10. Everest
T he silence on the ride home is brimming with a tension I can’t quite define.
Aurora is watching Harden, Harden is watching Griffin, and Griffin is watching her.
My own eyes travel between all three of them, but none of them will meet my stare, and it fuels something inside of me.
I know them, I know all three of them better than I know myself sometimes, which is why I know something is up.
Aurora is fidgeting with the hem of her dress, a nervous tell of hers, Griffin is grinding his jaw, something that is usually only triggered by the presence of his shitty, uncaring parents, and Harden’s chest is rising and falling rapidly.
He’s running on adrenaline right now, as if he expects something bad is about to happen.
It’s like he has a sixth sense for that stuff, it’s ingrained in him.
Yet why would he be feeling that way now? Why do they all seem on edge?
I replay the party back in my head, nitpicking every second of it. Who was there, what they were doing, the food and drinks they consumed, all of it merging together in my mind, as I repaint the picture of the evening we just shared.
Aurora spent most of the night with Archer and his friends, before she went off with Daemon, but then I saw Daemon back with my brother.
Aurora wasn’t with them, she wasn’t anywhere, and neither was Griffin.
My stare hardens as I look at them both again, and this time Aurora’s gaze flicks to meet mine.
It’s not the same as it was in the car ride earlier.
Then she was pissed off, excited for the party for sure, but still angry at the three of us.
Except now she doesn’t look so angry, she looks nervous, a thought that is only cemented when her eyes quickly dart away from me.
They land on Griffin for a nanosecond, before going back to Harden, but that’s all it takes. Just one second and I see it.
Something happened, and I want to know what.
The car pulls up at our house first and Aurora lingers for only a fraction of a second, offering both guys a concerned look, before she accepts Roger’s hand and climbs out.
I glare between my two best friends, but neither of them say a word, so I have no choice but to follow her.
I thank Roger, slipping him a few hundred dollar bills, before striding up the steps and unlocking the front door.
Aurora waits patiently, still not looking up at me, and as soon as I have the door open she is rushing inside and up the stairs.
I take my time locking the front door, knowing my parents will be staying to help clean up after the event, and that Archer and Daemon will be going back to their penthouse.
It’s also to give myself some time to calm down, because right now, where my mind is going, is a dangerous place.
I walk up the stairs to our floor slowly, undoing my tie as I go, focusing on even breaths to try and calm my rapid heart rate, but it’s no use.
When I try Aurora’s bedroom door handle it’s locked.
She never locks her door . The anger inside me burns up, from an ember to an inferno, as I stride into my own room and rip open the adjoining bathroom door.
I can hear her on the other side of her door, moving around her room, and it only takes a moment before she pushes into the bathroom, startling a little when she finds me there.
She has taken off her dress and is wearing only an oversized shirt that barely reaches her mid-thigh, but still she pops her hip as she glares at me.
“What? You finally remember I exist now?” she scoffs, coming further into the bathroom and moving toward the sink.
I remain silent as she takes off her makeup and brushes her teeth, our eyes colliding constantly in the mirror as I watch her.
It isn’t until she is done that she finally turns to meet my stare head on.
“What the fuck do you want, Everest? I’m tired and in no mood for your bullshit. ”
When I still don’t respond she rolls her eyes, moving to head back into her room and slamming the door behind her, but my hand whips out and catches it before she can close it. Her surprised stare snaps back to mine, as I rip the door open and push into her room.
“Tell me what happened,” I demand, and her eyes widen for a fraction of a second, before she fakes nonchalance.
“What do you mean?” she asks, her tone casual, but I don’t miss the slight hitch in her breath.
“You know exactly what I mean, Aurora,” I warn, taking a slow, measured step toward her, but still she stands her ground.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Really? That’s how you want to play this?” I confirm, and when she doesn’t respond, I huff a laugh. “Fine, just stay away from me and the guys,” I tell her, turning on my heel to leave, but then she calls out to my back.
“And what if they don’t stay away from me?” she rushes out, and I can't help but smirk at that.
“Trust me, they know better,” I toss over my shoulder, ready to slam the bathroom door behind me and put some distance back between us, when she utters two single words.
“Do they?”
