He needed to get to her before she managed to get out into the hallway and lose him in the crowd. He had to ask her to Zed's Halloween party. It didn't matter to him that he had shrugged the idea off earlier when Mason had asked, he did want to, he just wasn't sure he could muster up the courage.
Aiden pushed his way up the aisle, dodging the occasional book bag flung around a shoulder or a classmate jumping up from their desk. Finally past the front row of yellow and orange metal-topped desks, he half-sprinted across the front of the room. He came to a stop by Faith. She turned and her eyes met his.
“Hey, Aiden,” Faith started, her voice was small and silvery and her smile nearly took his breath. Flush red lips against tanned skin, her family’s Hispanic heritage intermingled with a long line of European blends.
“Hey,” he replied tautly and grinned stupidly. He tried to find the words that he had practiced the entire class period. Like some mental vacuum had rushed through, he found nothing.
Faith crinkled her brow, but the smile never left her face. “Are you all right?”
“Ah, yeah. I’m good,” he stuttered. No, my mind just went blank at the absolute worst moment ever, he thought. “I…uh…I was going to ask if you were going to the party tonight, the one at Zed’s.”
“Yeah, I’m going,” Faith confirmed. Her brow unwrinkled, her eyes opened a little wider and she looked at him, almost expectantly.
“That’s great,” Aiden filled in the gap. He laughed nervously. All the willpower he had mustered just seconds ago melted away into nothing. “I’m going to, too. I guess I’ll see you there.”
Hurriedly, Aiden turned and nearly jogged out the classroom door into the busy hallway before anything more could be said.
“Dammit,” he muttered under his breath as he walked past a group of girls huddled by their lockers, earning a sideways glance. He half-grinned and cursed himself again inwardly for his cowardice.
How hard could it be, Aiden? I mean really. It’s only a simple question. Will you go to the party with me? Dammit!
Up ahead, he caught a view of Mason’s brown mess of hair and naturally smooth face. He started to turn and take another route, he wanted to avoid admitting his failure, but Mason had already noticed him.
“Aiden,” Mason said over the rush of students, dodging around a pair of hand-holding seniors.
Aiden took in a deep breath and kept his trajectory steady as he met up with his friend. He grinned, hoping not to betray himself too quickly.
“So, what’d she say?” Mason half-begged.
Of course that would be the first thing you ask, wouldn't it?
“She’s going,” Aiden stalled, trying to take a neutral approach. It was the truth, but it was technically a non-answer, an avoidance.
“Well, I knew that, dumbass. But is she going with you?”
Aiden grinned cheesily, raising his right cheek high which caused his eye to squint slightly. He kept walking. Mason matched his pace, jumping in front of him, walking backwards with his hands outspread.
“Whoa there!” Mason stopped in his tracks, forcing Aiden to halt his escape. Mason cocked his head sideways and grinned ever so slightly. “You didn’t ask her, did you?”
“Well,” he tried. “I about did, but I froze. I got nervous.”
“You always get nervous when you try to talk to her, Aiden. Always,” Mason stressed his point. “You’ve only got two more years here at Western and then it’s off to college, and who knows where she’ll be then. You need to get a move on it, man.”
Aiden started walking again, head down slightly. Mason jumped in step and threw an arm playfully around Aiden’s neck, shaking him a bit while he ruffled Aiden’s perfectly-styled hair. “One of these days, man, you’ll learn.”
“Yeah, I know.” Aiden shoved Mason, mostly to protect his hair, with a grin. “I’ll talk to her eventually.”
“Tonight!” Mason ordered.
Aiden shook his head slowly. Down the hall, a more fitful exchange reached his ears.
“Eff off, asshole!” The voice was calmer than Aiden would expect considering the words. Its calmness did not detract from its effect, though, as it echoed up the hallway. Aiden and Mason exchanged glances, eyebrows raised. A small crowd had gathered about twenty yards down the hall.
“Hey, get off him!” The same voice, the same deliberate tone.
