Chapter 32 Evie
The rain had picked up, cold enough to cut straight through my shirt to my bones. Water slid down my spine, each drop a little shiver I couldn’t hide. Aiden had pulled me onto the bike and peeled out.
My arm still ached where Anderson had grabbed me, my face numb where I had taken the elbow to it. The smell of fake blood clung to my shirt and I worried it would be there permanently.
Neither of us said a word as he wove through town. We hadn’t since he’d dragged me out of that bathroom.
Finally, we reached an old warehouse that was used long before the neighboring city, Valeport, grew its industrial section.
I ripped off the helmet, breath catching at the way the drizzle immediately cooled my overheated face.
Rain traced rivulets down my cheeks, catching in my hair and turning the fake blood into thin, red streams. It wasn’t much, but I was cleaner than I had been.
Everything was fine until his shadow fell over me, close enough that his body heat seeped through the cold.
“What the hell?” I asked, trying to shake off the adrenaline. “Why did you bring us here?”
“I wanted somewhere he wouldn’t follow us or think to follow us. Should I have brought him—or even them—back to our place?” He matched his tone to mine, the slight edge almost mocking me.
“This was the only place you could think of? Not somewhere dry and warm?” I wrapped my arms around my middle. I had been planning to find Anderson and quietly go back to my seat, so I left my coat behind, which I hoped Harper or Regan would grab.
He shrugged off his own leather jacket and settled it over my shoulders. It was heavy, warm from his body, and smelled like smoke and leather—like him. His fingers brushed my collarbone as he closed it, and the chill in my chest shifted into something entirely different.
“We can go inside.”
“Inside the creepy, unheated warehouse that barely has a roof? Wow, things really are looking up.”
He didn’t answer, pushing one of the old doors to the side so he could walk his bike inside, but I couldn’t move. Red dripped down my hair and I watched until the droplets turned pink.
Aiden moved the kickstand down, shaking off water as he looked around. “It’s not that bad in here. We will stay dry right here.”
“Yeah, thanks,” I mumbled, my teeth threatening to start chattering as I stepped in and he slammed the door behind me with an echoing boom, shutting us off from the world.
He turned on me, his lip curling as he stalked toward me. “What happened? Are you actually hurt?”
“No, I’m okay.”
“You’re covered in blood. Was it his?”
I looked down, most of the fake blood gone now. “This? No, this was . . . Well, I got stuck in a side closet and couldn’t find the lights. Then I moved around and kind of . . . fell into a shelf that apparently was holding red paint, or what I can only now conclude is fake blood.”
Aiden’s face was still scrunched in worry, but all at once a smile spread across his face.
“You fell and this dropped on you?”
“Yes, and I swear you better not start laughing. I’m sure I look ridiculous.”
“You look—”
I shot him a look, cutting him off with a scowl.
“Beautiful, Evie. I was going to say alive and beautiful. I’m just glad it wasn’t your blood. I basically had a heart attack walking in and seeing so much blood on you. Fuck Asher for keeping that shit around.”
When I raised an eyebrow, he continued.
“He keeps it in case the fights aren’t getting gory enough. Throw a little fake blood to add to the ambiance and bets go up, people get crazier, money flows faster. He keeps a stock of it back there just in case.”
“Fucking Asher,” I mumbled, smiling when Aiden looked over at me.
“Are you?” he asked. “Fucking Asher, I mean.”
I’d used Asher plenty of times to annoy Aiden. And I knew how it looked when Asher and I were together—easy, flirtatious, and fun—but I never thought Aiden took it to be anything serious with us.
His eyes hadn’t left me, and a trail of heat burned down my spine from the unyielding attention.
“You think Asher and I are sleeping together?”
He went still, eyes narrowing, his gaze dropping to my mouth before coming back to my eyes.
“No, but I wanted to know for sure.”
“Wouldn’t it be a relief for you if I was?” My tone sharpened, a small, cruel jab I didn’t fully understand. “Think of how much less work you’d have to do. I’d be so much less of a burden.”
“You’re not a burden. But being close to you when I also have to keep my distance is the hardest thing I’ve ever done—and I failed.”
He took a step toward me, and I backed up until my hip hit the warm metal of the bike. The rain hammered the roof, a dull roar, and the warehouse suddenly felt too small for both of us.
His thumb brushed lightly across my cheek where Anderson’s elbow had hit me, gentle and careful. I froze, a strange warmth threading through the tension in my chest.
