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.”
Chapter Sixteen
For a week, I managed to avoid Aiden and Xander.
It might have to do with the weekend. I studied as much as I could, but whenever I was left to my thoughts, it was chaos.
I keep watching the steps of my house, expecting Aiden to show up unannounced like he did the other time.
He doesn’t corner me like he used to, but he’s spending more time with Kim. His ‘Morning, Reed’ has morphed into conversations, and I don’t know how to scream that he’s manipulating her without sounding crazy.
He knows all the buttons to push and all the things to say to sound proper, and loveable even.
Kim believes him just like Aunt and Uncle did.
No one knows him the way I do. No one saw the void behind his eyes or has heard his low threats.
If I scream bloody murder, I’ll just appear insane.
I wish Aiden and I could go back to the stage where glares had been our only language. When I battled with how long I could keep eye contact before forfeiting.
Who am I kidding?
We can never go back to that stage after what Aiden has done to me.
After he touched me.
Invaded me.
Tastedme.
I’ve been having fragmented dreams about his hands, his face, and his scent. God. His scent would never leave my memories.
And his lips.
I dream about them doing depraved things to me.
If my subconscious thinks about it, what does that make me?
As if Aiden’s drama isn’t enough, Xander has been hunting me after every class about ‘his offer’. I shot him down every time, refusing to even hear it.
Xander is Aiden’s best friend. If they think I’m naive enough to fall for their games, then they have another thing coming.
I blow a long breath as I trudge through the school’s hallway during lunch break. I don’t usually hide from the bullying in the main entrance, but today is just a wrong day.
It started with a nightmare about blood, black eyes, and drowning in murky water. The seven year-old version of me has been screaming ‘Da!’ over and over again.
Seeing myself in that nightmare has been surreal. I’ve forgotten about how I looked; a dirty, blonde monster ball.
Since I moved to London with Aunt and Uncle, I didn’t have one single memory of my life with my parents in Birmingham.
No photo albums.
No mind images.
No… nothing.
Everything was burnt with the house. The only reason I survived that day was because I wasn’t inside.
Nightmares are the only episodes that tie me to that dark past. I thought I was slowly escaping them, but today proved me wrong.
Maybe I should go back to Dr Khan. He was able to stop the nightmares a long time ago.
I’ll leave Dr Khan as a last resort to not worry Aunt and Uncle.
I retrieve my phone from my pocket to text Kim. Instead, I find the two texts Aiden sent at six in the freaking morning.
Aiden: I dreamt about pounding your tight pussy until you screamed my name. I’m kind of contemplating slipping into your room and fucking you like in the dream.
Aiden:Oh, and morning, sweetheart.
Damn the bastard. I’m starting to get used to his texts. Hell, I’m starting to look forward to them, wondering what kind of depravity he’ll send this time.
And I might’ve spent a few minutes watching from my room’s window, expecting him to barge inside like the devil.
What? I can’t put anything past Aiden King.
He didn’t show up.
Not only that, but in school, he pretends as if those texts never happened. When I passed him by this morning while he was listening to Ronan’s animated speech, he barely spared me a glance.
Why does he get to be all unaffected when I’m boiling from the inside out?