PART 2 – CHAPTER 117
JESS
I was hunched over the sink when the bathroom door burst open. It was Aiden, and he stepped inside and shut the door behind him, making the space feel tiny. “What the fuck are you wearing? You are asking to be drugged and dragged up into a room. Is that what you want? Because if it is, I’m happy to help; you didn’t need the dress,” Aiden crossed his arms across his chest, and I snorted, trying to force air in and out of my lungs through my nose.
“Now’s not really a good time.” I finally muttered, and I could see Aiden’s demeanor changing in the mirror. He stepped forward, anger now replaced with concern. “You okay? Need to get out of here?” Aiden asked, pulling my hair away from my neck. I brushed him off. “I’m fine! I don’t need to be rescued. Thank you for helping the other day, but I don’t need it now,” I blurted out. I knew I was being mean, but I couldn’t help it. I was angry, he was the only person I could be angry at right now.
“Yeah. You look great, Jess. Just fucking peachy.” Aiden said, and I looked up at the mirror. My face was pale, and my eyes a little sunken.
“I-” I stammered, my pulse thunderous in my ears. That involuntary sound had escaped me, a mix of surprise and intimacy that was all too real and far too surreal. “I didn’t mean to-”
I wanted to apologize. I wasn’t this person. I wasn’t a mean
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PART 2 – CHAPTER 117
person. But if I was going to let Alden in, that would be a whole new problem on its own, one I wouldn’t have any control over.
“Like I said, I don’t need saving, Aiden.” I snapped. The last thing I wanted was to be left exposed, both physically and emotionally. Not again. Never again.
Aiden held my gaze unblinking, his expression shifting from surprise to something more serious. “Jess, I know you are trying to push me away. I won’t work. I’m right here. You just need to let me in,” he said, his voice steady.
The tension hung heavy between us. I glanced at my phone on the counter with Luke’s name on the call log, and Aiden saw it,
too.
“Guess that wasn’t a good chat,” he said, breaking the silence, his eyes narrowing just slightly, a challenge within his
statement.
My pulse quickened as the anger bubbled up again. “Did someone tell you that you’re an asshole and that it’s none of your business?” I shot back. I snatched my phone from the counter, but his reaction was quick. Aiden pulled it off the counter and held it in the air, too far up for me to reach.
“Are we in kindergarten? Just give me the phone,” I seethed, trying to reach it but falling forward into Aiden’s shirtless chest.
“You’re not dodging this,” he insisted, intense realization simmering in his gaze. “Tell me what’s going on–please.” Aiden tried again. “Why were you going to…” His voice trailed off.
“I wasn’t about to vomit,” I muttered, meeting his stare defiantly.
PART 2 CHAPTER 117
“Jessica–you look exactly like the day I found you at the track,” he said softly, and that feeling of being cornered returned, gripping my throat tightly.
Sighing, I dropped my head back and rested it against the cool rim of the sink, feeling the quiet thrum of the music from the party beyond. “It’s the tequila,” I lied.
He crossed his arms, unimpressed. “You are not drunk, Jess. You aren’t that person. You don’t get shit–faced.”
“Right now? I wish I was,” I sighed.
Aiden took a step closer, and the warmth radiating from him was intoxicating. He turned on the tap, and I caught the glint of light reflecting off the water as he brought his hand to my neck, fingers cool and damp against my skin. The chill sent shivers racing down my spine, mingling with heat and a thousand thoughts colliding in my mind.
Before I could process what was happening, a soft moan slipped from my lips–a sound I’d never meant to let escape. Horror crashed over me as I straightened suddenly, pulling back from him.
When I looked up, Aiden’s eyes were burning with intensity. My mouth went dry, and I felt–hell, I didn’t know what I felt. All I knew was that I shouldn’t be feeling any of this.
My mind is all messed up with Luke gone, some girl answering his phone, and now Aiden in here, consuming all the oxygen.
His gaze never left mine, the unspoken questions swirling just between us. I knew what it was the minute his eyes flicked to my mouth. My jaw went a little slack, and I breathed too fast.
PART 2 – CHAPTER 117
Aiden stepped forward, forcing r
