Aden knew he’d be up early the following morning but he hadn’t expected it to be three-in-the-morning early. Or maybe he had, he didn’t know, and he didn’t care to dwell on it.

“Just waiting in the lobby, calm down,” Aden snipped as the same registrar that booted him out last night raised a brow.

She looked back at the little holographic clock behind her. “That’s a good three hours from now,” she warned, no longer leaning into a polite facade.

Aden must have sincerely pissed her off the night before. “I’ll be fine,” he assured, letting the edge of his tone sharpen the words. A better man may have felt bad for the way the frustration darkened her expression, but Aden didn’t think himself a better man.

“By all means,” she muttered, returning her gaze to her computer screen.

An hour had passed when a thump startled Aden out of his thoughts. Beside him was a familiar face who brought with him two cups of liquid gold.

“Figured as much,” Henry said with a mildly disappointed look etched upon his expression. “You look bloody banjaxed, my friend. Should’ve slept longer.”

“I couldn’t,” Aden admitted.

“I know.” Henry offered Aden one of the cups of coffee.

Aden took a long sip of it. “What are you doing here?” he asked after the wet heat soothed his dry, itchy throat.

“Keepin’ you company,” Henry answered, taking a deep sip of his own. “Had a feelin’ you’d be here long before they opened the doors to ya.”

“You and your feelings…”

“Are meant to be thanked, not mocked,” Henry chided, though the quiet chuckle didn’t evade Aden’s attention. “No, seriously. Why did you feel the need to be here so early?”

Aden chewed on his lip and took another sip of coffee. “If I’m not here…he’ll bolt. I’ll lose him again. I-I can’t lose him again.”

“How do you know he won’t bolt anyway?”

Aden froze.

“What did you have in mind if he chose to leave of his own accord? Stop him? How would you do that?”

“By talking to him. I have to try.”

“Trying is good and all, but is any of that for him, or is it for you?” Henry asked, voice softened to cushion the blow of his question.

Aden took a few deep breaths and thought hard about his response. Henry waited in patient silence.

“I rationalized a long time ago that I’d bring nothing but suffering to Logan’s life.”

“Didja ask ‘im how he felt about it?”

“Didn’t need to,” Aden immediately answered. “I’ve had years of experiences prove to me the nightmares he awaited if he remained on the Kellington residence.” A true enough statement, even if it wasn’t the Kellington residence itself that had been the problem. Not entirely, anyway. “But all those theories seem like stupid, wrong guesses in the dark. I was barely fourteen when I made my decision and I made it recklessly. I was fucking wrong, Henry. I was wrong.”

“Obviously. You can’t just make decisions for other people, but, Aden. You also couldn’t fight the decision of your parents.”

“I could have tried.”

“Maybe. But it would have just been a wasted endeavor, wasted time and energy. It would have brought nothing more than pain and—”

“Yeah, well at least I could have said I did something when they carted him off to be trafficked and sold.”

Henry immediately grew stiff and still. “Is that why the lawyer lady is involved on his behalf?”

Aden hesitantly nodded and then shrugged. Technically, he didn’t know the details. He’d only assumed.

Henry scratched thoughtfully at the scruff of his beard. “Look, lad. I still don’t think ya have it in you to be consciously malicious. You don’t-never have shown a hostile bone in your body. Your heart bleeds for people as easily as your dumbass catches colds, and you’re earnest to a bloody fault.” He paused, completely unaware of what his words were doing to Aden’s psyche. “Listen, I don’t know everything that happened to Logan or what he endured. I just, I don’t. But I do know that you’d do anything in your power to take away that pain—as horrific as it may be—and carry it on your own shoulders. He may not trust you right away, and you may have work to do. But, Aden. If anyone’s good enough at opening hearts, it’s you, my friend.”

Aden didn’t know what to stay so he remained quiet. Henry followed suit, and the duo sat in the warm, comfortable silence for the remaining time before visitation opened up. Aden was already at the window as a new, younger college woman came in for the shift change. She kept him on edge as she slowly got situated and finally turned to help him.

Aden tried to keep the impatient aggravation from his voice despite failing at the same time. The woman didn’t seem to catch his hostility, however, as she delivered a genuine smile and slipped the guest badge under the slotted window, her haughty coworker having already filled her in on their intentions. Maybe the hag wasn’t as bad as Aden thought.

“For you, sir?” she asked Henry as she dug out another badge.

“No thank you, ma’am,” he answered swiftly. “Don’t wanna overwhelm the little lad. He had a long night.”

Aden hadn’t though of that, but he also didn’t think he was prepared to face Logan alone again.

Still, Henry waved Aden off before he turned and slipped through the main entrance doors. If Aden hadn’t been so impatient to check on Logan’s condition, he may have argued with his friend’s decision, but he didn’t have that time. Instead, he continued through beige painted hallways lined with paintings worth thousands and awards the Kellingotn brand just had to show off. Aden never got used to seeing how well his family was adored through the rosy lenses of the public and it disgusted him every time that beautiful lie was brought to his attention. Only his desperate need to see Logan pulled him deeper into a wound Aden otherwise wouldn’t be reopening.

A lone nurse was the only one to spare Aden a glance, and it had been cursory at best. It brought a sense of relief knowing how little anyone seemed to care that he was there, how unlikely it now seemed that any of them recognized him. The less Mary knew, the better.

Wracking coughs stopped Aden just outside of Logan’s doors. He was awake. In pain by the sound of his wheezing, but awake.

“Stop trying to talk, Lobo.”

“I’m fine,” Logan’s scratchy voice answered with an edge of irritation. “I haven’t seen you since the bust. Didn’t think you’d actually be—”

Another fit of coughs interrupted him and Aden heard the woman’s exasperated sigh beyond the curtain. Aden didn’t want to interrupt, but he also didn’t feel any need to sneak around. Or, at least, that’s what he told himself as he made sure to soften his steps in the room.

“Quiet. All you need to be right now is quiet. I’m technically on the clock, you know,” Jessica said with a tone that tried to be stern but only radiated affection. “All I need from you is to sign a few forms. No talking required.”

Logan remained obediently quiet as papers shuffled in the silence.

“This one is just the court requesting that you see a doctor to obtain evidence of abuse and—hey, hey, hey. No, it’s okay, it’s only a request, Lobo. You don’t have to do it, but the courts will pay for it if you do, okay?”

Aden’s heart clenched at the faint sound of a sniffle. Logan must have given an inaudible reply as Jessica moved to the next form.

“This one is mandatory, but you can slink through it without saying much and they can’t really do anything about it.”

Aden had no idea what she meant as Logan likely was reading the paper instead of having it explained to him. And it was at that moment that Aden realized what he was doing.

A lawyer of an ongoing investigation had set aside time in the early morning hours to discuss the case with her client who she was trying to keep out of jail. A very private, very sensitive conversation that—as much as he’d like to be part of—wasn’t his to intrude upon.

“Awesome, good. Now I wanted to talk—”

Aden knocked a few times on the door before clearing his throat. “Can I come in?” he asked, worried Jessica or—god forbid—Logan would send him away.

“Yes, of course!” Jessica answered a little over-enthusiastically, jumping up and eagerly gesturing for Aden to properly enter the room.

He did just that, rounding the closed curtain to a very sour expression staring him down with cold, dark eyes.

“Logan,” Jessica distracted him, handing him one last sheet of paper, “I will also need an address for this form here. Make sure you figure out your new living arrangements as soon as possible.”

There was a mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she turned that cool gaze onto Aden, lifting a challenging brow before making her departure.