“You’re a fucking distraction, Evie,” he said, voice low but sharp.
“And you’re a coward, who might actually just hate me,” I snapped, hating the way my emotions seeped into every word. It was almost a cry, my voice threatening to break.
I didn’t want Aiden to hate me. I didn’t want distance or a fight.
I wanted him, and I wasn’t sure if I could keep being so close to him without getting what I wanted. It’s like my heart was ready to explode with every second I spent with him.
The pain turned to anger and I let it simmer like I always did—ready to strike.
“I don’t hate you, Evie, not even close.”
“Really? All you ever do is complain about being my bodyguard. You look for any chance to get a break.”
He stepped closer, the heat rolling off him.
My body threatened to give in, but I tried to fight it.
“I always need a break, not from protecting you, but from watching you. Watching you flirt with other guys. Watching you move and not being able to touch you how I want. Watching every fucking thing you do and forgetting that anything else in the world exists. Yes, I need a break from you, but not for the reasons you think.”
My breath hitched, wondering if he was really saying what I thought he was saying.
“You’re not a fucking burden. I’m just always looking for any chance I have to put any sort of space between us so I don’t lose my damn mind wanting you.
” He walked around the bike, and I wondered if putting the space between us was habit now.
“That’s the only burden I have when it comes to you, and it always will be because it doesn’t actually do anything. ”
“Aiden, I—”
“No. No. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear your shit about the blackmail or the saving you or how this was just for fun for you. I want to stand here, quietly, until the rain lets up enough to leave.”
My hips dug into the gas tank as I leaned over toward him, my heart racing. Was Aiden really standing right in front of me, telling me he wanted me?
“You never said anything. I thought I was only a pain in your ass.”
“Well, I never said you weren’t.” He grinned. “But it’s not like I could clarify why.”
“Ass,” I said, my face inches from his, gravity pulling me in like I had no choice. He looked tired now, the anger long gone and replaced with an Aiden who looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks. “It was you in the woods on Hero’s birthday?”
His head dropped the slightest amount. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted a night to be like you,” he said, softer now. His hand reached for my chin. His fingers trailed up my jaw and back down, the soft caress making me lean into it. My heart squeezed, the confession somehow sweet. “Carefree, rules don’t matter, and doing exactly what I wanted.”
“And how was it?”
He grinned. “Fucking amazing. Nearly killed me the next day, but I’ve wanted to repeat that night a thousand more times.”
“And when we went to the cemetery, why didn’t you do anything after what you did there?”
“Technically, I did.” He grinned. “My bike paid the price, but there was more.”
We both glanced at the Cbr before laughter slipped out.
The sound faded, but his grin didn’t. It lingered—arrogant, devastating—the kind of grin that made it hard to breathe. His eyes dipped to my mouth, and my pulse betrayed me, hammering like it wanted him closer. I wanted him to lose control first.
“Aiden,” I breathed, heat curling in my chest, “if you don’t follow that up by breaking every rule you’ve ever had and kissing me”—I tilted closer, my voice dropping into a dare—“I swear to everything in our life, I will ruin you.”
I was so close to everything I wanted—to the one man who made me feel everything, who knew my chaos and never flinched. He was the calm voice to my raging scream.
“You’re going to ruin me either way.”
“You know, I think I’m actually mad at you.”
“I really wouldn’t expect any less, but why now?”
“You made me wait years for this. Years I could have been doing exactly this, and torturing me every second of every day. It made me want to scream.”
“Then scream, Angel. I will swallow every single one.”
I barely had time to breathe before his lips crashed against mine, stealing the air from my lungs.
A gasp slipped free, swallowed by the heat of his mouth as his body pressed me back against the bike.
His hands—strong, demanding—dragged over my skin, setting fire in their wake.
My pulse stuttered, then roared, and I melted into him.
It wasn’t simply a kiss—it was a collision.
A reckless surrender to the tension that had burned between us for too long.
My fists clenched in his shirt as the world blurred.
Every sense was consumed—the taste of him, the scent of leather and something darker, the way his grip tightened like he was afraid I might disappear.
When his lips parted, coaxing, devouring, a shiver tore through me. A whimper slipped out, and his answering groan nearly undid me. Just like that, I was lost—spiraling into him, into the storm of everything I never saw coming but couldn’t imagine living without.
