by Kent, Rina
“I am. Life would’ve been boring without you, bug.”
“That’s the spirit.” He pauses, the smile and the dimple disappearing. “Full disclaimer, on the manual, it also says that best friends should offer reality checks about any bad shits the other friend is doing. Captain leans towards the bad.” He rolls his eyes. “But you already know that.”
“Do you think it’s weird that I keep gravitating towards Levi despite knowing what he’s capable of?”
“Nah.” He nudges my shoulder, waggling his eyebrows. “It just means that you have a wild side I wasn’t fully aware of.”
Maybe he’s right.
“Besides, it’s not like you can choose who you like. That shit is messed up.”
“Since when did you become a philosopher?” I hit his shoulder with mine. “Don’t tell me you actually like someone.”
“I like everyone who opens their legs for me. Or mouths. I’m flexible.”
“You’re such a pig.”
He chuckles. “Come on, let’s go to school.”
“Wait. Do you think Levi’s fine?”
“You don’t know?”
Something clenches in my chest. “I don’t know what?”
“The team had a party yesterday at the Meet Up.”
“They did?”
“Yeah.” Dan winces. “I went after you called it a night.”
“Was Levi there?”
“He’s the one who called it.”
“Oh.”
I was worried sick about him while he had a party.
He didn’t even bother to text or call me.
“And what did he do?” I ask.
“The usual. Party. Drink.”
“That’s… brilliant.”
“Astrid…”
“No. Dan. It’s fine.” I force a smile. “Let’s go to school.”
Hot, red fire courses through my veins as I stomp to the car and throw my weight in the passenger seat.
Levi went to a party as if nothing happened yesterday. He didn’t stop to ask how it went with Dad. He didn’t think we needed to talk or anything.
For Levi, this must be another mind game.
I’m the one who shouldn’t have focused on the arsehole in the first place.
Not when I have more important things that I should worry about.
“Actually, Dan.” I swallow. “I’m going to see a doctor.”
41
Astrid
You didn’t kill me, you destroyed me.
* * *
I come out from my session with Dr Edmonds feeling lightheaded.
Everything that I thought I figured out is smoke and mirrors now.
Mum’s accident. My accident.
Since Mum’s death, I thought that no amount of therapy would bring back my mum or make me move on. So I’ve been ghosting my shrink.
Dad forced me to see Dr Edmonds at the beginning, but when I started throwing fits and woke up screaming in the middle of the night, he left me alone.
He only made me see Dr Edmonds again after the summer accident.
“Are you all right?” Dan stands up from the seat in the waiting area. “Why did you want to see your shrink?”
“Because…” I look up at him with my heart squeezing in my chest. “I think I’ve been running away.”
He clutches my arm, helping me to sit at the bench as the assistant calls in another patient.
“Did the doctor say that?”
“No. He told me that I quit visiting him for a reason and I also returned for a reason.” I grip his arm tighter. “He’s right, Dan. I had a flashback.”
His brows furrow. “A flashback?”
“From my accident with Mum. Dad said someone else died that day and I think … I think he or she asked me for help.” My eyes fill with tears. “What if… what if… they died because I couldn’t help them?”
“No. No. Look at me, Astrid.” He clutches my shoulder. “You had a concussion and couldn’t even save yourself, let alone someone else. Okay?”
I nod, slowly, more to myself than anything else. “That’s not the problem, Dan. The problem is that I wanted to remember for the wrong reasons. I want to recall what happened on my hit-and-run accident because I’m so mad at Levi right now. It’s so messed up, isn’t?”
“It’s human.” He grins. “Let’s egg his car and slash his tires. That Jaguar pisses me off.”
I snicker. Only Dan would turn an intense situation into a joke.
“So did the doctor say you can remember?” he asks.
“Yeah, but the whole thing is entirely up to me. Apparently, I’ve been blocking memories.”
“Are you scared?”
“No… maybe. I don’t know.”
“I’m here. You’ve got this, you little bugger.”
“God. I don’t know what would’ve happened to me if I didn’t have you, bug.”
“Probably lots of shit.” He twists his mouth. “Buy me lunch?”
“Cheeseburgers,” Both of us say at the same time.
“How about we skip?” He waggles his eyebrows.
“I know what you’re doing, Dan, and no, I’m not running away from school anymore.”
I’m done bowing. It’s time I stand tall.
In school, no one looks in my direction and when they do, everyone bows their heads.
Everyone except for Nicole and her wingman, Chloe. They glare at me, but they keep their vapid mouths shut.
Dan walks by my side, throwing winks at his harem of girls.
Me?
I’m counting my steps so I don’t trip and fall.
Good or bad, I hate being put under the spotlight.
The only thing I want is to disappear into my art studio and never come out until it’s time to go home.
Dan has a meeting before practice with their coach.
As soon as he disappears down the hall, I quicken my pace to the art studio.
