Chapter 77

Carol’s POV

Fiona gasps from my drunken love confession on the phone and Aiden goes completely silent. The suspense is killing me, and I can practically hear my heart beating from how quiet it is. For a second, I think maybe the line got disconnected but when I glance at the screen, I see that the time was still ticking forward.

Just before I’m about to ask if he has heard me, he says, “I’m coming to pick you up.” Then the line goes completely dead.

I stare at my phone in shock and I can’t help the pained feeling that forms in my chest from the rejection. It feels like someone had just punched me in the stomach and I bit back the tears that formed in my eyes.

“What happened? “She asks, studying my face carefully.

“He hung up on me,” I whisper.

“What?” She asked, pinching her brows together.

“He says he’s coming to pick me up and then hung up,” I clarify, meeting her eyes through my tear-filled ones.

“Okay, so he didn’t exactly hang up on you,” she says, wrapping her arms around me. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Maybe he just wants to say it in person.”

“He didn’t sound happy, Fiona. He sounded pissed. Maybe resentful,” I say, wrapping my arms around my trembling body. “He’s going to break up with me… I know he is. I knew there was no way he could ever love someone like me. I’m not his fated mate… it must have been a lie just like Zach said.”

“You are jumping to wild accusations, Carol,” she said, rubbing my back gently. “Just talk to him; I’m sure it’s not as bad as it seems.”

I close my eyes, replaying that trainwreck of a conversation and wishing I could just disappear.

“He was so quiet,” I whisper. “He has to hate me…”

“He doesn’t hate you or he wouldn’t be coming to get you,” she assures me. “I’m sure he’s not mad at you and it’s just your drunken brain coming up with these conclusions.”

I shake my head.

“I’m not that drunk,” I say, but even as those words leave my lips, I know they are a lie.

She chuckles and puts her head on my shoulders.

“I’m sorry, girl. I probably should have made you eat more,” she sighs. “Once you talk with him in person, everything will be okay. I just know it.”

I hoped she was right; everything inside of me was screaming to run and hide. I know Aiden’s upset with me; I could feel it in his words when he told me he was coming to pick me up. He was so quiet after my confession I thought my brain was going to explode from the anticipation. What was I expecting would happen? He would tell me he loves me too and we’d live happily ever after?

I wanted to laugh at my stupidity.

I grabbed the bottle of wine off the coffee table and started to drink from the bottle.

“Woah, slow down, Carol,” Fiona says, trying to get the wine from my grip but I shake her away.

I needed this liquid courage even more now than I did before. I’m not sure how long we had been sitting on the couch and I’m not sure how long I had been crying for, but soon, I heard someone knocking on the front door.

Fiona had switched to water about 10 minutes ago and she’s been trying to get me to drink some water too, but I refused her. I didn’t want to sober up anytime soon.

I can hear her at the front door, murmuring something to someone with a deeper voice. Soon, she was rejoining me in the living room and Aiden was on her trail. His face was expressionless which made me cower in response. I didn’t want to look at his face when he looked at me like this.

I feel sick to my stomach.

Then again, it could be from the wine.

He sighs when he sees me, and he sits on the couch beside me. His face hardens and I just want to burst into tears right in front of him. He runs his fingers down the side of my face, brushing strands of hair behind my ear.

“Are you ready to go?” He asks, still watching me carefully.

I nod; not wanting to argue with him.

“Yeah,” I say softly.

He takes hold of my hand and helps me to my feet; I immediately fall into him. Thankfully, his refluxes are fast, and he wraps his arms around me to steady me.

“I tried to get her to drink water, but she refused,” Fiona says as she too watches me.

“It’s fine,” he assures her. “Thanks, Fiona.”

She nods and watches as Aiden scoops me into his arms and carries me toward her front door.

“I’ll call you tomorrow to check in,” Fiona calls behind me as Aiden carries me outside.

I rest my head against his chest, not caring that I probably smell like wine. I hate that I’m drunk in front of him, but I’m also upset that I confessed my love to him, and he’s upset with me because of it.

“I shouldn’t have opened my big mouth…” I murmured, not meaning to say that out loud and not realizing that I did until Aiden stiffens.

He says nothing though as he places me in the backseat of the car and then slides in beside me. I didn’t realize Jarrod was there until the car started to move.

Great; another person to witness my drunkenness. That’s exactly what I needed right now.

