Beyond the Pack’s Law: My stepsister or nobody else

Aiden’s POV

I woke up to be greeted by the beautiful morning sun and a killer hangover. I didn’t even know how I managed to get home in one piece and go to bed. The last things I remembered doing were leaving the bar after being approached by that girl and then wanting to call Hayley while heading home, but everything from then on was blurry.

I forced myself out of bed and into the bathroom. I had my whole day planned out for me, courtesy of my father.

The chill of cold water pouring down my hair and running down my spine was extremely relieving; somehow, even in a moment like that, my thoughts still flickered towards Hayley.

I called her last night, but she didn’t answer the phone, so I left a voicemail. The question was, What did I say in the voicemail?

Was I being a coward by avoiding a direct conversation with her? I didn’t want to have to hear the hurt or resentment in her voice.

Knowing my father, he probably didn’t explain things to her, at least not the way he did to me that convinced me to go in the first place. She could have thought I abandoned her, but that didn’t make sense. There was nothing to abandon her for in Australia; my whole life was back at home in Lake Town.

I heard the hotel landline ring, and I stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around my waist.

I put the receiver in my ear.

“Hello.”

“Mr Aiden?” That was weird to hear, but by now I was already used to Frank’s way of addressing me.

“Yes, Frank.”

“Your schedule’s been cleared for today, so you can stay in the hotel till tomorrow.”

“Cleared? Why? What happened?”

“Um, sir, that’s what you asked me to do last night.”

Shit, so I did stuff I didn’t remember last night.

“I asked you to do it last night.”

“Yes sir.”

“Frank?”

“Yes sir.”

“Is there anything else? When I asked you to clear the schedules, was I… drunk by any chance?” That was a very awkward question to ask.

“Yes sir.” He said it almost robotically.

“And you paid attention to an instruction I gave? Why?”

“Because I knew you would probably wake up with a hangover or worse, and your father recommended that I let you rest.”

“You called my dad?!”

I think he actually ratted me out to my dad, who was probably now wondering what other unreasonable things I was doing.

This was just getting worse with each sentence. How much alcohol did I even have to have been making so many decisions? The plan was to stay secluded until I had everything figured out and could go home. I didn’t even go outside unless I really needed to, so I wouldn’t get used to being here.

Deep down, it felt like I would be betraying Hayley if I did.

“Actually, no, you did, sir.”

“Fuck.” I bit my lips and tried to remember what he was talking about; it was coming to me slowly. I remembered calling Hayley and saying some random stuff, then I got angry about how I could not see or hold her, and I called my dad.

“Were you there when I called him?” I asked

“Yes, I was in the room when you made the call.”

“What did I say? Was it bad?”

“Not really; you complained about having to come to Australia and how you wanted to get back to see someone you called Hayley, and half way you flared up and ended the call.”

The way he recounted one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, like it was a script out of a play, just made it even more cringe-worthy for me. I liked being in control of my emotions; alcohol wasn’t exactly in support of that.

“Has he called back since then?”

“No, I don’t believe so.”

“Okay, that’s enough. Thank you, Frank.” I was ready to end the call and get back to bed.

“Also, I changed the phone like you asked me to.” He said

“I changed the phone.” I looked around for my phone, and sure enough, I couldn’t find it.

“Yes, you said you didn’t want someone calling you back because you didn’t want to hurt her, so I should get rid of the phone and get you a new one.”

My heart sank. I did what? That I could at least relate to; drunk or not, no part of me would ever want to hurt Hayley.

If my dad was right and she was managing to get over our relationship, then our talking would really only send her down a rabbit hole. A rabbit hole I wouldn’t be there to get her out of.

“Where’s the replacement phone?” I asked

“It’s in the hotel bedroom, by the bed stand.”

“Okay, that will be all.” I put the receiver back.

At least I didn’t make any life-damning mistakes, so it wasn’t so bad.

I went over to get the phone, and there was a note that had the list of contacts that had been on the old phone.

My eyes scanned through it, and just as expected, one was missing. Hayley’s number; was it possible? I also told Frank to make sure I couldn’t possibly reach her again.

Another name caught my eye, one I hadn’t really been paying attention to, but then an idea hit me.

Maybe I could watch over Hayley and know how she was doing without her knowing. Since I couldn’t trust my dad to be completely honest with me, I needed someone who I knew wouldn’t lie to me.

