41. Aurora
I don’t think I have ever been surrounded by so many hot guys before, and considering I grew up around a hoard of hockey players, that’s a hard feat to beat.
Now don’t get me wrong, my three guys are more than enough for me, I don’t want anyone else, but there is no harm in looking.
Caden and Casper Miles are identical twins, with their jet black hair and eyes so green that they remind me of Harden’s, though Caden is a little bigger and seems sharper round the edges, it would probably be hard for most people to tell them apart.
Their cousin, Wilder, is an older, more attractive version of what I remember of his brother, Jason.
Except I’m guessing, since Harden is good with hanging out with him, that unlike his brother he doesn’t have rapist tendencies.
They look similar to the twins in terms of hair and eye color, but have completely different faces, yet Wilder is still just as attractive.
Knox and Beckett are polar opposites. Knox has a rough and reckless look about him, with his brown hair and brown eyes, whereas Beckett has that rich, boy next door thing going on, with his blond hair and blue eyes hidden behind a pair of black-rimmed glasses.
They have the girl sitting between them hanging on their every word, and I’m pretty sure they must run this doubles routine all the time.
I’m half-wondering how far they let it go, and when I bring my attention back to Harden and find him watching me, he nods, confirming exactly what I was thinking.
We’ve been sitting and chilling with them for a while and honestly, it’s the most fun I’ve had in ages.
They tell stories I never knew about their time at Vander Prep, including some pranks they played on Harden and the guys, and talk about their plans for next year when they go pro.
Listening to them is like listening to Archer talk about hockey, they know what they want and they know they’re going to get it, it’s admirable.
Casper is easily the biggest flirt of them all, if you don’t count Wilder, and considering his interests lay firmly with the guy at my side and not me, I don’t.
He’s been openly flirting with me for the past hour, much to Harden’s annoyance, and I know he’s doing it just to piss him off.
He’s been showing me some pictures from a photoshoot he just did that is going to be in a magazine, and Harden’s hold on my thigh gets tighter with every image.
“These are insane, you look amazing,” I tell him truthfully, admiring the artistry the photographer has captured, but Casper smirks widely.
“Did you hear that, Haze? She said I look amazing,” Casper teases, trying to rile him up, but of course it doesn’t work.
Harden only looks at me and releases my thigh to sign. You’ve already got two boyfriends, Aurora, calm down.
I can’t help but smile at his words, my eyes switching between him and Casper, who is watching us with mild amusement.
Yeah, and my third is taking too long, so maybe I need to look elsewhere. I sign back, and Caden snorts a laugh, my gaze snapping to him instantly.
I saw him sign earlier, but I wasn’t sure how much he knew, and when I flash my gaze around the group, it isn’t just him and Casper who are smiling knowingly, but Wilder and Bobby too. Well shit, I guess they understood what I just said.
My mom is deaf. Wilder signs with a wide smile, confirming my suspicions, and heat floods my cheeks.
“Well, shit,” I curse, making them all burst out laughing.
“Can I borrow your third?” Knox cuts in, and I shift uncomfortably, eyeing the girl between them, unsure how Harden would feel about me staking my claim, but Knox only laughs.
“Relax, honey, I just want him for a race.” He holds his hands up in defense, and when I look back at Harden I find him smiling at me like a smug asshole.
“He’s all yours,” I grumble, as Bobby cheers.
“Hell yeah, the hockey prince is about to set fire to the track,” he yells, making some others cheer, and I frown in wonder.
How often does Harden come here?
Pushing off the chair, he flicks his stare to Caden, who, without a word, just nods and moves over to the now vacant chair beside me. When he brings his gaze back to me, I just stare at him in bemusement.
Be good. He signs, and two simple words should not send such a thrill through me.
“Then you better win.” Is all I toss back with a shrug, making his eyes sparkle with amusement.
Then we all watch as Bobby drags him and Knox away toward the track, gaining more and more people’s attention as they pass.
“You ever seen him race?” Caden asks from beside me, and I turn to find him watching me instead of everyone else.
