Aiden Harper

Detonation

Aiden

After Mia detonated that bomb, Eden shut down on me completely. She refused to talk to me or look at me. Forget touching. Eden curled into herself and drove home. I didn't hesitate to follow her.

I texted Diego about what happened at the park. Yeah, I know. Don't text and drive. I didn't have time to chat with Diego on the phone. Needless to say, Diego's text had several cuss words, including every name in the book for Mia.

When we got to the apartment building, Eden ran upstairs to her apartment and slammed the door on me. I heard locks click, which meant she wanted to keep me out.

I tried everything to get inside Eden's apartment. She would answer my knocking or phone calls. Diego and Marissa arrived twenty minutes later.

Marissa unlocked the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Shit. Eden must have, but the door prop was on so no one could get in."

"Why the hell do you have a door prop?" Diego asked.

"So no one can break in."

"We live across the hall from you." He gestured between me and him.

"My dad forced me to get one alone for that reason."

"I thought your dad liked me."

"No dads like their daughter's boyfriend." Marissa rolled her eyes.

"She has a point. Although I don't need to worry about Mr. Diaz since he's not Eden's old man," I said.

"Worry about semantics later," Diego said.

"We could try the fire escape since it's next to Eden's bedroom," Marissa suggested.

"Great. We'll break in like the hoodlums we are while you call your folks." I grabbed Diego's arm and ran downstairs until we reached the fire escape. I yanked the ladder down and climbed it with Diego right behind me.

We reached Eden's bedroom and found her sitting on her bed with her head down. I pulled out a pocket knife and pried the window open until we had enough space to climb through. I entered first, and Diego followed me. We stopped when we heard sniffles.

"They should have told me the truth," Eden rasped.

Diego and I exchanged glances. He stayed put while I approached Eden and crouched before her.

She lifted her watery gaze to me. "I asked them for the truth. They wouldn't tell me. Why?"

I took Eden's hands in mine. "I wish I knew."

Eden pulled a hand from mine and wiped her eyes angrily. "I always wondered why my mom would scold me and my dad couldn't look at me. Now I know why. I was never his." She laughed humorlessly.

"We don't know the full story yet. But someone might."

"Who?"

I nodded for Diego to let Marissa in. He left the bedroom and removed the door propped against it. A few minutes later, Marissa's folks walked into the room. Marissa's mother sat beside Eden on the bed and hugged her.

Carmichael sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I warned my brother this would happen."

Eden's face snapped to Carmichael. "What do you mean?"

"Rueben met Gloria shortly after she arrived here. She was working in a diner. He fell head over heels for her. They started dating. Then Gloria told Rueben she was pregnant but didn't tell him she was already pregnant. Rueben thought the baby was his until Gloria had you seven months later. You were too big for a premie. Rueben was furious when he found out. But Gloria begged him she would do anything if he wouldn't leave her. It was the reason we hadn't gotten along all these years. I disagreed with how Rueben treated you."