“Hey, Lex,” Max says. “Lex, you gotta see this.”
I pull away from my dad and Mason and go to Max, who has his phone out. He hands it to me, and when I read what it says, I stumble back in shock.
“What’s wrong?” Alec asks, taking the phone from me. “Holy shit,” he murmurs, when he reads what it says.
“What is it?” my dad asks.
“Jason was found dead under the pier and Aiden has been arrested,” I tell him. “We have to go to the station.”
“Lex, you’re pregnant,” Alec says. “You can’t be getting stressed out. Please, baby, calm down. We’ll figure this out.”
“Aiden saved me,” I snap, grabbing my purse and heading to the door. “Had he not found me, I could’ve died. He needs us. Now.”
“He needs an attorney,” Dad says. “I’ll call mine. Let’s go.”
We get to the station at the same time the attorney that my dad called does. We explain to him about Aiden and how he’s homeless and it’s likely he’s autistic and has no one.
“I want to make sure he’s protected,” I tell him.
The attorney speaks to the authorities, who then agree to let us go back and see Aiden.
“He’s not under arrest,” the officer says as we walk down the hallway. “The woman who was attacked has confirmed that Aiden saved her, but we need him to walk us through what happened, so we have it on record. Then we can let him go.”
I sigh in relief, thankful Aiden’s not in trouble. “I’ll go talk to him.”
“Lexi,” Aiden says when I walk through the door. “I want to go home. I need to go home. The nice man who brings me my tacos will be there soon.” He’s wearing his green glasses, but when I enter, he removes them.
“I’ll make sure you get your tacos. Can you tell me what happened?”
“If I’m not there, he won’t know where I am,” he insists, only concerned with his tacos.
“I promise you, I’ll make sure he knows, but I need you to tell me what happened, so you can go home.”
Aiden sighs in frustration. “The mean surfer man didn’t love her. He wasn’t loving the girl,” he says, shaking his head. “I told him he had to love the girl, like how your husband loves you, but he didn’t listen. He yelled at me and hit me, like how my mom’s boyfriend used to hit me. I told him it’s not nice to hit, but he kept hitting me. He hurt me, Lexi.” Aiden frowns and points to the black eye forming on his left eye, and my heart breaks. If Jason were still alive, I swear I would find a way to kill him myself.
“Then the police officer yelled at me and told me I had to leave my house and come here. I told him I didn’t hurt her,” Aiden continues. “I told him I had to be home for my tacos. Can I go home now and have my tacos?”
A part of me was hoping somehow Aiden would imply, through his words, whether Jason actually raped me, but to Aiden it’s all the same. He doesn’t actually understand the sexual act, only whether you’re nice or mean. He might be an adult, but he sees things as a child does.
“Yeah,” I tell him. “You can go home and get your tacos.”
Aiden smiles. “Thank you, Lexi.” He throws his arms around me in a bear hug. “I love tacos.”
“I know you do.”
He stands and puts his glasses back on, having no clue that he not only saved me but saved another woman. I’ll never know how far Jason went, but what I do know is that had Aiden not been there, it could’ve been worse. Jason would’ve left me for dead, and had Aiden not been there last night, that woman could’ve been left for dead as well. Instead, she’s safe at the hospital and Jason will never lay his hands on another woman without her permission again.
Aiden gets in the car with my dad, Alec, and me. He talks the entire way to the beach about wanting to go home and get his tacos, not caring that his home is a fucking tent under the pier. Not understanding that he’s a hero.
When we get to the beach, he walks with me to the taco stand.
“Hey, Aiden,” Greg, the taco stand owner, says. “I brought you your tacos, but you weren’t there.” He hands him a brown bag of food.
“The police made me leave,” Aiden says. “I won’t leave again unless they make me leave again. Will you bring me my tacos tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” he says. “I’ll bring you your tacos tomorrow.”
Greg smiles sadly at me, obviously knowing what happened since it’s been all over the news.
I walk with Aiden to his tent, and he sits in the same spot he always sits and starts to eat his tacos. I hate that I have to leave him here, but I still have no idea how to help him.