He has an edge about him that I can’t quite explain, a darkness like Harden’s, except I don’t think his is born out of trauma. No, he looks as if he thrives on chaos and danger, and I wouldn’t like to ever get in his way.
“I didn’t even know he could drive until a couple of hours ago,” I tell him truthfully, and his smirk darkens, as a girl appears out of nowhere and passes us both a drink.
“Then you’re in for a treat,” he responds, waving her off without even thanking her, as cheers from the party goers get louder and louder.
I move my focus back to the track, watching as Harden drives his car up to the starting line, before getting out and talking with Bobby and Knox. I can feel his stare on me even from all the way over here, and it’s fascinating to see this side of him away from the guys.
Everest has been texting me non-stop, since he got home and found out Harden and I were no longer there, but I ignored them all, knowing that Harden replied to his own slew of messages and told him where we were.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they both showed up here, although a part of me hopes they don’t.
It isn’t often I get Harden all to myself like this, and I’m savoring every second of it.
When he moves to climb back into his car, he gives me one last look, pressing his hand to his chest over his heart, before ducking inside.
My own heart is smashing against my ribs in quick succession, and I hold my breath as they both start their engines.
More and more people are focused on them now, and when Bobby steps up and waves a flag they are off in a flash, making them all cheer.
Knox is fast, and like Archer with hockey, it’s clear racing is in his blood, but what surprises me is that Harden is just as quick, easily keeping up with him.
The track isn’t small by any means, but they seem to fly around it at lightning speed, remaining neck and neck the entire way.
I watch in fascination as they spin round the track, every second feeling like a lifetime, until they are quickly on their third and final lap.
Harden is still right beside Knox, neither of them relenting, but as they come to their final spin, Harden takes the corner wide, forcing him to pull back.
“Ah, fucking pussy,” Casper curses, dropping back onto his crate, and when I look at him, I see both him and Caden shaking their heads.
“What?” I ask, confused as to what they are talking about.
“Harden let him win,” Casper confirms, as Knox flies across the finish line, Harden finishing just seconds behind him, and I frown.
“How do you know?” My question has them smirking, Caden lighting up a cigarette and inhaling deeply, before he responds.
“Haze never misses a turn,” he states simply with a shrug.
“So why would he do that?”
“Because he has a hero complex, he doesn’t want to tarnish Walker’s rep no doubt,” he replies, blowing smoke away from us, before his eyes falter into a frown.
“Who the fuck invited that pathetic fuck,” Caden adds in a curse beneath his breath, and before I can turn to see who he is talking about, I hear him.
“Damn, little Gray, is that you?” A new voice drunkenly drawls, my blood running cold, as I slowly turn to confirm that it is indeed who I think it is.
Jason fucking Miles.
He looks nothing like when I last saw him, though when I last saw him he was having the shit kicked out of him by Daemon.
His hair is no longer slicked back like it used to be, and his body isn’t as in shape as it was once thanks to football.
My eyes can’t help but drop down to his legs.
After he tried to assault me at my mom’s party, I heard that Harden and Griffin broke both his legs, effectively ending his football career, and it’s only now I mildly wonder if he ever used to race.
My heart is in my throat as he smirks at his brother and cousins, before bringing his gaze back to me.
“Jason,” I choke out his name in disbelief, feeling Caden go still beside me.
There is no way he or any of the others know what he did, I made sure the guys didn’t tell anyone.
I was a coward who took the easy way out, and it didn’t take long for the rumors of him being attacked somewhere else to circulate.
It never traced back to me and he never came back to school, and until now I hadn’t seen him since that night.
“Long time no see, Rora,” he starts, and before the panic can truly take hold, a fist is slamming into the side of his face at full force, knocking him off his feet.
Harden jumps on top of him, pulling him back toward him and punching him again and again, as chaos erupts around us.
“What the fuck, Fireball?” Bobby shouts, rushing toward us with Knox in tow, as Wilder, Casper, and Beckett all jump to their feet. Bobby makes the mistake of grabbing Harden, which only makes him angrier, throwing him back with a hard shove.
“Harden, stop,” I cry, desperation clawing its way through me, as bile claws up the back of my throat. I don’t want him to lose his friends over this.
