Her Charming Secret (30 page)

Aiden shook his head. “I can’t do that! I can’t see her in pain!” With that, he got up and went to the living room, leaving a very surprised Alex alone.

The bond between the twins had always run deep. But at times like this, Alex seriously wished they weren’t so dependent on each other. Adele needed to talk this out with Gabe, not Aiden. They were just beginning their marriage, and she had to let him know when she was hurt. 
They
 were the ones married to each other. The fact that Gabe had gone to a conference irked Alex and he wondered again why Adele was so in love with him.

Dinner was enjoyable and they loved the food. But when it came to dessert, Alex took a bite of the brownie and shook his head.

“You think you can fool me by making me eat Aunt Lynn’s brownie and saying Jo made it?”

“No one is trying to fool you! Mine got burnt. They are still there, though; want to eat them instead?” Jo mocked. Alex pulled his brownies closer and shook his head like a child.

After dinner they sat in the living room, sipping coffee as Alex told them how cool his V.P. work was. Just then, Aiden remembered that he needed Alex’s signature on a document, but as he got up to get it, Jo stood up and said she would bring it to him. She went to his room and searched for the file in the drawers.

“Jo, check the one on the bottom right corner,” Aiden called.

“Okey dokey!” she answered and started to search for it again. She opened the wrong drawer, but something caught her eye as she was about to close it. It was a beautiful black box and, when she opened it, she found a solitaire engagement ring. It was so beautiful that she couldn’t bear to see it. She closed the box and shut the drawer after placing it back. She found the file and took it back to Aiden. She knew that was the same ring he had on the day he proposed, but as she had said no, she hadn’t seen it.

Quietly, she sat next to Abigail and handed over the file to Aiden. When she noticed the initials A.D.R on the document, she asked, “What does A.D.R stand for?”

“Huh? My name,” Aiden replied casually and showed Alex the documents.

“What does the ‘D’ stand for?” Jo asked again.

“
Darren
. Aiden Darren Reid. I only use it in the official documents,” he said and turned towards Alex again.

As it was getting late, Abigail got up and said she was going home. Jo got up too. “I’m gonna spend the night at Abby’s. See you boys later,” she said, kissing Aiden’s cheek.

“Jo, wait!” Aiden called after her, but she winked at him, blew a kiss and walked away. Abigail kissed Alex and followed her. When the girls left, Alex jumped on the couch and sat there grinning at Aiden.

“What?” Aiden asked, curiously.

“You guys had plans tonight?”

Aiden sighed before replying, “Yeah, she told me she was going to spend the night here. She always does. What’s gotten into her? I’ll be right back. I need to keep this file in its place.”

He got up and walked towards his bedroom. When he opened the drawer to keep his file, he felt something was off. Looking a little closer, he noticed that the ring box had been moved. He guessed that Jo had seen it and it had freaked her out, which was why she left with Abigail.

“She saw the ring, dude!” Aiden called as he came out of the room.

“Oh my God! You need to show it to someone else now, right? Did she get a phone call yet? Oh, no!” Alex panicked. “That girl from that well will crawl out and get her now!”

“ALEX!” Aiden shouted, shaking his shoulder. “Shut up! I’m not talking about a freaking movie! Jo saw the engagement ring I bought for her.”

“Oh! That ring!” Alex sighed in relief and then chuckled. Aiden groaned and plopped on the couch next to him, punching his shoulder as he sat.

“Ouch! Moron!” Alex moaned. “Look, bud, girls need alone time. So we should just give them some. Let her go, she’ll be alright soon.”

“Alone time? Hmm . . . I wonder what Adele would be up to now.” Aiden sighed.

“Let’s go say hi to her!” Alex grinned and got up.

“You know what time it is? She must be asleep.”

“C’mon, dude, you twins have 
no
 life! Get up, we are going!” Alex pulled him up and pushed him towards the door, handing him his jacket on the way out. They got into his car and Aiden sat on the passenger side, looking at the lights go by. Alex, who was driving, was humming a tune.

