Chapter Fifteen
Lyndsey
It’s a few hours later when the five of us sit around the old wooden dining room table.
Once Aiden got back from the store, he found us girls laughing and he tried his best to hide his shock.
I think a part of him thought I would sit silently and wait for him to save me but I’m not the type of woman who likes waiting for a knight in a shining hockey jersey.
Alice serves up the food and the rich aroma causes my stomach to rumble, this is the first thing I have eaten since the plane and until right now I didn’t realise how hungry I am.
Still, I do the polite thing and wait for everyone else to be served before digging in.
I’m so focused on shovelling food in my mouth that I don’t realise until too late that Aiden is reaching for me.
His hand comes to rest on my right thigh and the touch shocks me so violently I jump in my chair, my knees hitting the underside of the table.
All three girls fall silent, watching us from across the table, their forks forgotten in their hands.
They are all looking at me differently: Alice has a small smirk pulling up one side of her mouth; Eden looks like she is trying to hold back laughter; but Celia looks completely and utterly confused.
Why wouldn’t she? It isn’t exactly normal for a wife to flinch at her husband’s touch.
“Babe! Not in front of your sisters!” I say with a giggle, trying to brush my reaction under the rug, and it seems good enough because they start to eat again.
“Oh, don’t mind us.” Alice laughs and, instead of talking, Aiden hooks his hand under my chair, pulling me closer to his side until our seats are connected.
Leaning into my space, he kisses my cheek lightly before sliding his lips across my skin until he is at the shell of my ear, his warm breath puffing against my blushing skin.
I have to fight the need to push him away, I want to scoot my chair back to where it was, but I know how bad that would look.
“If you were my wife, I wouldn’t be able to take my hands off you. You need to relax.” My face heats at his whispers but I think that is even better for our ruse, like I’m so worked up by him. Before he pulls away, he nips at the soft skin of my earlobe, laughing as I gasp in shock.
“Okay, that might be a touch much for the dinner table.” Eden laughs, throwing a napkin at her brother. He catches it with a wink before hitting me with a blinding smile that causes my blood to heat.
It is wildly unfair how attractive he is. Especially because the last time his lips where on me, it nearly broke my heart.
I’m primped and preened ready for Aiden’s New Year’s Eve party.
As much as I want to throw on my sweatpants and hide under the covers, I won’t miss Ellis’ engagement for the world.
When Liam told me his plan to propose at midnight I melted.
He loves her in a way I thought only existed in Hollywood movies.
I hid my bitterness behind a blinding smile because as excited as I am for my best friend to get everything she deserves, I’m wishing and hoping for a man to love me like Liam loves her.
My hair is pulled back into a slick ponytail, the rosy strands curled to perfection, my make-up is just as precise.
I wanted to feel my best which is why I find myself wearing heels instead of the fluffy socks that are calling my name.
My black sequin trousers make me feel super festive but I keep my top simple with a black turtleneck sweater.
I look like I’m ready for a party, it’s the inside that is causing problems.
When my taxi pulls up, I do everything I can to push Aiden from my mind.
I have a job to do tonight and I won’t let my stupid unrequited crush ruin this night for Ellis and Liam.
It’s a known fact that Liam doesn’t have a good poker face, I need to keep Ellis from grilling him about why he is suspicious.
I also need to make sure she doesn’t get too drunk.
She isn’t breastfeeding because of her chronic illness so she doesn’t have to pump and dump.
I can’t let her get drunk in case she falls asleep before midnight or, God forbid, she vomits on him when he is on one knee before her.
I’m taking my job very seriously. It’s the only distraction I can think of to keep me from following Aiden around like a lost puppy begging for scraps of his attention.
By the time midnight rolls around I’m disgustingly sober.
But so is Ellis. I did my job to perfection and now as it is minutes away from the ball dropping, we all congregate outside to watch the fireworks.
I have felt Aiden’s eyes on me all night but whenever I look his way his attention snaps away from me.
When I got dressed up, I wanted to catch his attention but I regret it now.
He looks incredibly attractive in a pair of grey suit trousers and a crisp black shirt.
Dressy but effortlessly casual, that annoying way men can.
Over the night he has rolled up his shirtsleeves and I wish I had bought a spare pair of panties because every time I get a glimpse at his tattooed forearm my thighs clench together to release the tension there.
I watch as Liam drops down onto one knee.
He speaks in low tones, his words only for Ellis, but I have to wipe a tear from my eye when she throws herself into his arms. Of course she said yes.
It was never a possibility that she wouldn’t in my opinion, even if Liam was nervous that she wouldn’t be ready.
They kiss as everyone around us starts to count down from ten.
I look to my right to see Aiden walking towards me.
Nine.
He pushes through the crowd of his teammates.
Seven.
The crowd of hockey players get rowdier by the second.
Five.
