Worthy of Me (9 page)

A few weeks later I got home to find another car in the parking. I walked in to find Allison sitting at the table with a furious Aiden.

“What happened?” I asked both of them.

Allison’s face was smug, she opened her mouth to tell me God knows what when Aiden silenced her with a look. “Nothing,” he said in a cold calculated voice.

I shrugged and walked up to our room.

The next day when I got home it was to my room being back as it was. My stuff was moved back and Aiden’s stuff was in his own room. I wanted to ask him what was going on but decided to let it go.

The days passed with me missing him. Literally. When I would wake, he would already be gone. When I would cover my shift at Kingston, he was nowhere to be found. On weekends, he wasn’t there at all.

He was avoiding me.

I knew it had something to do with Allison. I tried to find her as well but it seemed like she was playing hide and seek with me. Something was up and no one knew or no one wanted to tell me anything. I had a case of déjà vu coming on. This reminded me so much of the things that happened back home. My breaking point was seeing Haley leave the house the one night when I got back from my shift at Kingston. When I knocked at Aiden’s door there was no reply. When I tried to open it, it was locked. Something was wrong.

I needed to sort it out once and for all.

I sat at the kitchen table the entire day going through at least nine cups of coffee, enough to make me feel buzzed. The lights of Aiden’s Volvo cut through the darkness. I purposely left off all the lights so that he would think I wasn’t home. He got in and did the usual, lock up and threw his keys on the table. He made his way into the kitchen and put the light on.

He was startled to see me sitting there but tried to ignore me.

“You want to tell me what’s going on?” I asked in a soft voice.

Aiden paused and snorted. “I think I should be asking you that.”

“Excuse me?” I frowned. “What are you on about?”

Aiden put down his can of coke and looked at me with anger in his gaze and a curl to his lips. I knew that whatever he was going to do or say was going to hurt—bad.

“Did you have fun screwing me over?” Aiden spat.

“What?”

“Oh yeah, play dumb. Mia Scott knows how to play. She looks out for herself first. Isn’t that what you told me once?” Aiden laughed sarcastically. “You told me you had no heart and I fucking didn’t listen, now I’m the joke isn’t it?”

“What the hell are you on about?” I shouted.

“The fact that you’ve been playing me all this damn time!” Aiden roared making me stumble away from him. “You came in here needing a place which I gave—free of fucking charge. You needed a job which I gave without knowing you from a bar of soap. I tried to date you and be your friend and your payback was to make me feel as if I was taking advantage of you. I admitted that I had feelings for you and your reaction was to lie to me and say you felt the same!”

“I do feel the same!” I shouted back. “How could you doubt that?”

Aiden reached above the fridge and pulled out a stack of something and flung them at me, one of them managing to leave a cut along my cheek. They were photographs. Tons and tons of photographs. Some with me in it, some with me and the clothes I wore and all of those were with other guys.

“Silent now, aren’t you? Silent because I got proof!” Aiden spat sarcastically.

I looked at him with the pain from my heart reflected in my eyes. “You believe those?”

“What more do you want, Mia?” Aiden said softly. “What more do you want from me? You got a place and a job and you even got to fuck me as many times as you want.
These photos? How can anyone fake that?”

I nodded once and lifted every photo from the floor. I said nothing to Aiden and walked up the stairs. I sat on the edge of the bed and looked around at the place that had become my home. I looked at all the frames around me of my friends and
I. Once again, someone tried to mess with my happiness and this time they succeeded because not only did they take away my smile but they had my broken heart shattered all over again. I had begun packing my things when I noticed something…

I could hear Aiden and Allison in the kitchen they were arguing about something. I drug my suitcases and duffels with me. They both stopped when they noticed me. Aiden had a pained expression when he looked at my luggage, while Allison had a smug one. I paused at the door and walked into the kitchen.

“Here’s your rent for the last eight months,” I placed the envelope on the table.

Aiden looked at it and at me, I knew he was about to tell me to keep it so I powered on. I looked at Allison. “Tell me something, what was it you were hoping to do with your life after highschool?”

