The Lie (The Skyy Huntington Series) (13 page)

“It will be dark soon, I will go by Pitkins house and get his mail, and do a little breaking and entering of my own if I can’t find what I need in his mailbox. After that we are going to get started on your house, if that is ok?” I nodded. What else could I do? Aiden was willing to put his life on hold to get to the bottom of this for me.

He turned back to the computer and was clicking away with the mouse. I smiled, picturing him in this very room chatting with me on the IM program. The room was pretty dark except for one light he had on his computer desk and the light from the other monitors in the room. I bet it could get pretty depressing in this house with it being dark 24/7.

We had about an hour before dark, give or take. Aiden finished up whatever he was doing on the computer and offered to play me in a game or two of darts. We killed the time until dark with darts and a quick game of pool in which he cleaned my clock.

“I’m going to head over to Pitkin’s house. I’ll leave you a spare key to the house and a remote for the front gate if you want to leave and get some food while I am gone. I shouldn’t be more than an hour tops,” he said. We went down the big staircase to the lower floor and he handed me the remote, gave me a small hug and left.

I really had no idea what to do, I wasn’t comfortable enough in his house to just relax and do whatever I pleased, so I decided to get in my car and go grab some food, and since I was apparently going to be staying there for at least a few days I may as well grab some groceries too. I felt bad about leaving Cupcake alone in a strange house but I was sure she’d behave and he really seemed ok with her being there.

Aiden was already back by the time I returned from the grocery store. He didn’t even take a car. Very impressive. As I was putting the food away in the kitchen, he briefed me on what he had found.

“Unfortunately there wasn’t a phone bill of any kind in his mailbox, so I had to get inside the house and do some searching. Not that he will mind, seeing as right now he is probably sitting in a pile of his own poo and blowing bubbles while talking to leprechauns.” I laughed out loud at that one, what a way to describe Mr. Pitkin’s newfound mental state. “I found the last few statements of his home and cell phones though, he made and received several calls to a number in Europe in the last few weeks. Hungary to be exact. I called this number from a pay phone and I got an answering machine, no voice just an automated message asking you to leave your name and number.”

“So what does this mean?” I asked him as I boosted myself up on a kitchen counter to sit.

“Well, I didn’t find anything else in his house that would tie him to anything illegal in Europe. He is a creep for sure, has his hands in a lot of dirty things. My guess is whoever hired him for this job wanted someone who was clueless, a regular street thug who wouldn’t ask questions. Your address was written down on a notepad by his phone though, so I am beginning to think it was not a mistake,” he said glumly.

I sighed. What in the heck was my grandfather into, and why was I the lucky one to get this part of his inheritance. “Alright, well I guess we should head over to my house and start looking around for this book,” I said. Aiden nodded. I ran up to my guest room, grabbed the leash and hooked up Cupcake, and we were off to my house.

Chapter 7

Aiden made me wait in the car while he went into my house first to make sure everything was safe. He said he did not smell or sense anyone in the house since we had last left, which was a relief. He had brought a little insulated knapsack with him, and asked if he could put it into the freezer. I didn’t ask why, but I assumed that was his “dinner” for later and I was fine with that, better a meal-to-go than me. We decided that the den would be a good staging ground to start going through things, and we would make a keep, donate, and trash pile as we went. Most of the downstairs went by quickly, my grandfather hadn’t kept much stuff in the den, living room, or kitchen and I had already cleared most of it out when I moved in anyway. We moved on to a small hall closet downstairs which held a couple boxes, nothing important. Old shoes, some magazines, and some old VHS tapes. We decided to keep the VHS tapes in case they might have anything important on them, though neither of us owned a VCR anymore. We got the downstairs area all covered within two hours.

I was reluctant to let go of some of the items, even though they were just knick knacks and the like, because I had grown up seeing those in this house ever since I could remember and they reminded me of my grandfather. So I just decided to box them up, it wouldn’t take much space, a few boxes maybe at most. We had a pretty big trash pile going, and a few pair of shoes and jackets we had found in the donate pile.

