Page 12

Chapter 12

Aiden

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“What?” From his ‘throne’ on the patio overlooking the party in full swing below, Cameron stares in confusion at me.

“You invited her. What the fuck were you thinking?”

Cameron’s expression settles as awareness takes over. “Jeez. You’d think I invited the bride of Satan or something.”

“Close enough,” I mutter, scowling down at the figure taking a selfie on a couch by the poolside.

My best friend laughs. “Oh, come on. Casey’s not that bad.”

“Is she your ex or mine?” I throw that scowl at him. He stares back at me, unaffected.

“It’s a big party.” He spreads his arms. “You don’t have to run into her.”

“You shouldn’t have invited her, dude. Point blank,” I snap, turning away from the view. Besides, there’s no ‘not running’ into Casey. She knows I’m here and it’s only a matter of time until she finds me.

Thanks to my meddling mother, she’s going to want to find me.

Cameron is peering at me closely, his eyes almost like slits. “It’s been a year since you broke up but if I didn’t know better, I’d assume you still have a thing for Casey,” he drawls, throwing his leg over his knee.

I shake my head. “Not even remotely, man. But my mom wants us back together.”

His brows lift. “You sure? I remember how pissed she was when Casey cheated on you.”

Because it reminded Mom of what she was going through. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“Why?” he presses.

I shrug. “Beats me.” Cameron doesn’t know about my dad’s constant infidelity and I want to keep it that way.

From Cameron’s scrutinizing stare, I’m not sure he buys my response. He says nothing, just rises from the chair. “I’m going to mingle.”

At my responding nod, he goes off and I wave to the bartender for a drink. It’s my first of many, I’m sure. Ever since Mom revealed that she ‘misspoke’ and told Casey I want her back, I’ve known my ex is just waiting for me to make a move.

Which I won’t do, but knowing Casey, she won’t wait for long. She’s going to make her own move. Turning her down would be easy if I didn’t have Mom’s pleading eyes boring into my mind. She wants to save her marriage by any means necessary, even by pimping out her only child. It’s hard to understand why I pity her on one hand, but the other one is pissed as hell.

I’m not going to be with Casey. What I’m going to do is rescue my mom from this mess. A scout from the New Jersey Cougars will be attending our next game coming up in a couple weeks. It’s not the New York Sabers , but maybe I need to stop putting my eggs in one basket, just focus on making it to the big league.

With my drink in hand, I walk back to the rail, looking down at the party below. From what Cameron told me a few days ago, this should’ve been a Wolves-only affair, but word got out. His parents’ sprawling estate is already packed and there are still people arriving. I’d go crazy if this happened to me. As popular as I am around Hempton, I’ve never hosted a party at my place.

My ex is currently in her element, being the center of attention on the dance floor. Many eyes are trained in her direction as she rocks her body sensually to the beat, her hands thrown in the air, her loose, dark hair bouncing as she moves. Casey is a good dancer; I’ll give her that. It used to turn me on. Now, as she looks up and beckons to me with her finger, I feel nothing at all.

Someone taps my shoulder and I glance behind me to see Damon Samuels, a point guard from the basketball team. We bump fists and he asks for Cameron, to which I shrug. My best friend is nowhere in sight.

As he leaves, I turn back to the party down below and my jaw goes slack.

What. The. Fuck.

The tumbler falls from my hand, the shattering competing not only with the music, but my heartbeat pounding in my ears. What the fuck is Scarlett doing here, dressed like that ?

That dress… Jesus Christ . My heartbeat quickens as my eyes roam from head to toe. The outfit hugs her body like a second skin, accentuating hips that definitely look curvier than in those loose jeans she usually wears. She’s even got more ass than I thought… holy shit . That pair of wedge heels make her strut sexy as fuck. Her thick hair hangs in loose curls around her shoulders and down her back, and I’m struck with the sudden urge to grab a handful and suck that red lipstick off her lips. She’s wearing makeup . I’ve never seen Scarlett in anything remotely looking like makeup, not even lip gloss.

