Aidan (The Doherty Mafia Book 2) Read online

  He ended the call before I could say anything else.

  I threw the phone away and covered my face with my hands, rocking back and forth as I sat cross legged on the floor.

  Why did I come back here?

  I should have stayed away from this town.

  I was so much better off with the past just haunting me. Now I had to live in it.

  The car arrived to pick me up in exactly twenty minutes since the call with Aldo Baron ended.

  I had that time and then the drive to his house in which to compose myself. I didn’t know what I was walking into, nor what I could possibly have to offer this man. However, I did know that if I was going to walk out of there alive, I needed to keep calm.

  I couldn’t allow them to see me weak or shattered.

  There could be no more crying.

  So I wiped my tears and sat in the car. I held my head up high, trying to remain as poised as I possibly could under the circumstances.

  When I really thought about it—what did I have to lose? It wasn’t like my life was worth much anyway. I had nothing to look forward to. All these years alone, I had just been surviving.

  The Baron house was a large sprawling mansion that was well guarded by men who looked a lot like the two guys who had attacked me. This was a criminal stronghold. That much I was certain of. I just couldn’t figure out what I was doing there.

  The driver of the car escorted me inside the house, while I kept my head down. I didn’t want them to think I was interested or curious.

  Everyone at this place was armed. Ready to shoot at a moment’s notice.

  The room I was led to looked like an old fashioned study. Smoke filled and smelling of scotch.

  Aldo Baron sat behind a large oak desk smoking a cigar. He was a big guy, much older than me. The suit he wore kept his frame hidden. I couldn’t tell if he was fat or just big framed.

  “Sit down, Leah,” he commanded coolly.

  I was led to the chair across from him and I sat down, keeping my eyes fixed on the man in front of me. It was a difficult task as my eyes watered in the smoke. But I did everything I could not to appear afraid.

  “When I heard you were back in town, I knew I had to meet with you,” he began.

  I was surprised to hear he knew anything about me when I knew nothing about him.

  “You look confused,” he added with a smile.

  “I don’t know what I’m doing here or what you want from me.”

  “You’re getting ahead of yourself there, honey. Firstly, I would like to establish all the things you have to lose before we get to the part where I tell you what I need from you.”

  My eyes narrowed at him. I had my hands clasped in my lap while I tried hard to keep my legs from shaking.

  “What makes you think you know anything about me?” I snapped.

  Aldo smiled.

  “Oh, Leah. I know everything about you. I have always been in a habit to keep tabs on everyone connected to the people I work with and especially the people I don’t work with.”

  My nostrils flared while I waited for him to explain.

  “You never know when a piece of information can come in handy.”

  Aldo puffed on his cigar and sat back in his chair with a sigh.

  “For instance, you and Aidan were fucking a while ago. I know this because I was interested in the Doherty family before I had anything to do with them. And now that I know your secret, I can use it. See what I mean?”

  The smirk grew wider on his face while my heart thudded in my chest.

  My secret…

  “Aidan doesn’t know he knocked you up. He doesn’t know you gave the baby away. If he finds out what you did, he will make you pay.”

  I had always known Aidan would react badly if he ever found out about the baby and the fact that I gave him up for adoption. His child was out there in the world without either of his biological parents.

  Aidan would never forgive me for that decision I made.

  But I had no choice.

  I was a teenager, barely an adult, who was shunned by her family with nobody to turn to. I survived on the limited allowance my parents sent me and I lived with strangers my father had made a deal with.

  I wanted to be alone. I wanted to be left alone. Even by Aidan.

  “You know it’s true. You have been working hard to keep your secret to yourself all these years. We don’t want that secret coming out now, do we?”

  Aldo continued in an even tone, and it seemed like he knew he had me in a corner.

  My throat felt dry, but still I managed to croak a few words out.

  “Why are you telling me this? What do you want from me?”

  “I want all the information you can get on Aidan. I want it directly delivered to me. You see, Leah…” He sat forward in his chair, resting his elbows on the desk now. “There’s a war brewing between our families. The Dohertys fucked me over and now I’m going to make them pay. And you are going to help me.”

  I was frozen to the spot.

  He expected me to go to Aidan and what? Reacquaint myself with him? Pretend like the past five years didn’t happen? Then come back here and feed him any information I could find?

  All so that he didn’t tell Aidan about the baby?

  I shook my head.

  “I can’t do it. Tell him. Tell him whatever you want. I’ll pay my price. Whatever Aidan wants. I refuse to be a puppet in your hands.”

  Aldo sighed again, tapping the ash off the end of his cigar. He looked disappointed in me, like I was a child who had done something mischievous.

  “Then you leave me no choice, honey. Your poor mother who doesn’t have long to live will meet an even earlier death. And trust me when I tell you I will make sure it won’t be a peaceful passing. She will pay for your refusal to cooperate with me. Is that what you really want?”

  Aldo wasn’t smiling anymore.

  And with that, I knew I had no escape. I wasn’t about to wake up from this nightmare.

