Aiden Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright page

  About this book

  Books by Jillian

  Aiden

  Books by Jillian

  AIDEN

  The Keatyn Chronicles

  ————————————————————-

  JILLIAN DODD

  Copyright © 2016 by Jillian Dodd

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. This young adult romance is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced I this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of the trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. This ebook is licensed for you personal use only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with someone, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with, especially if you love swoon-worthy boys, strong heroines, and epic love stories.

  If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it and purchase your own copy.

  Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  Jillian Dodd Inc.

  N. Redington Beach, FL

  Jillian Dodd and The Keatyn Chronicles are registered trademarks of Jillian Dodd, Inc.

  ISBN: 978-1-940652-94-8

  ABOUT THIS BOOK:

  The God of all Hotties, with his dreamy green eyes and abs to die for. When Keatyn goes to Eastbrooke, their attraction is intense. He gives her a four-leaf clover, kisses her atop the Ferris wheel, and turns her brain to cotton candy.

  But . . . there’s always a but in love stories, right?

  Discover when and how Aiden learned who Keatyn really was, and why he didn’t confront her with his knowledge in pivotal new scenes from his point of view.

  **This book contains series spoilers. Please finish book seven before reading this.

  ALSO BY JILLIAN DODD

  The USA TODAY bestselling series, The Keatyn Chronicles®

  Young adult contemporary romance set in an East coast boarding school.

  Stalk Me

  Kiss Me

  Date Me

  Love Me

  Adore Me

  Hate Me

  Get Me

  Fame

  Power

  Money

  Sex

  Love

  Keatyn Unscripted

  Aiden

  That Boy Series

  Small town contemporary romance series about falling in love with the boy next door.

  That Boy

  That Wedding

  That Baby

  That Divorce

  The Love Series

  Contemporary, standalone romances following the very sexy Crawford family.

  Vegas Love

  Broken Love

  Fake Love

  Spy Girl Series

  Young adult romance series about a young spy who just might save the world.

  The Prince

  The Eagle

  The Society

  The Valiant

  Jillian Dodd and Kenzie Harp

  Young adult travel romance.

  Girl off the Grid

  I want to start Aiden’s point of view off with the scene from Get Me where Keatyn finally tells Aiden the truth about who she is and why she lied. I think most readers were pretty shocked when he told Keatyn that he already knew.

  He’s quiet on the elevator, on the walk down the hall, and as we go into our room.

  After the dirt, the No more lying, and all the You can tell me anythings, I understand why.

  He has every right to be mad. I should’ve listened to my heart and told him. I had so many opportunities, going all the way back to that day in the chapel.

  “Before you say anything, I need to tell you something,” I blurt out.

  He takes my hand and leads me over to the chaise, where we both sit down.

  He lets go of my hand but I quickly grab it again, clinging to it like a life raft.

  “I’m sorry I lied to you. There’s a lot more to the story. I understand if you hate me. I deserve it. But you have to know that there were so many times I wanted to tell you. Remember the slutty video? When Dawson and I broke up? I was taking him to meet my parents that weekend. I was going to tell him the truth. That's why I was so upset. I was more upset at myself for trusting the wrong person again than I was about us not dating. And that's why, after what happened with Chelsea, I forgave you but wouldn't see you. I couldn't lie to you anymore. I was in deep with you, and I knew that eventually I'd have to tell you, and that you'd hate me for lying. But then you brought me dirt and told me our pasts didn't matter.”

  Tears stream down my face, feeling cold against my flushed cheeks. “You have no idea how deeply that touched me. And it’s why I let you come to St. Croix. I wasn’t planning to go back to school. I didn't get closure with B. Everything with him—especially how I had to leave—has been so up the air and I didn't want to do that to you. I was going to give you closure, then send you back to school. And that's why I've been so tired all the time. At night, I’m either learning how to defend myself, or I'm flying back to California to mess with him, or I’m having online business meetings in an attempt to take over his company. It’s not my friend who was being stalked and almost got kidnapped. It was me.” I stop and mutter, “Shit.”

  Then I stand up and grab my clutch off the bed.

  “What are you doing?” Aiden asks.

  I pull out a piece of paper and hold it up in front of him. “This is the script I’ve been working on. In it, instead of truth-vomiting, I eloquently explain everything to you. I couldn’t have sex with you until you knew.”

  I drop the piece of paper on the chaise, wondering why I’m even bothering.

  He’s not going to forgive me.

  I might as well just grab my bags and go.

  But he starts reading my script aloud.

  “THE SETTING: HOTEL SUITE AFTER WINTER FORMAL.

