Alpha Aidan's Rejection のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 91 - チャプター 100

TARA I made sure the doors were properly locked before interlocking my hand with that of Nadia’s. We were taking an evening stroll because I needed to get out of my head, and I hoped that being outside would give Nadia something else to transfer her energy to instead of pestering me on when Aidan was going to be back.Not a moment had passed that I didn’t think about Aidan’s words when he came by the store, no matter how little they were.Was there a chance that this wasn’t the end?Was there more to the story than…No!I was getting out of the house so that I could stop my mind from taking a downward spiral, not to give myself an avenue to think more, so I shook all lingering thoughts off my mind.“You ready?” I asked Nadia, and she nodded, tugging my arm to pull me forward.Movement from the pavement of the next building caught my eye, and I turned to see that it was Esme sitting on her balcony with a tray on her lap. She was deep in concentration, and I thought about walking past

AIDANTara was either too modest or too compassionate to realize that I was the definition of pathetic if my main goal for decades has been to prove my worth to the man who pushed my mother to her untimely and gory death. Did I need to add that I needed to toss my wealth in a woman’s face for me to have something as natural as a family?What a joke.Aside from the fact that I’d been mortified about admitting my shortcomings, Kayla and I signed a contract. Not many people knew about our arrangement, but that didn’t excuse me for not telling Tara about it. I thought I could handle being in between, and my stupid and slimy actions almost cost me the woman who had my heart in her palm.No matter how difficult this was for me, I was coming clean, just as I promised her.After my brief explanation of my tragic family history—a story that still burned my chest whenever I allowed myself to think of it—, Tara figured out my connection to Kayla. Tara’s mouth opened and closed in bewilderment,

TARAActivities like these were fast becoming one of my favorite things to do, and that was doing absolutely nothing!We drove slowly in complete silence, the only sounds permeating the air around us being that of the car engine and Nadia snoring softly at the back of the car. Aidan’s eyes were on the road ahead of us, his left hand on the steering wheel, while his right hand was laced with mine over the console between our seats.It was perfect.And the only imperfect moment in all of it was when we arrived in front of our house, signaling the end of the evening for us. I didn’t want it to end. I didn’t want to say “See you tomorrow,” but we couldn’t exactly remain seated in the car, basking in each other's warmth, when Nadia’s neck was cranked in an uncomfortable position at the back.Aidan must have thought of this too, because he brought our interlocked hands up to his lips, and pressed a lingering kiss on the back of my palm that left me reeling.“I’ll help get her inside.”I nod

TARAThe feeling of Aidan’s hands on my head as he braided my hair was therapeutic, coercing the stress of the day from my body like magic. I melted into him on the bed, groaning whenever his fingers touched my scalp at how good it felt. Who knew that getting braids could feel like a massage?“I thought you’d be terrible at this,” I said to Aidan, one braid in as he combed out the other half of my hair. The room had been silent since he began otherwise. “You seem to have a secret talent.”I was sitting in front of Aidan with my back pressed against his front, my hands on each of his thick thighs, while his hands manipulated my head. My eyes were already dropping at this point with how surreal it felt.“Not a talent,” Aidan said, and I could feel him shaking his head. “Just something I picked up a long time ago. I remember doing it for my mom sometimes.”It was funny how I moved from not knowing anything about Aidan’s Mom to knowing how close she had been with Aidan in his early days.

TARAI had just ended the call from Aidan, and he said they were ten minutes away from the house. I didn’t want to spend that time thinking about what Kayla’s cryptic text meant, but one thing I thought about was how cruel Kayla was. Feeling the need to check up on my mom and make sure that she was okay, and that Kayla was nowhere near my family—I had no idea why I thought of that—I decided to call her. Besides, we had barely spoken much in the past week when I was dealing with the mess from our pasts.She picked up on the first ring, and her voice already did something to calm my unsettled heart. Her voice was low, but familiar, like a season of the year I missed, spreading over me like butter.“Hi, Mama,” I said, smiling into the speaker even though she could not see through the phone.“My Tara,” she said in reply, reminding me of the many nicknames she had for me during my childhood. Emotions gathered in my throat, both from reminiscing about those times and from being grateful th