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CHAPTER 110
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Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 111
ELENAThe bed was cold when I rolled over. And empty. So empty, so cold. My hand patted the mattress for a ridiculous amount of time looking for Aiden. It took a minute, but I finally woke up enough to realize he just wasn’t in bed with me.I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Yawning, I rolled out of bed, grabbed my bag, and removed every inch of yesterday’s makeup from my face. I snag gedsome underwear, denim shorts, and a tank top from my bag, too, and get dressed. The house seemed quiet until I opened the bedroom door. A low murmur of voices traveled up the stairs, and I peeked into Conor’s open door to see if Chloe was inside. When I saw she wasn’t, I made my way down the curving stairs slowly.“I can’t fuckin’ believe it,” Titus growled.“Dollar!” Milka shouted.“Milka, why don’t you go play in the playhouse, baby?” Chloe asked. “Ask Pops for a cookie.”“Pops! Cookie!”“Cookies and house? Okay, Milka,” Diana said. “Pops is still out. Nana give you cookies.”A few moments of silence pass
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 112
Thank God I kept them all.I sat on the steps in front of the station and stared at the open driveway. Hopefully Chloe got my text and knew to pick me up. When it was obvious the interview was going to last longer than two hours, I told her to go home with Bray and told everyone what was happening. Besides, she had a little girl who picked up on things she couldn’t understand, and Milka needed her mama more than I did.A silver Ford pulled into the lot and parks. I watched as a dark-haired girl with legs up to her armpits climbed out and headed toward me.Leah.“Shit,” she said simply. “Is it me or is your ex a serious fuckin’ asswipe?”“It isn’t you.”“Thank fuck.” Leah sat next to me. “Aiden’s never been arrested before.”“I finally gave him a first.”“Whoa.” Leah leaned back. “Finally? He called me two hours ago flippin’ his fuckin’ head because what the hell was his girl doin’ in the station?” She raised her eyebrows. “So before he gets out and busts my ass, how about you get in m
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 113
AIDENAIDENI wished she’d let me go with her. She shouldn’t be going back to Los Angeles alone, especially not when I knew that motherfucker was there.She shouldn’t be fucking leaving me here while she goes to deal with this shit herself. That ain’t how it works. It was painfully damn obvious when her mom called that she didn’t give a shit about Elena—she was too caught up in believing that Martin was some perfect husband-to-be when in reality he wasn’t worth the bird shit on the roof of my dad’s car.And now my girl’s gotta go up there, listen to that crap, and try to walk away without being hit once again.Letting her do it alone was going against every goddamn instinct I possessed. She should be here with me, safe, or I should be there with her, making sure she’s safe. But, damn. The fact she was making me let her go was amazing and showed me who Elena Gilbert really was. Once upon a time, she could barely say boo to a goose without barricading herself into a barbed-wire cage for
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 114
ELENAI stared at my childhood home like it was a foreign country.I had no idea what I was going to find behind the front door. I had no idea if I’ll be welcome or not. Martin had always been a hero in my parents’ eyes. Hell, it was bad enough when they called and refused to believe anything I said.Now I knew it was because Martin went to them before the police. He could speak to them, charm them, and convince them that his words were the undisputable truth. He would have played up the poor-me card, just like he used to whenever he made an excuse up for hitting me.“But, babe, I’ve had a stressful day and I was expecting dinner when I walked in . . . You’re a woman. You should be able to boil potatoes right. It makes me angry when you make careless mistakes, you know that . . . You know we have company tonight. If you’d just cleaned the house, then I wouldn’t have gotten so mad . . .”I couldn’t even begin to imagine what he said to my parents.I swallowed hard, still staring at the
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 115
I wished more than anything that someone was sitting next to me. That that someone was Chloe. That we were laughing at Joey, drinking wine, eating nachos.Instead I was doing all these things. But I was alone.And it sucked. Big time.I was in a hotel in the middle of the city I called home for twenty-two years, and I had no one here. By now, it would be common knowledge within my parents’ circle that I was fighting Martin on this abuse thing. That I was going against him.Yet my so-called friends hadn’t once tried to contact me.I changed my number, sure, but my Facebook didn’t change, neither did my Twitter, and neither did my email. I haven’t had a single message, which further proved to me that the people I had spent the last few years with are 100 percent superficial.I placed a chili-and-guacamole-loaded nacho into my mouth and grabbed my phone from the nightstand.Where are you? I texted Chloe.On the road to Philadelphia. How are you?Desperate to know when you’ll get there so
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 116
AIDENHearing her voice was like a big-ass kick to the gut.Hearing her broken, hurting voice was a big-ass kick to the balls and the gut.I wished she wasn’t hurting. I wished I wasn’t so damn far from her. I wished it wasn’t several hours on a bus then a plane ride until I could be beside her. I wished I wasn’t so damn willing to fuck the show in Philly to get her. To feel her. To touch her.Truth was, I’d give fucking anything for her.I berated Conor so much for how he treated Chloe when she came back. I laughed at him and I abused him, but it was easy because I didn’t get it. I wouldn’t pretend I love Elena the way he loved Chloe, because we had different stories, but that didn’t mean I didn’t regret how I acted.Right now, if I had to, I’d give up everything for her. The lights, the charts, the fame. . . . Every single fucking second would become irrelevant if that was what she needed. Because sometimes you meet the dream you never even dreamed of, and it was more important than
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 117
“And there’s someone here that can prove it,” I whispered.“What?” she asked.I released her and opened her hotel room door. “Elena, meet Mr. David luke, the lawyer that’s gonna win your case against that motherfucker you call an ex.”Elena brought her hand to her mouth again. “Are you for real?” she whispered, gasping, inhaling intensely. “You got me a freakin’ lawyer?”“Mr. Luke, why don’t you head down to the café and get yourself a coffee? I need a minute with my girlfriend.” My suggestion came out as more of an order, but my lawyer nodded and disappeared.Elena gaped at me and sighed. “Aiden, I can’t,” she argued quietly. “I can’t take your lawyer.”“He ain’t my lawyer,” I corrected her. “He’s yours, darlin’. He’s gonna fight your case. He thinks Martin should eat shit, and so do I. Baby, he’s gonna send that motherfucker down for what he did to you.”Elena gripped my polo shirt. “I can’t afford him. My parents . . . I kind of walked out on them, and they kind of disowned me.”I
Dirty Little Secrets CHAPTER 118
ELENA“Milkaaaa,” I sung. “What did Mama say about Doc?”Milka stared at the TV, still blaring out Doc McStuffins, the tiny two-year-old’s latest obsession. “Ah, one show afore nap?”“One show, that’s right,” I said. “But . . .” I swooped her into my arms and dropped back onto my bed, to her insane giggles. “Shhh. We can watch another Doc.”Milka clapped her hand over her mouth, and I slid up the bed to the head of it.“Nachos,” Aiden muttered.“You’re early,” I retorted. “We’ve got a date with Stuffy and Doc, right, Mi?”“Yeah, El!” Milka turned to look at Aiden. “My lub El. My lub Stuffy and Doc. And Elmo. And Peppa.”I smiled at Aiden over the top of Milka’s head. “I think Stuffy and Doc and Elmo and Peppa love naptime,” I said, getting up to fill her milk sippy cup. When it was full, I screwed the lid on and climbed back onto the bed. I dutifully lie through twenty minutes of mind-numbing Doc McStuffins. “Now,” I whispered, lying Milka down in her crib. “You be a good girl for Unc
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