27. Aiden
Chapter twenty-seven
Aiden
I ’ve been in countless fights on the ice that would make most guys crumble, dropped gloves with enforcers twice my size. But watching Aurora’s fist connect with her ex’s face? That’s a whole new level of hot. That shit hit different. It’s like someone flipped a switch in my chest, pride and fear battling it out. Pride because, damn, my girl’s got a mean right hook. Fear because... well, when the hell did I start thinking of her as ‘my girl’?
Jax is staring daggers at me, but I can’t take my eyes off Aurora. I’ve always been a protector, the guy who stands up for others. But this? This is new territory. Aurora just decked her ex over some shit he said about me. That’s not just having my back - that’s going to war for me. And it’s doing things to my insides I can’t even begin to sort out.
“Ice pack,” Jax mutters, breaking the moment. I let go of Aurora’s hand reluctantly as she reaches for it. The thought of her bruising because of me doesn’t sit right. Makes me want to find Turner and give him a lesson he won’t forget.
“Can’t believe that asshole showed up here,” I growl. “Here,” I say, adjusting the ice pack gently. “Keep it there. It’ll help with swelling.”
“Yeah,” Aurora hisses as she presses the ice to her knuckles. Without thinking, I reach out.
When Aurora looks up at me, I’m damn near lost in her eyes. This feeling I get with her is terrifying as fuck. I haven’t felt this before, and I’m scared not only about what it means but also about how it could change everything.
We’ve lucked into a sort of pseudo-family here, but I know firsthand just how quickly families can be broken to pieces
“Thanks.” Her voice is soft, and I want to wrap it around me and never let go.
I don’t know how long we stand there in the foyer, but when Jax speaks up again, I nearly jerk in surprise.
“We need to talk.”
I know he’s right—but fuck if I don’t want to slip out the front door my damn self.
Instead, I sigh before gesturing for Aurora to follow him into the living room. Thankfully, she plops down on the couch between Jax and me.
I don’t know how heated this conversation will get, but with her there, it will at least keep me from trying to strangle him if he says something out of pocket.
The conversation is hard to get going, and we all sit there not looking at one another for a while before Jax takes the plunge.
“So, how long has this been going on?”
I know exactly what ‘this’ he’s talking about, but I’m not sure how truthful to be. I’m thankful when Aurora speaks up until I realize she’s taking things way back.
“This time or the first time?”
Jax turns his head slowly to look at me, and I can see the same fire in them that makes him so good at hockey. Everyone thinks of him as this sweet, cool joker, but the truth is Jax has a rage to rival my own. It might take a lot longer and a lot more effort to make it boil over, but once it does, his rage burns far longer than mine.
“What do you mean the first time?” He glances at Aurora and then me. “This…you two were together before?”
I groan silently before nodding once sharply. “Yeah.”
“Was it—“
“I was over eighteen, Jax,” Aurora cuts in, probably guessing where his questioning is going. “It was at my senior prom, remember? You were gonna take me, but Aiden stepped up. He never even looked at me before then.”
“I looked. But you were just a kid, so I wasn’t really paying much attention outside of making sure you didn’t do anything stupid.” I shrug when she gives me a look. “If I had let you go off and do some stupid shit and Jax found out I didn’t stop you, or at least warn you, he would’ve flipped out.”
Aurora purses her lips. “I mean, you’re not wrong, but it’s still annoying. I didn’t need a damn babysitter.”
I can see Jax looking back and forth between us. “Wow… I trusted you, dude.” He says, shaking his head in disapproval.
“No, man…it wasn’t like that— I just-”
“How long this time? I mean, where you two all shacked up right under my fucking nose this whole time?”
I clear my throat before replying. “We’re not together.”
That isn’t what I planned to say, and I can tell by the way Jax’s eyes narrow that he doesn’t appreciate it.
But I’m not trying to lie. I know that keeping things hidden is what led to this shit to begin with. “Not like that.”
Aurora nods. “It was just casual… you know, just while I figured things out. Plus, I didn’t want to go out and find some random hookup. That’s too risky.”
“Okay, I get that. I guess. But I know you, Aurora. You get attached. And despite what Aiden says, he’s not enough of a dipshit playboy to shit where he eats. So, I ask again, what the fuck is this?”
“It’s whatever she wants it to be,” I say. “I’m available. No harm, no foul.”
“But there is harm. Did you two ever think about what happens if things go south between you?”
Jax isn’t wrong. I have thought about that very thing too many times to count. I know Aurora and I are playing a risky game that could burn everyone in the end if we’re not careful. “We have the team to think of. If we can’t get it together, then that affects everything.”
“I know that,” I say, wanting nothing more than for this conversation to be over. I don’t want to have to think about all this shit.
