Page 23

CHAPTER 23

ARIELLA

M y shoulders sagged, each step up the stairwell requiring more effort than the last. The events of the day clung to me like a lead weight, my eyelids fighting to stay open. I followed Zaiden up the stairwell, stopping at my room.

"You should go to bed," Zaiden's words came out more as a command than a suggestion. "I'll be gone in a minute."

"You're leaving?" My gaze shifted around the dark house. I didn't want to be alone, not after everything today.

"I'm staying in the team house tonight." He sidestepped me, his shoulder brushing against mine. The brief contact sent a jolt through my body, a reminder of the electric tension between us. The heat radiated from him as he passed, heading to his room.

"Please don't leave," I pleaded, following behind him. My hands trembled slightly as I reached out, the memory of today's terrors still etched in the lines of my face.

His body went rigid, one foot suspended mid-step. Slowly, he pivoted toward me. His forehead creased, eyebrows knitting together. "Are you asking me to stay here with you?"

I shrugged as I slowly nodded. "The house is empty and dark?—"

"Ariella," he snapped, cutting me off. "Nothing has changed. I was stuck with you today, and now I can't wait to get away from you." His words cut through the air like shards of ice, each syllable dripping with venom. The muscles in his jaw tightened, his eyes narrowing to slits. He turned back and stormed through the doorway into his room.

"That's a lie," I said, grabbing a handful of his shirt and jerking hard to stop him. "You kissed me the same way you kissed me?—"

He huffed out a humorless laugh as he snapped his body around, pulling his shirt from my hand. His hand shot out, fingers grazing my collarbone before curling around my throat. Time seemed to slow as he closed the distance between us, his eyes never leaving mine. The wall hit my back with a dull thud, driving the air from my lungs.

His grip tightened, not enough to choke, but a clear threat. I could feel my pulse hammering against his palm, a frantic counterpoint to the eerie calm in his eyes. "That kiss," he growled, his breath hot against my cheek, "was to save my life, my teammate's lives." He pressed closer, our noses almost touching. His scent, a mix of sweat and adrenaline, enveloped me, making it hard to think and breathe. "No more, no less. You mean nothing to me, Ariella."

I shook my head, and his grip tightened on my throat. "You don't kiss someone you hate like that," I choked out. "And you protected me from Coach Palmer."

"That wasn't protection for you," he muttered. "That was protection for me. You are mine," he whispered, the words sliding like ice down my spine. His grip on my throat loosened, but his other hand came up to cage me against the wall. "And no one," he continued, his voice dropping even lower, "will touch you until I'm done destroying you." The last word hung between us, heavy with promise and threat. I didn't know if I wanted to run from him or stay, the line between fear and something else blurring dangerously, and I knew I'd officially lost my mind.

My lip curled into a snarl. "You're really going to pretend like you feel nothing for me."

"I stopped feeling anything for you when you killed my sister."

My chest tightened with anger. "Tell me," I said, my voice low and dangerous. My hands clenched at my sides. "Tell me what I did, Zaiden." His chest rose and fell rapidly, matching my own ragged breathing. "What," I hissed, shoving hard at his chest, "did I do to Kacie?"

"Why don't you tell me?" He scowled. "You are the reason she left that night."

I blinked rapidly, my brows furrowing as I sifted through the hazy recollections of that night. "What?" I shook my head. "Zaiden, that's not true."

"It is true." He released me, taking a step back.

"I didn't even see Kacie that night."

"Stop lying," His voice erupted like a volcano, its force making me flinch. Veins stood out on his neck, his face flushing a deep crimson as he leaned in, eyes blazing with a mix of fury and desperate denial.

"Who told you that, because I never saw her that night?" I squared my shoulders, not backing down. He was wrong, and I needed him to know it. "I didn't know she'd ever shown up to the party until after the accident."

"What did you argue about, Ariella?" He ignored me. "Did you tell her about us?" My eyes widened. "I told you it wasn't the right time?—"

"I didn't tell her anything because there was no us, Zaiden," I growled, shoving my finger into his chest. "I told you there wouldn't be an us until you told her, but I didn't tell her anything because I didn't see her that night." I thought back to that night. I had only been at the party an hour before we found out about the accident. "I was with Journey, Sterling, and you all night."

He shook his head. "You're lying."

"Who told you she left because of me?"

"Samantha Morrison," he said. "She saw Kacie leaving that night. She asked her what was wrong because Kacie was so upset. Kacie said it was you."

"Is that all she said?"

"That's all she had to say. My sister left that party drunk that night," his voice cracked. "And got behind the wheel because of whatever you said or did to her."

"Kacie was my best friend?—"

He surged forward, using his body to slam me back into the wall. "You never deserved her friendship."

This wasn't getting us anywhere. I needed Zaiden to remember that night, to remember how he felt for me and how close Kacie and I were. "That night at the party," I whispered. What did you say to me?"

"When?"

"When you pulled me off to the side, and you kissed me so hard I couldn't breathe."

"You pushed me off of you."

"Because I didn't want to be your dirty little secret."

"You weren't."

"I was as long as you kept us and our feelings a secret. I agreed to let you tell her because you asked to be the one, but the last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt Kacie, and you know it. It's why I pushed you off of me."

Our eyes locked, the air between us crackling with unspoken words and suppressed emotions. For a fleeting moment, the mask of hatred slipped, revealing a glimpse of the pain and confusion swirling in the depths of his gaze. "Tell me what you told me."

"I was drunk."

"That didn't make it any less true."

"Maybe not, but I don't feel that way anymore. I lost those feelings when I lost my sister."

The realization settled over me like a suffocating blanket. He was never going to believe me. No matter what I did, he was never going to believe that I had nothing to do with his sister's death. I was stupid to think the trauma of today changed anything.

"Let me go," I ordered, my voice eerily calm despite the storm raging inside me. I placed my hands flat against his chest, feeling the rapid beat of his heart; I shoved him until he stepped back. "I'm going to bed."

I shifted my weight to step around him, but he stepped in front of me. His large frame blocked my way, and he swung his foot behind him, shoving his bedroom door shut, covering us in darkness. "Zaiden." I reached out for him.

His voice dropped to a whisper, each word dripping with menace. "You want to go to bed?" The question slithered through the darkness, and a beat of silence followed, heavy with anticipation. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, feeling the weight of his gaze even in the pitch black. "Then get in the bed." The words hung between us, a challenge, a threat, and something else I didn't dare name.

My eyes strained against the inky blackness, searching for any hint of movement, any sign of where he was. The silence pressed in, broken only by our ragged breathing. I took a hesitant step forward, then another, my hands outstretched.

The darkness seemed alive, pulsing with unspoken tensions and buried emotions. Each second stretched into an eternity as I waited for his touch, his voice, anything to break this unbearable suspense. "Zaiden—Turn on the light."

I instantly regretted following him, for thinking something had changed between us because he was about to make me wish I'd locked myself in my room.