Nothing will ever be the same again
July 8th, 2019
Aiden’s POV
I didn’t think much about it when my dad gave me a ride to my best friend’s (Kegan) house. Their maid (Olivia) answered the door not long after my dad rung the doorbell, which also wasn’t unusual since my dad and Kegan’s dad are friends. Once inside, I headed towards the stairs to go to Kegan’s bedroom when my dad put his left hand on my shoulder to stop me.
“Follow me, son.” He said.
I nodded my head and followed him because my dad isn’t someone you want to disobey, and neither is Kegan’s dad. My dad knocked on Mr. Walsh’s (Kegan’s dad) office door, and he quickly yelled for us to enter. As I followed my dad inside, I saw Kegan sitting in one of the chair’s in front of his dad’s desk. I quickly walked towards him and sat down.
“Dude, what’s going on?” I whispered to him.
“I have no clue; you did pass our junior year, right?” He whispered looking at me.
“Shut up.” I said messing up his dark brown hair as I pushed him away from me and he laughed.
“Children.” Mr. Walsh said as my dad took the seat on my right side.
Even though Kegan and I are 17 and going to be seniors in high school, to our dads we are still children.
“Sorry.” Kegan and I both said at the same time while looking at him.
“Don’t worry none of you are in trouble.” Mr. Walsh said looking at Kegan then at me.
We both nodded our heads.
“So what’s this about then dad?” Kegan asked.
“As you know your sister, Kinley (his twin sister), has an arranged marriage just like Brianna (their older sister who is almost 21).” Mr. Walsh said looking at Kegan.
I shifted in my seat a little bit and my dad noticed. Kinley and I don’t hang out that much even though Kegan and I are best friends. Sure we use to when we were younger but as we got older, I stopped hanging out that much when Kinley was around or tried to keep my distance from her. I told Kegan it was because she was like a third wheel and needed her own friends which Kegan agreed with but that wasn’t the truth. The real reason was as we got older I started to notice the little differences between Kinley and Kegan. Sure they had the same dark brown hair but her eyes were golden light brown instead of Kegan’s dark brown eyes. She is also 5’8 instead of Kegan’s 6’2. She also is probably about 190 right now but to me she has always had curves in the right spots. I just started feeling different with her around and I knew she was off limits given that she was my best friend’s sister so I wanted to keep as much distance between us as I could. Of course it helped as we got older, the way she looked at me changed and for some reason she started to look at me with this hate look in her eyes like she just couldn’t stand to be around me.
“Ok and?” Kegan asked bringing me out of my thoughts.
“The arranged marriage is with Aiden Murphy.” Mr. Walsh said before looking at me then my eyes got big.
I quickly looked at my dad who smiled at me, and then I looked at Kegan.
I saw Kegan’s jaw tighten, and I knew he was mad.
“We are going to unite the two mafias; Mr. Murphy and I have been talking about this a lot over the years, and it just makes sense to go in this direction.” Mr. Walsh said, and my dad nodded his head.
I continued to focus on Kegan, who was now clenching and unclenching his right fist.
“Is this going to be a problem, son? Aiden is your best friend. I thought you would be happy. I chose someone you two both knew.” Mr. Walsh said, looking at Kegan.
“No not a problem; are we done?” Kegan asked.
Mr. Walsh nodded his head, then Kegan stood up, and I quickly stood up too and followed Kegan out of the office.
“Kegan.” I said when we got out of the office and I shut the door behind us.
He was about to say something when we saw movement off to our right and down the hall. We both looked right as we saw someone with dark brown hair enter the kitchen. We both knew it could only be Kinley, which made me wonder if she heard the conversation that all of us had.
“Don’t.” Kegan said putting his hand on my chest when I was about to walk down the hall just like he was about to.
“I didn’t ask for this.” I said looking him straight in the eyes because it was the truth.
“I know but still let me talk to her and we’ll talk later.” He said before walking down the hall and I nodded my head before walking towards the living room.
I sat down in the living room and when my dad got finished talking to Mr. Walsh, Kegan still hadn’t come back out of the kitchen. My dad looked at me in the living room, and I shook my head before getting up from the couch and then walking towards the front door.
“Why? Why did you do it, dad?” I asked breaking the silence after we got on the main road back to our house.
“To unite the families and the mafias.” He said.
“Bull save the sales pitch; why did you really do it?” I asked in a mad voice.
He quickly put on the brakes before turning to look at me.
“Don’t you dare use that tone with me Aiden.” He said as he slapped the left side of my face really hard.
I nodded my head and as much as I wanted to hold the left side of my face I knew better to show any weakness around my dad then he started going again.
“I did it because Kinley is the perfect Irish girl for you, and I’ve seen the way you look at her; you like her, so it’s a win for both of us.” He said.
“She’s my best friend’s sister.” I said.
“She’s the daughter of one of the major Irish mafia bosses in Boston or anywhere around here, and he happens to have a seat at the big table. You’ll still take over for me when you come of age and when I think you are ready and having her by your side, when you take your seat at the big table you will have more of a chance of moving up within that group with her by your side and the Walsh mafia on our side. It’s also one step closer to us controlling more of an area and expending our market with us uniting with their mafia.” He said and I shook my head.
“Kegan will get over it and should consider himself lucky his sister is marrying his best friend, someone he knows and trusts with his life. Kegan does trust you with his life, right?” He asked.
“Of course, dad, he knows I’ll do anything for him, and he’ll do anything for me.” I said.
“Good.” He said nodding his head.
“Son, I just handed you your crush on a silver platter, and you are acting like I am walking you to your death.” He said when I didn’t say anything by the time we reached our house.
“No worries, dad, I’m happy.” I said before getting out of the SUV and walking towards the 3 story mansion we have.
Once I got to my room, I texted Kegan asking him if everything was okay. He quickly responded with Kinley overheard the conversation so she knows about the arranged marriage. I texted back okay, "Let me guess, she went off on how much she despises me?" He quickly responded with no she just nodded her head and accepted her fate like our dad taught her to do.
I shook my head and threw my phone on the bed after that. Kinley was the perfect Irish daughter. She never raised her voice at her parents and hardly ever talked around grown-ups unless spoken to or given permission to. She gets straight A’s in school and never gets in trouble. Most importantly, she accepts her role in her family and does what her father asks her to do without questions.
It didn’t take me long before I grabbed my phone and texted Kegan. Are we good? It took him longer to respond, but when he did, all it said was yes. I was happy he said that because I didn’t want to lose his friendship.
