Chapter 18 #2
"No, he won't. Not at first," she said, squeezing my arm. "But he loves both of you. Eventually, he'll come around. You just have to give him time."
I nodded, even though I didn't believe it. Some betrayals were too big to forgive.
"I need to find Rosie," I said. "Tell her what's happening."
"Be careful," Maddox warned. "Aaron's watching you like a hawk."
I slipped back inside, scanning the crowd for Rosie. She'd moved to the kitchen, helping Ivy refill chip bowls.
Our eyes met across the room. I nodded toward the back door, our signal that we needed to talk privately.
She made an excuse to Ivy and slipped outside, joining me in the shadows at the side of the house.
"What's wrong?" she asked immediately as I wrapped my arms around her.
I told her everything. Sebastian's threat. Nova and Maddox's warning. The plan to expose us at practice tomorrow.
With each word, the color drained from her face.
"Tomorrow," she whispered. "He's going to tell everyone tomorrow."
"Unless we tell Aaron first. Tonight."
"But the party..."
"I don't care about the party." I took her hands. "Rosie, we're out of time. This is happening whether we're ready or not. At least this way, we control how Aaron finds out."
“And what about the pictures?” she asked, voice small and scared. “Does he really have pictures?”
“I don’t know, but I will find out. The most important thing is that we tell Aaron, and I’ll deal with Sebastian after,” I said, hugging her closer.
She nodded slowly, tears forming in her eyes. "Okay. Okay, let's do it. Let's tell him."
"Are you sure?"
"No. But we don't have a choice anymore." She squeezed my hands. "Together, right? We tell him together."
"Together," I agreed, even though I wanted to tell her to hide, to let me take all of Aaron's anger alone.
We walked back inside, hand in hand for the first time in public. A few people noticed, did double-takes, but we didn't stop.
Aaron was in the living room, now talking to Max. When he saw us approaching, saw our joined hands, his smile faded as realization dawned on him.
"Aaron," I said, my voice steady despite my racing heart. "We need to talk. Somewhere private."
His eyes moved from our hands to my face, then to Rosie's. I watched understanding dawn, watched his expression shift from confusion to realization to fury.
"Yeah," he said quietly, his voice dangerously calm. "I think we do."
The party continued around us, but it felt like we were in a bubble. Just the three of us and the secret that was about to blow everything apart.
Aaron led us to Max's room, the only place in the house that had a lock. He closed the door behind us and turned to face us.
"How long?" he asked, his voice still too calm.
"Since September," I admitted. "Officially since September. But we've had feelings for longer."
"Months." Aaron's jaw clenched. "You've been lying to me for months."
"We wanted to tell you," Rosie said, her voice small. "We were going to tell you after Westpoint..."
"After Westpoint?" Aaron laughed, but there was no humor in it. "So you were just going to keep lying? Keep sneaking around? Make me look like an idiot?"
"It wasn't like that..." I jumped in, averting his anger from Rosie back to me.
"Then what was it like, Derek?" Aaron's voice rose. "Because from where I'm standing, my best friend has been fucking my little sister behind my back and lying about it to my face. That seems pretty clear."
"Don't talk about her like that," I said quietly but firmly. “This isn’t about sex.”
"I'll talk about my sister however I want!" Aaron took a step forward. "You don't get to tell me how to feel about this. You don't get to act like you're protecting her when you're the one who..."
"Who what?" Rosie interrupted, her voice stronger now. "Who fell in love with me? Who treated me better than any guy ever has? Who was there for me when I needed someone?"
"He's my best friend, Rosie. And you're my sister. There are lines..."
"Lines that we chose to cross," she finished. "Because we love each other. Because we make each other happy. Because this is real."
Aaron looked at her as if he were seeing her for the first time. "How long have you been in love with him?"
"Since last year," she admitted. "Since he was recovering from his injury. Maybe even before that."
"Last year." Aaron's voice was flat. "So all those times you were visiting him, bringing him food, spending hours at the hospital..."
"I was falling for him, yes. But I didn't tell him. I didn't do anything about it until this year."
"Because you knew I'd be pissed."
"Because we knew it was complicated," I corrected. "Because we knew it would affect the team. Because we didn't want to hurt you."
"Too late for that." Aaron's eyes were cold as they turned to me. "You know what the worst part is? It's not that you fell for her. It's that you lied. Over and over. You looked me in the eye and lied."
"I know. And I'm sorry..."
"Sorry doesn't cut it." Aaron moved toward the door. "I need to get out of here before I say something I'll regret."
"Aaron, wait..." Rosie reached for him, and the irony of her holding on to my hand as she did wasn’t lost on me.
"Don't." He pulled back from her touch. "I can't look at either of you right now."
He left, slamming the door behind him, leaving us all alone.
The silence that followed was deafening. I pulled Rosie into my arms as she started to cry, holding her while she shook.
We should have been relieved that the secret was out and we were no longer hiding. But instead, we were completely shattered.
"It's going to be okay," I murmured, even though I didn't believe it.
"No, it's not." Her voice was muffled against my chest, and my heart broke to see her like this. "I just lost my brother."
"You didn't lose him. He's hurt and angry, but he'll come around. He loves you."
"You don't know that."
She was right. I didn't, but I hoped.
The door burst open again, and I tensed, expecting Aaron to come back for round two.
Instead, it was Max, with Maddox close behind.
"Shit," Max said, taking in our tear-stained faces. "It went that badly?"
"Worse," I confirmed.
"He's downstairs telling everyone the party's over," Maddox reported. "And he told Sebastian that if he says one word about this to anyone, Aaron will personally make sure he never starts another game."
At least there was that. Sebastian's mouth would stay shut, at least for now.
"What do we do?" Rosalie asked, looking between them.
"You give him time," Max said gently. "Let him process. He'll be angry for a while, but he loves both of you. Eventually, that will win out."
"And in the meantime?" I asked.
"In the meantime, you focus on Westpoint. You play your game. You show him that this thing between you and Rosie doesn't affect your ability to be a team player." Max's expression was serious. "That's the only way you start to earn back his trust."
I nodded, even though the idea of stepping onto that field with Aaron hating me felt impossible.
"Come on," Maddox said to Rosie. "Let's get you home. Daisy's waiting outside."
Rosie looked at me, her eyes asking if I'd be okay. We could have spent the night together in my room, but with Aaron’s wound so fresh, it wouldn't have been cool.
Instead of begging her to stay, I kissed her forehead. "Go. I'll call you later."
She nodded and let Maddox lead her away.
Alone with Max, I finally let myself feel the full weight of what had just happened.
"I fucked up," I said quietly.
"Yeah, you did." Max's honesty was brutal but necessary. "But you also fell in love. And sometimes love makes us do stupid things."
"He'll never forgive me."
"He will. Eventually." Max gripped my shoulder. "But first, you have to forgive yourself. And you have to prove to him that Rosie's worth it. That she's worth risking your friendship."
"She is," I said without hesitation.
"Then show him. Not with words, words are cheap right now. Show him with actions. Be there for him even when he pushes you away. Support the team even when it's hard. And love his sister the way she deserves to be loved."
I nodded, knowing Max was right but not sure how I was going to survive the next few days.
The party was officially over, people streaming out into the night. I helped clean up automatically, my mind elsewhere.
I'd done what we'd planned. I'd told Aaron the truth.
And now I had to live with the consequences.