fucking tired of being alone in that house. The silence chokes me, and everywhere I turn, I see him. Sometimes I swear to God I hear him laugh like he’s on his phone in his room, but when I get there, it’s empty.”
“Aidan.” I reached up, pressed my palm to his cheek, and felt the wetness now slowly falling. “If I could take away that pain for you, I would.”
Truth. So much damn truth in that sentence. I’d do anything not to see him broken and hurting, looking like he could collapse against me in exhaustion at any second.
I finally saw it. Truly saw him and the bags under his eyes, the wrinkles at the edges, the tightness everywhere.
With the fire behind us, the sun almost fully set, and us bathed in light from the solar lamps sprinkled throughout my backyard, I saw a completely different side of him.
My hand dropped from his cheek and I left him in the yard, staring at me with a funny look on his face. I grabbed the hose and brought it back, handing it to him. “Can you put the fire out?”
He frowned at my question, but as I bent to pick up the wine and glasses, he did as he was told, and when the fire was out, I reached for his hand.
“Come with me.”
He stared at my hand and reached out, taking it hesitantly into his.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” I said, keeping my eyes and my focus forward. It was dark and I didn’t want to trip, but I also didn’t want to lose my nerve. I couldn’t spend time thinking anymore about the fact that I was taking him to my house…
And to my bed.
He needed to relax. He needed to sleep.
And I had the perfect way to help him do both.
