Aiden hates me.
He loathes me.
I can imagine him playing my death in the back of his mind.
Why?
I don’t know and I never asked.
Because I have a rule: Never try to understand bullies.
They’re entitled arseholes who use their power to humiliate others, what’s there to understand about them?
But as I stare up at Aiden’s punishing eyes, my earlier thoughts shrink behind my trembling, defective heart.
He scares me.
Call it instinct or an intuition, but something terrifying lurks behind that easy-going smile and football star image.
“What did you just do?” His voice is calm and quiet with a slight huskiness.
An outsider would find it welcoming, but I know it’s one of his multiple façades.
The voice the devil would use to lure his victims.
I lift up my chin, even though my hand clutching the phone trembles. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He extends his palm in front of me. “Give it.”
I start to bypass him. Aiden sidesteps in front of me. He’s stupid tall. Stupid broad. Stupid everything.
He blocks my vision of Kim and Xander.
But he’s not done.
Aiden advances into my space. He’s so close that I can make out that small beauty mole at the corner of his right eye.
I instinctively step back with every stride he takes forward. My throat dries, and I hate how I shrink in front of his attack.
He’s just too damn tall and has this unreadable mask on his face. The only available image of Aiden is the one he shows to the outside world. Aside from that, he’s… nothing.
A dark secret.
A deep hole.
An endless abyss.
My back hits a tree trunk, and I wince. When I attempt to walk past him, his arm shoots up and slams on the tree by the side of my head.
I’m imprisoned, just like the first damn day I met him.
Since then, Aiden has never gotten this close. He’s the ‘King’ after all. All he has to do is issue a decree and the entire kingdom would bow. People do his dirty work for him – including bullying.
He still smells of body wash and something entirely his. It’s strange how certain things never leave our memories.
He extends his hand again. “Give it, Frozen.”
Frozen.
I’m just that nickname to him. It’s another form of bullying and intimidation.
But I’ve already decided that I’m done with being a victim to Aiden’s unjust war. I’m tired of being the one who always breaks eye contact first and hurries in the opposite direction.
We should give back.
Kim’s words play in my mind.
If it were the old me, I would’ve done everything in my might to avoid confrontation with Aiden and stay as far away from his vicinity as possible.
I’ve always tucked my ghosts between my defective heart and my ribcage, but he needs to learn that the world doesn’t revolve around his stupid last name.
I fold my arms over my chest and jut out my chin. “No.”
He narrows his left eye. “Who do you think you are, Frozen?”
“Just a human being who deserves to be left in peace.”
He cocks his head to the side, watching me with his demon eyes. “Not all human beings are in peace. Why should you be?”
“Are you freaking serious?”
“Give me the phone. I won’t repeat myself another time.”
“No.” I mimic his tone. “I won’t repeat myself another time.”
He does something unexpected then.
Something I would’ve never seen coming.
His fingers wrap around my wrist that’s clutching the phone.
Something in my stomach twists in a painful, strange kind of way.
Aiden never touches me.
The last time was two years ago when he wrapped his hand around my throat.
His touch is still… the same.
Calloused. Rough. Smothering.
He’s not cutting off my breathing like the other time, but the air around me crackles and then ceases to exist altogether.
He reaches towards the phone, but I’m out of my stupor before he manages to snatch it.
We struggle for a few seconds. Or more like I struggle to block him. He’s like a bull going after the red cloth.
An unstoppable, murderous bull.
Panting, I yank the phone close and hug it to my chest.
Aiden doesn’t waver and shoots for it.
Why the hell had I thought the arsehole had boundaries?
Trying to block him with one hand, I loosen my ribbon enough to have an opening then tuck the phone in my bra.
I smile in triumph, tipping my chin at him.
Aiden’s smoky eyes glint with something unreadable. “You had to screw up.”
“What?”
“You really think that will stop me?”
Aiden dives straight to my shirt and undoes the first button. I’m so shocked that I stare with parted lips without reacting. It’s not until he gets to the second button that I push at his chest.