Alex’s car was a sleek black BMW M3 convertible that seemed to glide rather than move down the road, and usually, when Alex was behind the wheel, it went at speeds that were extremely high.

With the wind sweeping through their hair, Aiden smiled, closing his eyes to feel the wind flow over his face. Alex had old cheesy love songs on at full blast, and was singing along loudly, completely off-tune.

When they reached Adele’s home, Aiden walked forward to ring the doorbell, but Alex stopped him.

“Let’s sneak in, Aido. We haven’t done that in a while.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Come over here, the window at the back is always open.” Alex walked towards the backyard.

“How do you know about that?” Aiden asked, curiously.

“Err . . . I visited Rachel last year and she left the window open,” Alex said awkwardly and moved forward.

*  *  *

Adele sat on the couch, eating Chinese food and watching a crappy romance drama. She heard a noise and dropped the TV remote. Being all alone at home, she wondered if that had been a good idea. She slowly grabbed a pillow and moved towards the noise. She saw a dark figure in front of her and began to hit it with the pillow as it came towards her.

“Blast it! Adele, stop!” Alex shouted and Aiden ran towards the wall to switch on the light.

“Alex, you moron!” she shouted back, hitting him harder.

“Aaahh! Stop hitting me!”

“How dare you break into my house? I thought you were a freaking thief!” she yelled as Aiden pulled her back.

“Oh wow! You hit a thief with a pillow?” Alex chuckled and got a punch on his shoulder.

“Ouch! Woman, control yourself!”

She slammed the pillow into him again. “You jerk! I was scared to death.”

She moved away and plopped onto the couch. Alex sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulder and she groaned. “You’re eating Chinese? Give me some!” He pulled the bowl of noodles from her hand and happily took a big bite.

“Why the hell are you here?” She groaned.

“We came to see you, but this alien here wanted to break in!” Aiden sighed.

“I’m noft a ailgiren!” Alex mumbled. A few minutes later, he continued, “Actually we are here to take you out for some midnight ice cream. You know, just like old times!”

Adele smiled at that. “That sounds kind of nice actually, but one condition. Stop eating my noodles and get your feet off my couch!”

He nodded before taking a huge bite and setting down the bowl. Adele had by then gotten her jacket on, and the trio made their way to an old hangout, an ice cream place that was open 24/7. It was a small quaint place with extremely well-mannered staff, and the ice cream was always delicious.

While Alex pondered like a child wondering what to get, Aiden got a double vanilla scoop while Adele went for the triple scoop strawberry delight. Finally, Alex settled for a Rainbow Cluster, which was a scoop each of seven different flavors and had a generous amount of chocolate chips on top.

“You planning on eating that whole thing?” Adele asked.

“Yup! And I’m gonna have a banana split after. Just this isn’t going to satisfy me.” Alex winked at her before digging into his ice cream.

Aiden chuckled at Alex’s antics and took a bite out of his own sweet dessert. This was liberating, and brought back memories of when they were teens and had snuck out to eat ice cream.

Alex pointed his spoon at Adele. “So, dear cousin, how goes eternal confinement?”

Adele laughed. “Seriously, Alex! Only you would call it that.”

Alex made a face. “Well, when you are marrying a sourpuss like Gabe, I can’t help but worry for your happiness.”

“I’m happy.” She sighed, not convincing herself. “I’ll be fine, guys, don’t worry about me.”

They ended up spending the whole night talking about stuff from their past and lost track of time.

The next morning, Aiden and Alex picked up Jo and Abigail to have lunch at the Reid’s. Adelynn had been extremely excited to officially meet the girls as her boys’ girlfriends. Somehow, when they sat down, Jo ended up squished between Ashton and Alex, while Aiden was on the other side of the table with Aubrey hanging on to him, all the while glaring at Jo like she was sure she would snatch Aiden away.

