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Picture above is who I picture as Arden
Played by: Ethan Cutkosky
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Hit Me Like a Man ~ The Pretty Reckless (*)

•••••
Rayne ~~

"Hold the fuck up, what?" Arden shrieks out after I tell him what happened.

His noise level causes me to raise my eyebrows and scrunch my eyes together due to my newfound headache.

"Wait so, Harry.... the guy from Aerial. The guy you told me about from, that night." He whispers the last part like saying it out loud is dangerous.

I nod my head and take another swig of the bottle of vodka I've downed most of since I made it back. I walked the whole way back to the warehouse, and I felt drowsy the entire trek. But I still kept myself alert just in case I had another run in with some pussies like Tate and Garrett.

I can see Arden watching me consume shitloads of the vodka from my peripheral. I know he's concerned about me right now. The look on his face when I showed up at our doorstep was something I can only describe as relief and shock mixed together horribly. He looked ready to vomit. It was funny.

He's been apologizing to me nonstop since I've been back, but I told him none of it was his fault. And I meant it, because if it was anyone's fault, it would be mine. I wasn't thinking and didn't even entertain the thought of there being more than one guy there for backup.

But it's fine now, cause I still kicked their asses.

I smirk to myself at the memory of Tate thinking he had me when he pressed me to the wall. What he said to me in that position plus the sound of his voice reminded me so much of him.

"So the guy we were after, Tate you said, had backup. He stuck you with some anesthesia or some shit and knocked you out. Brought you to Aerial, which you said Harry clearly owns, and then got to fight your way out?" He rubs the faint stubble on his chin with his fingers as he thinks.

"And Harry took you away afterwards to talk. Did you get any information on why they've been following the bodies you've dumped?" He asks me.

I sigh and place the now empty bottle of vodka on the coffee table. "Not really, just that they find them, question them, and then kill them. I didn't ask why though. I just wanted out of there as quickly as possible. All I know is that as soon as Harry realized who I was, he immediately regretted kidnapping me. He said it was a mistake. And the only thing he wanted to talk about was why I was so different compared to when we first met. I of course told him to fuck off about it all. But then he started thinking into it I guess, and realized it was my parents who died that night we met. He said he had some of his guys report it to him, and the last name hadn't even rung a bell until tonight."

I fidget with my fingers, sitting forward on our couch with my elbows on my knees. "He saw me breakdown Ard....no one has ever seen me do that besides you." I sigh again and put my head in my hands.

"What did he do? Was it bad?" I hear him ask from beside me.

"No, it was a small one, just couldn't catch my breath for a second. But all he did was sit down in front of where I was sat trying to recover, and stayed silent. And when I apologized, which I had no idea why I did, he told me to not do that. And when I told him to pretend he never saw it, he didn't hesitate to agree. So I guess, you know, that was nice of him and stuff."

I can't lie and say I don't highly appreciate Harry for not asking questions or forcing me to explain myself. The way he didn't seem surprised after I broke down though has me thinking he's familiar with that kind of stuff.

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