Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
Myles
When I killed someone, the adrenaline rush was the best kind of drug. My heart rate increased, pumping the blood through my body at a quicker pace. My endorphins were activated as they would be had I simply took a hit of something intense. Being around Aspen provided me with a similar feeling. Something no other person in this world has been able to make me feel up until now. All she had to do was breathe near me and my pulse would spike. Sex with her was even better.
My gaze roamed over the classroom, settling on the empty desks that Raven and Aspen used to occupy. A thrill snaked its way through me at the thought of Aspen returning to classes.
After she snitched on me to my parents, I’d sworn to hate the girl’s very existence, vowing to make her pay if I ever saw her again. That supposed hatred I held ended up being more of an obsession. An obsession that just grew stronger and stronger as I got to know her. She was everything . ‘Killing’ her made me realize just how much she truly meant to me, regardless of how fucked up that sounded. I just didn’t know what to do with these foreign feelings now that they’d surfaced.
Hunter stared toward the front of the room with disinterest, his worksheet sprawled out on his desk before him. From the looks of it, he hadn’t even attempted solving the problems. His eyebrows were pulled together, a far-away look in his brown eyes. Across from us, Collin didn’t look much better. Except his attention was fixed on the wall behind my head. He was so lost to his thoughts that he didn’t even process me staring.
Come to think of it, they’ve been acting off all day. At breakfast, neither one of them said much. Not even to Madison—who they communicated with often. Well…Collin was the only one usually acknowledging her. I wondered if this had something to do with Aspen being let off her leash.
Foster broke the news to us this morning when he showed up without her, stating that she was enrolling in classes and would be attending tomorrow. He also said that he didn’t see any reason to keep holding her hostage, which was slightly disappointing.
I leaned back in my seat, staring at my own paper that I’d already completed within the first fifteen minutes of class.
The sound of students chattering filled the room while Miss Raleigh sat at her desk, messing around on her computer. Despite the noise surrounding us, the silence coming from my two friends was deafening. It was so unlike them, and I had a feeling something was wrong.
“Ya’ll good?” I asked, looking between the two of them with furrowed brows.
They both snapped out of whatever fog they were in and glanced my direction. Neither one of them bothered to reply, instead looking at each other for confirmation from the other.
What the hell were they keeping from me?
Finally, Hunter turned to me. “After you dropped Aspen off yesterday, she was upset. She ended up texting Foster, asking if she could spend the night with him instead.” He swallowed, a look of guilt flashing across his face.
My eyebrows dipped in confusion.
Aspen and Foster hated each other with a burning passion. She must have been really hurt if she was willing to have him come rescue her.
“Why was she upset?” I demanded through gritted teeth.
Collin blew out an annoyed breath, drawing my attention. “Because she got a dose of her own medicine and couldn’t handle it,” he retorted with an eyeroll.
Realization swept over me as soon as the words left his dumbass mouth. She’d been upset about seeing them with that girl and I was too stupid to realize it. I’d known it had made her uncomfortable, just not to this extent.
“Idiots,” I muttered with a shake of my head.
“How are we the idiots?” he countered obliviously, too full of himself to even comprehend what he was saying.
Hunter scratched his head thoughtfully. “Doesn’t she hate us?” he asked. “Why would she even care?”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Were they really that stupid? Did Collin not remember when she cradled him in her arms after hurting him, only then to be drugged and captured by us. She knew that if she stopped, we’d get her. She was more concerned with him than herself. I wasn’t sure how she felt about Hunter, as the two avoided each other most of the time. But I’ve seen the thrill in her eyes when Foster pressed her buttons. When he finally allowed her to touch him, even if it was for the briefest of moments. The way her eyes had lit up and her chest rose and fell in rapid succession. She hated Foster, but she also hated that he could make her feel what no one else could. Even when he hurt her, she thrived off it. They were alike in so many ways and didn’t even realize it.
With me, she enjoyed the fear. The danger. The pain . It made her feel alive again. We were alike too. She was the only girl I wanted, but it didn’t seem that Hunter or Collin felt the same way.
I blew out a breath before responding. “If either of you care for Aspen, make the fucking effort. She’s not a pushover. If you keep doing this shit, you’ll both lose her. Assuming you haven’t already.” My gaze slid over to Collin, anger heating my blood at the mere sight of him. “You remember how distraught you were after her death? ” I asked in a low whisper. “Funny how that’s changed now that she’s here again.”
He swallowed thickly, dropping his gaze to the tabletop before him. I loved Collin, but he needed to pull his head out of his ass before he did something that would haunt him for eternity. He cared about her deeply, but his trauma response was to self-sabotage. It was sad.
“What makes you think we want her?” Hunter questioned. “She’s hot and has a tight pussy, but what makes you think that our feelings extend beyond that?”
I shrugged. “I don’t care if you do or don’t. Just make a decision and stick with it, before Aspen makes her own decision. Stop toying with her. Because I actually do give a shit about the little vixen, and if you keep hurting her, I’ll fuck you up.” If they didn’t want her, then they didn’t have a right to her body. As simple as that.
Toying with her body was one thing. Toying with her emotions was something else entirely.
