Novel Square
Chapter 20
Hayley’s PovBelonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.
I bolted out of that hallway so fast, hot tears already spilling down my cheeks. How fucking dare Aiden keep something as huge as hooking up with Alessandra from me? Just picturing them together made me want to puke. I barely even made it to the bathroom before breaking down, sinking to the dirty floor as sobs escaped my lips. I let out the rage and hurt I’d bottled up within me, coupled with the distress my own mother was making me go through. I didn’t understand why this was suddenly happening. I had no idea how long I was curled up like a ball, feeling sorry for myself, until the door creaked open. Then I heard their voices. “Haley? You in here, babe?” Mona called out, obviously trying to keep it down. I just sniffled hard, not responding. Mina let out a loud sigh. “Look, we get that you’re hurting and pissed at Aiden right now,” she said frankly. “Hell, I’d be remapping his family jewels to his throat after that shitshow he just pulled.” I actually let out a watery chuckle at that vivid image, despite myself. “But you can’t stay locked up in here all day,” Mona pleaded gently. “Come on out and talk to us, Hales. Don’t let that basic bitch get to you.” Sucking in a deep breath, I finally pulled myself together enough to stand up and open the stall door. The second I saw their sympathetic faces, I collapsed right into Mona and Mina’s arms. “It’s fine…” Mina murmured, rubbing my back as she tried to calm me down. Then they enveloped me in a group hug. “Let it all out. We got you.” After going through about half a box of tissues, I finally felt coherent enough to speak. “I just… I can’t believe he lied to me like that,” I choked out through the lingering sniffles. “About sleeping with that skanky hoe, about God knows what else from his past!” Mona gnawed her lip, exchanging one of those weighted looks with Mina. “Look, Hales…” she started cautiously. “I’m sure Aiden didn’t mean for it to come out like that, you know? Maybe he was really going to tell you at some point; he just-” “He just what?” I cut her off sharply. “That what, Mona? That he couldn’t handle the truth? “That’s not what I meant, Haley!” Mona backtracked quickly, hands up in surrender. “I’m just saying we all have pasts we’re not proud of. And yeah, maybe Aiden should’ve been upfront sooner, but-” “Do you guys know about his past?” I demanded, feeling a fresh swell of anger at the thought of my best friends keeping secrets too. “Did he tell you all about banging that wretched tramp while I was left being the naive, clueless virgin, thinking I might be his first?” Mina made a face like I’d just punched her in the gut. “Okay, I know it hurts like hell to hear it laid out like that; trust me,” she replied carefully, putting a hand on my arm. “But Haley, you gotta look at the bigger picture here. You and Aiden have something real, something deeper than any shallow high school fling.” “Yeah?” I scoffed, bitter as hell. “And what about all the other lies and secrets I don’t even know about yet?” That’s when Mona’s phone dinged with a new notification. Frowning, she picked it up, and her eyes damn near bugged out of her head. “Uhh, speaking of secrets from Aiden’s past…” I felt my stomach drop straight through the goddamn floor. “What is it?” I demanded through gritted teeth. Mona hesitated, clearly not wanting to tell me. “It’s just an anonymous message I just got,” she said slowly. “With some seriously messed up claims about Aiden and that chick Alessa.” My head started throbbing as worst-case scenarios raced through my mind. “Well??” I snapped impatiently. Taking a deep breath first, Mona turned her phone so I could see whatever heinous sh*t she’d just received. I nearly passed out cold when I read the words on that screen: “Heads up-that little rich skank Alessa and Aiden used to work for his aunt together back in the day. As in, ‘work’ work, if you know what I mean. Ask Aiden how much of that slut’s body he got ‘familiar’ with while sampling the merchandise for Aunt Jada’s escort business!” I went numb, unable to process what I’d just read. My mouth turned to absolute desert as a wave of revulsion swamped me. Mina’s jaw dropped to the floor. “What the actual fuck…?” “Oh hell no…” Mona breathed, clearly as stunned as me. “Haley, please tell me you didn’t already know about any of this escort bullshit??” But I couldn’t speak, let alone put coherent sentences together. I was drowning in a tsunami of betrayal and gut-wrenching disgust, the full horrific meaning of those words slowly sinking in. My sweet, sensitive Aiden, tangled up in some depraved prostitution ring? Pimped out by his own aunt to sample their merchandise? With that venomous succubus, Alessandra?? Through the roaring in my ears, I was vaguely aware of Mona continuing to ramble, hushed but urgent. “Babe, say