  Three

  Aidan

  A number flashed on my screen that I didn’t recognize. I wouldn’t have heard the phone in the midst of the loud thumping music in the bar, but it vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out.

  “Yeah?” I barked into the phone, knocking back a shot of tequila simultaneously.

  “Aidan?” I heard the whisper of a female voice on the other end.

  For a few moments, I thought I was mistaken. I thought that was Leah. But it couldn’t be.

  I told myself I was imagining things again.

  I put a finger in my other ear to try and hear the voice more clearly.

  “Speaking. Who the fuck is this?” I growled.

  She took a few moments to speak again while I scanned the bar. Some of my brothers were there with me, ordering more drinks and crowding around the pool table.

  “Aidan, it’s me,” she finally said.

  I could have sworn that was Leah’s voice, but I refused to believe it.

  Five years ago, that girl had walked out of my life and never returned. The truth was I could have gone looking for her. I would have found her too if I really wanted to. But I let her go.

  I had always known she would eventually struggle with the moral dilemma of choosing me over her family. The kind of family she was raised in—they would never have approved of me. I was exactly the guy her mother had warned her about.

  So why was she calling me?

  She had a chance to make a clean break from me. Why slice through healed wounds now?

  “What the fuck do you want?” I growled at her.

  “I thought maybe we could meet. I wanted to see you. I’m back in town for a bit.”

  I rubbed a hand over my face while my head throbbed. She couldn’t be fucking serious. She was back in town five years later and she expected us to just meet up for a coffee and a chat? Like we were buddies?

  Didn’t she remember the night I took her for the first time in the backseat of my truck? How sh
e moaned with pleasure and begged me not to stop?

  And now she wanted to sit across from me in a cafe somewhere and show me photographs of her new life?

  Fuck that shit.

  “What makes you think I ever want to see you again?” I ended the call before she had a chance to respond.

  I banged the phone down on the counter, making people turn to look at me. Then I reached over the counter and grabbed the first bottle of alcohol I could reach. I poured the drink straight down my throat to numb the pain.

  Leah wasn’t like any of the other girls I used to fuck around with. She was in high school, just turned eighteen. I was twenty-three and thought I was a man.

  She had red hair that came right down to her knees, and the first time I saw her, she was buying oranges in the grocery store a few blocks from her parents home.

  I was drawn to her immediately, and even though I had two chicks hanging off my arms as we picked up a few six packs, I had eyes only for her.

  She didn’t seem fazed by the girls with me, and instead of shying away, she stared right back at me.

  I abandoned the girls as soon as Leah walked out of that store. I dumped the beers down on the floor and ran after her. I didn’t want to lose sight of her.

  When I stepped outside the store, I saw her waiting for me at the end of the sidewalk. It was like we had some unfinished business to discuss. Like we had communicated something to each other in complete silence. She knew I would follow her out.

  “You can buy me a coffee.” Those were her first words to me.

  I didn’t even know this girl’s name. The truth was, I didn’t know where to go for coffee. She turned on her heels and started walking, and I felt like I had no choice but to follow her. I felt like I would go anywhere this girl led me.

  We sat together in a coffee shop nearby. She sat close enough that I could touch her if I wanted to, but I didn’t. I had never practiced self restraint like that before and I didn’t understand the hold she had on me. It was like she’d cast a spell.

  She told me about her family, about her interests and hobbies. She asked me about mine. The conversation was like nothing I’d had before. I wasn’t in the habit of just ‘talking’ to girls.

  Then, as abruptly as she suggested coffee, she stood up to leave.

  “I have to go home now because my parents are expecting me. But meet me behind Sylvio’s Garage tonight. Eleven.”

  She smiled at me before leaving and I knew I felt something in that moment. Something I’d never felt for anyone before, and I wouldn’t feel for anyone since then.

  That night I took her virginity in the backseat of my car and she laughed afterwards when she smoked her first cigarette. Before she left for home, I pulled her close to kiss her again and she weaved her fingers with mine.

  “I think I’ve been waiting for you all my life, Aidan Doherty,” she said, kissing my neck and chest gently.

  After she disappeared, those words haunted me. I could never forget she said that to me.

  Now I was convinced she had lied to me that night.

  I carried the bottle from the bar to the toilet in the back. I needed to be away from the music and I needed to be by myself. Besides, my brothers would start noticing I was acting strange and they’d want answers. I wasn’t prepared to talk about Leah with anyone right now. Not ever.

  When I barged into the toilets, some guy was pissing in the urinal and I barked at him to leave. He must have caught sight of the weapon tucked in my belt and he ran out before he had a chance to zip himself up.

  Just hearing her voice again had done this to me. I didn’t know how I would react if I actually saw her.

  Leah with her long red hair. Green eyes. Her full curvaceous figure that got my cock going within seconds.

  I went up to the wall and leaned against it. I drank some more, relieved at the burning sensation in my throat and stomach.

