Aiden
Jordan.
It was Jordan this whole time.
I can’t explain the anger that brewed inside of me when I read the texts he sent my girlfriend.
How did I not notice? I spent months, years with the guy and I didn’t notice he was blackmailing me? It has to be him. Leila doesn’t give her number out to just anyone and the texts started right after I sent the blackmailer her number.
I can’t believe I did that. I should have tried to figure out who it was, to shut him down, but instead of I betrayed the trust and privacy of the only girl I loved and now this asshole is holding my past against me once again.
But this time, something else is on the line. Leila. One look at her and my heart hurts with the knowledge of what Jordan wants me to do. I can’t end it with her. I can’t. I let him blackmail me once, I’m not doing it again.
I don’t even bother knocking when I burst into the frat house, the memories as a freshman needing a cheap place to say coming back to me, the one guy who I hate more than Jordan right now in front of me.
Ben Reed. The asshole that shoved a line of coke in front of me calling me a pussy when I turned around and left. I hate this guy.
I remember lunging at him last year when he came after Rosie to get to Grayson. The things he was saying made me see red. No one speaks about a woman like that and gets away with it.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Pierce,” he says, slurring his words. I should be shocked he’s drunk before noon, but it’s right on brand for him. “Did you come begging to join?” He grins, taking a sip of his beer. “You’re out of luck, we don’t accept pussies.”
His dark chuckle does nothing but irritates me as I ignore him, taking the stairs twice at a time, looking around for the bastard that stabbed me in the back.
Grayson was there last year, holding me back from punching that asshole downstairs, saving me from getting suspended or even expelled, but right now? Not even Grayson could stop me. I have nothing to lose. Leila is on the line, my scholarship is on the line, and it’s all because of Jordan.
I find his room in a matter of seconds, and fling open his door, stalking over to him, grabbing his collar in my fist and throw a punch to his face. Fucking asshole threatened me. Threatened the woman I love. He deserves this. He deserves worse.
“What the fuck,” he sputters, trying to push me off. “Pierce, what the fuck are you doing?”
“I know it’s you. I fucking know it’s you that’s been blackmailing me.” I push off him, staring down at him. This guy was one of my best friends.
He laughs, wiping some of the blood sputtering from his mouth. “How did you find out?”
Hearing him admit it builds an anger inside of me I didn’t know existed. I grip his jaw in my hand, tightening my hold on him. “You’ve been texting my girl,” I grit out. “What the fuck do you want from her? From me?”
He pushes at my chest. “Get the fuck off me.”
“I should kill you.”
He narrows his eyes. “Go ahead. You’ll fit right in with your family.”
I let him go, my eyes widen when I remember he knows everything. The pictures of my mother passed out on the couch with a needle in her arm, the security footage of my brother stealing.
He laughs, bitterly. “You’re such a pussy, this is why you don’t deserve captain.”
I blink at him, watching as he adjusts his jaw, spitting out blood to the floor. “This is what it’s about?” I ask him.
He shakes his head, glaring at me. “You don’t deserve it. I do. I worked hard for that spot and you swooped in and took it.”
“That was on Coach.” I didn’t ask for this position.
He laughs. “Coach pities you, nothing more to it.”
I can’t believe just a few days ago, I used to think of this guy as a friend. “Coach doesn’t even know. No one does.”
“Of course he does,” he says. “Do you think he doesn’t do his research?” His brow lifts. “Did you think I wouldn’t do my research?”
My jaw ticks. “How did you find out?”
He cracks his neck, and I can hear the pain he must be feeling. I wish I had punched him some more. “I needed something on you. It wasn’t hard. You might walk around campus thinking you’re a god, but you’re a loser, Aiden. Always have been. Always will be.”
“And Leila?” I ask the question that’s running through my mind. “What does she have to do with this?”
He laughs again, my stomach churning. “That was interesting. She wasn’t part of my plan but it was too fucking perfect.”
I glare at him. “What are you talking about?”