Still gaping, I take her in as she tentatively walks along the poolside, her head moving from side to side. She’s looking for someone. Why do I suddenly want that someone to be me?

I swallow, lifting my hand to put the tumbler to my lips, then remember I dropped it. I definitely need another drink.

Who the fuck invited her here?

Heads turn as she walks by, some staring with admiration and for the ones who know her, blatant shock. I’m still feeling remnants of that shock as I approach the private bar. The bartender pours me another round of scotch and by the time I get back to the rail, she has disappeared.

So has Casey.

I almost break into a run, then stop myself. Nobody knows. Not my best friend and definitely not my ex. It’s mere coincidence that they’ve disappeared from sight at the same time, not the possibility that Casey is up to no good.

Yet, something gnaws at my insides. Who invited Scarlett? Why the hell would she come here?

“Hey there, lover boy,” her voice suddenly drawls behind me.

A deep inhale, then I turn to meet my ex. “That must’ve been hell, waiting for a good, long twenty minutes,” I greet.

“Well, if Mohammed won’t come to the mountain…” She closes the distance between us, beautiful as usual in a red outfit that makes her dark hair pop, but all that’s on my mind is Scarlett in that dress.

My ex is staring up seductively at me, but all I can think of is ripping that dress off Scarlett’s body.

I want to run my hands over those curvy hips. Kiss that delectable-looking ass. Bury my cock—

“Why does it feel like I’m talking to myself?” Casey complains as my gaze refocuses on her.

“Because you are. I don’t understand what you’re doing up here. Players only, or didn’t you read the sign?”

“Players and their girlfriends,” she adds.

“You’re not my girlfriend,” I throw back. “I thought we established that a year ago.”

She cocks her head at me. “Why are you playing hard to get? Your mom told me how much you wanted us to start over. She said you were debating about approaching me, because you weren’t sure if I was seeing anyone. Well, I’m not.” She spreads her arms. “I’m here, ready to pick up from where we left off, Aiden.”

I should throw my mom under the bus for meddling, but I won’t do that. She’s already going through enough. Making a mental note to talk to her about this, I reply, “Enjoy the party, Casey. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Seriously?”

I turn back to the rail, scanning the packed crowd, looking for thick blonde hair and a body that won’t quit. Casey comes beside me, nudging my arm to get my attention. “Can’t we talk now?”

“No.”

A flash of blonde hair snags my attention near the poolside bar at the far end. My entire body goes on edge when I see Noah standing in front of her. I can’t see his face, but his stance tells me everything I need to know. Noah likes what he sees. What Noah likes; he pursues. What Noah pursues gets damaged when he’s done with it.

Or her.

“Can you look at me for one second?” Casey exclaims as I grip the rail, fury and jealousy fighting for dominance inside me. My eyes are still trained over there. Noah hands her a cocktail glass, then sweeps a lock of hair over her shoulder. Scarlett timidly takes a drink, then he tilts the bottom of the glass and makes her down the entire thing.

“What are you looking at—?”

Casey’s words fade as I rush off, taking the steps two at a time and dashing downstairs, only to find the crowd is even thicker than I thought. It takes some time for me to push through and as I approach the area where I last saw them, I notice Noah standing alone, nursing a drink.

“Where the fuck is she?” I demand, coming up to him.

He stares at me innocently. “Who?”

“Scarlett, you dumbass. I saw you with her a few minutes ago. Did you invite her here?”

Noah is still giving me a deadpan stare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, dude.”

On my right where a couple of the guys are, Michael sniggers. Noah slides him a dark stare that sends off an alarm in my head. I close the gap between us, glaring down at him. “What are you up to? Where’s Scarlett?”

“Man, I seriously don’t know what you’re talking about. Why would Scarlett be here, of all places? She knows we can’t stand her.”