  Seeing her again would be the stupidest thing I could do. It took me months—no years to get over her. And even then, I didn’t think I could ever truly be over her. I would never forget about her because I was so sure she was the one.

  She was the only girl who made me stop in my tracks. Made me fantasize about having a family. Having a woman. Having one woman.

  I had never given myself to someone that way, and after she left—I could never give myself to anyone again.

  Chicks came and went. Some weeks, I fucked a new one every night just to stop myself from thinking about Leah all the time.

  But each new fuck was the same as the previous one. They did nothing for me. My cock got greedy but my mind and body felt nothing. I still wanted Leah. I always wanted Leah.

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket. The screen was cracked from earlier when I smashed it on the bar counter.

  I wrote a quick text to the number she had called from.

  “Meet me tomorrow behind Sylvio’s Garage. Noon.”

  Once that text was sent I flung the bottle of vodka against the wall where it crashed and fell all over the floor. I was mad at myself. I had no self control.

  She was back and I couldn’t stay away from her. Even though I knew seeing her again would fuck me up.

  But maybe this was exactly what I needed. Maybe I could fuck her one last time. Wasn’t that what I really wanted all these years—to fuck her again? To feel her body underneath me. Her moans in my ear.

  And once I was done fucking her, I would make her feel exactly what she did to me five years ago.

  This time I was going to be prepared for Leah Michaels and whatever voodoo she had planned for me.

  Four

  Leah

  This was a mistake. I knew that from the moment I read Aidan’s text the previous night. I had actually been relieved when he growled at me on the phone and refused to meet with me. That was the excuse I needed to justify why I couldn’t work with Aldo.

  But now I didn’t have a choice.

  Aidan would be waiting for me at the spot we first had sex five years ago. I knew exactly why he’d picked this place—because he wanted to remind me of everything I had given up by disappearing on him.

  I saw his car parked at the same spot behind the vacant garage. The same place he’d parked the first time we were here together.

  I was nervous, scared, excited and anxious—all these mixed feelings inside me made me nearly sick. I could feel a physical ache in my stomach as I walked towards the car.

  He stepped out, slamming the door shut behind him.

  Five years later, I stood in front of a man I had fallen utterly in love with. The father of my baby. The man I had given up because my parents told me to. This was all my fault and I wished he knew how I would never forgive myself for it.

  The years had been very giving to Aidan. He looked bigger now, more muscular. He had a thick, dark beard. His hair was the same soft chestnut color, but now he wore it longer.

  Those same piercing blue eyes stared back at me, following my every move like he could see right through me.

  My knees nearly buckled from the physical effect he had on me. He was still the sexiest man I had ever seen.

  I had three choices.

  I could tell him everything right now. About why I left. The baby. Aldo. After that, the future would be entirely up to him.

  Or I could tell him about Aldo and nothing about the baby. But then, I ran the risk of Aidan eventually finding out and making me pay for my past actions.

  Finally, I had the choice of going along with Aldo’s plan. That would keep my secret safe and my mother safe too.

  My mind whizzed as I tried to decide what to do—all while melting under Aidan’s harsh stare.

  It wasn’t until he finally spoke that I realized we’d been silent for a very long time.

  “What are you doing back here, Leah? I thought I would never see you again.” His voice wasn’t warm or welcoming. He wasn’t happy to see me and I couldn’t blame him.

  “My mother is dying. She has cancer. I came b
ack to see her,” I replied.

  He chuckled bitterly and shook his head.

  “If you’re expecting me to feel sorry for you, it’s not going to fucking happen.”

  “I don’t expect anything from you,” I replied, keeping my distance from him.

  I didn’t want to get too close to him in fear that I’d throw myself at him and beg him to hold me.

  I still couldn’t believe I was standing in front of him. That he was actually physically here. I battled the urge to spill everything—to tell him everything that happened to me. How difficult the pregnancy was. How I couldn’t stop smiling when the baby was born because he had Aidan’s eyes. How I’d spent the most part of the last five years, lying awake at night and dreaming about a life with our baby.

  However, I could feel Aidan’s disdain for me.

  He was never going to forgive me for leaving. How would he ever forgive me for keeping the pregnancy from him? I wasn’t sure what he was capable of doing if he found out about the adoption.

  I shuddered at the thought.

  “Then why are you here? Why did you think I would want to see you again?”

  “Because…I guess…I don’t know. Maybe I should apologize?”

  “Maybe?”

  “Okay, I will apologize.” I tried to be firm and hold my ground.

  I knew he didn’t particularly want to be here speaking to me. Chances were, I wasn’t going to get any of the information Aldo wanted. I just had to get through this meeting somehow and after that, I would never have to see Aidan again.

  “I don’t want your apology, Leah!” He took a sudden step towards me and I gasped.

  I didn’t know what he would do next, but he held back. It was like he had to physically stop himself from coming any closer.

  “I want an explanation. Why did you leave? Why didn’t you tell me about it? Did you think I would try and stop you?” His eyes were dark and narrowed at me. Dripping with anger and fury.