He pulled back at last, breathless, a smile tugging at his lips as I struggled to catch mine.
“My chaotic little psycho.” He dropped his forehead to mine, letting out a long sigh.
“You apparently make me a chaotic psycho, too,” he whispered.
“I was trying to push you away—the other night when I brought the girl home—and I couldn’t think of a better way to get you to stay away from me because I can never stay away from you.
Which I think is proven by the fact that I’m here right now.
I can’t circle around you anymore, trying to stay away, trying to convince myself we will move on from this and be back to normal because our normal was shit. ”
“Wow, please, don’t hold back how you really feel,” I said. The way he looked at me—unguarded, intense—was something I wasn’t prepared for. My brain stalled, my pulse quickened, and for once I had no idea what else to say.
“I mean, I have spent the last few years wanting you every fucking day, and that isn’t going away. No one else compares to you. No one else knows me. There is no point going back when it was torture, when being with you feels like finally breathing after drowning too long.”
I stared up at him, the lone light out front at the street shining in enough of a glow to see every sharp feature on his face.
“Are you going to do it again?” I asked. “Circle around this.”
He was already shaking his head. “I don’t know if I can.”
“What about . . . everything else?”
“I don’t know, Evie. I don’t know how to handle any part of it besides this one. But I can promise I’ll do a damn good job handling this one.”
His lips crashed against mine, hungry and demanding. I matched his intensity, my fingers tangling in his hair as I pulled him closer. Years of pent-up desire flooded through me, setting every nerve ending ablaze.
Aiden’s hands roamed my body, leaving trails of fire in their wake. He broke the kiss, his breath hot against my neck as he whispered, “I’ve wanted this for so long, Evie. You have no idea.”
“Show me,” I challenged, arching into him.
He yanked my shirt over my head with ease. Cool air hit my exposed skin, making me shiver. His hot mouth moved to my breast, tongue swirling around my nipple. I arched into him again, desperate for more contact.
My hands roamed over his muscled back, nails digging in. I wanted to mark him, claim him as mine. He hissed in pleasure and pain, grinding his hips against me.
I tugged at Aiden’s shirt, desperate to feel his skin against mine. He shifted, moving to my side to lift me onto the bike before quickly stripping off his shirt. The feel of his hard chest pressed against my breasts sent shivers through me. I ran my hands over his abs, tracing each defined muscle.
“God, Evie,” he groaned, capturing my lips again.
His hand slid down my stomach, dipping beneath the waistband of my skirt. I gasped as his fingers found my center, already slick with need. He stroked me slowly, teasingly.
“Is this all for me?” he murmured against my neck.
“Yes,” I breathed. “Only you.”
His touch sent electric currents coursing through my body, making me tremble. I needed him, craved him like I had never craved anything before.
“Lean back,” he coaxed, holding my head as I leaned back on the bike, my body molding the curves.
I could feel the cool air on my legs, sending shivers of anticipation through me. Aiden’s eyes were heavy as he looked me over, spreading my legs until he could wrap them around his waist. He gently kissed his way down my stomach, his touch feather-light, but I could feel the intensity behind them.
Aiden paused, his eyes locking with mine. The intensity of his gaze made my heart race with a mix of fear and excitement. I felt vulnerable, exposed, but also incredibly alive. There was no turning back now—we would both be committed to the consequences.
He leaned in further, his lips moving closer to my clit. “I’ve waited fucking forever to taste you.”
Without another word he moved, his tongue pressing against my clit as my hips bucked, sending shockwaves throughout my entire body. I gripped his shoulders, digging my nails into his flesh as I tried to keep myself from collapsing under the intensity of his touch.
He sucked gently on my clit, causing me to cry out in pleasure.
His hands gripped my hips firmly, not letting me fall, as he continued to explore every inch of me with his mouth.
He pulled my legs wider, more ravenous now as he pushed against me.
His tongue pressed hard, slipping inside me before he moved back to my clit.
I moaned again and my pussy tightened as it begged for more. Begged to be filled, to be owned by him.
I couldn’t take anymore, sitting up to fumble with the button of his jeans, pushing them down along with his boxers. My hand wrapped around his length, stroking firmly. Aiden’s breath hitched, his hips pushing down against me.
“Evie,” he groaned, voice thick with desire. “I need you.”
“Then take me,” I challenged, wrapping my legs around his waist.