Capturing Oliver (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Aiden had just started to open the door when he heard his name. His hand paused on the doorknob. He felt suddenly like he was going to do the wrong thing and he wanted to swing open the door, but something inside of him stopped his hand from moving. He needed to hear what they were saying.

"Aiden must have done it," a man said. Aiden knew without a doubt that it was Orson speaking.

Aiden scrunched his eyebrows together as he listened to his voice. He really didn't like the man.

"We don't know that yet," a woman with a soft voice replied. Aiden decided that it must have been Adelaide. "He might have had nothing to do with it."

The word might sent uneasy feelings through Aiden's mind. He really thought Adelaide had liked him.

"Does it matter who did it?" a voice with a British accent asked. "Pierce is the one who cheated on me."

Eden was crying. He could hear it in her voice. She sounded broken. Aiden felt her tears like a stab wound in his chest. He wanted to open the door and hug her and tell her that he was sorry. He hated that he had a part to play in her pain.

"It does matter!" Orson barked out.

"It wasn't Aiden," Oliver told his father with resolve. "Aiden would never do anything like that."

He sounded so sure. It broke Aiden's heart. He didn't know how he was going to tell him the truth. He just had to remind himself that Oliver would understand once he knew the whole story.

"How can you possibly know?" Orson asked. "How long have you even known this boy?"

"He didn't do this. Stop blaming Aiden when the real person you should be mad at is Pierce! He was the one who created this mess!"

"Pierce has a very stressful job-'

"Stop defending him!" Oliver yelled out. "Can't you see what he's done? Look at Eden! How can you defend him!"

Aiden pulled open the door. He had to stop the fighting. He knew what he would see before he even looked, but the image before him still made his breath catch in his throat. Orson was standing next to the table, the anger coming off of him in strong waves. His eyes were wide with fury. Adelaide sat at the table with eyeliner falling down her cheeks and an arm around Rosie.

The reminder of Rosie's part in all of this hit him hard. She must have felt responsible. She was crying fiercely, with her curls falling in front of her face and somewhat obscuring the view of the make-up that had smudged under her eyes.

Eden sat on the other side of the table, her one hand wrapped around her stomach and the other covering her face. Aiden knew what expression would be under her delicate fingers and he didn't want to see it.

"What's going on?" Aiden asked. He knew perfectly well what was going on, but he was hoping that his presence would cause a change of subject.

"We are leaving," Orson replied. His gaze was stuck on Oliver.

"We aren't leaving Eden," Adelaide retorted.

"She can come with us," Orson replied. He motioned towards the crying woman. "Stay in our hotel room tonight."

Eden revealed her face. She nodded.

The only sound in the room was Rosie's cries.

"Eden can stay with us," Oliver said. He took a step closer to Eden.

"Stay out of this, Oliver," Orson barked at him. "It's your fault that this happened in the first place."

"My fault?" Oliver gaped at him. "How could this possibly be my fault?"