Aiden kept his arms wrapped around me and I refused to look up at him. I was so hurt and upset by his lack of response. I’m not sure when we got back to his house; at one point, I must have fallen asleep because I was waking up just as he stripped off all of my clothes.

“Are you trying to have your way with me?” I ask in a drunken sleep state.

“What?” He asks. “Of course not. I’m changing you out of your clothes so you can sleep better.”

I muttered something incoherent as he stripped off the rest of my clothes and then threw the covers over my now-naked body.

“If you didn’t love me, you could have just told me,” I whispered, my eyes closed tightly because if I had opened them, I probably would have thrown up all over the place from how fast the room was spinning.

I felt Aiden tensing again as he slid into the bed beside me. He wrapped me in his arms, and I rested my head on his chest. I felt foolish right now. He ran his fingers up and down my spine and he remained silent.

“I shouldn’t have said anything…” I whispered, feeling sleep overtake me.

But not before I felt his lips on my temple.

When I wake up the next morning, I have a severe headache. I wince at the sunlight that desperately tried to peer through the closed window shades. I groaned in agony, rolling onto my back and feeling a wave of nausea consuming me. I quickly sat up just as my stomach turned and I couldn’t get out of bed fast enough.

Aiden isn’t in bed, which isn’t surprising because of how I acted. I was so stupid; I shouldn’t have spilled my feelings out like that, and I shouldn’t have treated him so poorly when he obviously didn’t share the same feelings.

As I run into the bathroom, I lean over the toilet and lost the contents of my stomach. It’s awful and it tasted even worse.

Aiden soon rushes into the bathroom with a water bottle and the look of panic clear on his face.

“Shit, Carol,” he says, bending down beside me and moving the hair out of my face.

Tears fell down my cheeks; I didn’t want him to see me like this. I continued to throw up while Aiden held my hair back and rubbed circles around my back. Once I was sure there was nothing left in my stomach to throw up, I flushed the toilet and fell against the nearby wall, defeated.

Aiden looked at me with such sympathy in his eyes that it tore my heart in two. He pressed the water to my lips and I took a small sip before taking an bigger one. He was kind enough and got my toothbrush and stuff ready while I continued to sip the water.

I can hear him rummaging around the bathroom, and the water to the tub running. He is drawing me a bath. He was so sweet, and it made a smile tug at my lips, despite how pathetic I looked.

Once I found my footing, I was able to stand and brush my teeth. Then, I stripped off my clothes and went to Aiden who was also naked. My cheeks flushed at the sight of him, and my heart flipped in my chest. He gave me a crooked smile and helped me into the large tub before climbing behind me. He let me use him as a backrest as he held me in his arms. He put lavender bubbles in the bath, which calmed my entire body and made me feel so much better.

The water is hot, but it isn’t too hot so I couldn’t handle it. It’s nice and being in his arms was even nicer. He wraps me tightly in an embrace and trails kisses from my earlobe down the nape of my neck.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “I’m sorry for last night…”

“You don’t need to apologize,” he says in return.

Tears welled up in my eyes from the memory and I shook my head.

“Yeah, I do… threw myself at you in a drunken way. I’m no better than Zach,” I whispered, tears freely falling down my cheeks. “I know you don’t feel the same way about me… I’m sorry for how I acted.”

He stiffens from my words, and I cringe, hating that I brought this up again.

He brought his thumb under my chin and tilted my head so I would look at him.

“If I didn’t feel the same way, would I be here right now?” He asks, surprising me. “If I didn’t feel the same way, would I have rushed to you so I can take you home and take care of you? Do you have any idea how worried I was? Your confession came out of nowhere and I thought something might have happened…” his voice trailed off and for the first time, I saw real fear in his eyes. “I didn’t want it to happen the way that it did last night. I didn’t want to tell you how I felt over the phone and especially not while you were drunk like that…”

I bite my lower lip, trying desperately to keep from sobbing.

“But don’t tell me how I feel; don’t sit there and assume that I’m not being honest with you and that I’m not true to my word. You need to understand that I’m Zach and I never will be. I’ll never hurt you like he did. I would never purposely hurt you, Carol.”

I nod as I close my eyes and let him conquer my lips. His kiss was so sweet, and my heart flipped in my chest.

Then he pulls back, and I open my eyes to look into his.

“I need you to know that when I tell you that I’m in love with you, that I mean it,” he whispers. “And I am in love with you, Carol Miller. Now and forever.”