Night falls and there’s still no sign of him.
My bedroom prison is clockless, but the top quarter of my window is still open, and I see the moon rise and settle in the sky, as it only does in the dead of night.
I find no peace in Aiden’s absence. For some aggravating reason, I’m worried. And not just for myself. But for him too. This is the first time he hasn’t come to me before bed.
The asshole.
He doesn’t deserve my worry. But I can’t help it.
From the way he was talking about my father’s escape, something big is rumbling on the horizon. A war? I don’t know, all I know is that nothing good will come out of it for me.
What happens if Aiden is killed? Where does that leave me? Trapped here forever? Or in a shallow grave next to his?
Before I can contemplate those questions any further, the familiar rattle of my bedroom door being unlocked jolts me upright.
My heart constricts as I expect the handsome shadow to finally make his entrance. For a split-second, I actually consider chewing him out for being so late. But that would be foolish.
And it’s not Aiden anyway.
Through a beam of moonlight, Tara appears. Her eyes go wide when they meet mine.
“Sorry!” she loudly whispers. “I thought you would be asleep by now.” This is the most I’ve heard her talk. She seems less timid now than in our previous encounters. Maybe she’s just a night owl.
Despite finding me awake, Tara still tiptoes over to my bedside table. “I’m just here for the dishes. Don’t let me keep you up.”
“I wasn’t sleeping. I can’t sleep.”
Sympathy sparkles in the young woman’s eyes as she gathers my empty plates. Maeve finally got me to eat this afternoon, and ever since my first bite, I’ve been ravenous. Earlier, when she asked me what my favorite meal was, and I told her veal parmesan, I wasn’t exactly expecting to be indulged. But, to my surprise, an hour later, I had a fresh steaming plate at my bedside. I couldn’t resist.
My belly is full, but my mind is suddenly starving for answers. “What are you in for?” I ask Tara.
A big grin comes over her pretty face. “I’m… Well, I’m not exactly being held here. Not really.” Her cheeks blush like she’s doing something naughty.
Talk to me?
“Where’s Meave?” I ask, knowing that the older woman carries the bull whip around here.
“Probably unwinding downstairs with some wine and a drama. Usually it’s just me on these late night runs.”
“Late night runs? Are there other girls here?” A pang of unexpected jealousy bursts and fizzles behind my chest at the novel thought.
“No. No. It’s just you.” Tara shakes her head and giggles quietly. Her laugh is contagious. Somehow, even after all I’ve been through, with all I know I still need to go through, I find that a smile has crept onto my face. I guess that was a ridiculous assumption to jump to.
Still. “What’s so funny about that?” I ask, strangely amused.
“It’s… Well, I mean. The thought, it’s just funny. Thinking about whether or not he has other girls when you’re in this situation…”
“I was worried for their safety!” I lie. Tara has picked up on my jealous undertones. Is she that sharp or was I just that obvious?
I’ll have to get that under control. There’s no way I can let Aiden think I’d ever get jealous over him. That would be giving him too much. Men like him take a mile when you give them an inch.
“I know. I know.” Tara insists, probably lying too. “It was just a funny thought… even if it was a little dark. Hey, it made you smile. That’s good, right?”
Suddenly, the smile is gone from my face. The reality of my situation comes back full force.
“Do you work for Aiden?” I ask, remembering how I thought she might have been a fellow captive when I first saw her trudge into my cage behind Meave. But she has too much freedom to be trapped. Right? If only I was allowed to make late night runs. I’d make a real run for it. But where would I even go?
“Sort of,” Tara answers, vaguely.
I’m naked under my bed sheets, so I pull them up with me as I move a little closer to the mystery girl. “What does that mean?” The nightgown that Aiden ripped to shreds was the only sleepwear in my closet, and I wasn’t about to wear a gala dress to bed. He seems to be skimping on the bras and panties too. Some sort of game, I can only presume.
Tara hesitates to answer. “I probably shouldn’t say too much.” She turns her head away from me, but I reach out and grab her arm.
“Please, Tara. Just talk to me. I don’t blame you for this. I swear. But I need something else to concentrate on, or else I might go crazy.”
For such a small woman, Tara sure does have an expressive face. I read sympathy on her soft features and for some reason I feel like I can trust her.
“Let me bring these down to the kitchen, then I’ll sneak back up and we can talk.”
“Ok.”
Tara leaves, locking the door behind her, and I wait in the big, dark, silent bedroom all alone, not sure what to expect. Will she return? What will she reveal if she does? The longer I wait, the heavier it all sits on my chest. Then, finally, I hear the click of my door being unlocked.
Before I can feel relief at her return, a spike of dread rumbles through me. What if it’s Aiden? What if this was a test? Did I fail?