I pause, cocking my head to the side, as I replay those words and the tone in which she just said them. In my drunken haze they almost sound taunting. No, they can’t be, but when I turn to look at her she is watching me carefully, and it’s then I see it, the truth she is hiding.
“Say it,” I whisper, my hands closing round the open door frame. “I dare you.” I hold my breath, wishing I had another drink to dull the ache in my chest, as I wait for her answer.
Her smile doesn’t have a trace of regret, as she replies, “I kissed Griffin tonight.”
A bomb, that was tossed between us a decade ago, finally detonates between us, with no time for me to shield myself, and each word pierces my black, dead heart.
She kissed Griffin.
She kissed my best friend.
He kissed her.
Fuck .
“There’s no way.” I shake my head, my throat feeling dry, as I force out my denial, but it only seems to make her smile wider.
“Isn’t there?” Her hand reaches up, brushing her hair to the side to reveal the smooth column of her throat.
A throat that is now stained with a dark red mark that my eyes zero in on.
“He knows better, yet somehow he pressed me against the wall and kissed me senseless, marking me like I was his,” she adds, fanning that burning flame of anger inside of me.
“Stop talking,” I warn, my fingers now biting into the wood of the frame, threatening to break it, but she just keeps going.
“He kissed me, owned me. I felt him hard against me, and if Harden didn’t interrupt us, I’d have let him fuck me right then and there.”
I’m across the room before I can even blink.
My hand closes roughly around her throat, as I slam her back against the wall, shocking her into silence.
“I said stop fucking talking!”
My breaths are coming in thick and heavy, my heart slamming against my ribcage, as I replay every moment I have ever witnessed between them.
The shared laughs, the easy jokes, the bullshit proposals, all of them bringing bile to the back of my throat at how simple it would be for them to be together.
I scrunch my eyes closed, trying to force my mind to forget, but as I’ve learned the hard way over the years, it’s impossible.
“What’s the matter, Ever, can’t imagine someone wanting to fuck me, or is it because it’s one of your best friends?
” she whispers, not deterred in the slightest by my hand around her neck, and it only makes my cock grow harder for her.
“Maybe I’ll make him my boyfriend, and then he’ll finally be mine instead of yours,” she adds, each word stoking the fire inside of me, and I’m biting my cheek so hard that I can taste blood.
“Don’t. Fucking. Push. Me,” I spit through gritted teeth, squeezing her throat even harder, yet her eyes gleam with my every word, only leaning against my rough hold.
“Why? Does it bother you that I kissed your friend?” she asks, knowing full well the fucking answer, but she won’t be happy until I fucking admit it.
“Yes,” I bite out, the one word admission offending me, but still she has to keep pushing.
“Why? Why does it bother you, Everest?” she whispers, searching my stare for a truth I swore I would never tell her, especially not like this.
I press my full body into hers, watching for the moment she feels what she does to me. Her eyes drop, taking in our proximity in surprise, before she registers my hard cock digging into her hip, forcing her stare to snap back to mine.
“You know why, Aurora, you’ve always known,” I purr, leaning in and inhaling deeply, as I bring my mouth to her ear.
“You know exactly what you do to me, what you do to all three of us,” I add, stroking her rapid pulse point with my thumb, as whiskey-fueled truths explode between us.
“You’re the fucking sun, and none of us can escape your orbit,” I grunt, letting my free hand slide down to her hip, roughly dragging the fabric of her shirt up until her bottom half is exposed.
She’s only wearing a tiny black silk thong, and fuck me it looks delectable against her satin skin.
My fingers dance along the edge of the material, inspecting it slowly and I swear she is holding her breath, her eyes transfixed on my every move, as if she can’t quite believe this is happening.
I’m not sure I can believe it either. Tonight the whiskey is stronger than my resolve and I give myself over to it.
How many times have I imagined her like this? Pliant and pleading in my hold, desperate for my next move.
When I reach the center, my fingers carefully draw a circle around where I know her clit will be, a fact that is only confirmed when she gasps, her entire body trembling slightly in anticipation.
“Everest,” she pleads, her voice nothing but a desperate whisper. “Please,” she begs, and I laugh, my finger once again drawing a small circle against the fabric.