by Kent, Rina
Oh.
Right.
Aiden will go to Oxford. That piece of information has always been tucked into the back of my mind, but hearing it aloud makes it real and… final.
At the end of the year, Aiden and I will go in different directions, whether we like it or not.
The thought feels like stacking bricks at the bottom of my stomach one by each heavy one.
I’m dragging my feet by the time we’re inside the Meet Up.
“Not a word, Silver.” Cole’s steel tone cuts through the silence of the cottage. “I don’t want to hear your voice.”
“Screw you, Cole.”
Silver is here, too? How come Aiden didn’t mention that?
On the other hand, this should mean she’s not in danger from Adam.
Not that I should worry about her.
“What are you doing here, Queens?” Aiden barges inside without as much as making his presence known.
“Ask Cole,” she hisses. Which means Aiden didn’t know she’d be here.
I walk inside with careful steps. “Hey.”
“Elsa.” Cole smiles, but there’s no warmth behind it. It’s like he has to smile, but doesn’t want to. “Sit down. There’s something you need to know.”
I glance at Aiden with questions written all over my face. He lifts a shoulder and flops down beside me. His arm stretches on the back of the sofa, almost touching my skin, but not quite.
The fucking tease.
Silver sits opposite us in a chair. Her legs are tucked close together to the side. The paleness of her face has nothing to do with her skin complexions and more to do with a wild look in her gaze.
Cole stands beside her like a statue. Unmovable and cold.
If Cole is involved, this must be serious.
My limbs shake despite themselves. If Aiden still has something to do with Silver, I don’t know how I’ll react.
I’m barely holding on as it is. If Aiden breaks my trust one more time, I won’t survive. One thing’s for sure, I’ll destroy him with me. It’s only fair with how much he destroyed me.
“Tell them,” Cole orders. He flat out orders Silver as if she’s a small child.
I expect her to fight, to be her usual bitchy self, but she just remains quiet.
“If you don’t, I will,” Cole continues with frightening nonchalance. “Do you want them to hear my version?”
Silver visibly flinches as if she’s been slapped across the face.
“Get it over with, Queens.” Aiden’s impatience shows through his voice. “I don’t have all day.”
No idea if he’s oblivious to the tangible tension between the stepsiblings or he simply doesn’t care.
My bet is on the last.
When she lifts her head, her gaze instantly finds mine. “I don’t know why we keep getting involved, you and I.”
Same.
“This is my final warning,” Cole says. “Talk or I will.”
“Remember Adam?” she asks.
“Did he hurt you again?” I blurt and she winces.
“Again,” Cole speaks so low it’s terrifying. “So it’s happened before, yes?”
Aiden’s arm falls on my shoulder, gripping me tight, cutting off my concentration on Cole and Silver.
My eyes slide to his, and I swallow at the tightness of his jaw.
Oh, boy. He’s not amused. At all.
“How do you know about that, sweetheart? Hmm?”
“He was bothering her in the car park; I stopped him.”
“You stopped him,” Aiden repeats with a calm, yet terrifying edge. “How did you stop him exactly?”
“I just threatened him with calling the principal and pepper spray.”
“You don’t have pepper spray.”
“He believed I did.” I pause. “What are you so agitated about?”
“What am I so agitated about?” His voice is clipped, firm, and authoritative. “Why do you fucking think? He could’ve taken both of you to God knows where in his state. Do you have no sense of self-preservation?”
“I only did what I thought was right. Okay?”
“Not okay. It’s not fucking okay to throw yourself in danger like that.”
I meet his glare with mine. Okay, fine, maybe standing up to a buff bloke like Adam wasn’t the smartest thing to do. But how can he expect me to just stand there while he clearly meant Silver harm?
A shudder goes through me at the thought of what he could’ve done to her.
Silver and I may not get along, but I don’t wish ill will upon my worst enemy.
I know trauma. I lived trauma. It invades your personal space, claws at your walls, climbs them, destroys them, and then dances on the remains.
That shit fucks you up for life.
“Very well, Silver. Very well.” Cole stares down at the top of her head, not sure if he wants to choke her or chop her head off. “Tell them why we’re here.”
Wait. Wasn’t it about Adam and that day?
“I only found out yesterday.” Silver fixes her already immaculate jacket and stares at her violet nails. “Adam came over and… well, he said a lot of shit.”
“Say it,” Cole urges — or more like he orders. I’ve never seen this side of Cole before.
“Adam said that…” She licks her dry lips. “He was the one who pushed Elsa in the pool.”
My eyes widen.
“He did, huh?” Aiden’s eyes almost turn black. Not sure if he’s surprised or merely calculating.
“Go on,” Cole urges. “Tell them why he did it.”
“He said he did it to get in my good graces, okay?” She meets my gaze. “I swear I had nothing to do with it. I only just found out myself. If I knew, I would’ve told you.”
I don’t know why, but I believe her.
Silver is malicious, but she’s not a criminal.
“But you knew Adam’s intentions,” Cole says with a neutral voice. “And apparently, you knew about them for a long time.”
“Cole —”
“Not a word.”
“Cole —”
“Go wait in the car.”
