Deep (Heavy Hearts Book 2) by Sarah Duncan (reading tree txt) 📕

watching me, they would probably laugh at the way I step on the left side of one step, only to stretch out and step on the right side of the next.

I use the torch on my phone to illuminate the area as I go. I should turn the light on, but I don’t want to alert anyone to where I am. I just need some space.

It’s not until I’m standing in front of my door that I realise something is wrong because where there was a door earlier today when Rhys came over to get ready, there isn’t one now.

A hand lands on my shoulder, and I try to scream, but fear constricts my throat as I spin, ready to fight.

“Shhh, Lex, it’s just me.”

My phone must have tumbled to the floor when I panicked, blanketing us in darkness, but I’d know that voice anywhere. Ayden.

“D-d-door.” I stutter, trying to get air in.

Ayden flicks on the switch next to him, filling the space with warm light.

“Hey. Shhh. Sorry, Lex, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Ayden’s blue eyes lock on to mine, his hands rubbing warmth up and down my arms.

“D-Door.”

He frowns and then looks behind me, realisation instantly widening his eyes.

“Fuck.” His strong hands grip my shoulders, shifting me behind him before reaching in and flipping on the light in my bedroom. Walking in, he checks the window, then the wardrobe and under my bed before moving past me to check the toilet, bathroom and Mike's room at the end of the hall.

I’m shaking by the time he makes it back to me.

“No one is here.” He runs a comforting hand up my arm as he takes out his phone and dials a number.

“Get your dick out of Rhys and get upstairs now. Grab Crowley on the way.” Hanging up, Ayden pulls my quaking body against his chest, cocooning me in his arms. I want to stay there forever.

“Shhh. It will be okay Lex. I got you. I’m never letting you go.”

I don’t argue with him, wanting his words to be true, but knowing I have to let him go… just maybe not right this minute.

Heavy steps pound up the stairs, and I know it’s Marcus and Jared, but I can’t bring myself to pull back from Ayden to acknowledge them. I don’t think I could even if I wanted to. With the grip he has on me, he has no intention of letting go of me either.

“What’s going on?” Marcus sounds more concerned than I thought he’d be. Ayden just interrupted his sex-fest with Rhys, so I was sure we were going to have a grumpy blue balled Marcus on our hands.

Ayden’s body jerks a little, and I imagine him nodding his head toward my bedroom doorway.

“What the fuck?” Confusion laces Jared’s voice, and I know he sees what has me so upset.

“I’ve checked the rooms up here. They are all clear.” Ayden’s smooth voice rumbles through his chest where my ear is pressed to it, and I never want to leave. “We should check the whole house and outside too. Grab the guys but keep it quiet. Let’s not share this with Lexi’s new friends. I don’t want to freak them out.”

“Freak them out? I’m fucking freaked out.” Marcus’s voice rises the highest I’ve heard it go since he was about twelve.

“Suck it up, princess. Maybe you need to go back into the room where Rhys is and ask her for your balls back!” I chuckle at Jared’s dig at Marcus. I can’t help it. These guys make everything feel better, even when we are deep in the thick of it.

A soft chuckle meets my ear, and Ayden’s warm hand rubs my back. He’s still not letting go.

Marcus and Jared bicker as they head back downstairs, and Ayden finally shifts me away from his chest. I instantly mourn the loss and fight the urge to throw myself back at him.

“Can we go into your room, Lex? Talk with me for a bit?”

He’s trying to keep me occupied. Take my mind off the fact that not only have my personal items been going missing, but in the few hours since Rhys and I left my house to go to the party, someone broke in and removed my bedroom door.

Ayden steps into my room but turns back to me when he realises I’m not following.

“Lex?”

What I should be doing is focusing on the fact that there is the hottest guy I’ve ever encountered inside my bedroom. Every girl's dream, really. But I can’t. All I can do is focus on the room itself and fight back the images and memories that plague me every time I step foot inside.

“You don’t want me in your room?” Ayden’s voice draws my attention again, and I look at him instead of the bed where I had woken from blacking out to Mike looming over me, trying to get his jeans down.

I shake my head, “It’s not that. It’s the room. There are some pretty awful memories from this room.” My voice is soft, a strange numbness washing over me.

Ayden’s blue eyes soften, and he steps back to me, reaching out to take my hand. “Let’s make some new memories then.”

My brows shoot up. Is he insinuating what I think he is?

His dark brows rise, matching mine as he understands my reaction. Then, that sinful grin of his lights up his face. It’s a grin that lifts those soft kissable lips at the corner, caving in the dimples that sit just either side of his mouth while his eyes brighten and crease ever so slightly at the corners.

I’m so screwed!

He chuckles, “Get your head out of the gutter Lex. I just want to talk.”

I don’t speak but let him tug me into my bedroom to sit on the edge of my bed.

“Were you coming up to go to bed before?” He asks, and I shrug.

“I guess. I think I was trying to get past my anxiety about coming up here because I’m so