5 Years Later_a second chance romance novel Page 6

  “I don’t have a laptop,” I said.

  “We have to get you a laptop,” Sue said. “I’ll put that on my list.”

  “Thanks, Sue. I really appreciate it.”

  I ended the call and put my head back, sighing.

  The power of Aiden.

  Forever my temptation and forever getting me into trouble.

  But it was just one day missing work.

  Everyone was entitled to that.

  I threw my cell to the bed and thought about what I had done and what was happening.

  My heart swelled with happiness and love.

  My mind kept things in check—Aiden was only here for a little while.

  Unless he decided to stay.

  Unless he kept his promise of forever.

  Aiden sat on the top of the couch. His feet were on the cushions. Black socks on him just did something to me. Not only had he come back with his guitar, but he came back with some beer. I looked at the clock but shook my head. It didn’t matter what time it was. We both had no work. No worries. No responsibilities in life other than each other.

  There were already four empty beer bottles on the table. Aiden was in a flannel shirt with the buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up. He was just as hot as ever, only with the addition of time. It always seemed like time made hot guys hotter, you know? All those tough manly features that made Aiden him were now all the more rugged with a splash of a few years.

  I sat in the chair and listened to him strum the guitar like we were teenagers again.

  He sang the three most popular songs of his band—Steal Chest.

  They were really good songs.

  I loved the way he played and sang. The way he would stare off a little while he got lost in the music. And then the times he looked right at me, throwing lines of lyrics that seemed to make my heart flutter.

  After he finished the last song, he spun the guitar around and balanced it on the couch. He grabbed a fresh beer and went to town on it, chugging more than half in one gulp.

  “They sound better with the band,” he said.

  “Where are they?”

  “Who knows. Out doing their thing. We crashed at a hotel last night. There’s no show for a little while, so I’m sure they’re just cruising and causing trouble. Pissing their money away. I got my shit out of the van, and they were taking off. Not sure if I’ll catch up with them again.”

  Those words really struck me.

  I tilted my head. “What?”

  Aiden threw the beer bottle back again. “Lily. I don’t think I need that life anymore. I’m not going to take up space here, I promise. I can get my own place and set up somewhere local.”

  “Wait…you’re staying?”

  Aiden shrugged his shoulders. “I have some money. I can work a wrench. There’s plenty of shit jobs to take. I’ve survived with less and worse off.”

  “No, no, no,” I said. I stood up. “You can’t do that to me.”

  “Do what?”

  “Fuck with me. Being here for a day or two, fine. But…are you serious?”

  “I’m just being honest. We know who wrote what songs. I’ll have to deal with our manager and contract shit. But I can write new music. I can play shows here or travel around. I can make it all work.”

  “Why? There’s nothing here, Aiden.”

  “You’re here,” I said.

  “Aiden…”

  I was sort of in shock. The thirteen- and eighteen-year-old version of myself was jumping for joy. It was my ultimate dream. To have Aiden there. To have Aiden taking care of me. To be a couple. To find a way to make a life. But then there was the twenty-three-year-old version of myself. The one standing there, looking at Aiden. The one…

  Aiden grabbed the guitar again. “Hey, Lily. How about this one…”

  With the strum of his fingers on the guitar strings, Aiden began to play the song he’d written for me when we were teenagers.

  I hadn’t heard the song in a long time. When he left when I was eighteen, I’d sat in my room for days listening to the song over and over and over. I’d cried so hard it hurt. My mother forced me to eat. She sat there for hours with me, never once losing patience with me while I felt my first and truest heartache ever over a guy I loved.

  And now Aiden was playing that same song.

  I want to be pissed at him, but I couldn’t.

  The words were as true as ever. His eyes were as real as ever. His body was as protective as ever.

  She cries, lonely night goes by,

  I’ll hold your hand and your time.

  Don’t worry…tomorrow will be here soon.

  He sang the song not for me but right to me. Playing without breaking his stare. The words sounded better than when I first heard them years ago. I was instantly taken back to the gym of the local rec center. The makeshift stage his band made so they’d be higher than everyone else. And Aiden standing there on the right side of the stage, playing and singing along with the lead singer, Tommy. The way he looked at me then was the same way he looked at me now. It was so intense.

  Memories and old feelings were something strange and very powerful.

  He kept going with the song, somehow moving his hands up the guitar so that he could play the song and hit notes in the solo at the same time. Another testament to the time we spent apart—he was a much better guitar player. And he looked so damn good doing it.

  When he strummed the last chord, he just held himself there.

  We stared each other down.

  “Five years,” I whispered.

  “It happens. It’s just life.”

  “What now, Aiden?”

  “Now we just spend our time together and catch up. From there? I think I’m done fucking with the future, Lily. I’ve tried for so long to control it and all it did was smack me in the face. So, now I’m in the present. And in the present, you’re here with me. I’m here with you. We’ve got beer to drink. Stories to tell. And your fucking lips are looking so goddamn delicious right now.”

  A second later, Aiden stood up and dropped the guitar to the couch.

