Chapter 32 Annalise
Chapter thirty-two
Annalise
Pulling back into Scion is like a déjà vu of the beach house. Aiden picks up our bags and what was left of the groceries in one scoop and ignores every protest I give.
“Lead the way to your room, Sweetheart.”
I huff, crossing my arms. “Fine. But you’re not carrying everything for me every time we go somewhere, you know that, right?”
He grins. “We’ll see about that.”
When we get back to my room, he takes a minute to look around, seeing it for the first time in daylight, not that there is much to see in here anyway.
“Hey, I want to shower before debriefing. Any chance you want to join me?” I ask as I try to decide what playlist I’m feeling in the mood for. “Please tell me you like country music.” I plead.
“Yeah, I like a bit of everything.”
I hit play on “The Right One” by Spencer Crandall, and walk into the bathroom to turn on the speaker. As it connects, the song is interrupted by a new message chime.
“Can you read that for me? My code is 0331,” I call out.
“Uhm, Ana, Sweetheart…” he says as he walks in carrying my phone. “Why is your best friend talking about what time he’ll be over for your sleepover tonight?”
Another quick chime, “Oh, and if you want to cuddle, you’ll need to swap sides. Apparently, he hurt his shoulder on his mission.”
Gods help me…
“Aiden.”
“Not my name to you, Sweetheart. Try again.”
I roll my eyes, “Ace, I know how bad that sounds, and I promise it’ll all make sense tonight, but can you try to trust me until then that it isn’t what it sounds like? And trust me, I know I’m asking SO much of you right now.”
“For the record, Ana, I’m not mad. Just…
curious.” His hand slides to the back of my neck, holding me there only long enough for the world to narrow to the space between us.
“I know this is going to take time to adjust to, but I’m not going anywhere.
You’ve said you’ll tell me tonight, so I’m waiting.
I’ve already made the mistake of jumping to conclusions with you, and I like to think I learn from my mistakes. ”
“Thank you,” I say, releasing a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
Holding his gaze, I slowly undress and step into the steamy shower.
“I should probably warn you, Sasha lives next door, so as soon as she finds out you’re here, she’s going to want to meet you.”
“Thank all that is good in this world. Finally, a girl friend!” he jokes. “Alright, give me the rundown on her.”
“Well, first, she’s thought you were hot since the Staggering Ox, and she’s the nicest, so she’ll be the easiest to win over.
She’s quiet when you first meet, but she warms up quickly.
She’s brilliant at healing and spell casting, and genuinely the sweetest person ever.
She has a smile that’s infectious, she loves coffee almost as much as I do, and the dragons scare the crap out of her.
I’m warming her up to the idea of riding with me when I bond, though. ”
“Easy enough to remember,” he says, stepping under the water behind me and running his hands down my arms. “So that’s what you want? To bond?”
“Yeah, flying last week was possibly the most free I’ve ever felt. I didn’t want to land.”
He smiles down at me, “Will you ride with me this week?”
“You’ll be there? I thought that was the only class they brought in all of the Bravo riders for.”
“I’ve been there for all your classes, Ana. I’m one of the assistants for the class.” He admits, and my mouth drops open. I hadn’t even noticed him until he was confronting me about Josh. “I’m guessing your friend Josh will be asked to be one soon, too, since he’s bonded.”
“I know this is a new relationship and all, but can I ask you for another big favor?”
His dick twitches against my backside, and I can’t help but giggle. “Not what I had in mind, but I can’t say I’m opposed to that, too.”
He pulls me against him, and I let out a little gasp. “Tell me. What’s your favor, Sweetheart?”
“Will you be nice to him? I’m obviously not asking you to be his best friend, but he really only knows Matt, Lucas, and me. And he and Lucas obviously aren’t friends. I don’t want him to be miserable here.”
“Ana, maybe I haven’t made myself clear enough, but I want all of you. That includes your friends, as long as they aren’t trying to kiss you or claim my spot in our bed.”
I narrow my eyes. “You’re not funny…and you aren’t moving in!”