Will he punish me?
Do I want to be punished?
Dread gives way to arousal as a familiar pressure builds up in my core. The door opens in slow motion…
And Tara appears.
True to her word, she bounds up to my bedside. A mixture of ungraspable feelings whirl around inside of me. Shame heats my cheeks as I realize a part of me is disappointed that I’m not about to feel Aiden’s hands on me again.
“See, you can trust me,” Tara says. I feel like she can sense my shame and disappointment, but she must think it’s her fault.
“My name is Tara Whelan. Though, if you asked the boys, they’d probably all refer to me as Tara Kilpatrick.”
“What? The boys? You’re Aiden’s sister?”
Tara shakes her head. “Aiden has no sisters, only brothers. Two of them, younger. Nolan and Shane. I’ve known them all since we were kids.”
Aiden has brothers. I don’t know why, but the revelation seems huge. Maybe it’s just because it’s the first real thing I’ve learned about him. Tara’s eyes leave me and wander to the window. “Have you seen the forest out there?”
I picture the endless stretch of black trees that cage me here and a shiver runs down my spine. “Yes.”
“Well, I grew up among them. All hillbilly-like.”
“What? Really? You were a hillbilly?”
“A northern hillbilly. My parents weren’t into moonshine though. They were into meth. I practically raised myself until I was seven, and I wasn’t doing a very good job of it, until I stumbled upon a little cabin in the woods that stood right around here.”
“The Kilpatricks,” I mutter.
Tara nods. “They took me in. Back then, they were poor as dirt, and Aiden was nowhere to be found, but they fed and clothed me anyways.”
Intense curiosity tugs at my heart. “What do you mean? Where was Aiden? How old was he?”
Tara has to think that over. “He would have been around thirteen when I first came into the picture.”
I quickly do the calculations. If Tara was seven and Aiden was thirteen, that means she’s six years younger than him “You’re twenty-five!?” She looks so much younger that it’s almost hard to believe.
“Twenty-four,” she smiles. “But I’ll be twenty-five in a few months.”
But that’s the least interesting part of what she just revealed. “Wait, where was Aiden when he was thirteen? Why wasn’t he with his family?”
Suddenly, Tara’s mood darkens. She hesitates to respond and I feel like I’ve pushed her too far. “I don’t think it’s my place to say,” she says. “Don’t tell him that I told you that. About him being away. Okay?”
I gulp, trying to nod away my desperate curiosity. I knew there was darkness in Aiden’s past. And he was only a kid. But what happened? Was my father involved?
No matter how badly I want to ask that final question, I don’t. The last thing I want to do is put Tara on the spot. She’s been a blessing on this cold lonely night. I don’t want to push her away. I don’t want to be alone again so quickly. So, I think to ask her more about herself, and less about the prince who holds me captive.
“Can you tell me why you’re here?” I softly ask. “If you’re like a daughter to Aiden’s dad, and like a brother to Aiden, you must not need to be their maid?”
The dark cloud hanging over Tara lightens a little bit and her eyes sparkle again. “Financially? No, I don’t need to be. They take care of me. But mentally, I need the work.”
“Why is that?”
Tara shrugs. “The structure. The distraction.”
“From what?”
There’s a split second of hesitation. “Drugs.”
I can hardly believe it. For someone to have had such a rough childhood, then have serious trouble with drugs, and to come out of it all looking like her!? She must have superhuman genes.
“You took drugs?”
“Yes. A lot. I was lost for a long time, but Aiden welcomed me back home with open arms.” Tara casts her eyes downwards for this next part. “He’s not a complete monster, you know. He took me in when he could have just left me to rot away. I know he can seem like a bad guy sometimes, but there’s a good heart somewhere under all those muscles and tattoos. It’s just that he’s had to tuck it away so that bad people don’t have a chance to hurt it.”
“… I won’t hurt it.” The whisper slips out of me like a tear.
Looking back up at me, Tara smiles. “I think you already have.”
That takes me by surprise. “What do you mean? You think Aiden likes me. Like, actually likes me?”
“I’ve said too much. You need to get your rest, princess.” She gets up and starts to walk away.
“Tara!” I call after her, and she stops, turning back around one last time.
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, princess.”
And with that, I’m locked back in my cage.
But my night isn’t over. The answers Tara gave me only make me want to ask more questions.
What happened to Aiden? Why wasn’t he with his family when he was thirteen? Was my father involved? Is that why Aiden hates him so much?
No one remains to tell me what I crave to know. All I can do is imagine every horrible possibility. I never thought my father was some saint. But how bad could he really be?
If he’s the monster in Aiden’s story, what does that mean for me? Which monster should I be more afraid of?
I have a bad feeling I’ll be finding that out the hard way.
