15

The next day was the same routine. It was Sunday but, she couldn't get to church anymore so...up at five...she got up, dressed in yoga pants, tank top, cropped hoodie, and footies. Rolled out a yoga mat and did her pilates routine. Drank water and a smoothie. Showered, dressed in leggings, a tank top and an oversized, sleeveless, hoodie and sat down to work, ear buds in her ears. Around two o'clock, there was a knock on her door. She had forgotten all about, Aiden's promise to check on her the next day until she looked through the peephole and saw him standing there. Her heart began to race and her palms got sweaty but, she unlocked all of the locks and opened the door just enough for him to let himself in.

"Hi." She said, nervously, "Sorry, I'm kind of in the middle of a report for work. I got a little behind with all the excitement yesterday and had to play catch up early this morning. I shouldn't be long though, if you want to wait. Just make yourself at home."

"Work? Where do you work if you can't leave the house without a police escort?" He asked, curiously.

"Online research companies." She said, tiredly, as she tried to rotate her neck to release a kink, "I work for three. This particular one is for social media research. I work anywhere from eight to twelve hours a day monitoring sites and analyzing data or completing analysis reports."

He took a seat beside her at the breakfast bar and watched as her fingers began to fly across the keyboard again.

"This is a lot easier and goes a lot faster if I have my desktop and dual screens too but, they got trashed and the insurance company hasn't cut the checks to replace them yet." She explained, rotating her head again.

"Here, let me try something," He said, standing behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders. She tensed. "Relax, Princess. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to work that kink out of your neck for you."

Katie took a deep breath and let it out focusing on the screen so, that she didn't focus on the fact that the man she had been secretly crushing on for the last year was in her apartment, standing behind her, with his hands on her shoulders.

"Have you ever had a massage before, Princess?" He asked, softly, as her began to stroke her neck and her shoulders in preparation.

"No," She murmured, as he began to gently stroke her muscles in her neck and shoulders with light, long strokes, applying gentle pressure in spots that were tense. "Oh my God!" She gasped, as he deepened his touch in a particularly tense spot and he chuckled as he continued his ministrations until she was sure she would completely liquefy and slide right off the bar stool onto the floor. When he was done she was dazed and staring at her laptop screen completely relaxed.

"Well?" He asked, resuming his seat next to her. "Did you enjoy it? Does your neck feel better?"

"I'm going to go back to prison." She said, with a satisfied smile on her face. "And it will be totally worth it."

He frowned. "What? Why?"

"Because I'm going to have to keep you held hostage here now. I'm going to need the magic in your fingers." She said, with a totally straight face and another sigh, as she began to work again.

He laughed. "Princess...all you have to do is ask and these magic fingers will work for you anytime you want. No jail time required."

She didn't know why but, she felt that statement tingle down in places she didn't think should be tingling right then and blushed. She just smiled and finished up her report. She knew there was no way she would do any extra hours that day with him there. Maybe when he left later... "Okay...all done! "She said, after she had submitted the report and as she turned to face him, she gasped at how close their faces were. Her deep brown eyes met his electric blue ones and her breath hitched. "Um, so, how are your brothers and cousins today?" She asked, tearing her gaze away, as she closed her laptop and slipped off the bar stool.

"Good." He breathed out, "Some studying, some playing video games, some arguing about who the new tenant is..." He said, as he followed her to the couch.

She laughed, plopping down on the end farthest away from him. "Awww, you didn't tell them?"

"Princess..." He sighed, leaning back and closing his eyes as if trying to figure out how best to phrase what he wanted to tell her and then just saying it. "No. No, I didn't. You would never get rid of them and you need them to be there and not here."

She laughed again, "Oh really?"

"Trust me. You really do." He grinned, "They can be overwhelming and...a handful."

"I don't think I would mind all that much." She said, thinking about the solitude she had spent her life in for the last sixteen years.

"I guess, you're used to a lot of noise and rowdiness now?" He asked soberly.

She shook her head. "I, um, I was locked away from people for fifteen years. My last visitor was Amanda Callum, Chad's girlfriend, telling me how she and her siblings were going to make sure I died in prison. After that, I saw the guards twice a day and doctors and hygienists a couple of times a quarter. Nobody was allowed to visit after that. I was permanently in solitary confinement...not that they tried to visit me, that is. No one ever came, I was told. No one ever tried. I got one drug laced meal a day. It was disgusting slop not fit for a pig but, it was what they gave me. If I wanted to survive, it's what I ate. As a result, I needed rehab before I got released and six weeks of transitioning training while still on the inside and another six once I got out. Although, I missed one them because of being beaten into unconsciousness and finding myself comatose for a week."

"Fuck!" He shouted, jumping up and walking over to her window, it seemed, to calm himself. "Did they catch the people that hurt you?" His voice sounded gruff.

"No. No one would talk." She said, honestly. "I didn't see their faces. They hit me from behind and dragged me into my apartment. My neighbor just so happened to be coming in from work and started screaming and yelling or they would have finished me off. She called the police and ambulance who called Chad. The police didn't really care anyway."

"Princess..." He said in a pleading voice as though he couldn't hear anymore.

"Hey," She blew out a breath. "You didn't come over here to hear about all that. So...why did you come over?"

"To make sure you were settling in okay...not having any problems being here by yourself." He said, blowing out a breath. "And to apologize for constantly being an ass to you."

She blinked, surprised. "Uh, wow, um... apology accepted...does that mean you don't believe I was a part of all of that petty rumor mess going on at school?"