Someone cuts in front of me and I come to a screeching halt.
Aiden.
He’s wearing his football blazer and the uniform’s trousers. For a star player, he’s in no rush to meet their coach.
“What do you want?” I ask as coolly as I can manage.
I hate how much I want to search around him for the other King or how much I want to see his cousin in him.
He leans against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. “Something changed.”
“And I’m supposed to know about it?”
He remains as blank as a board. “Have you heard what my father and Lev talked about yesterday?”
I shake my head. “Dad and I left first.”
Aiden continues looking me up and down as if he’s searching for something. Then, he pushes off the wall, about to leave.
“Wait. Do you know why your father and mine have an animosity?”
He appears lost in thoughts for a second. “Hmm. It might have to do with that.”
“With what?”
“Lev is acting strange.”
“Is that why Levi threw a party out of nowhere yesterday?”
“Perhaps.” He pauses. “He ignored you, didn’t he?”
I thin my lips in a line, refusing to admit how much that hurts.
Aiden’s gaze gets lost in the opposite direction. It’s the first time I see his gunmetal eyes project anything but the deadly indifference.
As if a demon possessed him, his eyes darken until they become frighteningly black.
I glance behind me to see who’s the victim of the young King’s wrath.
My lips part when I make out Kimberly. The same chubby girl who educated me on football during the other game. We came to sit together in most home games.
She glances at me and smiles tentatively, waving. I wave back. Kimberly interlinks her arm in a taller blonde’s.
Aiden is glaring at the blonde girl, and she’s glaring right back without blinking.
Being tiny, the first thing I notice about her is the long legs that go
for miles — okay, that was a bit overdramatic. But they’re so toned like she’s an athlete.
Kimberly’s friend has light skin and electric blue eyes that shine with malice the more she throws daggers in Aiden’s direction.
She has some balls to glare at Aiden this openly. He’s a scary little shit that always gives me serial killers vibe.
“Do you want to try something?” he asks without breaking eye contact from the blonde.
“Try what?” I ask, confused.
“About Lev.”
“What is it?”
He flings an arm around my shoulder and pulls me to his side. “You’ll find out.”
The blonde breaks eye contact and takes the first turn around the corner with Kimberly.
Aiden continues watching her even after she completely disappears.
His lips curve in a sadistic smirk before he faces me. “Let me test something about Lev.”
I point at his arm. “Does that include you holding my shoulder.”
He nods. “I would say trust me, but I know you won’t.”
At least he knows that.
A few minutes later, I’m sitting on the bench, watching the practice with Aiden by my side.
I think about shoving his arm away, but his theory about a test stops me.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in practice?” I ask.
“I need rest after a minor injury.” He tips his head at a passing player.
Me, on the other hand? I keep watching for Levi to come out of the locker room.
Everyone is on the field — including Dan. He furrows his eyebrows at me as if asking ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ I don’t know myself, but if anyone will force Levi’s hand then it can only be Aiden.
Ronan and Cole stare at us with stupefaction just like the rest of the team. Only Xander laughs and shouts “A hundred that a King will kill a King today.”
I think he even got a few bets from the other team members, Ronan and Dan included.
My breath hitches when Levi steps out with Coach Larson.
Something inside me ignites at seeing him again after the time we spent all tangled around each other.
I should be mad at him, but I can’t help noticing how his athletic body looks in the royal blue jersey and shorts. How his tousled blond hair falls on his forehead and how his pale blue eyes glint under the sun.
Damn how irresistible he is.
He pulls his legs back, stretching while listening to the coach.
He switches to stretching his arm behind his head and turns around. His gaze meets mine.
I swallow, the urge to remove Aiden consumes me, but I resist it.
I want to see Levi’s reaction. I want to see him lose it like he did with Jerry and at the party.
At least that proves it isn’t a game for him.
Levi pauses mid-stretching and my heart thumps so loud, I can’t hear anything past it.
As if a robot took over his body, Levi turns around and continues walking with the coach towards the other players.
Something breaks in my chest.
If he hadn’t meet my gaze, I would assume I’m invisible.
Am I invisible?
“Huh.” Aiden drops his arm. “That failed.”
A sob catches in my throat.
Was everything that happened between us a stupid game?
How… could he?
I stand up and stride to the railings. My temper boils, and I know the moment I clutch the metal railings that I’ll say something stupid.
“Levi!” I call.
He doesn’t turn around or acknowledge me, but the entire team’s attention is on me. Dan shakes his head and Xander elbows Levi.
“King!” I shout. “If you don’t turn around this second, we’re over. Completely over, do you hear me?”
I wish I never said that. I wish he doesn’t turn around.
When he does, his eyes are completely washed out. I don’t recognise this Levi. Not at all.
It’s like an alien sucked his soul and left this person behind.
He smirks in that cruel, sadistic way. His next words undo me.
“We were never something to be over.”
42
Levi
Losing a battle doesn’t mean ending the war.
