Out Of The Night
3
Aaron eased his foot out of his work boot wincing as he slipped it into his trainer. It was as sore as hell but it wasn't going to stop his planned run, he was determined to go a little further tonight, an extra couple of miles at least.
Running helped him escape from so many things, it took him away from the village, from reminders of what he'd done, and it took him away from his mum and Paddy's concern filled eyes. he wished they wouldn't worry so much about him, that he didn't keep giving them reason to do so.
Trainers now on he looked around his bedroom for his iPod, it would keep him company like it did on every run. The music in his ears along with his endless pounding feet, helped drown out his thoughts. With no distractions he could push himself to the limit and the resulting exhaustion, the blisters, raw bleeding skin and aching muscles all had a purpose. The pain helped, nothing else did, and he had to have some release from the guilt that festered inside of him.
Another good thing about running was that it kept Robert out of his head, and he'd been thinking about him all day. No not thinking, obsessing was what he was doing. Yesterday he was happy with the way things were between them, certain it was only a matter of time before Robert chose him over Chrissie. He'd been prepared to wait, but today, after yet another let down and effortless lies on Robert's part, he was beginning to think it was all pointless. Robert would always put Chrissie first. It seemed Paddy was right, he was just Robert's 'bit on the side' and all he'd ever be to him. In his heart of hearts Aaron had always known that but because he loved him he'd kept telling himself differently, and so had let the affair go on. What was the matter with him? Where was his pride? He'd never taken crap off anyone before but he'd taken plenty off Robert and worse still he kept going back for more. The relationship, if you could call it that wasn't a healthy one, and what exactly did he get out of it? Hurt and disappointment mostly! Just like today. Robert had let him down again, and he wasn't a bit concerned that he'd broken down in the middle of nowhere. What did that tell him? It just proved Robert didn't feel the same way he did, he had no love for him, he lusted after him yes, but nothing more.
As he zipped up his hoody his phone sounded another text alert, he'd had endless texts this past hour, and several calls, he'd checked the first few, they'd been from Robert and believing them all to be from him he'd not bothered to look at his phone again. Right now he wasn't at all interested in what Robert had to say. As he tucked his phone into his pocket he remembered the anonymous text he'd received earlier that day. He had read the message repeatedly, 'You deserve better than him'. It was something both his mum and Paddy had said to him more than once, but he couldn't believe either one of them would send an anonymous text to drive home the point. But then no one else knew about him and Robert, at least he didn't think anyone did, and the message had to be about his involvement with Robert, there was no one else on the scene at least not where he was concerned. The message had unsettled him and he had decided as long as it was on his phone it would continue to do so and so he'd deleted it. If only he could delete it from his memory. It was odd and so was the business with his car come to think of it. He'd decided to try it one more time before calling Cain and it had started straight away! He knew about cars but he couldn't explain it playing up like that. Well he wasn't going to worry about it now and he wasn't going to let the text worry him either, ten minutes into his run and he'd have forgotten about both and about Robert too, even if it was only for a couple of hours.
Opening his bedroom door Aaron was surprised to find Paddy standing there, his hand raised poised ready to knock.
"I've been trying to get hold of you."
"Oh?" So it hadn't just been Robert texting him.
"Could you do me a massive favour... I know it's short notice ... Marlon was supposed to have Leo but..."
Aaron listened to Paddy's rambling explanation as to why he was in desperate need of a babysitter. He'd wanted to say no at first, well the mood he was in he was best left on his own, but then Paddy never asked anything of him, and Leo was his godson, "Yeah ok."
"You sure? You don't have any plans for tonight?"
"Yeah I'm sure, and no I don't have any plans." He could take a shorter run or forget about it all together if need be. "What time do you want me there?"
"Seven. I'll order you in a pizza, put some cans in the fridge..."
"Sounds good" It did, Aaron was actually looking forward to it now.
... ...
Leo was in his pyjamas when Aaron had walked into the Smithy, the little boy had been excited to see his 'big brother' as Paddy called him. That term always tugged at Aaron's heart strings, it was certainly a boost to his flagging spirits, he needed something to make him feel good about himself and knowing Leo loved and thought of him as his brother certainly did that.
