A few days pass.
No matter how much I want things to go back to normal, they don’t.
Since that day in the coffee shop, Aiden hasn’t stopped texting me every night and morning.
The first strings of texts came that same night while I was watching Nat Geo with Uncle Jaxon.
Aiden: What did you have for dinner?
Aiden: We had pasta, but you were all I tasted on my tongue. I can’t stop thinking about my fingers inside your soaked walls as you whimpered. Pity I didn’t get to taste you properly and thrust my tongue inside that tight, little pussy.
Aiden: Next time, sweetheart.
I barely mumbled my goodnights to Uncle as I fled to my room.
He’s been sending those types of crude texts every night, and sometimes in the mornings.
I called him a psycho a few times. Insane at other times. But that only made him religious about his texts.
Dickhead.
Kim and I sit in the back garden for lunch. We’re both eating salad and watching the tall pine trees in the distance as she talks about her latest Korean soap opera with great details.
“Did you notice anything weird?” I ask when she finishes her retellings.
“Like what?” She chews on a mouthful of cucumber.
“Like no one calls you names anymore? Even Adam, the biggest bully of all bullies, passed you by this morning without a word.”
She grins, her mint-coloured hair flying in the wind. “My new look is shocking the hell out of them.”
As much as I love her new confidence, I don’t think that’s the case. Her new look didn’t stop Silver and her minions from bullying her at the start of school.
“Don’t you find it weird that all of this changed since Aiden comforted you in front of the entire school?”
If their king showed interest in her, they’d be signing off on their death certificates if they bothered her.
That’s Aiden. Those on his good side live in heaven, but the rest rot in hell.
“Well, yeah.” Her expression changes into something unreadable before she waggles her brows. “Maybe you should get comforted by him, too, so RES will get off your case, too.”
“Kim!” I hit her shoulder.
“What? Use them while you can, Ellie.”
“Is that what you’ve been doing with Aiden? Using him?”
She lifts her shoulder.
Kim isn’t the type of person who uses people. God. It’s as if I don’t know my best friend anymore.
“You do realise that Aiden King isn’t the type to be used, right?” I stab a fork at the bottom of my container. “He’ll read through your manipulations in no time.”
“Maybe we’re using each other.” She drops the container at her side and crunches a red apple.
Maybe we’re using each other?
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
“King played such an excellent game on Saturday. You should’ve seen the goal he scored.” Kim gushes. “Thirty metres away, can you believe that?”
I pause playing with my food. “You went to Elites’ game?”
“Uh, yeah? I told you I was going out on Saturday.”
“I thought it was to have dinner with your family.” My lips twist. “I also thought you quit going to their games.”
“I felt like going.” She shrugs. “And I’m so glad I did, King was a freaking star. So bright and dazzling. I can’t believe he doesn’t play in the Premier League like his cousin already.”
“Kim.” My throat dries as I stare at her with what must look like a horrified expression. “Do you hear yourself? You’re idolising Aiden fucking King right now.”
“What? He plays like a God. You can’t deny that.”
Yes, I can. That’s why I refuse to focus on him while he plays.
“Xander played like shit, though.” Kim’s pink-painted lips twist. “Fucking psycho almost got a red card for tackling an opponent so hard, he almost knocked his teeth out. But Kirian still wouldn’t shut up about him, can you believe that little shit?”
Kim’s little brother idolises Xander, and that always ticked her off.
“He’s just a kid.”
“He’s my baby brother, not his. Fucking arsehole.”
Then she launches into a full report on the game. It’s her usual thing, but this time, I notice the impressed tone whenever she talks about Aiden. Or maybe the impressed tone has always been there and I was too deaf to hear it.
I’m going to be sick to my stomach.
Just when I’m about to stop her, a shadow looms over us.
My head snaps up to find Ronan grinning down at us like an idiot.
“What do you want?” I snap.
“Relax, Frozen.” He slides beside a stunned Kim, smiling with unmistakable charm. “I come here in peace.”
Peace? He’s got to be freaking kidding me.
I search behind him and around the trees, expecting the devil to come out and play.
Nothing can convince me that this isn’t another one of Aiden’s depraved games.
I fold my arms over my chest. “Since when do you talk to us, Ronan?”
“Since Kim is a fan.” He grins at her, placing a stray strand behind her ear. “How come you never showed it before, chérie? You don’t have to be a closet fan.”
“I’m not.” She smiles, appearing to relax. “I love Elites’ team play. Cole is the perfect captain. Aiden is the ace striker and you’re one of the best midfielders in the school’s championships.”
“Correction. I’m not one of the best. I’m the best, Kimmy.”
“The freaking best!”
They go on a long string of football conversation about the few games Elites played this season and last year’s championship.
Ronan Astor and Kim are bonding.
Gag. Someone kill me.
I slam the lid of my container shut with a force that gets their attention. “Are you done?”
“Bah alors, Frozen. Anyone ever told you to chill?”
“I’ll be perfectly chill when you’re as far away from us as possible.”
Kim frowns. “That’s rude, Ellie.”
Rude? Doesn’t she realise he’s playing a game? A game Aiden must’ve put him up to it.
“No wonder he’s possessed,” Ronan mutters before he smiles at Kim, completely erasing me. “How about you stop being a closet fan and come over to one of my parties?”