“He knows what he fucking did,” Harden spits, glaring all of them down with nothing but rage in his stare, as Wilder looks at his younger brother in a new light.
It’s Caden who steps forward though, putting himself right at my side, and making everyone turn to him. It’s only now I realize the dynamic here, they’re all friends, they all run this place, but Caden is in charge. It only takes one nod of his head for them all to fall back.
Harden moves with intent, punching Jason repeatedly until his face is bruised and bloody, and still he doesn’t relent. He’s beating the fuck out of him and I need it to stop.
“Stop him, please,” I beg, moving to rush forward, but Caden grabs me, pulling me back and gripping me by the jaw.
“There’s only one reason he would snap like this,” Caden says darkly, searching my stare for confirmation.
“Not all the way,” I choke out, giving him what he needs to know without going into too much detail.
Caden only nods, snapping his fingers as the guys move in unison, Bobby, Knox and Beckett all grabbing Harden, as Wilder and Casper move for Jason.
“He goes to the hospital,” Caden demands, his tone completely detached. “I want him conscious and stable before I send him to the fucking morgue.”
Harden is heaving as he fights against them, and I don’t remember ever seeing him this mad, not even the night Jason attacked me.
“Harden.” I say his name again, one word, and his gaze snaps back to mine, as Caden releases me.
Without pause he is shoving the three guys off him with ease, erasing the distance between us. I open my mouth to say something else, but before I can get anything out, his lips are slamming to mine, bloody hands coming up and cupping my face.
The kiss is rough and insistent, nothing like the one we shared on my thirteenth birthday, and I can’t help but moan into his mouth.
Dipping down he picks me up, wrapping my legs around him, walking us in the opposite direction of everyone else.
I vaguely hear Caden cursing for someone to clean up the mess, but I’m too far gone to care.
We don’t stop until my back hits something rough and cold, but it’s nothing in comparison to the feel of his mouth moving against mine.
His hands roam my face, neck and chest, trailing over every part of skin I have on display, like he is mapping it to memory.
I can’t think, I can’t even breathe, I’m too lost in the taste of him, and I never want this moment to end.
Harden is kissing me, and he isn’t just kissing me, he’s reshaping me, remaking us into what we were always meant to be, and I have never felt more powerful.
His lips are hot and claiming, his tongue stroking against my own, like they are soulmates fighting their way back to one another.
I can feel him everywhere, the kiss is just as perfect as it was when we were kids, except now it isn’t just my first kiss, our first kiss, it’s everything.
My hands are curled around his neck, holding him to me as tight as possible, which means when he pulls back, eyes glazed and gasping for breath, I know he’s close to the edge.
“Are you okay?” I choke out, searching his stare, and he nods, even though I know he is anything but. “Let’s go home,” I add, and he nods again, dropping my legs to the ground, his eyes trailing over me.
Shrugging out of his jacket he passes it to me, and it’s only when I take it and look down to put it on, that I realize he has left traces of Jason’s blood all over me.
When my eyes snap back to his, he is watching me darkly, a detached sort of look in his eyes, and I wish I knew how to erase it.
Taking a chance I slide my hand into his, and as he pulls me along back toward the party, I can’t help but feel I have won something.
Caden is waiting where we left him, Harden’s key in his hands and his car now idling near the platform, with an exit path fully cleared.
This one isn’t yours to take . Harden signs at him, and though I’m not sure what he means, Caden nods.
“Take your girl home, Haze, we’ll talk soon.” Is all Caden says in response, and Harden doesn’t hang around to say anything else.
As he leads me back to the car, I can feel the adrenaline still pumping through me, as he shoves me into the passenger seat and slams the door.
It’s only when he climbs inside and locks the door, the engine roaring to life, that I feel a little of his tension subside.
His knuckles are broken and bloody as they flex around the wheel, and something about that gets me hot.
He protected me, fought for me, when he has never even fought for himself, and it has my heart weeping for him in my chest.
The car is silent as we pull back onto the main road from the dirt track, and my voice shakes, as I whisper, “Harden, can I please touch you?”