He reddened a bit, "Yeah, I, uh, I had no reason to think you were in on that. I shouldn't have assumed. It was stupid of me."

She grinned, "So, you won't flip out when your baby bros and cousins ask me for help with their class assignments now?"

"I still don't want them anywhere near you." He said, casting her a territorial look she didn't understand.

"I understand. I mean, with all the stuff that's going on with me, I wouldn't want my family around me either, if I were you." She said, trying to mask her hurt feelings by seeing things from his point of view.

He snorted, "That's not it, at all, Princess."

"You don't honestly think I would do anything to hurt them, do you?" She looked appalled, and he laughed.

"No. I was being an asshole when I said all that because...well, I was jealous." He admitted, coming back to sit next to her but, not sitting back. He sat forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Oh." That's when she realized he was nervous about something. "Aiden? Why did you get upset last night?"

He looked at her, "Because I wasn't here to protect you before. You got in trouble and I wasn't here to help you. You got hurt and I wasn't there. You got threatened and stalked and I was so busy being a jealous ass that I didn't notice that you were scared. I was too busy trying to prove that you were doing or trying to do what I was being taunted for doing because I hated that Collin gets you to smile at him and Eddie makes you laugh or Ryan gets hugs from you or Ethan can get away with running up to you and slinging his arm across your shoulders and making you grin up at him adoringly."

She inched closer to him on the couch and slowly put her arms around his shoulders and rested her forehead on the side of his head. He shuddered when her breath grazed his ear. "Is this okay?" She asked. "I've wanted to give you a hug for the longest time but, you scared the bejeezus out of me with that grumpy face."

He chuckled, nervously, "Yeah, you're good. I like this but, can I hug you back?"

She moved back so he could wrap an arm around her slender body and pull it against him on the couch. When she was settled against him with her head resting on his shoulder and her hand on his chest, he let out a contented sigh. "Better?" She asked.

"Hmm. So, you wanted to hug me, huh?" He asked, and she could feel him smiling.

"Yes, I've had a massive crush on you for the last year," She laughed, "Despite how mean you were. I thought you just needed a hug and maybe you'd like me a little bit and ease up if I gave you one."

"What?" He laughed, "Are serious? Jesus! I wish you had just walked up to me and hugged me while I was acting an ass. It would have shocked the shit out of me. If you had kissed me it would have shut me the hell up though."

She laughed. "I wouldn't have had the guts to do that either though. I've never kissed a guy before."

He froze. "Not even in high school?"

"I was really shy. I went to prom with Chad and we went back to my house and stayed up all night watching horror movies after." She admitted.

"I think we need to change the subject." He said, point blank. "Let's talk about high school. You obviously didn't date. No crushes?"

"No. Chad and I were the geeks so we were bullied and picked on by virtually everyone. I couldn't be attracted to guys that picked on my best friend." She admitted.

"What about him?" He asked.

She laughed. "He had a new crush every week! It was crazy. He had a couple of girlfriends too but, he wouldn't stick with them if they couldn't accept me and most of them couldn't. Amanda has been the only exception to that ever."

"I had a crush on you in high school." He said, after a while, "Chad knew about it. I think he thought I was going to hurt you though. You were just fourteen. I was crazy as hell about you. Everybody knew it except you, I think. I swear I was gone the first time I saw you walk in with Chad. You didn't even know I existed. Which was a big ass blow to my football star ego."

"What happened?" She asked, although she already knew. "You never spoke to me or introduced yourself to me."

"I was pumping Chad for info first. I wanted to know the best way to approach you without scaring the hell out of you. He told your Dad, uncle, and Mr. Callum about me. I got paid two visits. Your dad and uncle were by far the scariest of the two but, Mr. Callum's hurt like hell. He told me you were sweet and good and pure and as damn near close to angelically perfect as any man could want in his daughter and he definitely saw you as his daughter. Then, he told me I wasn't good enough for you and doubted that I ever would be with my track record with women and school. He told me to stay away from you because all I would do was ruin your future and if I did that, he would make sure he ruined mine." He said, and she knew he wasn't lying. He had no reason to.

"I'm sorry." She said, really sad that her two fathers had hurt him that way.

"Nah." He smiled down at her. "He was right. They all were. I probably would have pressured you into something you weren't ready for because I wanted you. You might have ended up knocked up and married at fifteen—because believe me, I would have insisted on marriage if I got you pregnant. I don't do divorce either so, that means you would have been stuck with me for life. You may have dropped out of school and been miserable and I may have become a cheating asshole."

She chuckled, as she lazily drew patterns on his chest with her fingers. "Wow, you really thought that through, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I was full of teenaged angst over it." He laughed, sitting up, bringing her up with him. "Well, I've been gone awhile. I should get back to my place. I left my phone and keys on the counter in my kitchen. My guys are probably trying to figure out where I ran off to in this building."

"Ok," She sighed, releasing him and standing to stretch a little bit. "Thank you for visiting...and letting me hug you."

He chuckled and, shook his head as he stood. "I needed that hug. Thank you, Princess."

She grinned up at him with the same look she had often given Eddie and his heart skipped. It was genuine affection. She walked him to the door being sure to stay clear of the view of the hallway, as he opened the door and checked to see if it was clear.

"I'll check on you later, Princess. Lock up." He said, and he was gone. She did as he asked, knowing he stood there until he heard every lock click into place before he walked away.

When he was gone, she went back to her couch unable to focus on work or study. She had actually sat on her couch wrapped in Aiden Lawrence arms. He actually liked her. She had to be dreaming. Any minute now she would wake up and all of this would be a dream.