“Oh, I’m hilarious,” he says, smirking. “But seriously, I’ve got an idea. When we’re done in here, why don’t you text Sasha and Matt, and we can all meet for an evening walk in the woods together,” he pauses, “unless you’d rather catch them up on this weekend alone?”
“A walk sounds great.” I let my gaze linger on him, a slow smile tugging at my lips. “But I think I’m going to need help cleaning up first.”
“I thought you’d never ask.” He nips at my neck, and my head falls back against his solid chest. He lathers up the soap before rubbing his hands across my body, slowly lowering to his knees.
He lifts one of my feet, washing it before working his way up my leg and to my thigh. I let out a low moan when his fingers brush my core. Then, as if nothing had happened, he puts my leg back down and moves to the other side, repeating the motions and making me needier.
When he doesn’t take it any further, I let out a groan of disappointment.
“Don’t be a brat. We have to get ready if we are going to meet your friends before we head out to class.”
I need to feel him inside of me, even if it’s a quickie. “What if—”
He smiles, because apparently the desperation in my voice amuses him. “If you’re still feeling up to it tonight, I’ll make it up to you. I promise. But right now, you need to get your sexy ass out of this shower and get ready so I can start winning your friends over before our wedding.”
“You’re insufferable,” I laugh out, and he chuckles.
“You have no idea, but you’re stuck with me now.”
I message Matt and Sasha to come over when they’re ready to head to the clearing, but don’t mention Aiden. Kind of hard to explain through text that the guy who’s been Lucas’s best friend and a complete dick to me is now my boyfriend.
By the time I finish getting dressed, my room smells faintly of soap and Aiden’s cologne, woodsy, a hint of spice, and way too intoxicating. He’s sprawled out on my bed scrolling through his phone, shirt half-buttoned and hair still damp from the shower.
“You’re awfully comfortable for someone who isn’t moving in,” I say, leaning against the bathroom doorway.
He grins over the rim of the cup. “Just checking if you have a comfy mattress before I go out and buy us a new one.”
“I might actually strangle you.”
“Don’t talk dirty to me like that, your friends will be here any second.”
Before I can respond, there’s a knock at the door, three hard, quick raps.
“Told you,” his grin widens.
“That’s Matt. You ready?”
He takes the three steps it takes to get to me and kisses my forehead. “Ready.”
When I open the door, I find Sasha smiling, and then her eyebrows rise a little too high when she spots Aiden over my shoulder.
Matt doesn’t acknowledge Aiden as he steps into the room and envelops me in a hug.
“I’ve been worried about you since I got your text in the middle of the night, Lee. Are you ok?"
“Sorry, our mission got a little crazy so I couldn’t text you back, but I’m ok.”
Sasha laughs. “What were they thinking, separating you two for the whole weekend? I bet Antonio had to convince you not to break character to go make sure he wasn’t trying to drown her in the ocean or something crazy.”
“You would know if he did, since you two were texting. All. Weekend. Long.” He shoots back.
“I’m going to need all the juicy details,” I say to Sasha. “But first, maybe we can do introductions before we head to class?”
“Sasha, meet—”
“Tattoo God,” she finishes for me, and I laugh at the same time Aiden chokes on the water he was drinking.
“Adding that to the ‘later’ list, Sweetheart.”
Matt's eyes shoot back to me, “Sweetheart?” He asks, naturally confused.
Sasha is far too enthusiastic, “Oh my gosh, this is going to be such a fun walk. I can already feel it!”
“Anyway—Matt, Sasha, this is Aiden. Aiden, this is Sasha and Matt.”
“Hi!” Sasha gives him a quick hug in greeting.
“Uhm. Hi?” Matt says slowly, eyes flicking between us.
“Hey, it’s nice to meet you both. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Matt’s jaw ticks, “Yeah. We’ve heard about you, too.”
The room goes tense.
“He’s already apologized to me, Mattey. Let’s start walking, and I’ll fill you in. We can’t be late.”
He sighs and opens the door, “Lead the way, Lee.”