The problem now was that I wasn’t sure about the person in question. She was getting closer to Hayley before I left, but she had also been pulling away from me, and I hadn’t spoken to her in almost a month.

Chances were, I was the last person she’d want to be a spy for.

I took a deep breath. Everything comes with risks, right?

I dialed in the digits and tapped the call button, praying to the heavens that I wouldn’t regret doing it.

“Hello, who is this?” Alessa’s nonchalant voice came from the other side of the phone.

“Alessa, it’s Aiden.”

I could hear her gasp over the phone.

“Aiden.”

There wasn’t any hint of hostility in her voice, like I had feared; rather, she sounded relieved to know it was me.

“Yeah, how are you?” I couldn’t really think of any other way to start the conversation.

“How am I? Aiden, you disappeared without a word!” The relief switched to a scolding tone.

“It wasn’t planned for… I had to go to Australia.”

“Save it; I already know. The whole school knows. You could have said something, you know? I know I was really rude the last time we talked, but still, did I mean so little to you?”

“It wasn’t like that, Alessa.”

“Then what was it like? Do you even know the stupid rumors they had flying around after you left? I even got in trouble for defending you.”

Now that was the Alessa I remembered, it felt good to talk to her even if I couldn’t talk to anyone else.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s cool. What’s up? What suddenly made you remember that you had friends who cared about you back at home?”

“Yeah, about that…” I was trying to figure out a way to ask her.

“It’s about your sister, isn’t it?” The excitement that had been in her tone died down.

I guess my silence had been a dead giveaway.

“Yeah, it’s about Hayley.”

“I thought you called home every once in a while. What could you possibly need from me that you couldn’t just ask her?”

I didn’t understand what she was going on about one bit.

“Uh?, what do you mean?”

“I talked to Hayley like yesterday, and she said she’s been in contact with you and that you’re alright.”

“Hayley said that?”

“Yeah.”

What reason would she have to lie to Alessa about being in contact with me?

“I even told her to tell you I said hi the next time you called her. Wait, aren’t you two talking?”

“I haven’t actually talked to anyone other than my dad.” I figured there was no use in lying to cover up Hayley’s lie, for whatever reason she lied.

“So she lied to me.”

“She probably had a really good reason for it.” The last thing I wanted to do was create a gap between them.

“No, I don’t blame her. She seems way happier now; if I were her, I wouldn’t want to think about you or anything related to you.”

Something about her sounded so different; I think it was more mature.

“So what do you need me to do? Become a human tracker for your sister.” She laughed; those were the same words she used when she snapped at me last time we talked.

“Pretty much; I just need to make sure she’s okay.”

“She is; her friends flock to her all the time. But I’ll keep you updated.”

“Thank you, Alessa. This means a lot.”

“She’s lucky to have you; actually, you’re lucky you have each other.”

“What do you mean?”

“Speaking from experience, it hurts when you love someone who doesn’t love you back the same way.”

I had a feeling she was referring to me, but that was a closed book. I didn’t want to revisit that chapter.

“How are things going with the investigation?” I changed the topic.

“Uh?”

“On Jada and the Circle?.”

“Oh, that. They say it’s going well, but I heard they found a dead body at one of Jada’s old experimentation sites.”

“Probably just someone she abducted.”

“That’s the thing; she disappeared basically a month ago, right? Yet the body had only been dead for two days when it was found last week.”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Okay, now I understand what she was driving at. That was quite weird.

“What do they think is going on?”

Jada wasn’t stupid; why would she leave evidence just lying around when she’s meant to be in hiding?

“They think she tried coming back, and she made a mistake with an experiment or something, but I don’t think that’s it.”

“What’s your idea?”

Alessa wasn’t just a pretty face, so I was willing to hear her thoughts; after all, she had worked for Jada.

“I think she’s planning something big. And I think she’s doing it fast; no one’s listening to me, though. What do I know?” I could picture her rolling her eyes.

“Have you talked to Kieran?”

“I told him about everything that happened, but I haven’t gotten a reply.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, but he’s probably just busy with something else. I’m not worried about it.”

“I’ve got to get going. I take it. I shouldn’t tell Hayley I talked to you at all.”

“Yeah, thank you.”

She ended the call.

So we still had to watch out for Jada. Just when we already thought we had her cornered, she went into hiding, and now she was probably planning something big.

What if she went after Hayley?

One more reason to add to the list of reasons why I wanted to get back home, but that wasn’t happening any time soon.

The reason for my coming here hadn’t been accomplished, at least not yet.