  I met him halfway, jumping up for him to catch me.

  We kissed.

  The rest of the world melted away.

  We wouldn’t leave the bedroom until the next day…

  Chapter 9

  (Totally Sick)

  10 YEARS AGO

  (AIDEN)

  I had no intention of answering Lily’s phone, but the thing kept ringing and ringing. I was giving her the chance to sleep off the morning and probably a decent hangover. I only left the bed once, to meet the pizza guy at the door. Wearing a dish towel over my dick, I slapped a twenty into his hand, winked, and shut the door. Then it was right back to bed.

  The fucking guys officially took off on me, heading south to play two shows at open mic nights, hoping to scrounge up enough cash to fill the tank and go east. My phone buzzed with our manager—Jake—wanting to know what the fuck I was doing.

  And honestly? I had no clue what I was doing. I was definitely living in the present. I couldn’t keep my eyes and hands off Lily, and she couldn’t do the same for me. When the storm cooled a little, then we’d pick up our conversations and figure out what was next.

  Until then…

  The phone buzzed again.

  The noise went through me like a needle.

  The name ‘Sue’ was on the screen.

  So, I had to grab the call, just in case.

  “Hello, this is Lily’s phone,” I said.

  “Um, hello. This is…”

  “Sue,” I said. “Saw it on the screen. She’s still asleep.”

  “Sleeping? She still sick?”

  “Sick…”

  “She called off yesterday sick,” Sue said. “She’s never done that before. And today she’s a no-show without a phone call. I’m assuming she’s still sick?”

  I looked at the bedroom door. It was open. And Lily stood there wearing my t-shirt from yesterday. Her hair mes
sy from sleep and sex. Her eyes half-open, a vixen grin climbing across her face.

  “Sick as a dog,” I said, trying to sound sympathetic. “Yeah. I’m her friend. Aiden. I stopped by to take care of her. Never seen her like this.”

  “Oh jeez,” Sue said. “Well, please remind her that she has health coverage now. Paid by the company. So, she should probably get checked out if this doesn’t go away.”

  “You know what, I’ll relay that message to her when she’s functioning more. I better go. I think I hear her…”

  “You tell her-”

  I ended the call.

  My interest was piqued. I leaned against the counter, and she leaned against the doorway.

  “What?”

  “You have a job with health benefits?”

  “Yeah,” Lily said.

  “And you’re faking sick for me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You’re insane. Get your ass to work, sweetheart.”

  “It’s fine. I never miss time there.”

  “What do you do there?”

  “Sell advertising.”

  “You sell advertising?” I asked. “That’s…amazing! I bet all you need to do is blink at someone and they just throw cash at you.”

  “Like a stripper?” she asked.

  I laughed. “Strip for me, and I’ll give everything I own.”

  Lily flirted with me as she lifted the t-shirt up, first showing me the waist of her pink panties, and she kept going until she showed me her full, perfect tits. Fuck, she was all woman, and it was driving me insane.

  After the tease, she strutted into the kitchen and poured herself some coffee.

  “I can’t believe I didn’t wake up until after twelve. I don’t do this anymore.”

  I spun around and leaned across the counter. “I’m a bad influence.”

  “Always have been.”

  “Which makes me wonder what I should do here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You can’t fuck up your life for me, Lily. Please don’t. You have a good job, right?”

  “Aiden, it’s only a couple days. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Right.”

  I walked around the counter and stepped up behind her. I let my hands travel along her body the way I always dreamed of doing. I sucked in a deep breath and let it out.

  Lily did the same and put her head back, resting against my chest.

  Then she laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” I asked.

  “This,” she said. “I always fantasized about this. Right here.”

  “What?”

  “Drinking coffee in the morning, being in your arms. We never got to do that, Aiden. We were so young. But now…”

  “Now we’re not young,” I whispered.

  Lily let out a groan as my hands moved around to her stomach. I kept her close to me. I fucking loved her body.

  “Aiden, tell me something about the last five years,” she said. “I mean, you talked about the music. The band. You’re not quitting that, right?”

  “The guys already left,” I said.

  Lily spun around and the fronts of our bodies touched. “What? They left…”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “They want to go do some open mic shit. I don’t. I need a break. I promise you, everything is okay.”

  Don’t worry about Jake calling me. Don’t worry about the contract bullshit. Don’t worry about a thing. Just look at us together. Simple.

  “Okay,” Lily said. “You’re worried about me missing work. I’m worried about you losing your band.”

  “We lost each other,” I said. “Fuck everything else.”

  “You still need to tell me something…”

  “Oh, here’s something interesting. I have a brother.”

  “What?”

  I laughed. “Yeah.”

  “Wait. You have three brothers, Aiden.”

  “I know,” I said. Liam, Devin, and Cooper were my brothers, yes. They all came from the same mother and father combo, along with me. They were also scattered across the country, thanks to the foster care system that tore us apart. “But this is a new one.”

  “A new brother,” she said. “Your father…”

  “Get this. He had an affair. Big shock, right? Then again, I’m not sure if it’s an affair if you hate the person you’re with.”