“Which area would you like to tackle next? The basement or the second floor?” I asked Aiden as I took a sip from a bottle of water. It was just after 10 p.m. and I was wide awake, after sleeping in so late. He was kneeling down putting the jackets into a plastic bag, when he stopped suddenly looking towards the front of the house.

“You’ve got company coming,” he said. My heart stopped beating. Another robber coming to break in. Surely they could see the lights on and the car in the driveway though! He could see me start to panic, and he rose up to his feet with a look of uncertainty on his face. I heard a car door close outside, and I wondered why Aiden was just standing there, not doing anything.

“I’m not sure what you would like me to do Skyy, I can exit out the back if you like?” he said assuming I knew what the hell he was talking about. Then my doorbell rang. Thieves didn’t ring doorbells. Then it dawned on me who it was. I almost preferred a thief over Christian at this point.

“Just stay right here, don’t go outside,” I told him directly. Then I added, “Please.” We were still in the den, which was just down a small hall off the foyer and main living room. I could hear his key in the lock already! How impatient, and rude. He hadn’t even called first. Then I pulled my cell out of my pocket and realized he
had
called, about four times in the last hour but my phone was on silent. Aiden looked like a deer in the headlights.

Christian opened the door and called out, “Skyy? You home?” he yelled louder than I would have liked. I sucked in my breath. Aiden and I had both moved to the hallway when we heard the key in the lock. He turned his head towards us, and just stared. He had a pizza box in one hand, and flowers in the other, and a six pack of beer perched under his arm. His peace offering I assumed.

“Hey, Christian,” I said. I was speechless. I knew what this must look like to him, and I felt awful for it. I moved down the hallway towards him, the front door was still partially open. Not only was I hurting Christian but I was putting Aiden in a horrible position. I am sure Christian would never detect him as anything but human, but I knew Aiden didn’t like meeting people unless it was on his terms. Especially my closest friend/potential future boyfriend.

“I’m sorry Skyy, I didn’t know I was interrupting something, I called first. A few times,” Christian said quickly. I offered to take the pizza box out of his hands, and he let me. I figured the right thing to do was introduce them. I tried to put my happy face on, and smooth this over.

“It’s ok Christian, this is my friend Aiden. He lives in the neighborhood. Aiden this is my best friend Christian I’ve told you so much about,” I said as I looked back at Aiden who was walking up to shake hands with Christian. After the handshake, the room got silent again.

“I brought some pizza, and well…these,” Christian said as he offered me the bouquet of flowers. My heart almost broke as he stood there looking defeated and sad. I took the flowers from his hand.

“Thanks Christian, they’re pretty,” I said as I smelled them. Aiden was just standing to the left of me, his face showed no emotion but I bet he was ready to get the heck out of my house or see Christian leave ASAP.

Thankfully Christian asked, “Skyy, can I talk to you for a second please? Outside?” I glanced over at Aiden who just nodded and walked back down the hallway to the den.

I knew that even though Christian and I were outside, Aiden would still be able to hear our conversation. I placed the flowers on the table I had in the foyer, and followed him out the front door with the pizza box in tow.

I didn’t have a jacket on and it was still chilly outside. We walked all the way out to his car, and then he stopped, pulled a beer out of the six pack he had with him, and put the rest on top of the roof of his car.

“Christian, I know what this must look like, but I swear it isn’t what you think,” I said, almost in a whisper.

He stood silent for a moment, then spoke, “Well, tell me what it is then Skyy? Because what it looks like is you leading me on and blowing me off when something better comes along. What the hell Skyy, you told me to cool it and I have been trying as best as I know how to deal with that, but I can’t deal with you not being in my life as my best friend.” He looked like he was about to cry.

“I know Christian, I hate it too. I don’t like fighting with you. It’s all my fault, and now this looks even worse. But I swear to you, he’s just a friend. He is helping me go through Grandpa’s stuff and box it all up ----” he cut me off then.

“Why the fuck would you want a
stranger
helping you box up your Grandpa’s things Skyy? I am your best friend! I knew him, I liked him, I have been here with you the whole time through all of this. Why wouldn’t you ask
me
to help you?” he wasn’t quite shouting but he was upset.

