Undercover

18. You Stubborn Fool

I had given up already. He came way too many times for me to be out all the time. I had asked Finn to stop texting me when he came because lately, it didn't help. Either he would come in through the back when I was trying to get away from him in the backyard, or they stood out the front. Instead, I just holed myself up in my room and never came out.

Today though, before Aiden had gotten there, I snuck out of the house and went next door. The door was still unlocked and I just wanted to go inside and do nothing. I hadn't touched the letter that I had found here. I didn't want to see his handwriting and I didn't want to read it because I didn't want to feel bad about being so mean to him.

I went into the house and immediately went up to what had been Aiden's room. I sat on the floor, next to the closet and did nothing else. This room held so many memories and I wondered why I had come here out of all places.

I hadn't even realized that I had fallen asleep until I was being shaken awake. When I opened my eyes, I was met with the greenest eyes I had ever seen. Cue the heart beating at 2000 beats per minute. I think it was at the moment that I realized it was him that I literally jumped up from the floor. This wasn't embarrassing at all. He had found me in what used to be his old room.

I tried to walk away from him, but he caught my arm like he did the day he caught me off guard in the backyard. I guess he had caught me off guard today too.

"Aiden, please let me go." I didn't have the energy to be rude. I didn't have the energy to be angry at him.

"Nali—Natalia, I need you to listen to me, alright?" he said to me, his tone was full of worry. I didn't understand.

"What do you want me to know?"

"You can't come back in here." Remember when I told you that I didn't have the energy to be angry at him? Yeah, I guess that was really short lived because I felt the anger in me bubble up as soon as those words left his lips.

"And who are you to tell me what to do? You don't own me. You don't have any say in what I do with my life. Why should I listen to anything you say?"

"Natalia, please. I don't care if you don't believe anything I say. That's fine. If you choose anything to believe out of everything I say, please choose this. You can't come back in here, especially if you're by yourself. But don't come back in here regardless. I know that you're mad and hurt and everything in between, but I need you to never come into this house again. Please."

I freed my arm from his grip and started walking away from him. He had no right to tell me what the hell to do. Who did he think he was? I kept walking and he still ran after me.

"Natalia, for the love of everything that you find holy, please listen to me."

"Why should I listen to you? You've lived the greatest lie that you have ever told. I believed every piece of it and look where that got me. So tell me, why do you expect me to listen to anything you say?"

He sighed. I was giving him a hard time and I knew it, but a part of me loved seeing him frustrated with himself. "It's dangerous. I wouldn't lie to you about your safety."

I looked at him, but I meant really looked at him then. There was genuine concern in his eyes, and his facial expression was morphed into one of desperation. For whatever reason, the fact that he had found me here alone, and basically asleep scared the crap out of him. At that moment, we heard a car come up the driveway.

I looked into his eyes. Nobody lived here. There shouldn't be anyone driving up the driveway. There was a look of panic in Aiden's eyes before he grabbed me and pulled me towards him without any warning. We went back into what used to be his room and he closed the door behind us. He pushed me towards the closet and closed the door behind us. He made sure that my back was against the wall farthest from the entrance to the room and that I was behind him. At this point, I was more than a little freaked out.