She throws her hands in the air and blows out a frustrated breath. “Come here, Silver. Go there, Silver. What do you think I am? Your fucking toy?”
He doesn’t move at her outburst and simply repeats. “Go wait in the car.”
She flips him off and storms towards the entrance then stops, meets my gaze and whispers, “I’m sorry.”
As soon as the door closes behind her, Cole fixates Aiden. “Let’s meet later.”
“I’ll get in touch.”
Cole nods once. “And Elsa?”
“Yeah?” I’m still too stunned by the revelation.
“She only learned this information yesterday. Don’t beat her up again.”
I wince at the reminder.
“Says the guy who watched while she was beaten to a pulp,” Aiden scoffs.
“She brought it on herself that time.” He smiles at me and strides out of the Meet Up.
A long breath heaves out of me. “I can’t believe Adam was the one who did it.”
“That daft fucker actually plotted something.” Aiden tilts his head, seeming deep in thought. That head of his must be filled with endless methods to inflict suffering and pain.
“How do you know he plotted it?”
“No one went into the pool after Van Doren. For some time, I thought maybe he was the one who pushed you. Now, I’m sure that Adam has been in the pool, and when you showed up, he seized the chance.”
“But Knox didn’t see him.”
“He must’ve hid somewhere. Under the stairs or in the lockers. There are no cameras there.”
Makes sense.
For a moment, we remain silent. I’m trying to soak up what happened and Aiden is probably plotting something sadistic.
After a while, I realise that with Cole and Silver gone, it’s only the two of us here.
I peek at him through my eyelashes. I expec
t him to be deep in thought, and he is, it’s just that his entire attention is zeroed in on me.
“What happens now?” I ask.
A wolfish smile tilts his lips. “Now is our time. We’ll do whatever you want.”
“What if I want to go home?”
“Then I’ll take you home.”
I eye him suspiciously. “Really?”
He grabs me by the arm and tugs. I land against his chest, arm wrapped around his midsection.
“Later. I’ll drive you home later.”
“Aiden!” I start to get up.
“Stay,” he murmurs, eyes closing. “Just for a moment.”
Protests are about to spill free from my mouth, but I say nothing. My ear lands against his calming heartbeat and I do as he asks.
I stay.
19
Elsa
I didn’t mean to, but I must’ve fallen asleep.
When I open my eyes, a very familiar scent prickles my nostrils. All masculine and powerful and… hypnotising.
A spark races down my spine and worms its way into my heart. That faulty heart. That messed up, stupid heart.
I’m sprawled all over Aiden’s chest. The softness of my breasts mould with his muscles, all taut and hard. Even my legs are intertwined with his like it’s the most natural thing to do. Like this is where I always belonged, and it’s blasphemy to go anywhere else.
I stir, but I don’t change position.
It feels too good to move. His warm skin against mine, the flutter of his breath at the top of my scalp. The cocoon of his strong arms.
After what I learnt about Adam, I’m not in the mood to think about the outside world.
Being here feels right.
It brings back memories from a long time ago when it was only him and I in that basement. When I laid my head on his shoulder and pretended we were in a different place.
His fingers tangle into my hair, massaging my scalp, and awakening tingles at the bottom of my stomach. The touch is so gentle, I’m tempted to close my eyes and go back to sleep.
My self-preservation is the only thing that stops me. Being close to Aiden is never that simple.
Lowering my guard is about the worst disservice I can do for myself.
He’s manipulative and unpredictable and those facts drag me to the edge every time I want to relax.
Yes, my heart and body are itching and breaking to be with him. They’re sending all the right signals, too: flutters, tingles, pheromones.
Those play for the loser team, though and the strategist, aka my brain, wouldn’t let them have their way.
Aiden’s fingers pause on my scalp as if he can feel my next move before I make it.
I roll to my side and sit up, inching to the other half of the sofa. Pretending to push my hair back, I compose myself.
The urge to throw myself into his arms overwhelms me. It’s like an animal clawing and screeching to be set free.
It takes every ounce of willpower to keep my distance.
“Don’t.” The harshness in his voice startles me from my thoughts.
I peek at him. The sombre expression on his handsome face takes me aback.
“Don’t what?” I’m genuinely confused.
“Don’t pull away from me.”
“I’m not pulling away.”
“I call bullshit. You’re going Frozen on me again.”
“Don’t you think you deserve it?” I glare at him.
“The only thing I deserve is you.”
“Newsflash, Aiden. You barely gave me a reason to be all warm and cosy with you. Now that my head is in the game, it’s hard to see you in a positive light.”
“Is that so?”
No. It’s a lie. No matter how much it’d be logical to stay away from him, I know deep down, in the dark corners of my soul, being with Aiden is the only thing that makes me whole.
He completes me.
And not in a Disney kind of way. His darkness speaks to me on levels that scare the bejesus out of me.
So, yeah, I might be playing my last running away card. What? A girl has to look out for herself.
“You said you’ll take me home later.” I smother my skirt. “It’s later now.”
“Fuck that.” He grabs my hands in his. A jolt of electricity shoots down my spine.
No, no, no.