Allison frowned at me. “What business is that of yours, skank?”

I chuckled. “Answer the question, brat.”

Allison glanced at aide waiting for him to do something when he did nothing she turned to me. “Editing and designing, why?”

I glanced at Aiden. “Who gave you these photos, Aiden?”

Aiden glanced at me and then the photos in my hand. “Haley did, why?”

Allison started laughing really loudly. “What are you going to blame me for those photos? Trust me those are real.”

Aiden blinked and frowned at Allison. “How do you know? Haley brought it straight to me and I hadn’t shown it you. I wouldn’t show that to anyone.”

I ignored Aiden’s glare and focused on Allison. “How did you know, Allison?”

“Stop trying to cause troubles, you whore! You messed around behind my brother’s back and here is the evidence to prove it,” she gestured to the stack of photographs.

“You are so transparent, Allison,” I chuckled and pulled out my framed photos from my duffel bag.

I set them down on the table and then arrange the stack of photos accordingly. Aiden looked at them and his eyes widened.

“You see, Allison, if you are planning on going into editing… you might wanna learn how to do it properly,” I glared at her. “Scanning photographs and then cutting out the images to place them in other images? Really? Photoshop was the best you could do? Next time make sure you blur the edges so that parts of the original picture don’t show up in the new one.”

Aiden looked at Allison horrified. “Allison? Why would you?”

Allison looked stricken and tears ran down her face. “I tried to save you from her. She’s wrong for you.”

“That wasn’t your decision to make!” Aiden shouted.

“You did this!” I shouted and took a step towards her. “You messed up our relationship and you stole from my room to get these pictures.” I pointed to the one of Thomas and me outside the Tech. “It was you hiding in the bushes that day Thomas forced himself on me, wasn’t it?”

I pulled out the main pictures, the pictures that made my body tremble and my head swim with horrific images. The pictures of the night I was drugged. Thomas and some other guy over me, trying to pull of my clothes but making it look as if I was allowing them to do it.

“And this! This is the night I was drugged!”

Aiden’s head snapped to the pictures and he stared at them in horror.

“You saw me drugged, you saw me almost raped by these two and you stood and took pictures of it?” I gritted my teeth taking another step towards her.

“No, that wasn’t me. That was Haley. She told me she had something planned for the frat party. Most of these pictures were taken by her!” Allison shouted.

I snatched up all the photographs and threw it at Aiden’s face just as he did to me the night before. “You had a lot to say last night. So do I, the difference is, I have all my facts straight. Your sister and Haley framed me, they stole from my room and Haley tried to have me raped and your sister knew about it. You saw these pictures and took it at face value. You didn’t speak to me about it. Instead, you avoided me and blamed me for things I didn’t do.”

I laughed at Aiden. “The funny thing is? I told you. I told you about the incident with my best friend and that guy, didn’t I? I told you that he never believed me and never trusted me and what did you do?”

Aiden looked down. “I didn’t expect my sister to do this.”

I snorted. “You know what, Aiden? The people that hurt you the most are your family. Trust
me, I’ve learnt the hard way.”

I collected all the photographs and stuffed them in my duffel. I glanced at Allison and watched as she paled at the feral look o my face. “You give Haley a message for me. If she ever comes near me again, I will take all these photographs including the ones of the night I was drugged and go to the police.”

Allison flinched in fear.

“And that goes for you too,” I said.

That was when I grabbed my bags and walked out. Leaving my broken heart with the man who couldn’t trust me enough.

Aiden…

I searched everywhere for her over the last three months. Dianna had known where she was but said nothing to me. Everyone was disappointed in me. My parents, my staff and so was I. The thing is, when you have your heart ripped out once, you kind of expect it happen over and over again. It’s foolish, but it’s also human nature.

It hurts to put all your love and faith into someone; only to realise that all that time you spent, all those feelings you felt and all those secrets you told—were lies.