“W-what the hell are you doing?” I shriek.
He pauses, tilting his head to the side with that manic expression. “Are you going to give me the phone?”
“N-no.”
He continues his ministrations with the buttons of my shirt. My throat closes and I feel myself about to start hyperventilating. I push him, but his hold is steel. Impenetrable, hard steel.
“S-stop!!”
There’s a strange rush flowing through my veins and tightening my muscles. I have no idea how to explain it except that Aiden needs to get his freaking hands off me.
I push at his chest again, but he already has the three first button opened so the edge of my bra is visible.
My lips part when I realise what else is in full view.
My surgery scar.
For years, I did everything in my power to make sure no one saw it. I never wore low-cut shirts. I bought one-piece swimsuits that hid my chest. I don’t even like showing it to my aunt. Kim probably saw it twice and even then, only by accident.
And now, Aiden is staring at it.
No. He’s not only staring. He’s devouring it with his gaze as if it’s some sort of wonder.
He stops unbuttoning my shirt, but he hasn’t removed his fingers from the fourth button. In fact, he undoes it so the shirt is open to underneath my bra and he has a full view of the diagonal scar at the top of my left breast.
Ugly.
Long.
Faded.
The reason I started hiding it is because of the pitiful looks people gave me. Even Aunt Blair gives me that look sometimes.
However, Aiden’s expression is anything but pity.
I didn’t expect such emotion to exist in his black soul, but I thought there would at least be a softening of his devilish heart.
I couldn’t be more wrong.
His eyes were murderous before, but now he seems like he wishes he had a knife to slice my scar open and rip out my heart.
Twigs crush underneath nearby footsteps.
I shake myself out of my stupor, push him away, and turn around to re-button my shirt. My breathing shortens despite my attempts to regulate it.
Behind me, I can feel his unwanted heat near my back. One step closer and he’d be breathing down my neck — or probably chopping it off.
“Mate.” Xander’s cool voice sounds from behind me. “You caught yourself an ice princess?”
“Actually, the ice princess is for you. She has something of yours.”
Once my shirt is buttoned — with the phone still tucked in my bra — I whirl around. Getting on my tippy toes, I peek around Xander but there’s no sign of Kim.
Xander appears victorious like he just did something to be proud of.
If he hurt Kim in any way, I’ll ruin his face and pluck out those stupid dimples.
“Something of mine?” Xander’s gaze bounces from me to his arsehole friend.
“She recorded you.” Aiden doesn’t spare me a glance. “I’m sure she’s thinking of using it against you on social media and the press to ruin yours and your father’s future. That sort of thing.”
I couldn’t keep my jaw from dropping even if I tried to. Aiden figured out my plan to a T.
Am I that obvious?
Xander bursts into laughter like he actually finds all of this funny. A cruel smirk tugs Aiden’s lips as if this is some inside joke.
“All right, Frozen.” Xander faces me, his laughter disappearing. “It’s so cute that you think you can hurt me and all. Now that you’ve had your fun, give me the video.”
Barely-concealed fury erupts into hot, scorching flames. It could be because I saw this same arsehole harassing Kim or because of how Aiden touched me like he had every right to.
I widen my stance, glaring up at Xander. “You’ve ruined Kim’s life for freaking years for no reason. It’s time someone puts a stop to your spoiled, rich arse. I don’t care if you’re the minister’s son or if you’re bloody royalty. If you don’t stay away from her, you’ll regret it.”
Silence.
Long, thick, fog-like silence.
Xander studies me with a raised eyebrow while Aiden remains poker-faced. If he weren’t so close, I would’ve thought he hadn’t heard me.
The more they remain reaction-less, the harder my pulse pounds in my throat. It’s a miracle I’m not fidgeting.
“The phone is in her bra.” Aiden breaks the silence with a levelled tone. “You want me to get it, or will you?”
“I don’t know.” Xander ponders. “Let’s toss a coin.”
“How about you hold her for me?” Aiden’s gaze strays to my breasts.
I instinctively cross my arms over my chest.
