Deadly Beautiful | ✓

Chapter Twelve

Hailey Thomas.

"What the hell is he doing here, Mum?" Aiden asks, clearly enraged. "What the fuck is he doing in our house, Mum?" He snaps loudly, and I flinch a little beside him.

Aiden's Mum slowly makes her way toward him, placing her hands on his arms, but Aiden pulls away. I can practically feel the anger radiating off of him, and if I don't get him out of here soon, he's going to do something he'll regret.

"Aiden, sweetheart, he just wants to talk," His Mum says, her eyes pleading for him to calm down.

I place my hand on his arm, and he looks down at me. I feel him relax under my touch, and I let out a quiet sigh. I don't know the situation, so I refrain from making any comments, not wanting to upset anyone further.

The man, Aiden's Dad, steps forward a little as well. "Aiden, I just want to apologise."

"Dad, stop," Aiden snaps. "I'm not going to talk about this right now. Especially not in front of Hailey."

I stand awkwardly beside Aiden, his Mum and Dad turning their attention to me. Great. Thanks, Aiden. Way to make me feel even more awkward. But, then again, I suppose it's very nice of him to postpone his family arguments until I'm not present.

Aiden's Mum steps toward me, giving me a small, awkward looking smile. "Do you mind waiting upstairs, sweetheart?" She asks, and before I can answer, she begins leading me away from the living room and toward the stairs. "Aiden's room is the second door on the right," She says, and then she walks back into the living room, closing the door behind her.

I'm not even halfway up the stairs when I hear everyone shouting from inside the living room. Aiden's Mum is crying, his Dad is shouting, and Aiden is shouting back.

I practically sprint up the stairs and into Aiden's room, closing the door behind me. I drop my backpack by the door and then I sigh deeply, flopping down onto his bed, falling onto my back to stare up at the ceiling while I wait for the Moore family fight match to end.

To block out the yelling coming from downstairs, I closed my eyes, thinking about Max, Olivia's boyfriend. I guess he's next on our list, but I have a feeling we're going to need to do a lot more than just ask for the truth from him.

A few minutes later, the door to Aiden's bedroom is flung open, and I bounce to my feet, coming face to face with a very angry Aiden.

"I can't believe him," He fumes, flinging his bedroom door shut, causing me to flinch a little. "I can't fucking believe him!"

I hesitate before stepping toward him. "Do you... Want to talk about it?" I ask, looking up at him as he stares past me at the wall. 

For what seems like forever, but really it was less than a minute, Aiden doesn't say anything. And, then, he looks down at me. He walks around me and sits on his bed, patting the spot beside him, and I walk over slowly, sitting beside him. 

"My Dad is a recovered alcoholic. Or, well, so he says," Aiden says, rolling his eyes. "About two years ago, his problem got really out of hand, and he started beating up my Mum. He nearly killed her, but the neighbours heard the commotion and called the cops. They arrested him, but they didn't charge him. They just sent him to fucking rehab."