Nobody Like You

Chapter 15 Aiden: Doubts

I should've known that there was a chance of seeing my dad here, but I was so focused on how Gabriella would react to seeing where I used to live that I didn't even think about running into him. Now that he was in front of me, I had no idea how I wanted to deal with this.

"Aiden?" I heard Gabriella softly say, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Are you okay? Should we go?"

Snapping myself back into reality, I quickly shook my head. "No, I'm not going to let him ruin my time with my mom and brother. He'll be gone soon enough."

Before she could say anything else, my dad walked over to us. "Aiden. Didn't think I'd see you here."

"It's my brother's birthday, why wouldn't I be here?" I asked, trying to control the disdain in my voice.

He shrugged. "I just figured you were too busy with the new job but clearly you're doing pretty well since you have time to maintain a relationship." He looked at Gabriella and flashed a charming smile. "I'm Aiden's father, Robert."

"Gabriella," she politely smiled as she moved closer to me.

"Beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Remembering that he brought his own date, he put his arm around her waist. "Oh and this is my wife, Jennifer."

The older woman smiled at me. "Aiden I'm so glad to finally meet you."

"I wish I could say the same," I replied. "It's not really pleasant to meet that woman that helped break up a marriage."

Her smile dropped as my dad frowned at me. "Come on, this isn't about what happened in the past. Today's about celebrating Chris."

"You're right. I'm going to see if my mom needs any help since she had to plan this whole thing herself while you sat on your ass."

Without waiting for him to respond, I took Gabriella's hand and walked off into the house. As I tried to calm myself down, I felt her place a gently hand on my shoulder as she leaned up to my ear to whisper. "Breathe."

I took in a deep breath before letting it out and looking back at her. "I'm good."

"Are you sure you don't want us to leave?" she asked with worried eyes. "I'm sure Chris and your mom would understand."

I thought for a moment before shaking my head. "I'm positive. I'm not letting my dad ruin a good day. Plus this is the only chance I get to be with you in public without worrying about my job so I want to enjoy it."

Before she could respond, my mom walked in and looked at us. "Everything okay? I know your dad being here probably threw you."

"I'm fine," I assured her. "Today's about Chris so that's what I want to focus on. As long as you're okay."

My mom smiled and nodded. "Trust me, I accepted everything that happened between me and your father a long time ago. That was the past so we can just focus on the future."

She kissed my cheek before turning to go back to the party. I took Gabriella's hand before following her outside. During the rest of the party, I avoided eye contact with my dad and tried to forget that he was even there.

As everyone started to leave, I helped my mom clean up and couldn't help but smile when I looked over at Gabriella who was laughing at something my mom said. It felt amazing to know that someone like her had no problem dealing with how complicated my family was. It almost made me sad that we were about to go back to a world where I couldn't put my arm around her in public but I had to keep in mind it was only temporary. Just until she graduated and maybe we could go public with our relationship.

My thoughts were interrupted when my dad walked up to me. "Your girlfriend seems like a sweet girl."

"Yeah, she is."

He paused before speaking again. "You sure it's a good idea for someone in your line of work to be dating though? I mean, aren't you worried about her safety?"

I snapped my head towards him. "What do you mean?"

"You're a big-time bodyguard. It's your responsibility to protect people's assets and sometimes that can get pretty dangerous." He shrugged. "Just figured you'd care more about protecting your girl than fulfilling your own satisfaction."

My stomach turned. Not only did my dad know about my job but it sounded like he knew about me protecting Gabriella's family which wasn't ideal. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"All I'm saying is be careful son. You never know who could pop up and ruin everything for you," he said before walking off.

My fists tightened as I tried to shake off what he said but nothing was working. As much as I hated it, my dad had a point. It was dangerous to be involved with Gabriella when I was supposed to just be protecting her and her family. I knew it when we started but I was selfish and decided to get with her anyway. None of this was fair to her or her family.

Later that night, I laid in bed staring at the ceiling and thinking about my dad's words. I couldn't get them out of my head and I couldn't shake the feeling that I was doing something wrong, laying here with Gabriella.

"Hey," she said, gently turning my head towards her. "What's going on? You've been quiet since the party ended."

"Nothing, I just have a lot on my mind."

"Care to share?"

I sighed. "You don't think it's messed up that I'm betraying your parents' trust by sneaking around with you? I mean I'm supposed to be keeping you safe, not sleeping with you."

Gabriella frowned and sat up in the bed. "Well first, it's not like that's all you're doing. We're in an actual relationship. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Then why hide it?" I asked as I sat up next to her. "If we're really doing nothing wrong then we should be able to walk up to your parents and tell them about us but we can't because if we do, they'd fire me in a heartbeat. No matter how we feel about this, us being together is wrong."

"Where is this coming from?" she asked, clearly hurt from my words. "Everything has been fine with us, why are you trying to ruin it now?"

Not wanting to lie to her, I ran my hand across my forehead in frustration. "My dad said something to me earlier and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind. He knows that I'm a bodyguard and mentioned that I'm putting my own satisfaction over your safety."

"Well we both know that's bullshit." When she saw I wasn't convinced, Gabriella frowned and took my hands in hers. "Aiden you've cared about my safety the entire time we've been doing this. Don't let some crap that your deadbeat dad says change things between us. Plus, its not like we'll be a secret forever."

"Gabriella—"

"Do you want to be with me?" she asked with worried eyes as if she was afraid the answer had changed.

"Of course," I replied without hesitation. There was no question that I wanted her. I didn't think I wanted anything in my life more than I wanted her.

"Then be with me. We're not doing anything wrong, we're not hurting anyone. We just like each other."

Not knowing how else to respond to her, I leaned in and kissed her deeply before laying her back down on the bed. As I hovered over her, I looked down at the sight in front of me. I had someone who wanted all of me despite everything being a mess. Someone who was ready to stand beside me no matter what might happen. How could I give that up?

"All in, right?" I smirked, already knowing her response.

She pulled my shirt off of me before grinning up at me. "All in."