Lunch was casual and pleasant, with the food and conversation flowing smoothly over the table. Alex and Aiden had both groaned when Lynn had pulled out their baby albums and then proceeded to show the most embarrassing pictures to Jo and Abby.

Abigail couldn’t help but smile when she saw a picture of baby Alex who was so chubby and cute. As they looked at all the pictures, one particular photograph caught Jo’s eye. She picked it up to see a very familiar face. It was a picture of a boy who stood alone, with a strange faraway look in his eyes.

“Ashton, who is this?” she asked Ash, who sat next to her showing Abigail a funny picture of Alex.

“That’s Aid. He was strange back then. Weird and uncool.” Ashton chuckled and turned away. She placed the picture on the table and walked in daze towards Aiden, who stood near the kitchen with Aubrey. Jo touched his arm and he turned towards her with a concerned look in his eyes. Aubrey immediately caught his hand tightly.

“Is everything alright?” Aiden asked.

“I don’t think I’m feeling well. I’m going home.” Jo sighed, lowering her face so she wouldn’t have to meet his eyes.

“I’ll take you home,” he said, grabbing her hand.

She shook her head and replied, “No, I’m taking a cab. You know I’ve a meeting with the publishers tomorrow, it’s a little stressful.”

“Take a day off, baby,” Aiden said, kissing her brow before pulling her into a hug.

“I will!”

Jo said goodbye to everyone and was about to leave when Abigail called her. She decided to go with Jo when she saw the stress on Jo’s face and how strange she was acting. After the girls left, Aiden plopped on the couch near Alex, wondering if Jo wasn’t happy with him anymore and their relationship was coming to an end soon. A sudden feeling of emptiness drained all the happiness he felt, and he missed the concerned look Ashton and Alex sent his way.

* * *

The next morning had Aiden shuddering with a foreboding feeling. Somehow he felt extremely negative vibes, which were further confirmed when Adele called up to say that she felt like something really bad was going to happen. All through his drive, he couldn’t shake off the feeling of unease, further cementing his belief that things were not right. When he walked into his office, the strangest of things caught his eye. There, right on Jo’s desk was a single black rose, complete with thorns, placed on a note.

He was so lost in his thoughts, wondering who could have sent her a black rose, that he didn’t feel Alex’s presence behind him.

Alex cleared his throat. “Ahem! Is everything okay, Aido?”

“Who could do this?” Aiden asked as he picked up the flower. “Jen, can I see you in my office now?” He turned around and spoke to her in a serious tone before walking away. Alex followed him quietly.

“Yes, Mr. Reid,” Jen said once she was standing in front of his desk.

“Who delivered this flower and the note? I want to know the details immediately. Find out where it came from,” Aiden said, looking out of the huge glass window.

“Yes, sir,” Jen answered and left the office.

“Read the note,” Alex said as he sat on the chair.

“But it’s hers.” Aiden sighed, but pulled it open and read it out loud.

Dear Josephine,

Roses are known to be red, the color of love. An emotion that most humans foolishly believe is worth everything. You know it’s wrong, don’t you? Well if you don’t, I’ll give you a clue. Think your never-ending love will survive if I cross your path?

Oh well, here’s a black rose from a black heart. Hope you get what it means.

Love,

R.K.

“Wow! What a crazy love letter!” Alex muttered, raking his hand through his hair.

“Sounds more like a threat,” Aiden stated, looking at the note in disbelief. “What if it’s a stalker? What if she has been hiding him all along?”

“Possible. She must be scared to tell you, but those initials . . . why are they so familiar?” Alex asked, picking up the note to read it again.

“Black heart, black rose . . . and R.K.? Who are you, R.K.?” Alex sighed as he tried to figure it out. “Wait, Aiden, I think I know.”

“What is it?”

“R.K. can only be
one
person. Richard Knight! Black heart, black knight. It fits perfectly!”