Breaking Boundaries (5th in Breaking Series)

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Aiden lay in his cot that night but sleep would not come. Instead he was listening to the breathing and snores all around him and the sound of crickets outside. Whenever he closed his eyes he saw the hurt on Nick's face when he had told him that they couldn't be together.

While the hands had eaten dinner, Nick's eyes had been locked on him nearly the entire time. While Wendell, Kent, Frank, Cookie and Burt told Aiden that he was finally one of them and that he had been accepted as an Atkinson rancher which made him pretty much as lucky as a man could get, Aiden had been lost in thoughts of Nick and how there were many ways Aiden could be a hell of a lot luckier.

Frank had even gone so far as to say that Elizabeth seemed to have truly taken him under her wing seeing as how she had entrusted him with her children for the day.

Truth was Aiden really liked Elizabeth. She felt almost like a sister after the week he'd spent here with her; a really bossy sister who lived to embarrass him, but a sister just the same. Brody was a good man, the hands here were all nice and seemed to work together and get along great. Atkinson spread was like a bit of paradise but it wasn't a paradise that Aiden could ever call home.

Aiden knew that Frank and Kent were keeping an eye on the fence lines tonight so that would be two less people to worry about catching him as he slid from his cot and stood up. He was leaving tonight. He couldn't stay here any longer. The longer he was near Nick the harder it would be to leave the man and he honestly couldn't spend another day with those children knowing that he was going to be leaving them.

Aiden cursed his habit of developing attachments to people so quickly. He'd always been the type to get close to people too fast and once he cared about someone there was no magical switch he could flip to turn that caring off.

He grabbed his sack from under his bed and slid into his boots. Food was something he would have to find along the way but he could fill his canteen at the river before leaving.

Aiden moved silently through the bunkhouse and slipped out the door. He used the light from the nearly full moon to find his way to the barn and was finding the saddle for his mare when a hand closed over his arm.

"Where in the hell do you think you're going?"

Aiden felt his entire body tremble at the anger in Nick's voice. He turned slowly and jerked his arm from the bigger man's grasp, "I'm leaving, Nick. I told you I was going to."

"Then I'm leaving with you."

Aiden's jaw dropped and it took several moments before he could bring it closed again in order to speak, "What did you say?"

"I said I'm coming with you," Nick repeated as he shoved his hand through his short blond hair. There wasn't enough light in the barn to see clear details but Aiden didn't have to see Nick's face to know that there was anger in his gray eyes.

"Why?"

"Why?!" Nick growled, "Because I care about you dammit. We're together, Aiden. It's not just you that's facing whatever it is you're running from, I'm facing it too." Nick's posture softened and he reached out and caressed Aiden's cheek. Aiden found himself leaning into the touch and soon his head was resting on Nick's chest. "Talk to me, Aiden,"

Aiden wanted to... He needed Nick. He had spent so long running alone and he knew that if he ran again it would only be a matter of time before he was killed. He knew that leaning on Nick was the weak thing to do but he couldn't do anything else.

Without speaking, Aiden lifted his head, rose up on his toes and tentatively pressed his lips against Nick's. Aiden had never been the one to initiate a kiss and he found it a thought-defying mix of terrifying and empowering.