“You might not remember, but I do.” He crosses his arms. “She was all over me, flirting, smiling, licking those lips.” The way he talks about my girlfriend makes me want to forget all about rational and punch him into the ground. “So of course I fucked her.” He shrugs. “Never fucked a fat chick, first time for everything, right?”
I want to kill him. I want to kill him so bad.
“Then the next morning, she ghosted. Didn’t like that.”
I shake my head, remembering what Leila said about him threatening her not to tell anyone and now he’s pissed she did exactly what he wanted? “Why do you care?” It’s been over a year, why the hell is he still holding onto that?
He growls at me. “Because it was humiliating. I shouldn’t have to chase her. She’d be lucky for me to stick my dick in her.”
I stalk over to him. “Watch your fucking mouth,” I grit out, gripping his jaw in my hand again. He winces when I squeeze it. “Or I will kill you. And I won’t stop this time.”
“Fuck you.” He pushes at my chest. “You and that bitch are nothing but a means to an end. It was never supposed to be more than that.”
“Then why tell me to get her number? Why do any of it?” My stomach cramps with the admission that the first few interactions we had were because of this asshole, wanting something from her.
“I was killing two birds with one stone.” He sniffs, wiping the blood from his lip. “I wanted you to step down as captain and I wanted to humiliate her like she did to me.”
“How were you planning on doing that?”
“Simple.” His lips twitch. “I was going to make her fall in love with me.”
I snort. “Leila wants nothing to do with you.”
“Yeah.” He narrows his eyes at me. “I figured. Which is where you come in. That day in class, you were all over her already, and she might have hated you but she talked to you.” He was manipulating me the whole time. “I wanted to get her number, make her fall for me, but when that didn’t work, I let you do the work for me.” He laughs. “She fell right into your lap. It was too fucking easy.”
“You’re an asshole,” I spit out. “You can’t use people like that.”
He shrugs. “I already did. And now you’re going to finish what you started. You’re going to end it. You’re going to break up with her.” His grin makes me violent. “Make it hurt, and make it public. It will be way more fun.”
I lunge at him again, grabbing his collar in my fist. “You’re not in charge anymore. I’m not breaking up with her and you’re not going to make me.”
“Careful.” He pushes me off him. “I didn’t delete those pictures, Aiden. If you don’t want your basketball career down the drain, then you’ll do as I say.”
“You’re bluffing.”
He shrugs. “Maybe. Maybe not. Do you really want to risk being wrong?” When I don’t reply, he grins like he’s already won. “She’s going to get what’s coming to her, and you’re going to do it.”
“No.”
He narrows his eyes at me, letting out a scoff. “Don’t tell me you actually love her.” My jaw is so tight it hurts. “Holy shit,” he laughs. “I guess you should thank me.”
I shake his words out of my head. Of course, I fucking love her, but he had nothing to do with it. He wanted her number. That’s it. I wanted her. All of her. Her eye rolls and jokes, the way she could see through me and put me in my place. Her scowls and laughs, her smiles, her lips. She had my heart between those fingers of hers and this bastard had nothing to do with it.
“Well, that’s too fucking bad. You have one week,” he says. “End it or the pictures go out.”
His words ring in my mind. I can’t let her go. How am I going to let the best thing that has ever happened to me out of my grasp? “Why not just post it? If you wanted me off the team so bad just post the pictures and stop wasting my goddamn time.”
He nods, licking the blood off his lips. “The thing is, Aiden. You’re good. I don’t want you off the team. I just want the captain position. I thought for sure making you throw the game would work,” he says, his jaw ticking. “But if you don’t give me what I want, I will expose you. And then,” he whistles, “You’re done. No one is going to want a loser like you on their team.”
He’s right. I know he is. My life as Captain of Redfield’s basketball team would be over. No one would look up to me or respect me. It would be like high school all over again, joking and laughing, treating me like I’m a nobody. And there’s no way in hell I would get drafted, no fucking chance they’d want someone with my background representing them.
I loosen my fists. I fucking lose. Either way, I lose.
“One week,” he reminds me as I walk out of the door. “End it or I will.”