Aiden stood on the toes of his shoes to get a look over the growing crowd. He watched as someone was shoved against the wall, a flash of bright red hair flaring out onto the tiled wall. Aiden pressed a hand through the wall of students and wedged through. What's going on? Who's up there?
“Come on, Aiden, let it go,” Mason begged, throwing his hands down as his friend broke through the line. “Dammit!”
Past the crowd there was a chasm between the spectators and the entertainment. The entertainment was a group of four boys forming a semi-circle around two others. Aiden tried to assess the situation.
The first kid, the one doing the shoving, was Ben Corker, a junior. He was the jock type, second string quarterback for the school football team. He might have played three games since he joined the varsity team last year, but he thought he was “the stuff” as Mason put it. To his left, forming the farthest edge of the semi-circle, was another junior by the name of Liam and a boy that Aiden did not know but by face, broad and overly confident. The other boy was facing away from him.
Inside the ring were two more boys. Leaning against the wall, getting to his feet again, was Oliver Brooks, wavy shoulder-length red hair and all. He was a slim, almost scrawny kid, something his tight and brightly colored pant choice only made more obvious to the likes of Ben Corker. It was like an advertisement blinking the words Beat Me Up.
Next to Oliver, Chase Miller gave the boy a hand, pulling him up from his landing spot. Chase stood a full three inches above his counterpart at just a hair under six foot. His broad jawline and pale complexion stood in stark contrast to Oliver’s tanned skin and V-shaped face. Dressed mostly in shades of grey and black, except for the white logo on his shirt, something Aiden did not recognize, Chase repeated his warning.
“Fuck. Off.”
“Or what? You and your fag friend will beat us up?” Ben’s annoyingly deep voice bellowed out.
“Just…” Chase started.
“What’s going on here?” Aiden butted in, forcing his way past the boy on Ben’s left, Nicholas Rivers, another football jock. “What's all the fuss?”
Ben jerked back in surprise, meeting Aiden’s eyes.
“None of your damn business, Aiden,” Ben retorted portentously before returning to his prey. “So you going to apologize, freak?”
Aiden took a step back, almost stepping into Nicholas. Ben stepped forward and pushed Chase, sending him back two steps. Chase came to a stop, locking his eyes again with Ben’s. He seemed to be drilling through Ben’s skull with those nut brown, almost black eyes, his chest heaving not from exhaustion, but from the pent up anger building behind his ribcage.
“Are you going to apologize for bumping your faggot shoulder into me or what?” Ben yelled at Oliver, only inches from his face.
“Stop calling him that, or I’ll…I’ll,” Chase began to stutter, trying to find the words to get out of their situation.
“Just bug off, Ben,” Aiden interrupted as he wedged his body between Oliver and Ben. “You’re being pathetic. He accidently ran into you, get over it. It’s not like he was trying to make sweet love to you in the middle of the hallway.”
A small chorus of giggles rang from the mass of students surrounding them. Ben’s eyes shot out to the crowd incredulously, searching for those who dared laugh at him. Abruptly the boy’s demeanor changed. His authoritative manifestation disappeared into befuddlement, eyes darting about the crowd, searching for the eager eyes that had originally gathered. Instead he found them laughing at him. He took a step back and then spun around to face Aiden.
“Shut up, Aiden!” he yelled, “I didn’
t need you butting in.”
“Just leave, Ben,” Aiden held his ground. “It's not worth it. You're being petty.”
Sensing the loss of support in the crowd, Liam and the others began to back up, distancing themselves from Ben. Likewise, Ben began to step back, his face angry again, but withheld. The crowd’s giggles began to die.
Taking one last chance to keep up his persona, Ben jerked forward but stopped himself. Chase, Oliver and Aiden all jerked at the sudden motion. Ben grinned and then about-faced before catching up with his comrades down the hallway. Aiden rolled his eyes at the pettiness of his classmates as the crowd dispersed, leaving only Chase, Oliver, Aiden and Mason gathered by the wall. Mason kept his distance, lips pursed, ready to be done with this inconvenience.
