I bite on my inner cheek. I’ll never get used to that no matter how many times he says it.
“That’s stalkerish, you know.”
He says nothing, and I can almost imagine him shrugging his shoulders. Aiden would never be apologetic about this part of him.
“So I know you like chess, football, swimming and working out,” I say. “Is there anything else you like doing?”
“Fucking you, sweetheart.”
My eyes fly open as my cheeks heat. I elbow him without looking back. “Something else.”
“Sucking on your little pussy. Fingering you to orgasm. Teasing your tits. Take your pick.”
“Aiden!”
“What? You asked what I like doing. You’re my favourite thing to do.”
You’re my favourite thing to do, too.
I pause at my sudden thought. I didn’t mean that.
I can’t mean that. Aiden isn’t my favourite thing to do. That’d mean he’s my favourite person and that’s not true.
...right?
“Something that doesn’t involve me,” I nudge.
“Hmm. There aren’t many of those.”
“How about your hobbies? Your favourite music? Your favourite film? Your favourite book?”
“You know about chess, football, and swimming. Those are hobbies, I guess.” He pauses. “I don’t listen to music. As for films, it’s probably Twelve Angry Men. It was the last film I watched with Alicia and Jonathan. Books. Hmm. I have no favourites, but the ones I remember the most were written by the renaissance era’s French philosophers.”
“Because Alicia read them?”
I feel his nod.
“If you didn’t watch that film with Alicia or read the books with her, would you still have favourites?”
“Probably not.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t understand why people obsess about favourites. It’s a matter of preference and shouldn’t be given so much weight.”
That’s his lack of empathy speaking. I honestly think he doesn’t know why people are emotional about things he considers trivial.
But he based his favourites — or what he thinks are his favourites — on his mother.
There’s something there.
Something deep and raw that I wish to uncover. If I figure out Alicia’s exact relationship with Aiden, I might figure out why he’s become the way he is after her death.
“How did you spend time with Alicia?” I ask.
“How did you spend time with your mother?”
His question catches me off guard.