Chapter Seventeen
Brynn
My brain registers danger and my body knows how to respond to it—by throwing my hot coffee in his face and running—but for some inexplicable reason, I’m frozen and I can’t move at all.
Aiden steps up on the bench of the picnic table, then turns and takes a seat on the tabletop so he can look down at me while also keeping an eye on the foot traffic coming up behind me.
“Miss me?”
“No.”
He cocks a dark eyebrow as if in surprise. “Really? You paged me three times. I thought for sure that meant you missed me.”
My stomach bottoms out when he takes a phone out of his pocket and I recognize my case. Gasping, I grab it right out of his hands. “My phone.”
“Mm-hmm. I charged it for you, too.”
I stop short of hugging the thing, but just barely. Instead, I look back at Aiden. He’s slippery and can’t be trusted; I need to keep my eye on him.
“Am I supposed to thank you?” I ask with acerbic sweetness.
He smiles, and I see the memory of that night dancing in his dark eyes. “Sure. I can think of a few ways I’d let you thank me, but I think your Blue Blood boyfriend might take issue with all of them.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I state, since Killian’s advice about this was basically to play dumb. “I don’t know any Blue Bloods.”
“Oh, sure you do. I’ve clocked you hanging out with at least two of them. Actually, I’m guessing three and Shane’s one too, since he beat Hex to your apartment last night.”
Only his friends call him Hex is right on the tip of my tongue, but it’s not worth taunting Aiden to express any kind of familiarity.
“That’s insulting, isn’t it? Why Shane? He doesn’t seem to fit the mold.” He shakes his head, but doesn’t linger on it too long. “Anyway, I’ve got your purse back in my room and your car hidden away, and while I’m sure Killian will immediately hatch a plan to break in and retrieve the purse for you, no one’s going to find that car unless I lead them to it. I can save them a little trouble and the effort of breaking and entering, if you’d prefer it.”
“I’m listening,” I state coolly.
“I want a meeting with Hex.”
My eyebrows rise. “Why?”
“Don’t worry about why. Can you arrange that, or do I need Killian to do it?”
“Killian isn’t going to lift a finger to help you with anything,” I state.
“Why? Is he mad I can kiss his girl better than he can?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “You wish.”
“Come on. Don’t pretend you didn’t like it.”
“You had to manhandle me and tie me to a table in order to get your mouth on me. I assure you, Killian doesn’t have to work that hard.”
Aiden smirks. “I bet he doesn’t.”
“It doesn’t matter, anyway,” I tell him, my tone blasé. “Killian won’t let me drive the car now that the filthy hands of a Rho Kappa have had access to it. And the purse was cheap, you can keep it. All I needed back was my phone, and I have it.”
He scowls, and I flash him a bright smile before tucking the phone in my bag so he can’t grab it back.
“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, Aiden.”
I slide my burner phone into the back pocket of my jeans and slide my bag strap over my shoulder, then I stand and grab my coffee.
Aiden climbs down off the picnic table. I’m hoping he’ll get the message that this communication is over and fuck off since I don’t want to stray too far from the coffee cart, but instead he falls into step beside me.
“Sorry, little virgin. Our business hasn’t concluded.”
“What makes you think I’m still a virgin?” I ask, wanting to float the idea that I’m not just in case they are still trying to do that stupid ritual in the woods.
“Personally, I don’t care if you are or not. I’m not interested in Kyle’s mock society. I want to be in a real one.”
I stop short, looking over at him. “You want to be a Blue Blood?”
His eyes twinkle and he nods. “Yep. It was an oversight not to tap me. I’d like a chance to convince them.”
I shake my head, breaking his gaze and walking again, but with less urgency this time. “I can’t help you with that. I don’t know anything about the Blue Bloods. As far as I know, it’s just a campus urban legend.”
“Bullshit,” he says, falling back into step beside me. “I know Killian’s one of them.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I insist with a shrug I hope looks sincere.
For a split second, I think he’s giving up because he stops walking next to me.
But before I can feel too relieved or get too far away, he says, “Kyle hasn’t given up on you. He wants you even more now that he knows the Blue Bloods do, too.”
I stop walking. I hate having to turn back, but he knows he has my interest now, so he stays where he is. He sips the coffee I bought for Ryan and tucks his free hand into his pocket, waiting for me to come back.
Goddammit.
I sigh with annoyance, but I stalk right back over to him. “What are you talking about?”
“I haven’t shared everything I know, so Kyle doesn’t know you’ve shacked up with Killian—yet. But he does know Blue Bloods are swarming to keep you safe, and they’re not well-known for their chivalrous practices. He’s cooked up this idea that they’ve set their sights on you because he picked you. They wanted to defile his virgin before he could. He thinks you’re their equivalent of a club whore.” He pauses to consider. “Society sweetheart?”
I grimace. “Ew. Why?”
Aiden shakes his head. “I think he just enjoys thinking about pretty virgins being defiled, whoever is doing the defiling. I don’t know. The guy’s fucked up and not in an interesting way, but that’s not the point. The point is, he made another plan to come for you. I know what it is and when it’s supposed to happen. But right now, I have no motive to tell you. I can be incentivized if you get me a meeting with the leader.”
“And you think that’s Hex.”
I say it to fuck with him, and I know I’ve hit my mark when his smug expression slips. “Is it Silvan? I had it narrowed down to the two of them, but I wasn’t sure which one it was. Silvan makes the most sense to me because of who his father is, but I’m not sure he’d want the responsibility. Hex would.”
He’s certainly done his homework.
“Why do you want to be a Blue Blood so bad anyway?” I ask.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“My capacity for comprehension might surprise you,” I say lightly.
He looks at me like he’s not sure he wants to share, but I guess he decides to. “I come from kind of a fucked-up family situation. When I turned 18, I inherited all the money I’ll need to get where I’m going in life, but I’m on my own. And I’m doing fine, but… I won’t lie, I can feel there’s something missing.”
I swallow.
“And when you join the Blue Bloods, it’s like joining a family—but not a fucked-up one where you have to watch your back. Your brothers have your back, no matter what. At least, that’s my understanding. And I want to be part of that. Who wouldn’t?”
Damn. I expected his reasons to be more opportunistic and less relatable than that.
I sigh softly, then I say, “Well, if the Blue Bloods are real, I think blackmailing them into a meeting may not be the best way to get a seat at that particular table.”
He holds my gaze for a moment, then he says, “I’m a senior. I’ve spent three years waiting for them to tap me, Brynn, but I can’t wait any longer. You have to join in college. This is my last chance.”
Oh man.
Maybe it’s the soft-hearted sucker in me, but as much of an absolute asshole as he has been, that felt just vulnerable enough that I feel myself viewing him as a person instead of the murdery frat scum I’ve previously viewed him as.
“Why don’t you bring my purse back as a gesture of goodwill? Who knows? Maybe the hypothetical Blue Bloods will respond positively to their ‘Society Sweetheart’ getting her things back.”
He smirks faintly. “You think so?”
I shrug. “Couldn’t hurt.”