“You seem under the misconception that this is a negotiation.” He approaches me. “I don’t remember giving you a choice.”
It takes everything in me not to scramble back on the sofa and hide. That’s equal to admitting defeat before even starting. If I want to be equal to Aiden, then I need to have his level of confidence.
Or as close to that as possible.
I lift my chin. “I’m the one giving you a choice, Aiden. Either tell me or force me and fuck the mouth of a shell.”
His left eye twitches.
Aiden doesn’t like to be threatened, but it’s the only way I can think of to get to him.
The real him.
I expect him to force me and push me to the road of no return. Since I already don’t trust him, if he does this, I’ll really start disintegrating from him.
And for some reason, my chest aches at the thought.
“I’ve had insomnia since I was a kid,” he says in a quiet voice I can barely hear. “I spend my nights playing chess, swimming, or working out in the gym.”
I process the information.
Now that I think about it, every time Aiden and I spent the night together, I always wake up to find him either watching me or running a bath for me.
I figured it was because he always woke up first. Does that mean he never slept on those nights?
Wait.
“You were deep asleep the first time you spent the night in my room.”
“That was one of the times I collapsed.”
“Collapsed?”
“If I spend two or three days without a wink of sleep while working out, swimming, and practising football, my body shuts down and I collapse. That’s the only way I get to sleep.”
I watch him intently. He never appears tired. Hell, he doesn’t even have dark circles like most insomniacs. If he didn’t tell me he had insomnia, I would’ve never guessed it.
I wonder why he can’t sleep.
Then I recall a text he sent me that night.
Something about…
My head snaps up. “You said you see a ghost when you close your eyes. Is that why you can’t sleep?”
Something flashes in his gaze before he completely seals it behind the poker face.
“You said to tell you one thing no one knows, and I did.”
“Cole, Xander, and Ronan don’t know?”
“They suspect it, but they don’t know for sure.” He points at the ground in front of him. “Now, your turn.”
When I don’t move, he says, “A deal is a deal, sweetheart.”
I wish I could extract more from him, but I already cornered myself. If I don’t respect my part of the deal, he’ll never open up again.
With one last deep breath, I scramble to my knees in front of him.