“Christian, keep your voice down, I have neighbors ----” he cut me off again.

“Yes, I can see that, and apparently they look like supermodels and want to help you box up all your memories and lend you a shoulder to cry on!” he said bluntly.

If I had not known the real reason behind Aiden being here and helping me, those words might have hurt a little more than they did. But instead my patience was wearing thin. “Look, I know you’re pissed off. I know you came over here with good intentions and I appreciate that. This isn’t what it seems, I am not that big of a bitch that I would lie to you about seeing someone else. He is my friend, and that is it. There is a lot more to all of this, and if you weren’t being such an asshole I might tell you, but right now I just want you to leave,” I said, my voice escalating with each word more and more.

He took another sip of his beer, and leaned up against his car and sighed so loudly and dramatically I almost laughed. “I’ll just sit out here and finish my beer before I go. Maybe I’ll eat the pizza too,” he said. Great so now I would have a tailgating party of one in my driveway.

“Christian, if you want to come inside and eat the pizza you can. I need to get back inside and get back to work though,” I said as I started to turn around to walk back inside.

“Who the hell packs boxes at eleven at night? Can you see why I am upset Skyy? If this were two in the afternoon I might feel differently.” Well, vampires pack boxes at eleven at night, Christian…I thought to myself.

I could see his point though, and felt terrible about it, even though he was being aggressive.

I went over to him again, and leaned into him for a hug. He wrapped his long arms around me and I breathed him in. He smelled clean, like soap and fabric softener. “I can’t do this Skyy,” he said in a whisper so soft I could barely hear it. “I love you so much, I can’t do this anymore, I can’t see you with anyone else.”

And with that he gently pushed me off of him, and grabbed the remaining six pack of beer off the hood of his car, threw that and the pizza in the passenger seat, hopped in the driver seat and shut the door. I tried to protest, but what could I really say to him? Him even being here could be potentially dangerous to him, and I knew Aiden wasn’t thrilled with him being here either. He looked up at me as he cranked the ignition on, and then sped out of my long driveway.

Within seconds of his departure, Aiden was next to me in the driveway. “I’m so sorry Skyy, I didn’t mean to make trouble for you,” he said sincerely. I looked at his perfect face. His eyes were glowing that soft reflective green again in the darkness.

“I’m sure you heard all of that, then?” I asked. He nodded.

I sighed and then I started crying. I wasn’t much of a crybaby, in fact I never really cried. Aiden moved closer to me to hug me and I wrapped my arms around him. Getting his perfectly perfect turtleneck sweater all wet. “I am so sorry you had to meet him like that, I know you are mad at me,” I sobbed. “He’s a really nice guy usually, I promise.”

Aiden just held me and rubbed my back. I started shaking from the cold outside air. After a minute or two my crying had started to die down, he suggested moving back into the house.

I saw the flowers on the foyer and started crying all over again. Between bagging up my grandfather’s stuff, the fight with Christian, and almost getting killed over a book I had not even known I owned, I was burnt out.

“Let's lock up for the night and get you into a hot bath so you can relax?” he said, more of a statement than a question.

I wiped my eyes, sniffed, and nodded my head yes. I was sure that I could keep plugging through all my grandpa’s stuff tonight, but I didn’t really want to.

“Do you like to swim?” Aiden asked me, seemingly from out of nowhere.

“Yes, why?” I asked in return.

“Well if you would like to swim or sit in a hot tub, I have those at my house too,” he offered.

Of course he did. What didn’t he have? Perfect life, perfect body, and a perfect swimming pool. I trudged upstairs and got my swim suit, wondering who would be swimming in this kind of weather and guessed he had a heated pool, though I couldn’t recall seeing it out back. I also grabbed another change of clothes and some clean PJ’s. We locked up my house and drove down the street to the mansion.

We didn’t even talk on the ride to his house. Once we were inside and let the dog off the leash, he looked over at me and said, “I am not well accustomed to females of this era, or any era for that matter. If you would like to just go up to your guest room and be alone I understand,” Aiden said shyly, and looked down at his feet.