Carolyn was my first love. She was this dream come true kind of girl. Long blonde hair, big brown eyes and a killer body that made so many women jealous and so many men drool.

We were together since highschool and were saving ourselves for marriage. At the time I spent every dime I could on her. I bought her, her first car. I spent hundreds on shopping trips and holidays. I managed to keep my virginity intact just for her and the day we got married. I had the ring and everything setup for a surprise proposal. I was twenty-one and I had just bought the building for Kingston.

Carolyn had no idea I would be coming home early that night. I slid in quietly, holding the velvet box in my hand. I had just purchased a five bedroom family mansion with my trust fund form my granddad. Everything was set. I walked down the hall getting closer to our bedroom only to hear the gasps and slap of skin against skin. I stood still right until she screamed out her climax.

“God, Caro, that was amazing!” dickhead said from my bedroom.

“All that pent up tension from the lack of sex,” Carolyn chuckled.

“I don’t get it, why don’t you just fuck him already?” dickhead asked.

“It’s all part of the plan. You men are twisted. Give you sex and you’re reeled in. Aiden? Aiden has been brought up to respect a woman, to shower her with love and affection and money. He’s been taught to be the faithful dog in the marriage.”

“So you’re
marrying him for his money then?”

Carolyn chuckled.
“Of course. Have you seen the things he buys and the places he takes me? He won’t even look at another girl when I’m around. He will worship the ground I walk on. Treat me like the princess he believes I am.”

“So you can fuck around while he stays at home waiting for you?”

“Exactly,” Carolyn laughed loud and proceeded to kiss the dickhead.

I pushed the door opened then. “And what happens when that faithful dog finds out?”

That night I had felt a sick sort of satisfaction watching the blood drain from her face and see them scramble to put their clothes on. I called the police and had them locked up for trespassing. Soon after that I sold the mansion, the car and all the jewellery I bought for her and used that money to get her out of town along with a restraining order that if she ever entered Houghton again, I would sue her ass.

That same night I bedded five women and hadn’t stopped fucking my way through the town. Thereafter I focused on Kingston and everything was right in the world until Mia.

She was a breath of fresh air with her green eyes, dark hair and voluptuous body. Her attitude and sense of style tilted my world around. I had no idea when I started falling in love with her. It could have been the first day I opened the door and she devoured me with her gaze or it could’ve been that day outside the bathroom, hell it may even have been the day she told Allison off.

But I love her.

There was pain in her eyes. So much pain, I wanted to find a sword and slay those dragons for her. I wanted to make all her nightmares disappear. I wanted to be hers.

I had it and I threw it away all because of my pride and my inability to get over Carolyn and her betrayal. I drove to the park and sat on the bench under a huge oak tree. It was a rare day of sunshine and it shone through the branches and leaves making patterns on the grass.

I looked up at the blue sky and prayed. I prayed I could see her one more time. Just to apologise, to beg and to tell her how much I love her. I needed her more than my next breath. I needed to tell her how much she meant to me. I needed to remind her of all those times we spent together. I had to remind her of how good we were together.

I shook my head and looked down.

There she was. My Mia, walking towards me with a frown on her face and hesitance in her steps, her body encased in tight jeans and an old t-shirt of mine. I had never seen her more beautiful in my life.

“What are you doing here?” she asked in a soft voice.

I closed my eyes and let the tears I held back, fall. I gasped when I felt the soft pads of her thumbs brush away the tears. I opened my eyes to stare into her wet green ones.

“I guess I need to turn in my man card for all this emotional stuff, huh?” I laughed.

Mia shook her head. “No, but, Aiden… what are you doing here?”

I told her then about Carolyn and why I doubted her. Mia listened in silence next to me, occasionally rubbing my hands or entwining her fingers with mine—it was something she did when she had no idea what else to do with herself.

“I saw the photos and my first thought wasn’t about looking for the fakeness in them, it was like Carolyn all over again,” I sighed. “If I could do it all over, I would.”

