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Aura

T he after-game party was in full-swing when Tye came to a stop at the curb in front of the frat house he stayed in. I stayed here with him more than I actually stayed in my dorm, but I usually avoided this place when there was a party. Everyone got so rowdy, and I was a fan of sleeping.

I had no idea how Tye, who was definitely not a people-person, put up with parties every single weekend of the football season. I offered to sneak him into my dorm room since I roomed by myself thanks to his parents paying more for me to basically have a dorm room that was like a studio apartment, but he always declined, saying he didn’t want to be on the same floor with a bunch of other women.

And honestly, I couldn’t blame him. On weekends, they could be just as obnoxious as these guys and the parties they threw. But at least the walls were thicker, and he didn’t have to leave his room to use the bathroom or grab food and something to drink.

“Do we have to be here?” I asked as I slid off the bike.

“Yes.” He swung his leg over his bike to dismount and turned to face me, reaching up to unclasp the strap beneath my chin. After sliding the helmet off my head, he set it on his seat. “I’m not a fan of your building, and if Tyler wants to come looking for you, that’s the first place he’ll go.”

Despite being an emotional wreck over being cheated on again , my lips twitched in amusement. “His name is Timothy.”

Tye grabbed my hand in his and led me toward the frat house. The ground was shaking beneath my feet from the loud bass, and the closer we got to the house, the more my teeth vibrated from the sheer volume of the music. I grimaced. Tye squeezed my hand before leading me inside.

“Go on to my room!” he shouted over the music. “I’ll get us something to drink and be up in a minute.”

I nodded and reluctantly dropped his hand, beginning to weave through the crowd to get to the stairs. Random guys from the football team shouted my name in greeting as I pushed my way through, and I raised my hand in greeting each time, not interested in losing my vocal chords just to shout back at them in greeting over the music.

Once I made it up the stairs and into Tye’s room, I quickly shut the door behind me, breathing a sigh of relief when the music was at least muffled a little bit. Knowing Tye would be a minute because no doubt, girls were going to try to throw themselves at him and his teammates were going to try to rope him into partying, I stripped out of my clothes and snagged one of Tye’s shirts from his closet, sliding it over my head.

When I crawled onto his bed and burrowed beneath his blankets, I buried my face in his pillow, inhaling the scent of him: pine and citrus. He always reminded me of Christmas and summertime all at once. His smell was addictive and my favorite scent in the entire world.

The door creaked open, and the music grew louder before Tye stepped in fully and quickly shut the door behind him. When I lifted my head, he was toeing his shoes off, a beer and a mixed drink in his hands. When he lifted his head, a small, crooked smile tilted his lips, and my heart flipped in my chest.

Why did Tye have to be my best friend? Why did the one man I wanted more than anything in the world have to be the one man who would never see me as anything other than his friend?

It fucking sucked .

“You good?” he asked, setting the drinks on the nightstand.

“Mostly,” I murmured, trying not to stare at him as he unbuttoned his jeans and shoved them down his legs, leaving him in his t-shirt, leather jacket, and gym shorts. The leather jacket went next, and then his t-shirt was peeled over his head, revealing his strong biceps, broad chest and shoulders, and lean torso.

It was no wonder girls threw themselves at him every chance they got. Yet—as far as I knew—Tye didn’t give them the time of day. He didn’t date, and he didn’t fuck around with anyone either. He focused on school, football, and well, me. He always seemed to make time for me, no matter how busy and crammed his schedule was.

“Scoot over,” he ordered as he pulled the blankets back enough to slide onto the mattress next to me. As soon as he was laying down, he tugged me into his arms and his legs tangled with mine. “Better?” he asked, his fingers already beginning to idly play in my hair.

I nodded. “It was better the moment you came for me,” I confessed. A heavy sigh escaped my lips. “I’m not upset that he cheated on me specifically. The spark between us was never truly there. I’m just upset that I got cheated on at all . I’m so tired of being treated like garbage. I’m not a bad girlfriend, and it’s not like I’m a prude either.”

Tye sighed and pressed his lips to the top of my head. “You just keep looking for guys in the wrong places, baby.”

Baby . He’d been calling me that name for years , but it never failed to make my heart swoop in my chest and send warmth through my veins. I loved that he called me baby, and because of how much I adored it, I never let another guy call me that.

That was Tye’s name for me only .

“Where the fuck else am I supposed to look, Tye?” I asked, my tone both exasperated and tired. “It’s not like I’m purposely looking for douchebags.”

“Look here ,” he said.

I’m sorry—what?

“What?” I blurted, snapping my head back to look up at him.

His blue eyes met mine, and the intensity of them took my breath away. I curled my hands into fists between us so he wouldn’t feel them trembling against his chest. “I said to look here, baby. Right fucking here. I’ve been here this entire goddamn time.”

My lips parted. I wanted to say something, but he’d rendered me speechless. I didn’t know what the fuck to say. Was he insinuating that he actually saw me as more than just his best friend? As more than just the broken girl that needed a place to belong because her parents were emotionally and mentally abusive?

“I don’t understand,” I finally croaked. Because I really didn’t. I didn’t want to accidentally read too much into what he was saying and fuck this all up. I couldn’t afford to misinterpret his words and destroy our friendship by blurting my own feelings for him.

I couldn’t . Because losing him would fucking obliterate me.

Tye was the only person in this world who had the power to fucking kill me without actually taking my life.

Tye sighed and rolled onto his back, his arm still beneath my head as he stared up at the ceiling. “This might ruin everything between us, and before this incident with Turner,” I snorted a laugh at him getting Timothy’s name wrong again, “I swore I wouldn’t ever voice my feelings aloud to you. But I can’t stand to see you date yet another fucking douchebag. I don’t want to see you crying over another fucking asshole. So… Fuck . I’m in love with you, Aura. I’ve been in love with you since we were fucking kids . There’s been no one before you, and as far as I’m concerned, I’ll never be with anyone but you.”

I pushed up onto my elbow so I could peer down at him. My hair fell around my shoulders, tickling his bare chest. “Tye…”

He blew out a harsh breath and closed his eyes, hiding from me. Something he never did. “Look, if you’re going to break my heart, be gentle about it, yeah?”

I shook my head. “Tye, open your eyes and look at me,” I commanded. He followed my order without hesitation. I pressed my hand over his rapidly beating heart. “I love you,” I confessed, my voice barely above a whisper. “I’ve been in love with you for probably just as long, but I thought you didn’t return those feelings. I thought you only saw me as a friend. Maybe even someone you pitied.”

“Pity?” He scoffed. “Baby, you might have shit parents, but I don’t pity you. I can’t pity you when I literally watched you throw your dad’s coffee in his face and told him to go fuck himself and then watched you tell your mom you hoped she choked on her next burned meal.”

My lips quirked in amusement. “That was a pretty dramatic day, wasn’t it?”

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me down so I was sprawled half on top of him. “Dramatic?” He rolled his eyes. “They deserved a hell of a lot worse.” Reaching up, he tucked my hair behind my ear, then cupped my cheek. “Does this mean you’ll be mine?” I hated how unsure he sounded. Tye was always confident, sometimes cocky, and he wasn’t really in touch with his emotions.

It was nice to know that he felt this for me.

“Yeah,” I whispered. “I’m yours.” A small smile tilted my lips. “And you’re mine.”

A low growl rumbled from his chest that had my lower belly clenching. “Damn fucking right I am.” And then, his hand was lacing in my hair and he was pulling my mouth down to his for the hottest kiss I’d ever had in my life.