“So,” Aiden turned to Oliver. “You okay, Olly?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Oliver replied, the irritation in his voice still rivaling his composure. “I didn’t need your saving. I could have handled him.”
A few feet behind them, Mason murmured something Aiden could not hear, and assumed he would rather not hear.
“Okay.” Aiden smiled and then looked to Chase, “You good?”
“Yeah,” Chase said, a hint of a grin crossing his lips, almost bordering on a thankful look. “Those guys are such pricks.”
“That’s jocks for you,” Aiden joked. “Well, I gotta get out of here. See y’all Monday.”
They nodded their goodbyes and parted ways. When Aiden’s gaze met Mason’s, the boy shook his head and let out an irritated sigh.
“What?” Aiden said once he was out of earshot of Olly and Chase.
“You! Always coming to the rescue of the needy,” Mason said, throwing his hands up in the air exaggeratedly. “Like some modern Robin Hood, without the whole stealing from the rich part.”
“Or the tights or cheeky accent,” Aiden continued the train of thought with a light chuckle that Mason joined in on.
“Exactly,” Mason grinned. “If you keep this up, though, tightless Robin or not, you’ll be lucky to make it past your junior year, man.”
“Ah, I’ll make it.” Aiden looked at Mason, eyes wide, and jeered at him, “Oh! You’re worried about me.”
Mason laughed, an exaggerated chuckle, and pushed Aiden away jokingly. “Shut up!”
Grinning still, Aiden shook his head and led the way out past the exit and to the parking lot.
“So, on a better topic,” Mason started. “Are you seriously still going to the party tonight as Spiderman?”
“Yes!” Aiden shot back, faking a hurt expression.
“Okay,” Mason threw his hands in the air defensively. “Okay! I just wasn’t sure if you changed you mind and decided to go as some emo kid or something instead.”
Aiden shook his head and answered his friend with one single raised digit on his right hand. The two burst out in laughter.
CHAPTER 5
Unable to restrain himself, Dalton smiled like a kid who had just opened a toy on Christmas day as he stepped out of the BMW. And that’s exactly how he felt. Except instead of months, it had been years.
Out of habit, he checked his tie in the car window before traversing the pavement back into the office. He depressed the top button on his key fob and the car's amber light housings lit up. Then they dimmed back into obscurity accompanied by the sound of the locks engaging. Cars rushed to and fro behind him on Branchview Road. The office was nicely situated between Carolinas Medical Center Northeast, the Carolina Mall and I-85. Charlotte was less than a half hour drive southwest.
Dalton crossed the threshold into the office and the let the door shut behind him. Jenna’s expectant face met him immediately at the receptionist’s desk. Bright brown eyes begged to know how things had went. Dalton smiled.
“How’d it go?” she asked.
“Great. I think it went great,” Dalton said, nodding his head. “I…”
“So, how did it go?” Daniel Cage entered the room from his office down the hall, a few seconds late in the conversation. His black hair was interrupted sporadically with signs of aging. Grey and white strands shined against the stark background. His gut hung just over his wide black belt and his forest green eyes were ready for good news. Dalton simply grinned.
“Like I was telling Jenna, it went great,” Dalton explained, shooting his sky blues at Jenna and then back to his partner. “Gavin seems ready to move. He liked the property and I think he has a clear vision of where he wants to be. I cannot speak for him exactly, but I think he’s going to go with the lot I showed him.”
Daniel patted Dalton on the back in congratulations, though it was far from over. The decision on the lot was not in stone yet, or ink, technically. The design for the estate was only a cursory set of ideas and no firm direction on the overall style had been reached. Once they did close on a piece of property, Dalton and Gavin would certainly go through iteration after iteration of design concepts before ever coming to a concrete blueprint. And even that was far from the end.
“Congratulations, Dalton,” Daniel said in his usual low pitch. “I know you’ve been waiting for this one for a while. Make sure you hit it out of the park.”
“Or get past the finish line, in this case,” Dalton corrected him. It only seemed right to use a racing analogy since his client was just that, an up-and-coming NASCAR driver.
