Part C: Chapter 57

“Do you think it’s a good idea for you to fly to Regensburg in search of her?” Carter asked as he sat on my bed while I packed what I needed.

“Do you have any other idea on how we can find her?” I snapped as I shoved a pair of briefs in my bag. “Because if you do, please share.”

Carter sighed as he laid back on the bed. He truly had made himself comfortable in my house. “I don’t know but from what Mal said yesterday, they had been spotted in Regensburg which meant they are long gone by now and you would just be wasting your time by going there much less your responsibilities here.”

I sighed as I stopped packing and sat at the edge of the bed. I had no idea what I was supposed to do but when I had been by myself, the idea had sounded much more appealing but now that Carter had said that, it didn’t sound like such a good idea again. “Then what would you have me do?” I asked, defeated.

Carter was looking at the ceiling when we both heard someone calling after me.

“Aidan? Are you there?” I groaned when I realised that it was Shelly. How had she gotten in? I hit Carter on the leg because it was his fault. I’m sure he hadn’t locked the door when he entered. Moments later, Shelly was standing in the doorway to my bedroom and it was taking a lot for me not to tell her to leave. “Are you going somewhere?” she asked, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

I groaned to myself. “What do you want Shel?” I asked. I had been avoiding her after what she had done in my office and I was almost sure it had worked and got the message to her that I was not interested in dating my own sister, blood or not.

Shelly rolled her eyes as she entered and sat on the edge next to me, her skin brushing against my jeans. She was wearing a pair of shorts along with a sports bra. “Silly, I came to see you,” she said, moving closer to me and I moved away from her. “I haven’t seen you since your office and I thought you were avoiding me but you wouldn’t do that.”

If only she knew that she was actually right. “Well, I have been busy,” I replied and nudged Carter’s leg so he would help me out of this situation.

Carter groaned as he sat up straight and stared at Shelly with a blank expression. “What do you want Shel? Can’t you see we are busy with something?” he said coldly and then moved to sit in between us which I was grateful for because she was making me very uncomfortable. “Go on, leave.”

Shelly narrowed her eyes at him and stood up, moving over to the other side of where I sat. Damn, what was wrong with her? “I didn’t come here for you Carter,” she said coldly as well. “I came here to see my brother and you aren’t him.”

Carter got up and pushed me to the other side so that he was once more sitting in between us. “You mean the same brother you made advances on a few days ago?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “Because that doesn’t sound like a brother to me but more so like a lover.”

I could feel her rage from here and I wouldn't know how Carter was taking all this. He truly was an amazing friend and Beta that was for certain.

“What’s your deal, huh Carter?” Shelly groaned. “Are you so in love with Aidan that you won't find happiness elsewhere?”

Carter laughed, truly laughed as he clutched his stomach and then wiped a tear that had apparently fallen out during his laughing fit. “And you think you are what will bring him happiness Shel?” he asked.”Aren’t you even remotely ashamed of yourself and your actions? He’s your brother for crying out loud and on top of that, he has found himself the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with and that ain’t you love.”

That was mean, but someone had to say it because the last time I tried making her understand that, she had nearly jumped my bones.

“How dare you speak to me like that? You’re just a lowlife that my father picked up from the streets and now you think you can speak to me in that manner. I will make sure he finds out about this,” she yelled, her nostrils flared in anger.

Carter simply rolled his eyes. “Go ahead and tell him, I don’t care because he has no power and his word means nothing,” he answered back with a careless shrug. “Didn’t you know that he’s still alive only because Aidan spared his pathetic life?”

I was utterly speechless by now because this was going way too far than I had anticipated. “Both of you, stop this nonsense right now,” I said calmly. “I will not have you insulting each other in my house while I’m here. If you have a problem, I suggest you solve it in the training room and not in my house. Are we clear?”

Shelly huffed. “He started it, how could you sit here and listen to him call me all those names?” she was whining but all it did was frustrate me more. “Aren’t you supposed to be my brother?”

Taking a deep breath to calm myself once more, I glanced at her from the corner of my eye. “He isn’t wrong,” I said flatly. “What you are trying to do is not only shameful but it’s also disgusting. I’m your brother and you need to respect the fact that I have found myself I want to spend the rest of my life with and just because she isn’t here doesn’t change anything. Instead of you being happy for me, you are throwing yourself at me so shamelessly and without any consideration about how I truly feel. Was this how Gerald raised you? To be a spoiled selfish brat who can’t take no for an answer?” I knew I had crossed the line but I didn’t care. She needed to know that I would never see her more than the little she had always been.

Shelly stood up, her nostrils flared and her hands clenched into tight fists. “You will both regret the way you have treated me today, mark my words,” then she stormed out of the room while Carter was rolling on the bed in laughter.

“That was the meanest thing you have ever said to her,” he said in between laughs. “I’m sure she was expecting you to side with her but then you went and dropped a bombshell on her. Oh gosh.”

I smiled to ease some of the tension as my body relaxed for the first time since Jemila had been taken away from me. Maybe there was hope after all.

“It was kind of mean wasn’t it?”

“Kind of?” Carter asked in between laughs, his eyes tearing up. “You just ate her for breakfast, lunch and supper and that still wasn’t enough. I’m sure by now Gerald already knows what happened here.”

I ran my fingers through my hair, messing it even more than it probably already was. “Let him bring it.”