Xander doesn’t say a word. He yanks both my arms behind my back. He’s so arrogant that he locks both my wrists in one hand. My chest pushes forward for Aiden’s eyes.
Dark, metal eyes.
Demon eyes.
I try to struggle, but Xander tightens his hold until it’s almost impossible to move, let alone fight.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I hiss, voice plagued with tremors.
Aiden’s punishing gaze meets mine.
There’s so much in there.
So much hate.
So much cruelty.
So much… evil.
He doesn’t break eye contact as he rips the ribbon from around my throat. I gasp as the cloth falls to the ground.
“I will scream!” I yell with strain even though I know no one would hear me out here.
“We love screams,” Xander whispers in my ear. “Scream, Frozen.”
The corner of Aiden’s lips curves in a smirk as if he’s agreeing.
We love screams.
I think I’m going to be sick.
How could I not think of that option when I put myself into this situation? I should have known nothing good would come out of a confrontation with Aiden and Xander. Their brand of unhinged doesn’t care about moral lines or societal standards.
They were raised to think they were above everyone else.
If they got into trouble, their parents’ influence got them out of it unscathed. Like in Levi King’s case, the school apologised for something he had done.
Their moral lines are screwed up and blurred. Hell, they might not even exist at all.
How could I so foolishly assume that they have the same moral line as mine?
Stupid, stupid me.
If I want to get out of this with minimum damage, then I need to lower myself to their level and try to see this from their warped perspective.
They’re bullies which means they get off on their victim’s struggle.
I swallow my pride and quit trying to squirm free.
Aiden tilts his head to the side with a slight twitch in his left eye. I recognise the first gesture as contemplation, but I’m not sure what the twitching means. Is it anger? Annoyance? Something else?
Damn him and how hard it is to read him.
Aiden steps closer so his chest almost grazes mine. “You’re a proud little thing, aren’t you, Frozen?”
I’m taken aback by the change of subject. I thought this was about the phone?
“You don’t give a fuck about anyone. Always walking around here with that head of yours somewhere above and beyond like no one here deserves your time.” He pulls a stray blonde strand of my hair and twirls it in his fingers, watching it with manic interest. “So… Frozen.”
My breathing catches the more he twirls the strand. I don’t know if he’ll pull me by it or rip it out of my skull psycho style.
A dark, claustrophobic sensation grips the centre of my chest.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. Even when I stayed out of his way, I always noticed the hidden dark tendencies behind Aiden’s metallic eyes.
He tucks the strand behind my ear. To a passerby, it’d seem like a doting, caring gesture, but from Aiden, it’s the calm before the storm.
The sound of airplanes overhead, right before the bombing.
The slight movement of the ground, right before the earthquake.
“Tell me, Frozen. What pushes your buttons? What are you afraid of, hmm?”
You!
I swallow down the scream, tipping my chin up, and meeting the devil’s eyes.
He squeezes my jaw between his thumb and forefinger. “Tell. Me.”
When I keep my right to remain silent, something flashes in Aiden’s face. It’s fast and fleeting and disappears as soon as it’s there.
He releases me with a softness that startles me. No, not startle. It’s something much more potent.
I don’t like Aiden’s kind side.
It’s deceptive.
Destructive.
Deadly.
“Last chance before I find the answer myself.”
Yeah, good luck with pulling the answer out of my head, monster.
Something shines in his eyes. People’s eyes shine with excitement and happiness. Aiden’s spark with unhinged sadism.
He reaches for me, and before I can do anything, he rips my shirt open. Buttons fly everywhere like abandoned pebbles.
My heart lunges in my chest and shame sinks to the bottom of my stomach. Unshed tears fill my eyes, and I realise right then that I’m not fit for this game.
I’m a coward and cowards lose before the game even starts.
But I’m smart enough to cut my losses short.
I swallow my tears and my stupid pride. “F-fine. I’ll give you the phone.”
The smirk on Aiden’s lips seals my doomed fate.
“Oh, no. That was before. You had your chance. Now, I’ve changed my mind.”