I stand up, walk over to the window, and look out. I’ve carefully crafted this future as soon as I knew I had a shot. It isn’t like I don’t know that my position here is precarious.
But whatever it is about Aurora, I’ve lost sight of all that, and I don’t understand why. Why have I been willing to put everything I worked so damn hard for at risk?
“It wasn’t Aiden’s fault, Jax. He wasn’t the only one not thinking about the long-term effects.” I turn to look at Aurora. She’s looking down at the ice on her hand.
“It was nice to feel safe and that I could be myself and not have to worry if the person liked me or not. I know where I stand with Aiden. I know this isn’t permanent, and I’m okay with that.”
“Aurora,” Jax says. “I don’t think this —“
“You deserve more than that.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. Her words hit a nerve deep inside me, and I can’t fucking stand it. “I’m not worth all this. You deserve more than that piece of shit, Turner. And you deserve more than a sometimes night of fun.”
Jax looks at me like he’s trying to figure out a puzzle. I want… no, need to know what she’s thinking about all of this.
I sigh and lean back against the wall, arms crossed like a shield over my chest. This whole ‘talking about feelings’ thing has my skin crawling. Every instinct is screaming at me to bolt, to run as far and fast as I can from this conversation. But I force myself to stay put. There’s too much at stake here to fuck it up by running away.
“Aiden.”
Jax’s voice cuts through my internal panic. There’s a seriousness in his tone I’ve never heard before, not even during our toughest games. It snaps me to attention like a coach’s whistle. I can feel the weight of what’s coming next, heavy as a loaded question.
“Do you have feelings for my sister? Do you like Aurora?”
And there it is. The million-dollar question. The one I’ve been dodging even in my own head. Suddenly, the room feels too small, the air too thick. I’m trapped between the truth I’m scared to admit and the lie that could make this all go away.
But the lie is already on my tongue, waiting to be free. One word and I can end all this confusion set us back on familiar ground. It’d be so damn easy. And yet...I can’t do it. I’m fucking tired of lying, especially to myself.
“Yeah, I do.”
Jax nods like he expected it, but Aurora? She looks like I just told her the sky is green. It hits me like a sucker punch. Has she really never thought about us? About why she keeps ending up in my bed?
The thought that she’s never considered feelings being involved makes me want the floor to open up and swallow me whole. This is why I don’t do relationships. I’d fuck it up, just like every relationship I’ve ever seen. My family’s great at a lot of things, but healthy relationships ain’t one of them.
And Aurora? She’s too good for this shit. She’s all sunshine and rainbows, and I’m a fucking stormcloud.
“But it doesn’t matter,” I add quickly. Jax stands up, fists clenched.
“Why the fuck not?”
“Because, man, I’ve got my own shit. I can’t drag her into that.” The honesty burns coming out. I avoid their eyes. Looking would only make it hurt more. “I’m not the right guy for her. Anyone can see that.”
Jax looks like he wants to push back, but Aurora beats him to it. Her voice is quiet but sharp.
“It’s really frustrating when you two talk about me like I’m not here.” She looks up at me, her expression indecipherable. Jax turns to her as she stands. Aurora’s eyes lock onto mine, and I can’t read her expression for shit. It’s like trying to decipher a play I’ve never seen before. Jax turns to her as she stands up, and I brace myself for whatever’s coming next.
“Sorry, sis,” Jax’s eyes flick to me, and I know what’s coming. “What about you? How do you feel about him?”
Part of me wants to shut this down, but a bigger part is desperate to hear her answer.
The silence that follows is fucking deafening. I’m trying to look cool like this isn’t make-or-break for me, but inside? I’m a fucking mess. My ears are straining to catch every breath, a hint, a clue.
I’m not supposed to care this much. I’m not supposed to let hope lead me on like some rookie chasing his first goal. But here I am, hanging on every second of silence like my life depends on it. I’ve never wanted to hear something so badly in my life.
Somehow, without me even noticing, Aurora’s become the most important person in my life right now, and that scares the shit out of me.
“I don’t know.”
Three words. Quiet as a whisper on center ice, but they hit me like a full-body check. Pain floods through me, sharp and sudden. It’s all I can feel. Those words, so soft and uncertain, nearly take me to the ground.
They’re quiet, almost a whisper, but they might as well be a fucking foghorn for how they’re ringing in my ears. Aurora’s eyes meet mine for a split second, then she’s looking away. That fleeting glance does nothing to ease the ache. If anything, it makes me wish I could disappear into the boards.
She doesn’t say another word, even as Jax asks her to wait. She just turns and walks out. A few moments later, her door shuts.
The sound echoes through the house, final as a buzzer at the end of a losing game.
And just like that, I’m left standing here, feeling like I just took a slapshot to the chest. Because that sound? That’s not just a door closing. That’s the sound of my heart trying to figure out how to keep beating.