“So, you’re saying my eyes were fooling me from the balcony upstairs, right?”

He shrugs. “Maybe you’ve had too much to drink—”

His words stop short as I grab the collar of his shirt. “Don’t fuck with me, Noah. Where is she?”

Noah glares back, his mouth in a thin, firm line.

“ Where. The fuck. Is she ?”

“You don’t want to do this, man. Assaulting your teammate over that traitorous bitch is not a good look. Scarlett is enemy number one among the Wolves. Captain or not, you could be number two.”

“I’m not going to ask you again,” I growl.

He stares back, unblinking.

“Jesus Christ, Noah,” Odean exclaims, rolling his eyes. “I told you not to overstep. Aiden, she’s upstairs. Don’t ask me where. Don’t ask me who took her up there, either.”

I give Noah a push before letting him go. “For your sake, I hope she’s in one piece, you dick.”

“Choose your battles wisely, Aiden!” he calls after me.

Ignoring him, I push through the crowd and make my way back upstairs, this time crossing the bridge that leads to the main part of the house. The lounging quarters are on the right, bedrooms on the left. I make a calculated guess and take the left turn.

Cameron steps out of the first bedroom as I approach it, his puzzled eyes sweeping over my face. “Why are you so red?” he asks.

“Scarlett,” I pant. “Have you seen her?”

“Who?”

“Scarlett Pierce, dude!” I reply urgently, already moving past him.

“Wait a minute. What would Scarlett be doing at my party?”

I turn and move backward. His expression looks even more puzzled now. “You didn’t invite her?” I ask.

“Hell no! Even after your speech the other day, I don’t trust you guys enough to do something like that.”

“Well, someone did,” I reply, banging on the second bedroom door. I’d bet my entire trust fund that it’s Noah.

Cameron joins me as I turn the knob when no one answers, and I see a girl riding a guy from the football team in the bed. I slam the door against the sounds of the headboard banging against the wall and her ear-shattering scream.

“What’s going on, Aiden?” Cameron asks.

“I hope to hell I’m wrong, but I think they drugged Scarlett. She’s up here somewhere,” I explain, moving to the next door.

“Who’s ‘they’?” he presses, following me.

“Noah and his little gang.”

“Jesus Christ.”

I push the other door, but it’s empty inside. With a curse, I back out again. “He’s going to deny inviting her, but someone must’ve. My money is on him.”

“Goddamn it. I should’ve known that his little submissive act was just that. Noah’s got a hard-on for Scarlett that I don’t understand,” Cameron mutters.

I don’t want to hear ‘hard-on,’ ‘Noah’ and ‘Scarlett’ in the same sentence. Kicking the fourth door open with more force than necessary, I burst right in.

She’s sprawled out on the bed, her head titled at a weird angle, clearly unconscious, not only from the fact that her eyes are tightly shut, and no sounds are coming from her mouth, but how still she is while that dude’s hand is all the way up her dress.

I see red, then black. With a furious growl, I grip a handful of his hair. He makes a weird sound in his throat as I yank him off her, throwing him against the mirror on the wall. It shatters against his weight and he slumps to the floor with the shattered remains. Cameron grabs me as I rush at him.

“Don’t—”

Still seeing black, I shake him off, grabbing the guy from the floor, slamming him into the wall. He smirks at me. Wrong move. That smug look disappears when I raise my fist, slamming it into his face. I hear a crunch that tells me something is fractured. Not good enough for me. I draw back, then pound him. He groans while punching my sides which feels like getting hit by a five year old. Again, I punch his face. Again. Again, until my fist is a bloody mess. Cameron sighs dramatically when I drop his limp form to the ground.

“I know better than to stop you, but you’re cleaning up this mess, not me,” he says sternly. “I’m going to ensure Scarlett gets home—”

“No, I’ll do it,” I interrupt gruffly.

Cameron’s head draws back. “You’re not exactly her best friend, Aiden. She just had a scary encounter. She should at least see a friendly face when she regains consciousness.”