He needs to stop touching me if any of this will work.
Before I can pull my hand away, he places my palm on his chest. My eyes widen at his wild heartbeat. I always forget how erratic Aiden’s heartbeat can go.
Like thunderstorms.
Deadly, but also alive.
So, so alive.
“You owe me from the past, Elsa.”
A different type of flutter snakes into my heart. This one is painful and destructive. I stare at my lap. “T-that was my mother, not me.”
“She’s dead. You’re alive.” He tilts his head. “I’ll take what I can get.”
“That’s a low blow, dickhead,” I mutter under my breath.
He knows how guilty I feel about what Ma did, but like a first-class sociopath, he’s using it against me.
Aiden lifts a shoulder. “I’ll use whatever I can to get you. I have no boundaries when it comes to you, Elsa.”
“Aiden…”
“The scar on my ankle is because she had me cuffed with metal to heavy chains. The scars on my back are because she hit me with a horsewhip over and over again until I passed out. I don’t think she stopped even when I lay lifeless on the floor.”
“Aiden. Stop.”
He doesn’t. He digs the shard harder and deeper into my skin with every word out of his mouth.
“She gave me nothing to eat and barely anything to drink. I had to piss and shit where I slept. She treated me worse than a dog, and the funny part was, she never really saw me. She saw someone else when she looked at me. When I finally came back home, the only person who could’ve made it better was also gone.”
Tears stream down my cheeks by the time he’s done. My lips tremble and my jaw aches with the need to hold in the sobs.
Aiden speaks so nonchalantly, it’s more terrifying than if he spoke with emotions. Now, I see why he doesn’t hold feelings in high regard. They were purged out of him a long time ago.
They were whipped, starved, and burned into the fire.
“Do you know how it feels to be hit with a horsewhip until the skin breaks? Until blood drips to the ground?” His jaw tightens, the tiniest bit, before it goes back to normal. “It hurt like a bitch especially for an eight-year-old who didn’t know real pain.”
The word stop lingers on my tongue, but I swallow it.
Aiden lived those horrors, the least I could do is listen. Even if he’s using my guilt factor against me.
It’s even more tragic he’s using his pain to keep me by his side. I would’ve felt special if my chest wasn’t slowly dissolving into a bloodied mess.
“Does it pain you to hear this?” He wipes the tear under my eye with the pad of his thumb. “I can stop if you like.”
“You don’t have to,” the words come out strangled, dying, weird.
“I will if you kiss me and make it better.”
A tremor shoots through me. Did he do all that just so I would kiss him?
No. Aiden can be an unemotional monster, but I know that Alicia’s death affected him more than anything else.
It was the last straw that changed him for good.
“No?” He lifts a shoulder. “Worth a try.”
I grab his cheeks and slam my lips to his. Aiden is stunned for a moment, but I don’t stop. I nibble and bite on his lower lip like a madwoman.
I want to kiss it and make it better.
No. I want to kiss it and make it go the fuck away.
This shadow that haunted our lives for ten years needs to fucking go.
Aiden opens with a grunt. His kiss is rough, rougher than any other time I remember. He claims me, devouring me whole.
The
intensity of his passion ignites and we burn in a perfectly imperfect harmony.
For a moment, it’s only him and I in this atrocious world. A world that turned him into a monster and robbed me of my life.
For a moment, he’s the most important person in the world. I want to engrave myself under his skin so nothing can separate us again.
I want to be one with him.
The thought of living apart destroys me like nothing else. The thought is torture like being held underwater.
I’ve been drowning and I’m finally coming up for air.
We pull away for much-needed breath, but Aiden doesn’t allow me to leave his orbit. It’s like I’m the centre of said orbit.
He rests his forehead against mine. The tips of his fingers stroke my cheek, the curve of my lip, the hollow of my neck, the line of my collarbone.
It’s everywhere, his touch. Like he’s relearning me and getting his fill.
Our ragged breathing fills the air like two desperate souls clashing only to find refuge in each other.
Everything becomes heightened. The squeak of the leather beneath us. The smell of pine trees from outside. The low whistle of the wind.
And Aiden.
I’m so lost in his masculine beauty and tousled hair. In his skin against mine and the metallic gaze.
In all of him.
He speaks against my skin, rough and unpolished. “There hasn’t been a day where I haven’t thought about you. Every time I manage to sleep, I dream of you. You were my obsession since we were kids, but now it’s way fucking worse. I don’t know how I managed to spend eight years without you in my life when now I suffocate if I don’t see you for hours.”
My eyes fill with tears. “Aiden…”
“Choose me, Elsa. Choose us.”
There’s nothing more I want than to do that. I want to be with him so bad, it’s eating me from the inside.
It’s driving me insane.
It’s ripping at my heartstrings.
His hand slides from my face to my throat. He wraps his fingers around it in a vice-like grip. His forehead disconnects from mine and the clouds in his eyes darken. “I’m being fucking nice here, Elsa. I’ve been patient, but I’m this close to say fuck everything and take you all to myself. Don’t. Push. Me.” He emphasises as he strokes his thumb over my pulse point. “Even I don’t know what I’ll do.”