Free Tending Their SECRET by Crystal Perkins Page B

to take you home now?”
    He’s not whispering, and I know without
looking that my friends have moved away to give us some privacy.
They know pretty much everything there is to know about the two of
us, but I appreciate them backing off.
    “No. I want to hang out with our friends and
pretend that we’re just a normal couple for a little while. Then I
want you to take me home and use that talented tongue of yours on
me again while I suck you dry.”
    He groans into my ear. “You really are
trying to kill me. Or at least keep me hard 24 hours a day.”
    “We could order a car to take us to the
restaurant. Nate could take your car.”
    “Because that wouldn’t be obvious.”
    “Do you really care?”
    “Normally, no. But you deserve more than the
back of a town car. It’s important for me to show you that.”
    “You show me how special I am every time
we’re together.”
    “Except for yesterday. And two months
ago.”
    I take his face in my hands and force him to
look at me. “The past is just that. The past. I told you I want to
focus on our future together. Nothing else matters.”
    He nods, but I know he doesn’t totally
believe me. If I could tell him what I know, his conscience would
be clear about what happened to me. Or at least clearer than it is
now. But, if I tell him, he’ll never accept my help. Or anyone
else’s. It’s not in his nature. He has to save everyone else, while
not letting himself be vulnerable enough to ask for help, or even
just accept it.
    I know that I’m taking a big chance. We all
are. He’ll eventually have to know, and when he does, we’ll be
lucky if he still talks to us. And I’ll be lucky if he still wants
to be with me. I can’t regret what I’m doing, though. Saving him is
more important than keeping him. It has to be.
    * * *
    Aiden
    Sitting here in a small
Ethiopian restaurant, next to the woman I love, and surrounded by
some of our best friends, I really do feel almost normal. Isa,
Jake, and Faith are here with us, as well as Nate and Jade. We’re
all laughing and joking with each other like the last few months
never happened. That’s how it is with good friends, you can just
pick up where you left off and it’s like no time has passed. That
thought makes me think of Andy, and how I really did try to keep
our friendship alive. I didn’t want to lose him as a friend, but he
just never wanted to fit in with my friends. He didn’t like that I had other friends. That’s
his problem, and not mine. I tried to be his friend, and I’ll still
keep trying, because my dad loves him.
    “Why are you looking like you lost your best
friend?” Ellie whispers to me.
    “Because I did.”
    “Andres?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You told me you tried to stay in
touch.”
    “I did. He was just…possessive of me.”
    “Possessive? Like he wanted you?”
    “No,” I shake my head with a smile. “He was
a bigger pussy chaser than Matt, Nate, and I put together. I was
honestly shocked when he got with my dad. I meant that he was
possessive as far as wanting me to have no other friends but
him.”
    “Wait, he seriously never even seemed
interested in other guys in all the years you knew him?”
    “No, but you have to remember that I hadn’t
seen him for years, either. I guess he got curious.”
    “Yeah. I guess. It bothers you, doesn’t
it?”
    “That he’s with my dad? Yeah, but not
because they’re both dudes. It’s just weird that one of my friends
is with my dad.”
    “I can see that.”
    “Are you having fun,” I ask, moving away
from that awkward subject.
    “Yes,” She says, snuggling under my arm.
    “Isn’t this cozy,” Dave says, coming up to
our table. I hadn’t even seen him in the restaurant.
    “Yes. It is,” I tell him, and don’t even try
to keep the sneer off of my face. I don’t like him, and I won’t
pretend that I do. Even for my dad.
    “I would expect the great Aiden Ford to be
dining somewhere fancier.”
    “You really need to knock that shit