Foster was in his room with Aspen perched on the edge of his bed, scrolling through her phone. Long, purple strands of hair fell around her, making her appear ethereal in some way. She was breathtaking. Everything in my body was screaming at me to go to her, to touch her, hold her, anything . But I didn’t think she was willing to accept the fact that she might have felt something for me too, and it was something she needed to figure out on her own.
Fighting against my natural urges, I steeled my spine and cleared my throat. When her green eyes connected with mine, pride swelled inside of me at the pink tint coating her cheeks before she nervously looked away. Aspen wasn’t one to get nervous about anything. She was stroking my ego and didn’t even realize it.
“You’re still here,” I pointed out, half expecting her to be long gone. Hell, she wanted her freedom bad enough.
She nodded, still refusing to make eye contact. Her gaze lingered on a spot behind my head, making it even more obvious that she was doing her best to avoid me. “Yeah. I’ll be leaving tonight.”
I wanted to ask her where the hell she intended on going. Back to her dorm room, or did she plan on staying with a friend? Where the hell had she truly been all this time when we thought she was rotting at the bottom of the lake? The question was on the tip of my tongue, but I choked it down, knowing she wouldn’t tell us shit. That defeated the entire purpose of her so-called freedom.
My gaze slid over to Foster, who seemed relatively relaxed despite having a female he claimed to hate in bed beside him. It didn’t slip by me that the two seemed to be getting somewhat closer. Maybe not as close as friends, but at least they weren’t at each other’s throats all the time.
Foster didn’t build connections with people easily. I hoped he wasn’t getting attached, because I didn’t know if Aspen would come to her senses and come back to me, or if she’d just ignorantly ignore the feelings she had for us. I knew it wasn’t one sided.
Blowing out a breath, I decided to get straight to the point. I hadn’t expected her to be here upon showing up and knew she’d probably throw a tantrum once the words flowed from my lips.
“Why didn’t Hunter and Collin get a vote?” I asked, already knowing the answer but needing to hear him say it again.
Foster’s gaze hardened as he assessed me, his blue eyes locked on my own. If I wasn’t so annoyed with him, a smile might have slipped past my defenses. I’d told Aspen that she could have her freedom if the others agreed, knowing good damn and well that Collin wouldn’t have agreed to it. Then the assholes had to fuck it all up.
“You know why,” he replied.
Aspen glanced at Foster and then at me, confusion flickering across her flawless face.
“Tell me again.” My voice dropped lower as the words vacated my mouth. I knew a lot of things. I knew that Aspen had feelings for Collin, knew that she was attracted to the rest of us at the very least, I knew that Foster cared about Aspen even if he’d never admit it. That drove him crazier than anything, so he got defensive anytime she was mentioned, or anytime she threatened to knock down that guard he put around his solid heart. He was only being kind now because she was hurting. He wouldn’t kick her while she was already down.
Foster scoffed. “Figured it was pointless giving them a vote when they didn’t seem to give a shit either way.” His words were calm and collected, but his hands were folded so tightly together that his knuckles were turning white.
I hummed in response. “If that’s your story.” My fingers twitched at my side as my blood lust began to rear its ugly head. The urge to feel warm blood running through my fingers as I watched the life drain from their eyes was potent.
“The fuck is that supposed to mean?” he growled, a muscle feathering along the edge of his sculpted jaw.
Aspen rolled her eyes. “Will you guys just shut the fuck up?” she snapped. Finally, she looked at me. No trace of the previous embarrassment prominent in her features. She was irritated. “You said that everyone had to agree. Collin and Hunter obviously don’t care either way. So what’s the big deal if they have a say or not?” She narrowed her eyes, her brows stitching together as if she was working it all out in her mind. “Unless…” she continued, anger radiating off her in waves. “You never intended on letting me go. You knew that everyone wouldn’t agree.”
I shrugged, not caring enough to lie about it or to defend my actions. “Bet you’re glad that Hunter and Collin were fucking that girl when you walked in then, huh?” I joked. And that Foster of all people came to her fucking rescue.
My little vixen clenched her jaw, not amused in the slightest. Hell, neither was I to be honest. Foster knew exactly what he was doing. If Aspen was out of his hair, he could continue to ignore his feelings for her and keep her at arm’s length. Collin might have been the one with intense commitment issues, but Foster has never committed to anything in his life. Hell, maybe that was a commitment in itself.
I glanced back over at the blonde who looked mighty cozy sitting there with a book between his hands. If I had to guess, the book had something to do with history. “This conversation isn’t finished,” I said, leaving no room for argument.
He rolled his eyes, like this entire thing was beneath him and he just wanted to move on from it. Unfortunately for him, that wasn’t an option. “What else is there to talk about?” he retorted, closing his book and placing it on his blanketed lap.
“Later.”
Those were my final words before I glanced one last time in Aspen’s direction and headed for the door. The asshole thought he’d found a loophole. Knock out Collin and get Aspen out of the picture so he could go back to living how he had before she ever appeared. The fucker thought he was smart, but he’d pay for this. I’d make sure of it. In the mean time…I had a bitch to kill.