  My parents hated each other. They liked to beat on each other and make babies after. Simple as that.

  “Wow. I mean…have you met him?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “His name is Gabe. I don’t know if he’s technically my brother or half-brother or what. Same Dad, different mother…”

  “That’s a half-brother,” Lily said. “Not that it matters.”

  “Right. Whatever. He’s pretty cool. A little out-there. He’s got my genes, for sure.”

  “How did you two meet?”

  “Crazy story. We literally bumped into each other in a bar. It was such a fucked-up moment. Back to back, then we turned, fists cocked back, ready to fight. Then we just stared. We skipped the fight and started talking. Turns out, this guy is my brother. Shit, we even had tests done to prove it. Just for the hell of it. But he moved out to Nevada. Took a job working on custom cars and shit.”

  “Wow, Aiden. That’s kind of cool.”

  “Hey, maybe you have some family out there too.”

  “Maybe,” she said.

  Her mother had been a little bit of a sleep-around in her day, but that was mostly to pay the bills, not for love. Her father, however, was a total fool. Split when she was a baby, and nobody ever saw him again.

  We stood in silence for a few moments.

  Then Lily said, “Promise me…you’re not going to screw up your band and stuff for me.”

  “As long as you promise you’re not going to screw up your work for me.”

  We both grinned and kissed.

  If Lily was sick, then that made me the doctor and her medicine.

  I lifted up the shirt and slid those pink panties down her legs. Then I lifted her and set her down right there on the counter. She gasped, the coffee mug still in her hand, some of the coffee spilling over and hitting my arm.

  It burned, but not as much as she was burning between her thighs.

  I dropped my jeans, grabbed my dick, and gave her another healthy dose of myself.

  I’d cure her of anything…

  But in reality, we were only going to destroy each other.

  Chapter 10

  (I Give Up)

  10 YEARS AGO

  (LILY)

  “Hello?” I whispered into the phone.

  Aiden was next to me, shirtless in bed.

  The room looked like it had been the scene of a college party, but that was just the result of another wild weekend with him.

  “Lily?”

  “Yes…”

  “This is Mark. From Gree-”

  “Mark!” I said and threw the covers off me.

  I was in panties and nothing else.

  I scrambled out of the bed and grabbed a robe. I hurried out of the room as I threw it over my shoulders.

  “I’m right here,” I said. “I was actually just working…”

  “I’m at your office waiting for you. We were supposed to go over the contracts at ten.”

  “You must be early…”

  I looked at the microwave.

  It was ten-thirty.

  Fuck.

  “You’re actually late,” Mark said. “I think-”

  “Mark, I was crunching some numbers for you.” I scrambled to get to my laptop. Sue made me take one two weeks ago. That was the last time I saw Sue, or even the office. I pressed the power button and the orange battery light blinked. No juice. Shit. “I want to figure out your five-year projection…” I grabbed the power cord and plugged it into the laptop. I pressed the power button and the screen lit up. “We have a package… this offer…”

  “Look, I only handle contracts in person,” Mark sa
id. “I also heard you haven’t been around lately. And that three of your clients dropped off.”

  “Who told you that?” I asked.

  “Let’s just say…while I may compete in the board room and on the golf course, we’re all friends. Including the current representative I’ve been talking to. Who also, mind you, is on time, takes my calls, reads my emails-”

  “I read your emails,” I said. “Mark…”

  “Check your email, Lily.”

  I slammed the ENTER key ten times waiting for the laptop to turn on.

  I pulled my phone away from my ear and put it on speaker. I closed out the call screen and checked my email.

  Shit.

  Mark had emailed me last night and I hadn’t seen it. I didn’t check. I should have checked.

  Mark represented a big account for me. And yeah, some of my other accounts had dropped off. I guess you could say I had been slacking. Making up for missed time with Aiden.

  “Okay, I’ve got your email. I can shoot through this in five minutes and then…”

  “Five minutes,” Mark said. “You’re asking me to write a check for six figures, and I get five minutes?”

  “No, Mark, that’s not what I meant. Listen, I’ve been dealing with…”

  “I don’t do the excuse game, Lily. You were recommended to me. Your company was recommended. But now I’m seeing friends of mine move on. I think it’s time…”

  “Mark, I have to ask you to really reconsider,” I said. “What you’re going to see now is perseverance. Okay? I grew up with everyone against me. I never back down from a challenge.”

  “Well, that’s good to hear,” Mark said.

  I let out a sigh without making a sound.

  “Great. So why don’t we have a talk on the phone, and then I’ll treat you to lunch. You pick the place. I’ll be there. We’ll push back any signing of any paperwork as long as you need.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” he said.

  “Okay. Great. I’ll…”

  “Lily. Let me be very clear here. I appreciate that you like a good challenge. Because you’re up against one now. That means your competitors are getting stronger. And I won’t need lunch or time to sign anything. I’ve already sent a text message to my marketing team to set up something else. I’m sorry. I won’t cause a fuss, but you need to reassess what you’re trying to achieve. Have a good day, Lily.”