Drowning

Chapter Fifty-Eight

I'm sitting on the couch in our room at the cabin. Cabin is a modest way to put this place. It is in the middle of the woods, Black wasn't wrong about that but this place is huge. It has at least seven bedrooms, a game room and a movie theater. The kitchen is beautiful and the backyard is gorgeous.

After the three hour long car ride, listening to Aiden and Logan bickering or Logan laughing about something I said about Aiden, we were greeted by Ethan and his fiance Cara. They both are really nice, but I didn't get to talk much to Ethan since his fiance instantly tackled me with a hug and conversation. She apparently was glad that there was finally another female in the group and with all the bickering the guys did on our way here I couldn't blame her. We built a fire when it turned dark, and sat in the backyard. The guys on one side were chatting while Cara and I were on the other. I really like her, which is not something I say often about people. From what I've gathered she is a kind, bubbly and fun person. She seems to care about Ethan a lot too, she told me how they were childhood sweethearts, meaning she knows everyone here for a long time too. She told me a few stories, I told her a few of mine and we bonded. She even complimented my boots, which I instantly rubbed on Aiden's face. It was a bad idea to wear them, my ass.

I'm reading a book, waiting for Aiden who forgot something in the car. I know he's tired from all the driving and I want him to sleep, but I also know he's too stubborn. He won't sleep until I sleep. I've been having a tough week, going to the gym a lot and barely getting any sleep. I got a call from Fernando last Saturday. He said he made significant progress, and he had a lead that would finally get him everything he needed to finish his report. Fernando asked if I wanted to know what he's got so far, but I told him no. I don't know if it was because I wanted to know everything together or because I'm still not prepared. But by tomorrow I guess I'll know everything. I'll finally know what happened that night, and what happened to Aubrey. I just hope I'm prepared for it.

Aiden walks into the room, and I look up to him. He has a huge bag in hand. I frown because I know the bag with his clothes is already in the closet. I close the book and ask, "What's in there?"

"Why don't you see for yourself." Black says placing the bag next to my feet. I give him a quizzical look, before I lean forward and open it. There are a lot of wrapped items inside.

"What's this?"

"Your Christmas present." He says, sitting at the coffee table in front of me. "Open them." He nudges. Glancing between the bag and him, I take out all the small presents and set them on my lap. I know what they are. They're books. They're at least ten of them.

"You didn't need to get me anything," I tell Black.

"I did either way," I take that as my cue to unwrap the gifts. I grab the first book in the pile and slowly unwrap it, and when I see the title of the paper back a smile overcomes my lips. A thousand boy kisses.

I look up at Aiden, who is looking at me waiting for a response. "You got me the book," I tell him, looking down at it again.

"I told you I would give you a bookshelf of cliche books if that's what you wanted." My smile gets bigger at his response. "Open it," He tells me, setting his arms on his knees and leaning forward.

I open the book and there's two sentences underneath the first page that includes the title. I don't know what the book 's about, but a thousand kisses is not even a quarter of how many I want to give you. To hell if they think it's too many, I can already envision the title of our second book: The infinite man kisses. I laugh when I see the word man that is underlined multiple times.

I've actually caught him writing in the journal he bought that day at the gift shop library, and he refused to show me. He said I needed to read it when it was actually done, and in the meanwhile I just needed to live the actual story.