He has a point, but I’m not trying to hear the truth right now. This is all my fault. Scarlett wouldn’t have been a target if I hadn’t made her one. I want to fix my own mess, however I can. “I’m going to do it.”

From my tone, Cameron backs down with a raised hand. “Fine.”

Bracing with both arms, I lean over the bed, peering down at Scarlett. She looks so peaceful, so vulnerable, all traces of that sassiness gone. Without thinking about it, I brush her hair aside, then run my fingers through the strands. It feels even silkier than when I last touched it—

“Dude, you should see your face right now,” Cameron says, and I jerk back, meeting his baffled expression. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“About what?” I ask calmly, although my heart is racing like I just ran a marathon.

“Do you have a thing for Scarlett?”

“What? No. Why the fuck would you ask me that?”

He gives me a long, scrutinizing stare and I remind myself this guy has known me since I was six years old. There’s no hiding the truth from Cameron when he wants to find it, but he’s going to have to dig like hell for this one.

“I don’t have a thing for Scarlett,” I assure him.

After a beat, he nods. “We both know that wouldn’t go over well with the team, right? Especially Noah. Not only would he hate your guts for selling out the team, he could incite his little gang to make her life a living hell, simply out of spite. You might be the captain, but Noah was always on the verge of going rogue.”

“I know that.” It’s not a secret Noah wanted to be captain, but there’s only one person skilled enough to lead this team.

“Glad we’re on the same page,” Cameron says with a faint smile. He gestures to Scarlett. “You might want a jockstrap and a shin guard for when she wakes. Maybe a helmet, too. She’s not going to be happy.”

The door closes behind him. Since I’ve already had four drinks tonight, I take my phone out and order an Uber, getting an estimated arrival time of five minutes. She moans softly when I lift her, and a light fluttering of her eyelashes warns that she’s slowly regaining consciousness. To my surprise, she doesn’t stir during the ten-minute ride to her home.

Give thanks for small mercies.

I tell the driver to wait, then scoop her up again, taking the short walk to her front door, the wooden steps creaking under my feet. I knock on the door with my shoe, and it opens a few seconds later, revealing a man resembling a bear.

He takes one look at Scarlett, then snatches her from my arms so fast that her head bumps against the door frame. She groans, curling into him, her eyes barely opening.

“What the hell you done to my daughter?” he thunders, holding her tightly as a woman who looks like Scarlett appears over his shoulder.

She gasps, looking down. “What happened to her?”

The question is directed at me in a quivering tone that enflames my guilt. “Someone tried to assault her at a party,” I begin as her father moves inside, giving me a clear view of their tiny living room. “I found her just in time.”

“She’s unconscious. What did that ‘someone’ do to her?” she presses firmly.

From her tone, it’s obvious she thinks I’m involved. She confirms it by saying, “Yes. I know who you are, Aiden Hunter. Scarlett told me all about how you blamed her for that incident earlier this year.”

I’m guessing Scarlett said nothing about the recent pranks or this five-foot woman would’ve already tried to take me down, if her hot glare has anything to do with it. “It was an ignorant misunderstanding—”

“Misunderstanding, my ass. You wanted to blame someone for your little juvenile behavior, so you found the weakest target. Who’s going to defend the scholarship girl from the trailer park against the great Aiden Hunter?” She leans in with a snarl. “Little do you know; my baby girl is more resilient than you could ever be.”

That much I know, and in truth, it’s a trait I admire like hell in her. “Mrs. Pierce, I’m truly sorry—”

“Take that sorry and stick it where the sun don’t shine, boy,” the bear suddenly growls from behind his wife. “And don’t ever set foot on this property again.”

At his threatening tone, I raise my hand with a nod, then back off. They’re still standing at the door as the Uber drives away.

