Chapter 15 A Second Chance
Chapter 15 A Second Chance
Staring at Aidan as he asked me to chat with him, I thought.
+10 Free Coins
Just because Nadia and Aidan were in the same place, and I didn’t want to raise suspicion or have Jenna or Esme start asking questions, I decided to listen to him.
“Fine. But you have three minutes, and that’s it.”
Aidan smiled, revealing his dimpled cheek. “Let’s go somewhere a little more quiet,” he said, leading me away from the crowd by the small of my back.
The contact from his touch was subtle, yet I felt it like his hands were all over me. From the way my skin started to heat up and goosebumps started to make their way down my skin, I knew without thinking that I would still feel his touch long even after Aidan’s hand was off me.
Forcing every thought and un–thought things away, I focused on the present.
When we found a quiet spot, Aidan opened his mouth to speak but closed it again.
He finally spoke.
“I’ve thought of what I would say if you eventually gave me a listening ear, and I even rehearsed before coming here, but it has all turned to dust within seconds,” he said, laughing humorlessly.
So I crossed my hands over my chest and spoke instead. “Why are you here, Aidan? What do you want with us?”
“I need you to trust me when I say that I had no idea you were here all this time. If I knew…”
I cut him off. “If you knew, what would you have done? Come back to finish me off for good?”
Aidan ran a hand through his hair with a deep sigh, letting me know that this was difficult for him too.
“Goddess, Tara, no. If I had seen you after everything, it would have taken one look at her for me to know the truth, just like it did now. I was blind, Tara, and I messed up. I hate myself for it, but I want to try.”
I shook my head. I was trying so hard to forget everything that happened back then, or even justify a fraction of Aidan’s actions, but I couldn’t.
“Try what?” I asked quietly, swallowing the thick lump that had settled in my throat. “What exactly do you want to try, Aidan?”
“I want to fix it. I want to try to give you half of the life that you and Nadia could have had if things had been different. Please, Tara, give me a second chance.”
Goddess, was he serious?
A dry laughter broke out from my lips, and I stared at him unbelievably. “So that you could toss me aside like a rag the moment you hear some made–up news about me again?”
Aidan looked pained, but I didn’t care. He didn’t care about me when I was at my lowest, so I didn’t care about him now.
Running a hand down his face, Aidan responded. “Everything you think of me, Tara, I am. And I deserve your anger and your hate, but what I also am, is sorry. I am sorry beyond words, and I want to show that to you. Let me,” he said. “Please,” he added with a whisper.
Him acting like a saint made it ten times harder to hate him the way I wanted to. Angry tears welled up in my eyes, and I quickly wiped it away with the back of my palm.
Aidan waited quietly for me to speak, but I said nothing. We just stared at one another.
When the sound of a microphone from the party setting cut through the silent battle between me and Aidan, I took a step back with a small gasp.
With whatever resolve I could muster, I took a deep breath to respond to Aidan’s last words.
1/2
12:39 PM
Chapter 15 A Second Chance
O
+10 Free Coins
‘Let me try and fix it,‘ he said.
‘Give me a second chance,’ he said.
I stared at Aidan, and memories of how I almost lost my life to Kayla’s acid and knife attack because of him resurfaced. As the doctor said, Nadia was a fighter, so she survived.
But what if she hadn’t?
Memories of the hardship I faced because of him resurfaced. The loneliness, the sleepless nights, the hunger and pain, and with all those thoughts, my answer to Aidan’s plea fell from my lips.
“No.”
Aidan let out the breath he was holding, and goddess, I could feel the pain he felt.
Without waiting for him to say anything else to me, I blinked the rest of the tears away from my eyes, and I turned my back to him, walking away.
I took a moment to get myself together before reappearing in the open space, making it seem to the outside eye like nothing just happened.
When I got back to our seats, Nadia was stuffing her face with snacks, and Jenna and Esme were no longer deep in conversation, but now watching the alphas line up for the friendly opening race.
I took my seat quietly as I tried to school my features.
Jenna, though, saw through me like glass. “Is everything okay, honey?” She asked.
“Yes, of course,” I said, forcing a tight–lipped smile as my attention hovered between Jenna’s scrutiny and the racing lines before us.
“You sure?” She probed, to which I nodded once. I didn’t even have it in me to talk after my encounter with Aidan. “I would let you know if it’s serious,” I said to make her calm down. “This is nothing.”
If only it was in fact, nothing.