* * *
The moment Aiden strolls into the locker room, I throw him against the wall with my forearm crushing his trachea.
“What the fuck were you doing?” I snarl in his emotionless face.
Murmurs break out around us from the rest of the team members. I should’ve left it alone until we got home, but the fire inside would’ve consumed me by then.
I was barely able to stop myself from climbing the fence and smashing Aiden’s face to the ground during practice.
He dared touch her.
He put his fucking hands on her.
The corner of his lips curls in a smirk. “It didn’t fail after all.”
I grab his arm — the same fucking arm he had around her shoulder — and twist it. “Do you want a cast?”
“Captain…” Cole approaches slowly. “We can talk it out. No need to break things....or bones.”
“Tell. Me,” I growl in my cousin’s poker face. “What the fuck were you doing?”
He remains silent, meeting my stare with one of his own. My hold tightens around his already twisted arm. I’m going to fucking break it and to hell if Jonathan makes me his slave.
I am, anyway.
Xander kicks Aiden’s leg. “Whatever it is, tell him, you little shit.”
“He’ll really break your arm,” Cole hisses.
Aiden’s expression doesn’t change no matter how much pressure I apply. The fucking psycho has become abnormally resistant to pain since that incident nine years ago.
“Yo, King.” Ronan stares at him with bugged eyes. “Mais tu es fous ou quoi? Do you want your arm broken?”
He doesn’t. But if a broken arm gets him what he wants, he wouldn’t mind.
“Who told you to keep your conversation with my father a secret?” Aiden finally speaks.
“Go near Astrid again, and I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Tell me the secret.”
“Pass.”
He smiles in a taunting way. “If you don’t give me what I want. I won’t give you what you want, either. Guess what, Lev. The game always starts with two kings on the chessboard.”
“One to nil, Aiden!” Ronan shouts, then says, “Ouch,” when Cole smacks the back of his head.
I smile and push Aiden against the locker with a shove.
I can punch him to death and cut him limb from limb, but physical strength doesn’t work on this little shit.
He said it himself, Smarter, not stronger.
To win, I have to play his way.
“So this is a game, huh?” I ask.
“Sure is.” He smirks, dusting his jacket.
“Very well. I’m making my first move today. Meet me in the car park.”
“Make it count, Lev.” With one last taunting smirk, he disappears behind the door.
I face the rest of the team and speak in my most authoritative tone, “If anyone goes near Astrid, they’ll have a personal problem with me. Do I need to repeat myself?”
“No, Captain.”
“Make that apply to the entire school.”
“Yes, captain.”
I throw a hand dismissing them and everyone goes back to their tasks.
All except for one.
Daniel glares at me and pushes my shoulder on his way out. “I don’t take orders from a coward captain.”
I grind my teeth, but I let it go. It’s not my midfielder speaking, it’s Astrid’s best friend.
After changing my clothes, I stop in front of the locker room with my back against the wall.
I might put up the facade, but I’m feeling too much chaos, it’s beginning to numb me.
I tried drowning in alcohol, but that shit’s never good. Not to mention th
at Coach will have my arse if I come to practice with a hangover.
Smoking is also off the table after the last erotic smoke I had with Astrid.
So I spent the entire night in a room I haven’t visited for years.
A room that’s changed fucking everything
The look on Astrid’s face when I told her we’re nothing still cuts through me like fucking knives.
Jonathan had to screw up my life in a completely different way.
I need time to figure this whole shitty situation out, but that doesn’t mean anyone can have Astrid.
Not Aiden.
Not Zachariah.
No. Fucking. One.
Chris trudges in the opposite direction towards Coach Larson’s office. I watch him from behind, tilting my head and narrowing my eyes.
I’ll deal with his drunken arse later. He’s off the team until he shows up without hangovers or as high as a kite.
Once I arrive at the car park, I spot Dan driving out. Alone.
Astrid must’ve gone home first.
She’s strong. She fucking has to be.
Because since the eye-opening chat with Jonathan, I’m starting to think I’m broken beyond repair.
“Interesting location for a battle.” Aiden’s mocking tone reaches me first before he slides against his car that’s parked opposite mine.
I throw my bag in the backseat and lean against the driver door, facing him and crossing my arms over my chest.
“What do you want Aiden?”
“Simple. Tell me what Father told you that you became so volatile.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“No one keeps me in the dark,” he shrugs.
“Seriously? You’re bringing out your guns for something as insignificant as this?”
“Insignificant battles win the war.” He pauses. “Now tell me what I need to know.”
“No.”
“I’m going after Astrid, then. Careful King, your own queen will bring you to your knees.”
My jerk reaction is to punch him in the face.
I don’t.
I should’ve known that Aiden will pine for my weakness. But the thing with Jonathan is none of his fucking business and it’ll remain that way.
“I look forward to spending more time with Clifford. Maybe I should join her and Sterling in bowling?”