He stops a foot away from me. He holds my eye as his hands clench at his sides.
Two.
I hold my breath, staring up at him.
One.
He kisses me. One hand slips around the back of my neck, pulling me against his chest as his lips drop to mine. I kiss him back readily. His tongue swipes against mine as fireworks light up the sky around us. Fireworks go off in my chest as he tightens his hold on me.
Just as quickly as he started, he stops.
“Shit, that… that shouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry.” Then he is storming away. Leaving me alone with the taste of him on my lips and his aftershave still in the air around me.
Pain lances through my chest as his retreating figure disappears from sight.
I struggle to catch my breath as everyone cheers and celebrates around me.
I’m frozen to the spot. There was so much disgust in his eyes when he pulled away from me.
It’s something I’ll never forget, the anger on his face while my lipstick stained his lips.
I don’t pause to say goodbye. I run back through his house as I book a car to take me home.
I’m suddenly freezing cold as my hands shake around my phone.
I need to be away from here. As far away from Aiden Anders as possible.
For one second, I thought my dream was coming true, that he truly wanted me.
That he was bringing me out of the friend zone, but I’m an idiot.
A man like Aiden, a man who can have any woman in the world, doesn’t want a poor lonely queer florist like me.
It isn’t until I’m sat in the back of the car that the tears start to fall.
I cry silently as I watch Seattle pass by.
Fireworks light the sky. People celebrate in the streets and I just want it to stop.
How dare they get to be happy but I just tasted sweetness for a second?
How dare they celebrate when my heart has just been stepped on like it is meaningless?
Aiden has brought me so much pain. He led me on thinking he might want me just to pull away the second I showed an ounce of vulnerability. Then he plies me with friendship just to kiss me at midnight and rip that kiss away a minute later. I brought in the new year watching him walk away from me.
That might be as much as I can handle. Pulling my phone out again, I bring up his contact. Aiden has hurt me for the last time. He might be Liam and Ellis’ friend but that is all he is going to be. I take a deep breath and block his number.
After that I only spoke to him when it was necessary to keep the peace between me and the rest of the team. All the way from New Year’s until Vegas I maybe said twenty words to him. I refused to be another notch on his bedpost.
I need to remember that now. How many women’s ears has he whispered into?
How many earlobes has he nipped at? He is a ladies’ man through and through and the reminder of that is a bucket of cold water over me.
Still, I know I can’t pull away, it would ruin everything and we have only been here for a matter of hours.
The girls try to pull me into conversation, ask about Bloom and Blossom and how long I have known Ellis, but when Aiden’s fingers weave into mine, holding my hand in between our dinner plates, I find it hard to concentrate.
I fight against my instincts to elbow him in the ribs and focus on making the girls like me.
My phone vibrating on the solid wood table draws all of our eyes, I want to ignore it in case it is another stupid threat but with all of their eyes on me I know it would look strange if I ignore it. Clenching my hand once before I reach out, I ready myself for what it has to say next.
Run and hide, the truth will find you.
My heart starts to thunder in my chest and I drop my phone with a loud clang as I stare at it like it is going to grow legs and attack me.
It feels like it has. How does whoever the hell this is know I’m not in Seattle?
How closely have they been watching me? The press release said nothing about our little getaway, so nobody apart from our friends should know.
“You okay?” Aiden asks quietly turning my face towards his with a gentle finger hooked under my chin. His eyes bore into mine before flicking to my phone.
“Just Ellis, nothing to worry about,” I reassure him, but even I can hear my voice waver around the words.
I plead with my eyes for him to stop it.
It’s a cheap shot but I flick my eyes over to the girls before coming back to his, hoping he understands that now isn’t the time to discuss this.
It might never be because I don’t know what whoever this is wants and I won’t pull him into my drama.
If this is Kayla, it’s surprising that she has managed to stay sober all day.
I mean between the text before the plane and now there’s a lot of time for her to spiral down the bottle and yet here she is still sounding coherent.
I should probably tell Aiden when we are alone but what am I supposed to say, “Hi, fake husband, I think my alcoholic ex might be sending me threatening texts but maybe not because she is usually drunk and these texts don’t really sound like her usual nonsense.
” Yeah, I’ll pass. I’m here to help him with his family and get out.
Besides, in a few days’ time we will be getting ready to go back home and getting a divorce, by that time I won’t be his problem any more.
He nods lightly before pulling his hand away from my face and picking my hand up again, going back to his food with his free hand.
Suddenly my appetite has disappeared but I won’t be a bad house guest and not finish my meal.
I shove forkful after forkful into my mouth, even though I’m no longer tasting it.
I laugh when I’m supposed to and say perfectly placed flirty comments to keep the girls none the wiser, even when my heart feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest.
Just a few more days, Lyndsey, you can keep everything under wraps for a little while. Or at least I hope I can.