“I know,” Mia said. “Now that I know what you went through before, I can understand why you reacted like that.”

Mia drew in a small breath and then blew it out. “I grew up in a broken home. My sisters came and went as they please and my parents were forever fighting. We moved from house to house, never really staying in one place for too long.”

I watched as she gazed out, unseeing.

“My mom and I were finally happy together. She got this job and was earning enough money, my dad and she were civil over the phone and he would visit whenever he could. It was the happiest year ever. I think I was the only kid in the world who preferred her parents apart than together.

“But then he whispered promises in her ear. Promises of us being a family again and going back to the town we were finally away from. My mom gave in and we were back in the old town this time with my sisters in tow. They treated mom and dad like crap. They went out partying
and one of my sisters was a little dramatic about wanting to be with her boyfriend.

After a while both my sisters got married and moved out. By then I was twelve and things were a little okay. I say a little because one of my sisters lived across us. So the tension between the families was extraordinary.”

Mia paused and then looked at me.

“I was just finished with primary school when I saw my dad’s side of the closet empty and all his things gone. I had no idea what happened. My mom was crying non-stop and wouldn’t tell me anything. I figured since they always fought maybe they fought again and he took some time off or something. I started highschool and it was scary.

The worst part was every day when I got home I would see my mom passed out or trying to do things to herself. It was only after some girl came up to me and apologised for my dad having an affair and leaving us for another family—that I figured out what my mom was really trying to do.”

“What was that?” I asked, amazed at her strong composed face.

“She was continuously trying to kill herself. Sometimes it was an overdose, another would be trying to slit her wrists and then there was her trying to burn herself. She kept telling people that I would be better off without her and that she didn’t want to live if my dad wasn’t there. Once she almost succeeded and I remember watching the paramedics pronounce her dead. It dawned on me that she didn’t want me.”

I felt my heart break for Mia. She was my
sunshine, she wasn’t supposed to be given this amount of pain.

“She stopped after that, said that she wouldn’t try killing herself anymore but instead she found solace in something else—alcohol. She drank every day, drank until those bottles were empty. Then my life started changing. It started with small things like harsh words or falling asleep on the couch. Then it became slaps and beatings. I had learned to pretend to sleep, although sometimes that wouldn’t matter, she’d just drag me out of bed to deliver her anger and pass out again.”

“Where was your dad through all of this?” I asked angered that a man would let this happen to his daughter.

“He was living his life with his new family. Whenever I called, his woman would answer t
he call and make sexual sounds,” Mia winced.

“What?” I exploded. “He let you listen to that?”

“He probably thought it was my mother calling but I was the one to hear it. Anyway, there were times when things got unbearable at home. I called him and he would tell me to go to my friend’s house or go to my sister. He would never try to make things right, hell he would never even call the next day to find out if I was okay. I finally left for a while to stay with my gran and then my mom followed and then she and I moved together again. She started drinking again and things got worse. Even at twenty-one my mom felt she had the right to beat me and treat me like a ragdoll. So I left and here we are.”

I stared at Mia in amazement. She went through all this and still managed to get up and live. I knew one thing that even if she didn’t take me back the one thing I would always have for her was respect.
An immense amount of respect.

“There were times when I wanted to end it all. I became a
cutter, every time my mother would hurt me I would look for a blade and inflict enough pain so that the emotions would just go away. I was lucky I had a lot of pride, if it were not for that pride then I would be dead by now,” Mia looked at me with tears in her eyes.

“I’ve been used like a puppet all my life, Aiden, by my parents, my sisters, my friends and even guys. I can’t be with someone that’s going to drop me as soon as something is said or things get rough.”

I got down on my knees and held both of her hands in mine and stared into the green depth of her eyes. “I made a mistake, Mia, one that I will not repeat. I will love you and cherish you in a way that would make all the bad things seem like distant memories. I will be the protective man that needed when you were twelve, I will be that caring shoulder when you need to cry and most importantly? I will be your salve for the broken pieces of your heart. I will be worthy of you, Mia.”