Her Men (book 2)

Chapter 15

Aiden

“Leo?” Her voice is so low and she has her head down and her hands are shaking as they grip my forearms

“Please” her Chest rising and fasting quickly with each passing second as her breathing got faster and faster

“Hey hey hey” I whisper pulling her Chin gently to look up at me,

“Teagan, it’s me” Her eyes remain closed as she avoids looking at me

“T,” I plead “T, your safe your okay?” The word okay comes out more as a question than a statement but I don’t think she notices as she finally opens her eyes and looks at me scanning over my face like she’s making sure it’s me, her hands are still shaking as she takes a few deep breaths to slow the panic that was building, her eyes are filled with tears as one falls and I gently wipe it away, I pull her in a hug to just hold her close. We stay that way for a bit feeling her breathing come back to normal

“Teagan,” I whisper just as a cat jumps down from a fence with a loud meow making us both jump

“I need to go inside,” she says looking up at me

“Want to come in?” She asks

I follow her in and she walks straight for the kitchen, grabs a kettle, fills it with water and setting it on the stove, gets a plate fills it with snacks. She’s mechanically doing things and I’m not sure if I should stop her, or pull her in another embrace. Say something?

I’ve never seen Teagan stressed or worried, I’ve seen her strong and brave when I had Bullies and she stood up to them. I’ve seen her bossy and sweet. I've seen her friendly and silly. I’ve seen all her sides of mad, zero to one hundred.

But I’ve NEVER ever seen her scared or seen her make herself small like the ball she was trying to curl herself into just a few minutes ago. Even when her dad died I saw her sad but never scared, she was strong for her mom, a brave face during the funeral. How do I help her? How can I show her I want to help her?

“Hey let me help you,” I say to her walking to the cabinet and grabbing the tea I know she’ll get next, she doesn’t exactly answer me but we meet at the table when she gets the kettle off the stove

“Aiden..I ..” turning she stops and looks at me her hand rests on the counter and I lift mine and place it over hers gently

“T, you don’t have to explain, if you don’t want to, but know that I’m here for you. I’m not going anywhere.” I squeeze her hand and smile at her.

Teagan

I don’t know why I overreacted the way I did I guess since I felt so great today relaxed safe it’s like the second I heard the crunch of the leaves and felt his male presence my body went into fight or flight l, mostly flight when I felt him so close for a second my worse fear came to life and thought he was Leo calming the immediate panic that set in took me longer than I’d like, now I don’t know my next steps, Aiden’s not dumb he will put two and two together and realize why I’m back even if I don’t tell him in exact words. Letting him hold me as I calm my panic attack down feels good, I can’t help but want to stay this way for as long as I can but I know it will only lead to confusion, explaining, and feelings I don’t want to deal with, I have to admit with each deep breath I take his scent is what helps calm me down more than anything else, reluctantly I let go wanting to run inside, hide under my covers and hope he doesn’t ask questions but that’s not happening

“Want to come in?”

Trying my hardest to fill the loud silence in the air I make tea and get some snacks for us. I can feel his eyes on me with every move I make,

I feel his hand on mine stilling my rapid thoughts and my heart, I hear his low soft voice, telling me he’s here for me not going anywhere

“Aiden..I don’t think I’m ready to explain why I’m home, it’s hard” his hands still on mine and his thumb gently rubbing over my hand

“Teagan,” he says

“I know I’m asking for a lot, with little explanation but just please” he cuts me off

“You don’t need to explain anything to me, T., just know I’m here now and can help you with anything” he takes the tea bags and the kettle

“Let me go have a seat in the living room”

God I’ve missed his smile, I do as I’m told pulling a blanket over my legs and grabbing the remote to flip some channels a few minutes later he has a cup of tea and a sleeve of cookies he hands me mine and walks back to the kitchen coming back with a cup of what smells like coffee

“A little late for coffee ain’t it”

“Never,” he says and plots down next to me he pulls my legs that were side ways onto his lap he ignores my stares and he grabs a cookie, as he watches the tv, I decide not to overthink and just slip my tea and snack, the tv show is a late 90s witch sitcom.

“Remember when you were younger and wanted to be a witch”

“ I still do, superpowers would be badass” We laugh we get into a comfortable position and I can’t even remember when I fell asleep or when I changed positions and now lying on his chest, feeling his chest rise and fall, slowly coming to and realizing it has to be morning as the light comes through and finally when I hear a sound of the fridge opening and shut softly, do I fully wake up shooting up off Aiden glancing around it’s definitely morning time.

“Crap what time is it,” I say pulling the blankets as I look for my phone

“It’s almost 9? Why” my aunt says as she walks in with the biggest smile as she looks at me to Aiden

“Yall looked sooo cozy when I came home I didn’t want to wake either of you” she wiggles her eyebrows

“Looks like the ship was just lost at sea huh not wreaked” I roll my eyes,

“Aunt Lynda! I can’t talk about this I’m late” The pull of a second throw blanket makes his elbow fall and he wakes up realizing I’m frantic sitting up fully

“Teagan what is it? what’s wrong” he goes to stand and my phone falls from the seat cushion on the floor, I toss the blankets back on the couch and grab the phone,

“Nothing I’m just late for work I was going to work at the diner before I work at the bar tonight. I’m so late I need to call ”

“Morning Aiden” my aunt smiles “Coffee?” She hands him the cup I never took and says thanks

“How’s your mom, son” she asks like I’m not in the middle of something or that days ago I said there was nothing between us and now we were sleeping on the couch together I walk to the kitchen, call Linda, and explain the mishap she said not to worry they were ok and I was ok to take the morning off and just go to the bar at noon, mentioned Henry was already running all over this morning, that maybe he could use my help, I apologized again and told her goodbye walking back into the living room, to find my aunt now sitting where I was with her coffee talking Aiden’s ear off

“Aunt Lyn, Ima walk Aiden home,” I say her nickname is a playful manner and a smile I know will play into her silly mood as I grab his arm and pull him away he hands me his mug and I set it in the entry counter.

“She such a morning person,” he says as he runs his hands through his hair, trying to fully wake up

“I have to go by Noon, so I need to get ready, thank you Aiden for last night” I go to hug him and he holds me tight

“It felt good to just hang out like that” he let go and I gave him a smile

“Bye Aiden”