Catch Me if You Can (18+) (FINISHED)

59 - I'm So Sneaky, shhh...

Aspen

Present

"Miles is going to watch over you," Ace explained to me as we walked into the underground townhome, him tossing the bag of my clothes on the couch. "I have to go do some work I missed a bit ago, so be good, hear?"

"I'm not four," I hissed.

"And I'm not letting you leave," he stated, "no matter how angry you get. STAY IN THE HOUSE."

"I'm not a child!" I argued this time. "You can't treat me like one!"

He just shrugged as Miles entered the room from the kitchen, smiling at our stupid argument.

"Sucks to be you, then," Ace told me. "Bye."

And he closed the door behind him seconds later.

I gritted my teeth and started seething.

Oh, I was going to fucking kill him.

"Looks like you two are getting along just fine," Miles stated in amusement from behind me.

I turned to glare at him, and his eyes darkened, but he kept the smile.

I just walked past him brushing our shoulders as I sat on the couch, putting my face in my hands.

He just turned and watched me with raised brows. "Someone's angry."

I looked up at him, clenching my jaw. "I will fucking slap you."

He threw his hands up then. "Chill, bro. Chill. Just commenting, that's all. No harm in that."

I looked back down at the floor then, closing my eyes in pain as he sat on the armchair in front of me.

"Were you apart of this?" I asked him.

He gazed up. "Huh?"

"The plan," I explained, holding my hands together, "the plan to take everything from me and make me Ace's. Were you in on it?"

Miles sank back down on the couch then. "Aspen, we were all in on it."

"WHY?" I yelled then, breaking inside, crying the words as he winced. "WHY DID SOME PETTY ARGUMENT THAT I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A PART IN MAKE YOU WANT TO HURT ME SO MUCH?"

He sighed and sat up as tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them away.

"It wasn't... the argument, Aspen," he whispered to me. "All those texts that someone sent as you hurt, yes, but that wasn't what got us planning."

"What...?" I whispered.

He closed his eyes as if in pain and opened them again. "Aspen... Sweetheart. This... was...."

"What?" I pressed.

"Jax," Miles stated then, "it was mainly Jax's doing. He broke you apart, I guess, fed yours and Ace's anger, and then told us things that were relevant in Tyce's murder."

"Like what?" I questioned.

"That you knew the killer," Miles stated, looking at me now, "we thought... the killer was your boyfriend or something, that you were protecting him because you loved him. Ace was having doubts about your relationship when Tyce died, not on his end, yours, Aspen. He sensed you were getting nervous around us, fidgety, quiet; he thought you were losing interest in him."

I was silent, and felt tears blur my vision.

"Jax fed the doubts," Miles explained, "fed the fear with false facts, broke you apart."

"Why would he do all this if all he wanted was for you guys to like him?" I said.

"Asp," Miles told me, "he hated you. Hated you. He wanted attention from us, he wanted our group's legacy or something. When you came, we saw his true colors, and started waving him off. It angered him. So, like a sexist ass does, he blamed it on you, created lies, and then believed them."

I closed my eyes, trying to understand everything, but it was making my head ache. "Why would you do this? Why would you want to hurt me so much?"

"Aspen..." Miles said then, "we thought... you were involved in the murder, okay? We thought you killed Tyce or wanted him dead. You were losing interest in us and we thought it was because—"

"I NEVER LOST INTEREST IN YOU GUYS!" I cried. "I WANTED TO PROTECT YOU ALL FROM MY BROTHER!"

"We know that now," Miles said in a soft voice.

"Why would he do this to me?" I said then, holding my face in my hands as the cold swarmed inside me. "Why would he want to do this to every one of us?"

I heard footsteps pad up to me, and I took my hands away as Miles kneeled down in front of me, smiling gently.

"Everything will be okay," he promised, setting his hand atop my head. "Everything will be fine, Aspen. Everything. We'll keep you safe, okay?"

When I never responded, he stood and patted my head softly. "I'm going to make some food. You haven't eaten in a while."

And he wandered off to the kitchen.

I sighed as I set my arms on my knees, and gazed around the room helplessly.

What was I going to do? Should I hate them? Do I blame them?

I don't blame them, honestly. Jax played with their minds like a fucking game.

He made them hurt me.

But still... it didn't justify their actions. They had a right to stop, to say no, to argue against it.

They didn't.

Although I didn't blame all of them, I didn't forgive them, either.

But I still needed to see my sister, I needed to make sure she was okay and safe.

How was I going to get out of here, though?

I stood then, stepping over to the hallway that led to the kitchen, and heard Miles's off-key whistling, so I saw my chance.

I searched the entire living room for something to escape with.

The front door locked inside and out on Ace's command, and there were no other ways out of the house, only for emergency.

I lifted the couch cushions and felt under them, then went to the side tables and felt under, inside, and on the drawers.

But still... if I set off the fire alarm, Miles would know I was escaping, I couldn't sneak out that way.

I ran over to the bookshelf and started flipping pages, hoping for something.

The front door was a digital lock... So how was I...?

But when I picked up "Romeo and Juliet," a long, golden key clattered to the ground, and I stared down at it for a moment.

Fuck, yes.

"Aspen!" Miles called from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready in two minutes!"

"Okay!" I called in a hurried manner, shuffling everything back in place as I heard his footsteps pad toward the living room.

But I shoved the key into my bra and ran over to the couch, collapsing on it and laying down, pretending to rest.

"Hey," he told me then, "food time. Let's go."

"Oh," I said, faking exhaustion, "okay."

I then followed him to the dining room.