  AIDEN

  (Opening a bottle of champagne)

  KEATYN

  (Lighting all the votive candles he thoughtfully brought)

  (They kiss)

  (But then she looks nervous)

  I need to tell you something.

  AIDEN

  (Sits on the edge of the bed)

  What?

  KEATYN

  (Stands in front of him)

  I’ve been lying to you. Actually, I’ve been lying to everyone about something. And I need you to know.

  AIDEN

  (Looks concerned)

  Okay.

  KEATYN

  I came to Eastbrooke because I was being stalked. My last name isn’t Monroe. I’m Keatyn Douglas. And my mom doesn’t work in oil and gas. But she is in France. And her name is Abby Johnston.

  AIDEN

  (Stands up in shock)”

  Aiden stares at the script for a few moments then slowly sets it down. I can tell he’s thinking; probably trying to figure out the nicest way to tell me to fuck off.

  Instead, he stands up, takes two big steps toward me, and brushes a tear off my cheek. “Life hasn't been following your scripts. You told me that once.”

  “No, it hasn’t.”

  “If it had worked out the way you planned—
if you’d followed your script—right now is the point where life would have deviated from it.”

  “You wouldn't have stood up in shock?”

  “No,” he says, caressing my face. “I would have said, Baby, I already knew.”

  “You what?! What do you mean?!”

  “I mean I've known for quite a while who you really are.”

  “How?!”

  “That day at the chapel, when you told me about your friend. I don't know. I just felt like you were talking about yourself. So I started googling stuff. The name Keatyn, California, stalker, famous parents. Somehow, eventually, I put in the right mix of words. About ten pages into an image search, I came across a photo of you and your mom. It was from a kids’ awards show when you were probably twelve or thirteen.”

  “You've known this whole time and you let me lie to you?”

  “Yeah, Boots, I did.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I wanted to be the kind of guy you could trust. It’s why I backed off. Why I told Riley about Dawson. I didn't want to see you hurt anymore. It's why I've told you so many times that you can tell me anything. That you could trust me. What I didn’t realize before was that I needed to earn that trust. We had to build a strong foundation. I’m really glad you were planning to tell me tonight.”

  A lot of readers wondered when Aiden figured out the truth and why he didn’t confront her about it. I think looking back, it’s easy to tell where he figured it out. If you recall, he’d been pursuing Keatyn since she got to Eastbrooke, but suddenly he stopped and told her that he wanted them to be friends. I think a lot of readers thought this was sort of a ploy on his part. A way to spend time with her (and torture her with his godly smile) while she was dating Dawson. Or that he had given up. Or that he simply backed off because she was dating Dawson.

  So, I’m going to let Aiden tell you how it all happened.

  These scenes take place way back in book two, Kiss Me. Meaning Aiden had known the truth from the early morning hours of Sunday, September 25th until Saturday, December 17th when she finally told him. I think knowing this, you can now better understand his frustration with Keatyn, why he did the cute sex survey to learn about her past relationships, why he wanted to build a strong foundation together, why when he gave her the dirt he told her he didn’t care if they had been lying to each other, and why he was making her wait.

  To get you back into the story, we’ll start with Keatyn’s point of view from Kiss Me.

  Friday, September 23rd

  I wish we didn’t fight.

  12:55pm

  Keatyn

  Garrett calls me as I’m leaving lunch. I tell Dawson that I have to take a quick call and send him off to his next class. I’m freaking out a bit because Garrett never calls me. He always texts me and has me call him back.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Did you tell Vanessa where you are?”

  “No.”

  “Keatyn, it’s important that you tell me the truth. I won’t yell at you if you did. I know this has been hard on you, but if you did, it’s imperative that I know.”

  “I swear to you on my sisters’ lives that I’m telling you the truth. What’s going on?”

  “Vanessa may be missing.”

  “Missing how?”

  “She apparently posted something on Facebook about how she talked to you. That you wanted everyone to know you were getting better.”

  “She just wants to act like she knows what’s going on.”

  “Well, that may be, but she went to a club last night and RiAnne says no one has seen her since.” He swallows loudly. “Vincent was at the same club.”

  “And you think something’s happened to her? But you told me if I kept my friends in the dark they’d be safe. Did you lie to me? Do you think he’s done something to her?”

  “We don’t know. We aren’t running surveillance on him twenty-four-seven anymore.”

  I’m shocked. “Why not?!”

  “I was told to cut back.”

  “By who?”

  “James.”

  “Is it a money thing?”