something, please. I need you to tell me this is just some twisted rumor, that none of this escort shit could possibly be true.” The dam inside me finally burst. “He lied to me!!” I shrieked, an anguished wail ripping straight from my guts. “That dirty lying son of a bitch, he’s been lying to me this whole time!!” Whirling on my two best friends, rage and nauseating betrayal burning through me, I unleashed the beast. “How could you not know about this??” I was actually spraying spittle, my voice cracking with unhinged fury. “Were you all in on it, just laughing at me behind my back while Aiden got his kicks sampling whatever depraved wares his pimp aunt was peddling with that slut??” Mona recoiled like I’d just bitch-slapped her, anguish and dismay painted across her features. “Haley, no, baby, it’s not like that!” She pleaded desperately, hands up in supplication. “We’re your sisters; we would never…” “Save it!” I lashed out viciously, cutting her off with blistering heat. “You obviously don’t know the first thing about Aiden or the sorts of disgusting depravities he’s been tangled up in. I need to handle this myself.” With that, I whipped around and stormed straight for the exit, hell-bent on confronting the source of my torment head-on. No more lies, no more games-Aiden was going to give me the whole truth this time, no matter how soul-shredding. The truth about his twisted escort hooker past and the degenerate aunt who fed him into it. I was furious as I ran through the hallway looking for Aiden. I was fuming with anger. That two-timing bastard was going to give me some damn answers, whether he liked it or not. I caught a glimpse of his stupid bushy head outside the gym doors having a good chuckle with some of the basketball team guys, as if he never had a care. As if he hadn’t just shattered my heart and fed it to me raw and bloody. “Aiden!” I said it loudly and without thinking about other people’s reactions or the fact that I might look like a complete psycho now. ‘We have to discuss this.’ ‘Right now. ‘ His smile disappeared almost immediately the second he realized how I sounded. Sighing and giving his friends an apologetic look, he began moving in my direction sluggishly with his hands raised as if preparing for a surrender. “Whoa, whoa, Hales, now look, let us calm down here, okay?” He had the audacity to try and calm me down as though I had lost all my sanity. ‘Even if it has nothing to do with us, I’m positive that we can-‘ “Don’t you dare try and sweet talk your way out of this one!” I cut him off, squaring up as he approached. “Or should I call you ‘Daddy Warbucks’ since you’ve been a sugar pimp this whole time??” Aiden flinched hard, his face paling to a sickly shade I’d never seen before. For a moment, he just floundered there, his mouth working but no words coming out. When he finally did speak up, it was barely above a choked whisper. “You… you know about what went down with my aunt?” “That you two ran some kind of sick escort hooker business together?” I spat out venomously. “And that you and your sidepiece, Alessandra, spent quality time’sampling the merchandise’? Yeah, I’m filled in on all the nauseating details, thanks!” His eyes slammed shut, his skull hanging down like the weight of his shame was physically crushing him. This only pissed me off more. “What, nothing to say for yourself now that your dirty secret’s out?” I raged on, tears of hurt and anger burning fresh trails down my cheeks. “Did you really think you could just hide this disgusting part of your life from me forever, Aiden? Keep lying and lying until the truth eats us both alive.” “Hales, please. You gotta believe me, it’s not as simple as…” He trailed off helplessly, dragging his hands down his face before forcing himself to look at me again. “Let me explain from the start. You deserve to know everything.” I crossed my arms tightly, fighting the urge to either make a run for it or start wailing on him right then and there. Part of me didn’t want to hear any of it-it would be better to just cut this cancer out of my life before it could metastasize any further. But another part, the part that still foolishly loved this boy despite all his flaws and indiscretions, felt like I owed it to myself to understand how he’d gotten tangled up in such depraved circumstances before I completely wrote him off. “You’ve got five minutes,” I said through gritted teeth. “And it better be one hell of a fucking redemption story, Aiden.” Aiden swallowed hard, nodding as he haltingly began to speak. “It all started after my mom walked out on us when I was thirteen.” Whether his tragic tale held any water or not, I steeled myself to at least hear him out. After that, I could decide if the truth was iron-clad enough to offer him a sliver of forgiveness. Or if the reality of his depravity would force me to cut some things out of my life once and for all…