The silence hung between us like a chasm.

He looked at me, his eyes filled with anger and disappointment. I could see the vein in his forehead pulse as redness crept into his cheeks. We stood this way, frozen in the moment, eyes locked each other waiting for the other to give.

I finally dropped my eyes to the floor. I shuffled my bare feet, suddenly aware that I only wore his shirt. It covered me like a dress hanging halfway to my knees, but I felt very naked and vulnerable.

Here we were.

After weeks of pushing him away, I had finally decided I wanted to be with him, and I had messed things up before they even had a chance to get started. On the other hand I felt as if the man before me was one I had never met before. Sure we had had arguments over the course of our friendship, but nothing like this. I didn’t know what to do.

"Aiden," I stammered. "I didn't mean..."

"I know what you meant," he said.

He walked over to the pile of clothes and picked up my dress and bikini. He walked over to me and extending his arm glaring at me the whole time. I slowly took my clothes out of his hands and started down the hallway towards the bathroom to change.

I looked down at the crumpled garments in my hands. Hang on, I thought. This is not how this is supposed to go. I slipped into the bathroom and quickly changed back into my clothes. When I returned to the living room, he stood by the door with his car keys in his hands waiting for me.

"Aiden," I began. "Believe what you want, but I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I would never threaten you."

He stood there, feet slightly apart, arms crossed, glaring at me.

"I didn't mean it the way it sounded, I swear. I just... I wouldn't, Aiden. You know that. For a moment I actually kind of forgot that there was a competition going on between us,"

He cast his eyes down and I moved forward trying to put my arms around his shoulders. He shrugged me off and stepped away, avoiding my eyes. He spoke in a quiet tone, and sounded almost defeated.

"Do whatever you feel you have to do,” he said. "If it ruins me and that is how you win, you will have to live with that."

I took a breath to begin to speak, but Aiden turned to look at me. The emotion in his eyes, while undefinable, struck me silent.

"But at least you'll have your job, so at that point, what does it matter?" Without another word, he stepped out the door and stalked to his car.

I had no other choice but to pick up the rest of my things and follow him out. I felt helpless as I climbed into the passenger side. I wanted to take back everything that had happened in the last ten minutes. The day had been so perfect, and I chided myself for bringing it up.

My worry for him was sincere. I just wished there was some way that I could convince him of that.

The ride home felt about as awkward as I would have expected. He didn’t speak until we pulled into my parking lot. I turned to him one last time, pleading with my eyes, unable to think of the right thing to say. But as I opened the door to get out I felt his hand on my wrist, pulling me back in with a gentle grasp.

"Blair wait,” he said. I sat back down and closed the car door, waiting to hear what he had to say. He took a deep breath and rubbed his hands over his face before he began. "Blair, I'm sorry I reacted that way. Of course I know that you would never threaten me like that. I know that. I just.... I guess I was a little bit ashamed that you had seen them. I don't want you to think that of me. Just, don't tell anyone about it okay? It would end my career."

"Of course I won't, Aiden,” I said. I still felt hurt at his accusation, but I wanted to find a way to tell him that I would never cross that line.

"I want you to know..." He took another breath before he continued, "I started taking them years ago, when I first started law school. I mean, I have been able to go through times when I haven't used them at all, but sometimes when things get hectic, I just need something to help me focus, to concentrate a little better. Going up for this job, seeing you... I mean there's been a lot going on, you have to admit. But then..."

"Then what?" I said when he paused, pressing him to continue.

"Well, the point is that I'm not using them to alter my state of mind or to get messed up or anything like that. I've never been able to not function normally. It just helps me focus. That's all. But then lately, I discovered that I didn't even need them anymore, even with the stress of the case. I flushed what I had and threw the bottle away."

"Oh Aiden,” I whispered. I knew it had taken a lot for him to tell me all of that.

"But I know that... I can't. I mean, I don't think it's safe to just stop cold turkey."

"I think you've been abusing them, Aiden,” I said. I wanted to say so much more, but I remained hesitant, at least for now.

"I haven't been,” he said, turning to face me at last, looking into my eyes for the first time since I had confronted him with the bottle back in the kitchen.

I wanted to remain patient, but his refusal to admit his problem began to raise my ire once more.

"Aiden, how have you been getting them?" I asked.

"One of my old roommates is a doctor. He writes the prescriptions for me."

"So you don't have ADHD and you aren't taking them to be treated for anything medical. That means you could be addicted. You're going to need help to get completely away from them,” I softened my voice. "Aiden, you should have told me. I want to be able to help you with this."

"Yeah." He dropped his eyes looking a bit defeated once more. "Yeah, you're right. Can we get through this case first?"

"Of course,” I said.

"And you won't say anything about it to the lawyers? Or anyone else?"

"No Aiden. I promise, I won't."

"Again, I'm sorry I blew up at you,” he said. "I never should have acted that way. It's just... It's you. I was fucking afraid. That's all."

"I get it,” I said with a small smile. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay,” he said.

He leaned forward to kiss me, but I turned my head at the last second. His attempt at affection landed on the edge of my cheek. Without another word I exited the car and trotted up the stairs to my apartment without looking back.

Chapter Ten

The following Monday in court went just as well as our first, if not better. Aiden and I worked well together, feeding off of the other's energy. Once we got into the proceedings, I barely thought about our argument.

As the case progressed, it became more apparent to me that the prosecution hadn’t put much energy into building much of a case, outside of the fact that Darius Shaw was standing over the body when the police arrived. They didn’t take into account the thoroughness of our evidence and how we had put it together. They didn’t realize that we had more information that we had become privy to through the thorough collection of evidence done by the detectives on the case.

We had found and recognized the key piece of evidence that we believed would prove without a doubt our client's innocence. Regardless of how well we present the case, though the final determination would come from the jury.

The prosecution had Darius on the stand when they made a fatal mistake in their questioning. The other lawyer paced the courtroom as he asked questions, his hands locked behind his back in an almost military pose.

"Mr. Shaw," he began. "Can you tell the jury where you were the night of your wife's murder?"