Daniel pinched his lips and nodded before letting out a hoarse laugh. Dalton joined in. It was good to finally hit a goal, to be so close. He only hoped his client did not ditch and run further down the line.
“Well, once you settle the deal, we’ll all have to go out and have a drink, on you of course,” Daniel announced, earning a laugh from Jenna and a grin from Dalton. “Well, I’ve got to get back to Mrs. Sebastian. She wasn’t happy that I asked her to wait in the first place.”
Daniel nodded and turned to face Jenna. He tilted his head and eyed her. She raised an eyebrow curiously.
“Jenna,” he started.
“Mr. Wayne?” she grinned. Dalton shook his head. One day he'd grow used to that.
“Are you busy tonight?” Dalton asked, ignoring the joke. “Care to join me for a drink after work?”
“Sure,” she said without delay. She did not even bother to check her schedule. It wouldn’t be the first time she had cleared her schedule for Dalton and she hoped it wouldn’t be the last.
“Good,” he replied. “Cabarrus Brewery fine?”
Jenna nodded.
“All right, I’ll meet you there after work. I may be a few minutes behind,” he smiled and then turned and walked into his office.
The hearty growl of an engine sifted quietly through the wall moments after the gentle two-note chime of the driveway notification echoed through the open living room. It seemed to drift over from the kitchen, past the tall vase of fluffy hydrangea blossoms and over the couch where Lenore laid sprawled out with her book of the moment, Dean Koontz.
Trapped in the mind of a disturbed nymphomaniac psychologist playing dangerous mental games with his patients, Lenore’s attention left the beige pages and went to the kitchen. From the tone of the motor, she knew it was Aiden. Only his Camaro and Dalton’s M3 had that deep throaty rumble. He would walk in through the garage in a matter of moments. Lenore put the book down on the end table after marking her spot with a green clip-on bookmark and stood to her feet. She crinkled her brow.
What is Aiden doing home? Wasn’t he supposed to go to Mason’s?
Around the corner, the door pivoted open with the slightest groan and Aiden stepped past the threshold. The door gently shut behind him as he slung his pack on the kitchen counter.
“Aiden, what are you doing home?” Lenore asked.
“I forgot my costume for the party,” he explained, passing by her at a generous jog, taking the stairs two at a time up to his room.
Lenore lost sight of him at the top of the landing. She swiveled around and picked up a glass of water. It was no surprise that he had chosen to wear his Spiderman c
ostume from last year. At least it had been no surprise to Lenore. The wall clinger was by far her only son’s favorite comic hero, followed closely by Captain America. Lenore had advocated for a Cap costume, but had eventually given in to defeat.
Taking a sip from the clear tall glass, she wondered where Mara was, the one kid she had actually expected to see before late tonight. Her punishment mandated she come straight home from school, no side trips to friends’ homes, no ventures to the store or any place else without calling and asking first. Lenore had received no such call from her eldest child. She groaned, feeling an additional two weeks were soon to be added to her daughter's punishment.
She took a quick glance at her watch, 3:26PM. Mara had another four minutes, but Lenore knew she’d give her at least until a quarter-till four. Mara needed to know her limits but Lenore hated being the bad guy all the time, especially so close to her little girl’s graduation. Maybe four, she might could wait until four.
The thumping of Aiden’s feet from the hall above echoed down the stairwell before Lenore saw his head crest the opening. She smiled. He was growing up. He had lost the pudgy cheeks of his youth and the adorable high-pitched vocal quality that had carried him through elementary and middle school. She watched him intently as he rushed down the stairs. He was moving fast, but she saw every detail like it was in slow motion.
The gentle sloping nose she still tapped on occasion and told him how cute it was. His tanned cheeks always turned so red when she said it in public. His chiseled chin and full pink lips. She adored the honey starbursts of his eyes. Without showing him, she cried a little inside, happy and wishing she could cradle him again all in the same moment.
“Hey! Do you know where Mara is by chance?” Lenore called after him.
Aiden stopped at the door to the garage, “I think she’s on her way. I don’t keep up with her.”
To Watch You Bleed Page 5