As we step outside, Aiden slides his hand into mine, casual enough to pass for nothing, but deliberate enough to send a message.
Matt walks next to me on my other side, and Sasha falls into step next to him as we head to the forest behind the riding grounds.
“Lee, I’m going to need you to start explaining—preferably now.”
“Ok, well, you’ll love this first part—apparently, the story Lucas is telling everyone to rationalize being an asshole is that he was in love with me in high school and I broke his heart by cheating on him.” The sarcasm grows thicker with every word.
Matt’s expression lightens instantly. “Hahaha! You’ve got to be kidding! In love? In the two-week relationship, that douche took you on one date to the movies. Did you two even kiss? I can’t seem to remember.”
I shoot him a glare. He remembers perfectly. “Shut up.”
“No, don’t shut up. Share!!” Sasha demands before turning to Aiden conspiratorially, “Whenever she gives him that voice with that look,” she gestures to my face, “it means it’s something good.”
“No, it doesn’t!”
“It does, now spill.”
“Ugh, fine. Yes, we went on a date to the movies. After it was over, we made out in his car for like a minute. The end.”
“Nooo. You’re forgetting some very important details,” Matt teases, making Sasha literally bounce up and down.
“See, I told you,” she whisper-shouts.
“Fine! While we were making out, he moved his hand up my shirt. When he reached my boob, he stopped and said he needed to drive me home so he wasn’t late for curfew.”
Matt takes over, “Except he didn’t have a curfew. What really happened was that he’d gotten so excited that he’d come in his pants before he could even get a handful!”
The group erupts in laughter.
“Oh my gosh! Who wouldn’t fall in love with you if you can make a guy do that from a single kiss!” Sasha says, tears filling her eyes.
“I hate all of you.”
Aiden nips my ear, his breath warm as he whispers, “Let me kiss you how I want to, and I’ll have you soaking my face in two minutes.”
Holy shit. Do I have time to pull him behind a tree and let him test that theory?
Noo, I need to finish what I was saying before Ghost Walking.
“So anyway, Mattey, Lucas has been telling everyone that I started screwing anyone who would buy me shit.”
“And you believed that because she hooked up with you?” Matt asks Aiden, not even trying to hide his disdain. “Even though you were the one who rushed out?”
“Not exactly how that happened. I’d been planning to stay the night with her if she’d let me, but when I started to tell her I didn’t have any other clothes, she practically pushed me out the door.
When I was leaving, I noticed another guy's shirt on the floor, but didn’t think much of it until the next morning when Lucas burst into my room demanding to know what had happened between us.
I wouldn’t tell him, so he told me how she’s broken his heart and warned me to be careful with her.
Among a long list of traits, he said she had cheated and was known for sleeping around in your hometown, sometimes more than one guy in a night. ”
“So, again, you just believed him? Even after hanging out with her.”
“In my defense, we hadn’t exactly done much talking, so I didn’t really know her. When Lucas told me all that shit, I admittedly got jealous, and then mad when I thought she had used me to cheat on her boyfriend or something.”
“Oh my gosh! That makes so much sense! And it had to be his,” Sasha gestures to Matt, “Matt’s the only guy Lee’s slept with…other than you…he’s there every other night pretty much.”
“Uh-huh,” Aiden says, clearly trying not to overthink that.
“Oops. I didn’t mean it like that. He’s just her teddy bear.”
“Not helping Sasha,” I sing-song.
“Yeah…I’m going to stop talking,” she says.
We’re only a few minutes from the clearing when Sasha tugs my arm. “Come check out the creek with me, Lee! I heard there are a bunch of lightning bugs out here at night!
I glance back, catching the pointed look she throws at Matt and Aiden.
“Go ahead,” Aiden says softly, squeezing my hand before letting go. “We’ll catch up.”
I hesitate for a second, but Sasha’s already dragging me down the smaller trail.
When we’re out of earshot, I look over my shoulder once. The guys are facing each other, looking deceptively relaxed, but I know both of them better than that.