15. Aiden
They put me in a cell but Sebastian walked out scat free.
Gotta love this fucking town.
Since it wasn’t everyday that a fucking psycho shoot up a school around here, Ravenbridge PD was busy as ever, bustling with officers from our town but also from Lakestone. I half hoped to see Officer Brooks pass my cell, thinking maybe he might be able to get me out of here, but Southie bastards put me in the farthest cell they had. There was barely any traffic over here. The light fixture on top of my head was clearly broken, as was the heating. I was cold and starting to get hungry after having been there for hours. They didn’t even have the decency to give me a glass of water.
I closed my eyes and let my head fall back against the concrete wall behind me.
They took my phone and wouldn’t answer me no matter how much I called for them or paced around the small room. I ended up sitting on the hard, uncomfortable bench that was the cell’s only furniture and waited. The sun was setting outside and soon I’d be in the dark too.
Still, I didn’t regret a single thing. Defending Nova had been worth it.
Suddenly, the sound of keys jingling made me open my eyes and I watched as Sergeant McKenzie, another asshole, glared at me.
“Walker.” He opened the door, “It’s your lucky day, someone paid your bail. I better not catch you here again.”
Yeah, like I wanted to ever come ba— wait, what?
“Someone paid my bail?”
I suspected the reason they had me in custody was because Sebastian’s fucking parents demanded it —after all, how dare some Northie scum kick their son’s ass?— and my mom would never have had the money to get me out of there so soon.
“Aiden.”
Another voice made me look up into familiar brown eyes. I gulped.
Damon fucking Starling was staring straight at me and he looked even more intimidating alone.
“Mr. Starling,” McKenzie greeted half-heartedly before turning to me, “he won’t always be there to keep your ass out of trouble, boy. Behave yourself.” With that, he left us and went back to his desk.
My eyes found Nova’s dad again and with a nod of his head he motioned for me to follow him.
I did.
When he walked right out of the station and climbed into his car, I did the same, watching the gorgeous piece of metal with heart eyes. He’d come to the garage I worked at a few times to change his tires over the years and every time, I all but begged Francisco —the owner— to let me take care of it.
I was more into older cars but nobody could deny the beauty and power of a brand new Mercedes.
The inside was all brown leather, with all the fucking options, sparkling clean and smelling of expensive cologne.
“Here.” He gave me a sealed plastic bag I hadn’t realized he’d been holding, with all my belongings in it.
“Thank you.” I croaked, taking it from his hands, “For everything. I’ll repay you—“
“Nonsense.” He cut me off. “Take this as a thank you for defending my daughter.” He started the car and my heart was beating fast.
Fuck, why was I so nervous?
“I would do it anytime. Anything for her.” Just picturing her crying face earlier, streaked in tears, eyes shining with the awful things we’d seen—
“You can also take it as a bribe for you to stay away from her.”
Record fucking scratch.
My head whipped towards him but he kept his pointed straight on the road ahead of us. “Excuse me?” I asked, and his eyes finally found mine.
“I said, I want you to stay away from Nova.”
The way he said it was calm and peaceful but the effect his words had on me was anything but. I gritted my teeth and set my jaw, “Is it because I’m from the North? You think I don’t deserve her.”
“The reason why you don’t deserve her has nothing to do with where you live.”
I tightened my fist, anger coursing through my veins. I’d always known Nova was too good for me, it didn’t mean I liked being reminded of it.
“Nova is… she’s special. There are things you don’t know about her. You two are not compatible and it’s better to nip it in the bud.”
“We’re just friends.” I tried to defend lamely and he chuckled humorlessly.
“Right. You look at all your friends the way you look at my daughter, you might have a problem on your hands.”
“What the fuck is your problem?”
I was done being respectful. My mom would probably smack the lights out of me if she heard me speak like that to a man who just paid hundreds of dollars worth of bail for me, but I didn’t care. Not when he was telling me I couldn’t have the one person I’d spent the last three years dreaming of. My life was a fucking mess lately, everything going to shit.
“I already told you what the fuck was my problem.” He gritted, eyes finding mine again. “I don’t want you sniffing around my daughter. I appreciate you having her back today, but it stops now. I don’t want you around her.”
“Like you could stop me.” I spat.
I probably shouldn’t have said that because next thing I knew, the car veered off the road and stopped on the side. Damon had me pinned to my door, holding me by the collar of my shirt before I could even blink.
“Listen to me, you little shit, I will make your life goddamn hell if I see you around her again, you hear me? She’s made to accomplish great things and I’ll be damned if you held her down in this godforsaken town. I don’t like the way you look at her, like you’re seeing through her and want to devour her. I don’t like how reason leaves your body where she’s concerned, I don’t fucking trust you around her.” He spat and shook me a little, banging my back against the door. I stayed silent but internally was ready to send my fist flying against his jaw. The only thing stopping me from doing so was the fact that Nova probably wouldn’t like me hitting her dad.
“You let whatever the fuck it is that you feel for her consume you and it’ll end up breaking her heart. Don’t think I don’t know you, Aiden, I know you very fucking well. I’ve got more money than I could ever spend and power you can’t fucking imagine. I see you around Nova again and maybe I’ll make a call to that school your sister got accepted into, huh? Maybe she’ll suddenly lose her scholarship. Maybe your mom will lose her license to foster kids, or maybe your little friend Matt won’t be scouted into the NFL at the end of the year, who fucking knows? This is Ravenbridge, after all, crazier things have happened.” With that, he forcefully let me go and I bumped my head on the window behind me.
I was seething.
Partly because I knew he made great points— Nova was too bright to stay here and I did forget reason whenever she was near, as we clearly saw earlier. But also… how dare this fucking asshole threaten my family and friends?
I knew they weren’t idle threats too, I knew Damon Starling was a force to be reckoned with and wouldn’t hesitate to do as he said. But the mere idea of never speaking to Nova again made me livid.
I gulped sitting back while he gripped the wheel with both hands, tension evident in the way he let his head fall forward. Without looking at me, he asked “Are we clear?”
The hardest thing I ever did was mutter, “Crystal.”