  “I think they were pretty surprised at how much the bill was, yes. But in their defense, it’s been almost a month and we haven’t produced any compelling results. The goal was to gather information that we could use against him. Other than him being at the same places as some of your friends, his going to Oregon, New York, and a few coincidental Facebook things, we have nothing. Nothing we could take to a judge, anyway.”

  “Do you think for my safety we should be watching him more?”

  “I don’t know that twenty-four-seven is the answer, but, yes, I’d like to have the freedom to do what we think is best. For example, my man followed him to the club, but then went off duty.”

  “From now on, you have the freedom to do what you think is best. Just bill me. And you need to give me more details about Vanessa because what you’re saying doesn’t make sense. Vanessa never went to a club alone. She made RiAnne and me go with her. And she may not have told RiAnne who she was leaving with, but she would have told her she was leaving. RiAnne was always her cover.”

  “What do you mean, her cover?”

  “It’s just not that unusual for her to go off with a guy for the weekend. And when she did that, she always told her dad that she was staying at RiAnnes. What did RiAnne say, exactly?”

  “On her own wall, she said that Vanessa is missing, but on your Facebook wall she said, Vanessa is off radar and I’m going to be pissed if you two are having a reunion without me.

  “Off radar means RiAnne has no idea where she is. You need to send her a message. Don’t write on her wall. Send her a direct message. Tell her that Vanessa is not with me. That I haven’t spoken to her or anyone else since my party. Tell her—and this is important—that I pinkie swear. She’ll come home, Garrett. She always does. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that he was there.”

  “Like it was just a coincidence that he was in New York at Brooklyn’s tournament? I don’t think so. When she comes home, Keatyn, I’d like her to come home alive. We can’t find Vincent either.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We can’t find him. He’s not at home. Didn’t go to his office today. His assistant said she wasn’t sure when he’d be back.”

  “Wow,” is all I manage to mutter out. My mind is going in a million directions. Trying to process it all.

  “When she went off with guys before, did she go to the same place? Is there somewhere we can look for her?”

  “Not really. She’d take off and come back with some amazing story. And pictures. Always pictures. Do you really think she could be with Vincent?”

  “I don’t believe in coincidences.”

  I remember her telling me that Vincent was hot that day at the hotel. “You might check The Chateau. It’s her favorite hotel and it’s where she met Vincent to begin with.”

  “I’ll call you if I hear anything. You swear to me, she doesn’t know where you are? If she does, I want you out of there now. I’m serious.”

  “I swear.”

  I hit the end button on my phone with a shaking hand. I know at any moment I’m going to burst into tears. I can’t go to class.

  I run my hand through my hair, look up, and see the chapel at the top of the hill. I put my head down and quickly walk toward it.

  The heavy wooden doors open with a creak. Thankfully, no one is here. I choose a pew in the back row and plop down. I fold my hands and say a prayer.

  Please, God, let Vanessa be okay. I don’t understand this. I gave up everything. My friends. My family. My home. I wanted to put as much distance as I could between us. I did it because I thought it would keep them safe. They told me it would keep them safe. I was so sure of my decision when I made it. I can still see the photo of the girls. I can still hear the voice in my head that told me they’d be safe. I don’t want anyone hurt because of me, and they are really the ones I did this for. They are the on
es I gave my life up for. And I’ll give it up forever as long as those four little smiles stay safe.

  Tears stream down my face as I’m praying, but when I think about the girls, I start bawling. I just put my face in my hands and cry. I miss them so much.

  A hand touches my knee and a silky voice says, “Boots.”

  I look up and Aiden’s eyes meet my tear-filled ones. Those green eyes that see straight through me. Those green eyes that always make me feel emotionally naked.

  I close my eyes and start crying again. I don’t know why he’s here. He’s supposed to be mad at me. But he doesn’t act like he’s mad anymore. He wraps his arms around me and I melt into his chest.

  Friday, September 23rd

  I wish we didn’t fight.

  12:55pm

  Aiden

  There’s something about the stillness of the chapel and the tears falling in black-mascara tracks down her beautiful face that make me stop in realization.

  This girl is more than just a trophy to me. More than just a prize to be won and paraded around school on my arm. More than just a girl I want to get out of her plaid skirt.

  She could be the girl.

  The one I wished for that night.

  The girl I never want to cry. The girl who puts a smile on my face even when she pisses me off.

  With most girls, all I want to know is your room or mine?

  I want to know everything about Keatyn. I want to meet her family, see her baby pictures, hear stories about her growing up. I want to know what makes her happy, what makes her sad, and if it's in my power, I don't want her to ever be sad.