Aaron had stood by the front door with Leo as he waved his parents and Pearl off. The three of them dressed up to the nines for some Veterinary do. Leo was tired and after Aaron had read him his favourite story, he'd closed his eyes and drifted straight off to sleep. Aaron envied his innocence, thankfully there was no black thoughts or burdens of guilt keeping him awake, no vengeful monsters lurking in the shadows.
Once certain Leo was settled for the night Aaron had made his way downstairs and into the living room. After plonking himself down onto the sofa he switched on the TV, there had to be something on he could watch. Finding little of interest he decided Paddy's PlayStation would help pass the time. As he got to his feet a knock came on the door. Pizza! Aaron's stomach rumbled at the thought of food and he hurried to open the door. He was taken aback to see Robert standing there, more so when he barged past him into the room.
"What do you think your doing?" Aaron demanded, this was Paddy's home and Aaron knew he wouldn't like Robert being there.
"You're not answering my texts or calls, I've got the evening free I thought we could..."
"No." No way was Robert getting what he wanted from him after the way he'd treated him today!
"I know you're mad at me but..."
"You found your keys then!"
"Yeah eventually." They'd turned up on his desk and he'd looked there time and time again. How couldn't he have seen them there?"Aaron listen to me..."
"I don't want to hear your excuses or more of your lies for that matter. I just want you gone."
"You know you don't mean that. Aaron come on, lets make the most of the empty house..."
"It's not empty, Leo's upstairs." Aaron snapped indignantly.
"Yeah I know, I heard Chas tell Diane you were babysitting tonight. I just thought we could take advantage of the fact there's no grown ups about..."
"Well you thought wrong."
"Aaron, I've been thinking about you all day."
"Yeah right!"
"I have, you're all I could think about, that's why I was in the Wooly. I was hoping to see you."
"Well you have now so you can go."
"You really want me to go?" Robert could see Aaron's resolve like his anger was fading, he knew it wouldn't take much to persuade Aaron to his way of thinking.
"Yeah I do." Aaron insisted determinedly holding Roberts gaze, he didn't want to give in to him but it was growing more and more difficult with every second that past.
"Well I'm not going, I want to be with you." Robert said softly before pulling Aaron to him. He was met with some resistance but once his lips covered Aaron's he felt the fight drain from him and as he'd expected, Aaron was soon kissing him back.
The kiss soon had them both wanting something more, and as the heat grew between them they started pulling at each others clothing. Robert wanted Aaron's joggers off and as his fingers tugged frenziedly at the fabric a loud thud was heard upstairs. The noise jolted Aaron to his senses, he shrugged himself free of Robert's hold and made for the stairs, bounding up them two at a time.
He was expecting to find Leo on the floor, thinking he'd somehow fallen out of bed but to his great relief the little boy lay where Aaron had left him, safe and still asleep. Aaron looked around the room, everything looked in order, so he decided to check Paddy and Rona's room, nothing was amiss there either. He could find no reason for the noise in the bathroom so told himself it had to have come from what was now Pearl's room. The door was slightly open, he was sure it hadn't been when he'd put Leo to bed. It didn't feel right going in to Pearl's room but he felt he had to check it out, and the open door seemed to draw him in.
As he stepped into the room his gaze swept around it, looking for a possible cause of the loud bang. Like the other rooms he could see nothing that could be responsible for making it, but something had.
Aaron lingered in the room. It had been his once, and it felt strange being in there now knowing it belonged to someone else. He'd spent a lot of time here, a lot of time with Jackson. He had a lot of good memories and some bad ones, and some he would rather forget... if only he could. He moved further into the room sniffing the air as he did so. He could smell something, something familiar, it reminded him of the aftershave Jackson would splash on after taking a shower. But it couldn't be that, it had to be some perfume of Pearl's, she must have sprayed some on her before going out. Yes it had to be Pearl's, that was the only explanation. Suddenly sensing someone else in the room, and believing it to be Robert, Aaron whirled around, angry at his presence and ready to blast him for trespassing in what had been his and Jackson's room. But Robert wasn't there, no one was... so why didn't he feel alone?
TBC