Aria and Aubrey { A TLS} : Book Two

Chapter Thirty: Stay With Me

==Aria's POV==

*6 A.M.*

"Babe, wake up. We have to leave."

I woke up to the sound of Aubrey rushing around the room, cursing to himself while throwing the few suitcases I had onto the floor.

I sat up in bed, squinting at him.

"Get the kids Ari, we need to leave. Let's go. Now."

The anxiety in his voice was clear enough for me to wake up completely.

I sat up in bed more alert to his actions. "Aubrey."

He didn't look at me. He just kept going through my closet, taking out various clothes, shoes.

"Aubrey."

"WHAT?!" Aubrey turned to me with fear in his eyes. Not just normal fear, but a deep rooted fear that caused him to go completely insane. What the f*ck was going on?

I cleared my throat and got up from the bed. I walked over to Aubrey, watching his eyes sort of calm down.

"What is going on Aubrey? Why do we have to leave?"

He stared at me, I guess trying not to worry me. Too late.

"You agreed to have us all go on vacation, remember? Of course you were half asleep..."

I rolled my eyes. " Aubrey, if you had told me we were going to see God, I would have agreed to that. Seriously, it's like six in the morning and you're packing? F*ck a vacation, I want answers."

Aubrey sighed and took my hands in his. "Just...trust me okay? Let's just take a vacation, and not worry about anything. You'll get to spend more time with Eza and my mother, I'll spend some time with Robbie, it'll be okay, just trus-"

"This is about Abel isn't it? Oh my God...Oh my God..." I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see, I felt like I had completely lost control of my body.

"Babe, Babe, it's okay, we'll be fine. Look, look, if it wasn't for Miguel calling me, we would have been dead today. But we can get out while we still can, we can leave and save all of us, including my mother."

I looked at Aubrey and just slapped the shit out of him. He groaned and hugged his cheek.

"What the hell?!"

I glared at him while crossing my arms. "How could you, Aubrey? Why did you not listen to me? WHY?!"

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU."

It got quiet for a few moments as I let that sink in. He really risked his life...because he loves me? I know what happened with Anthony was such a fucking scare to me, but Abel? Abel's sadistic mind would put Anthony's to shame.

"Aubrey...you have a daughter. A mother. You can not put their lives, along with mine and Robbie's in danger. Only because you love me." I whispered.

"I want to be that family man Aria. I have to prove that to you. I have to let you know I'd do anything, anything to give you that."

"So putting everyone you love at risk of death is your way of doing so? Aubrey, you could have just told me. I would have listened, just like I am now."

He looked away from me, still clutching his cheek. I sighed and wrapped my arms around him, gathering him into a deep hug. I felt a wetness on my shoulder, so I rubbed his back to let him know I was here.

"I-I'm so sorry I dragged you all into this mess. I should have just listened, I should've considered everything before I came here with Ezabel. I just wanted her to have a mother. To have a normal family."

I took his face in my hands and smiled sympathetically. "And she will baby, but she can't have one if we're being hunted like animals."

Aubrey nodded while straightening himself up. "I know. That's why we have to leave. We just have to leave, and never look back."

Aubrey's phone buzzed on the night stand, so I went over to go get it. I brought it to him, watching as he squinted in confusion at the screen.

He slid the lock button, going to his messages. Whatever Aubrey saw in those messages, it took him a minute to register before his face grew extremely red.

"They couldn't have....those sick ass niggas..."

I furrowed my eyebrows as I took the phone from his hands for my own viewing. What I saw literally churned my stomach.

First off, the text was sent from an Unknown number. There was a picture of this girl, who was laying face side up on her kitchen floor, a pool of dark red blood surrounding her head. There was a small butcher knife jammed into her skull, her eyes...her eyes staring intently into the camera.

I felt tears rise as I clutched my stomach. I'm going to be sick. There was a message below the picture, saying:

I hope you're ready, because you're mother's next.

Don't worry, soon it'll be your turn....We promise.

I threw the phone on the bed, my eyes wide with anxiety. I whipped my head towards a stunned Aubrey, my mind racing a million thoughts a minute.

"Aubrey, who was she? Why did they kill her? Aubrey..."

He looked at me with sullen, numb eyes and shrugged. "She was my best friend."

I started shaking, trying to control the situation around me, even if it wasn't my mess.

"Aubrey, we need to leave, as in right now. I refuse to be killed because you wanted to test this sadistic ass drug lord. Shit, I refuse for the kids to be killed...even your mother for Christ's sake. We need to go before anything else happens."

Aubrey still stood there, his eyes in a trance. "They killed her...She didn't even do anything and they killed her..."

"Aubrey. We have to go. Please."

He looked at me and I swear the expression on his face broke my heart.

"I'm not leaving. Take the kids, and tell my mother to take the next plane out, but I'm not leaving. Abel thinks that he can just control whoever he wants, whenever he wants. I'm sick and tired of it. Tatyana is-was- a really good friend to me. I refuse to just let her death be my fault."

I shook my head. I knew what he was feeling all to well. But, I still couldn't let him stay here alone. We got separated once, it's not happening again.

"I'm staying with you."

"What? Aria, you can't. I need at least one of us to go. At least one of us to take care of the kids, to make sure that my mother is okay."

I shrugged. "I'm staying, end of story. I'll take care of everything else, but at this moment, I choose to stay. I refuse for us to lose one another. If anything happens to you...I don't know what I'd do."

I looked into Aubrey's eyes. "So, I'm going to stay."

Aubrey nodded and then left the room, I guess going to wake the kids up. I could tell that he was mad at me, but I didn't care. I've already made my mind up. Now I just had to make one phone call.

I picked up Aubrey's phone and dialed some numbers, finally hearing it ring. On the third ring, they picked up.

"Hello?"

"Tammy?"

"Aria? Didn't expect you to be calling me."

"I didn't expect to either. Do you remember when I said I needed more than an apology from you?"

"Uh, yeah. Listen, if you're asking me what I'm going to do, I don't even f*cking know yet..."

"No actually. But I have the perfect thing for you to do."

A/N: Sorry it's been so long with an update, but I've been stale on this story :/ Hope you enjoyed the chap.