Kim’s eyes almost bug out. “Who? Me?”
“I’ll win the drinking competition for your sake, Kimmy.”
“You will?” She almost shouts.
“I do anything for our fans.” He winks, brushes his knuckles over her hand before he stands and glances at me. “You can come, too, if you lose the frozen act.”
He throws a dismissive hand and leaves.
I continue aiming daggers at his back even as he disappears between the trees.
“Did you hear that? He invited us to one of his parties.”
“So what?”
“It’s Ronan Astor’s party, Ellie! I’ve always dreamt about attending one. I can’t believe he invited us.”
“Kim!” I grip her shoulders. “We agreed to never mingle with them, remember? We belong to different worlds and have different standards.”
“It’s just a party, Ellie. It’s senior year, we can at least go to a party.” The spark in her eyes doesn’t disappear. If anything, she looks about to explode from excitement.
That’s when I see it. The eagerness. The child-like thrill.
Kim wants this. She always had this dreamy look in her eyes whenever she talked about the football game or when we overhead other students talk about Ronan’s parties.
Unlike me, she wants to see that other crowd — Aiden and his pack of wolves’ crowd.
Maybe she’s been holding back because of the bullying. Maybe it’s because of me.
Either way, the new Kim isn’t afraid to go after what she likes. If anything, she runs straight to it.
Nothing I do or say will change her mind about the party.
I have to take care of the source of the problem.
A certain arsehole who’s been manipulating her throughout her new change.
We go back to school for our next class. Kim wouldn’t stop talking about the party even when I try to change the subject. I preferred the Korean soap operas retellings.
Near the class, Aiden crosses our path, coming in from the opposite direction. He stops near the door and Kim stops, too.
“Morning, Reed.” Aiden offers her a smile that somehow reaches his smokey eyes.
My chest squeezes in an uncomfortable, almost painful way.
“Morning, King.” Kim smiles back.
“You were amazing in the last game. We need more fans like you.”
“Go Elites!” Kim grins. “We’re so getting the championship this year.”
“Hell yeah, Kimmy!” Ronan cheers from behind us, draping an arm around Kim’s shoulder and leading her inside.
I hurry after them when a large-as-life presence pushes me back against the wall.
The students’ chatter disappears and my back snaps upright as I stare up at Aiden’s soulless eyes.
All the smiles he offered Kim disappear, leaving the actual demon Aiden is.
Looking up at him, I can’t help recalling his skin against mine. His finger sliding inside me. His lips biting my neck —
Nope. He’s not getting under my skin.
“Are you going to be mine?” he asks so low that the tenor of his voice vibrates on my skin.
Every day since that damned breakfast, he corners me somewhere and asks that same question.
I jut my chin out and give him the same answer I tell him every day, “No.”
“Hmm.” His fingers dig at the back of my scalp beneath my hair as he grips my nape and pins me in place.
There’s no escaping him even if I tried.
He’s freaking everywhere like the asphyxiating smoke in his eyes.
If I want to protect my sanity, I need to play my cards smartly.
If this were a football game, this is that time when the team is losing and the coach has to make decisive choices. He can lunge for offence and leave a void at the back that will cost him dearly in case of a counter-attack. Or he can hold his formation, draw in the adversary, and then attack when the other party least expects it.
I always preferred the second option.
Since I met Aiden, I had been the team that accepted defeat before the game even started. It’s like in the world cup when all English people have no hopes for the national team to go anywhere before it even started.
The forfeiting strategy was fine when Aiden just claimed his victory and moved along. Now that he’s pushing me, it’s time for a change of tactics.
Since the beginning of this school year, I used the all in attack, which obviously doesn’t work on Aiden. Not only is he a stronger, bigger — and a meaner — opponent, but he also gets off on my useless struggle. It’s time I go for the second option.
Lure. Wait. Attack.
Gah. I’m beginning to think like him.
But then again, one needs to be a monster to stop a monster.
He leans closer so his breath tickles along my lower lip. My breath catches. He’s always so close enough to kiss me, but he never does.
“Careful, sweetheart.” He pulls at a fistful of my hair. “You’re pushing me.”
“You pushed me first,” I grit out. “At least now you know how it feels to be pushed.”
“That’s nothing.” His lips hover over my ear before he darts his tongue and licks the shell. “I promise you won’t like it when I push back.”
I bite back the chill at his words and proximity and meet his gaze. “Aren’t you doing it already? What the hell is your game with Kim?”
He tilts his head to the side, his lips curving in a smirk. “Be mine and there won’t be a game.”
“Goddamn it, Aiden. You can’t play unfair like this.”
“Who said anything about fair?” His hand climbs to my throat and his thumb fingers the pulse point.
He’s obsessed with that.
“I told you I’ll threaten everything you love. Reed is only the beginning. It’s time you make a move, sweetheart.”
He pulls my cheek. “But don’t take too long. Patience has never been my strength.”
He releases me, leaving me breathless and boneless against the wall as he saunters inside the classroom. I hear him call Kim’s name.
And I know, I just know that Aiden’s strike will hit so deep.
He caught me by the arm that hurts the most.
When I peek into the class and find Kim laughing with him and Ronan, my heart squeezes and my chest aches.
A finger taps my shoulder. I startle, facing the intruder.
Xander’s gleamy blue eyes stare down at me. “I have an offer to make.”