Not in the mood to head back to the party, I direct the driver to my home, where I see my dad heading out, dressed in a pair of jeans that are definitely inappropriate for someone his age. I barely return his greeting before walking inside, only to see Mom curled up on the couch and nursing a drink, mascara smearing her tear-stained cheeks. Without a word, I sit beside her, take the glass from her hand, then rest her head on my lap. Her body jerks as she sobs silently, and I brush her hair to soothe her, which eventually soothes me, too. This has been a shit-show of a day.

Finally, Mom settles down, wipes her face, then sits back up.

“We’re going to get through this,” I assure her. “A few more months—a year, tops—and I’ll get you out of here.”

Mom shakes her head. “I have money, Aiden. Don’t you think I wouldn’t have already left if I wanted to? No. Your father and I have endured too much for me to walk away.”

“But—”

“I’m doing the right thing, so don’t try to change my mind,” she says defiantly. “Just do as I ask; that’s all I want from you.”

“Mom, I need to understand this; even if I start dating Casey again, there’s no guarantee her father will act in Dad’s favor, especially when Casey and I were together for a year and Dad had never exchanged a word with him.”

“Because you and Casey were only casually dating. Now that you’re almost done with college, you will consider something more serious.”

My brows lift at her.

“Like marriage,” she clarifies.

I shoot up from the couch. “How the hell did we go from dating to marriage?”

She stands. “What else would you be doing with a girl like Casey? Marry her, of course. When you propose, her father will see that you’re in it for the long haul. He won’t think twice to open doors for your dad.”

“You can’t be serious,” I mutter.

“I don’t understand why you’re upset. You were head over heels for this girl. You even mentioned wanting to marry her someday—”

“ Before she cheated on me,” I snap.

“A slight indiscretion you can forgive,” she replies casually.

“Yeah, I didn’t expect a different response coming from you. I’m not like you, willing to put up with anything. I’ve got standards, Mom.”

Her entire face goes red, eyes blinking wildly. The tears are coming.

I heave a deep sigh. “Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t date Casey again. I definitely can’t marry her, especially when there’s no guarantee it will fix your broken marriage.”

With that, I walk away, heading toward the stairs.

“Your birthday is in six months,” she says.

“Yeah, so?”

“Which means the lump sum of your trust fund will be paid out on that day.”

Money that I’ve been banking on to cushion me, just in case things don’t go according to plan. At the foot of the stairs, I turn as she approaches me. “Why are you telling me something I already know?”

“Because it will be easy for me to convince your dad to call the lawyers and change certain stipulations. The payout date, for instance. I could have it extended until you’re thirty years old.”

My heart drops like lead in the pit of my stomach. “You’re willing to sabotage the only person who has your back. Wow.”

“Don’t you dare make me out to be the villain,” she says, fresh tears forming in her eyes. “I’m doing what’s best for my family.”

“No, you’re only thinking of yourself.” I scoff. “You and Dad deserve each other.”

Her head jerks back like I just slapped her. She smiles anyway. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

She’s clearly delusional. Shaking my head, I resume climbing the stairs.

“Just do as I say, Aiden!” she calls after me. “Get back with Casey and you’ll get your money. It’s that simple.”

Ignoring her, I continue upward to my side of the house, where I collapse on the bed with a deep sigh. There’s so much to offload, I don’t know where to start. Not only does it feel like I’m losing control of the team, I can’t help suspecting they’re out to get me. If Scarlett had gotten violated tonight, that blame would rest on my shoulders. Someone—Noah, to be specific, was counting on that.

Add that to my mom’s obvious attempt to blackmail me, something I never saw coming. Her desperation makes her dangerous. Not only will I be watching my back at school, I’m now forced to be on guard while I’m home, too.

Or maybe you can give her what she wants.

Groaning, I push up to sit and reach for my phone. It’s definitely the easier choice. My ex’s number pops up on the screen and my thumb hovers on the call button.

Think about this, Aiden. Once she answers, there’s no going back.

With a conceding sigh, I press the button.