Friction

by L. D. Davis

  I felt Alden stiffen slightly. “Who was it?”

  “Larson.”

  Alden’s hand stilled on my hair as he stared at me. “What happened?” he demanded.

  “He…he held on to my coat so I couldn’t really go anywhere, and…Alden, he’s stalking me. He knew about my lunch with Sahara, he knew about the day I was in New York shopping for the gowns for the galas. He even knew about my first ride in the Gran Turismo with you. And he’s been in my car! I don’t know how, but he knew about things that weren’t out in the open.”

  Alden got up so fast that hot chocolate splashed out of his mug and onto the floor. He slammed the mug down on a table, making more of the brown liquid slosh out.

  “What else?” he bit out through gritted teeth. “What else did he say to you?”

  He began to pace like an angry lion, never taking his eyes off me.

  “Um,” I swallowed hard. I had a feeling I was in a bit of trouble. “He said he wasn’t going to chase me, that I would go back to him on my own, but he implied that he would only wait so long.”

  “What happens when his patience runs out?” Alden fired the question at me, his voice hard.

  I shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know.”

  “And Miami? What happened in Miami? Did that motherfucker show up in Miami?”

  I shook my head as I reached forward and put my mug down on the table next to Alden’s. My hands were shaking too badly to hold it. I didn’t want Alden to see them shaking, so I pulled the blanket up to my chin and folded my hands in my lap.

  “I didn’t see him in Miami, but…” I trailed off.

  “But what, Noa?” he barked, making me jump.

  “It’s easier if I show you,” I said softly as I started to get up. “I have to get my phone.”

  “Sit,” he commanded. “I’ll get it.”

  He stalked out of the room but returned a minute later and thrust my phone at me. I took it quickly to hide the tremble of my hand. I punched in my password on the shattered screen as Alden watched on with angry and questioning eyes. I went to my text messages and then handed it over to him. He took it and his confusion deepened as he looked at the picture of him and Trish.

  “I don’t understand,” he said. “Who sent this?” He looked closer and his eyes widened slightly. “It was sent the same day we got the picture, but it didn’t get published until a couple of days later.”

  “Larson sent it to me,” I answered quietly. “And I think he’s the one that took the picture. I think he was the blond head you saw in the alley that night.”

  Alden cursed under his breath as his one hand at his side balled into a fist. He went through the next two messages with his brow drawn down in fury and puzzlement.

  “I don’t fucking understand what he’s trying to do,” he growled.

  “I do,” I responded in even quieter than before. Alden’s eyes met mine and he waited for the explanation. “Larson Wright is probably the only person I know who has a bigger ego than you do. He thinks he is above chasing me down and trying to woo me to come back to him. He said that he won’t come after me. He even told me that on the day I left him. I don’t know if my relationship with you was the trigger for his latest behavior, or if it was only a matter of time, but he’s trying to corral me back without physically coming for me.”

  Alden’s fury intensified as his face grew red. He squeezed my phone so hard I thought he would crush it in his hand.

  “What was the point in sending you the link?”

  Ah. Right. The sex scandal.

  I had hoped he would overlook that, but he rarely overlooked anything.

  “I don’t know.” That was half-true. I didn’t know what Larson thought he knew besides the little bit I had shared with him, but I knew who it was about. I did not want to have that discussion with Alden just yet.

  He searched for the lie in my face, but I guess I had been convincing, because he finally stopped searching. He didn’t look away, though.

  “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me this shit sooner, Noa? Why did you keep this from me?”

  I swallowed. “It was – it is my problem.”

  He looked incredulous. “You really thought you could handle this on your own?”

  I was getting a little irritated myself. “Alden, I’ve been handling shit on my own since I was like twelve.”

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he bellowed. “Don’t you understand that he could have hurt you? He can still hurt you! Have you thought at all about your fucking safety? Have you thought at all about the other people around you that may be effected by this dildo’s obsession with you? You don’t have to do shit on your own, Noa. There’s bravery and strength, and then there’s pride and stupidity.”

  I flinched. Alden took in a deep, long breath.

  “Noa, you can’t keep shit from me like this,” he said in a calmer voice as he held a hand to his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut. “It scares the fuck out of me to know that you were dealing with this by yourself.” He opened his eyes and looked at me. “You need to rely on me, okay? You aren’t alone anymore. This isn’t your problem, it’s our problem.”

  He bent over and kissed my forehead. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” I said and realized that was my first time saying it out loud.

  Alden’s thumb caressed my cheek for a moment before he stood up again.

  “I have to make some phone calls,” he said. “I have to make sure you’ll be safe.” He handed me my phone and then disappeared down the corridor.

  Alden wanted me to meet Peyton as soon as possible after that night on the yacht. That hot, sexy, lovely, and then conflicting night…

  “I want the two people who matter most in my life to become acquainted,” Alden had said.

  So immediately after the Dallas gala, we used the private jet to fly to Minneapolis to visit with Peyton. Fortunately, the foster family and the caseworkers involved didn’t give him a hard time when he gave them a couple of days’ notice.

  I had never seen any childhood photographs of Alden, but if I had to imagine what he looked like at eleven years old, Peyton would be the face that would come to mind. He looked like a miniature version of Alden; it was so damn amazing. He had the same sandy blond hair, the same hazel eyes, and even moved like him.

  I watched as Alden lifted the kid in an embrace and shamelessly kissed his face. Peyton laughed and shouted that Alden was going to squeeze him to death, but made no effort to unwrap his thin arms from around Alden’s neck. A middle-aged woman with a badge hanging around her neck stood off to the side beside a middle-aged couple. Peyton’s foster mother shook her head disapprovingly, but the corner of her mouth was pulled up in a slight smile as she watched the brothers with kind eyes.

  “Alden, he is entirely too big for you to pick him up like that,” she admonished.

  Her husband stood beside her, holding what I assumed was Peyton’s guitar.

  “I want you to meet someone,” Alden said to Peyton as he put the boy down on his feet. He held his hand and led him across the room where I stood, nervously fidgeting with the hem of my shirt.

  Peyton looked up at me with a childish curiosity that I rather missed. I’m not sure if I ever had that kind of innocent quality.

  “Hello, Peyton,” I said quietly, holding my hand out to him.

  “Peyton, this is my beautiful girl, Noa,” Alden said proudly.

  Peyton’s eyes widened as he put his small hand into mine. He looked up at Alden and said “Like girlfriend? I thought you said that you would be single for life; that no piece of pussy would tie you down?”

  My mouth fell open and my hand dropped to my side as I stared disbelievingly at Alden.

  “That is entirely inappropriate, Peyton,” the woman I assumed was a caseworker said, just as she pulled out a clipboard, probably to document what Peyton just said.

  Alden grinned down at the boy. “Noa’s not just a pussy, kid. She’s a fucking diamond.”
>
  “Mr. Breck!”

  “Listen, lady, he hears worse than that on Nickelodeon, I’m sure,” Alden argued. “That Spongebob character says some fucked up shit.”

  “Stop. Talking,” I said to Alden, shaking my head.

  He didn’t seem to need any help from me losing his chances of getting Peyton. He seemed perfectly capable of screwing that up by himself.

  I refocused on the little boy in front of me. “Peyton, I’ve heard a lot about you. I am happy to finally meet you.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, too,” he said before glancing back up at Alden. He whispered his next sentence, as if I wasn’t standing a foot away from him and couldn’t hear everything he said. “She’s really pretty.”

  Alden looked at me with a gentle smile and whispered back “I know. She is really pretty.”

  We sat down for lunch a little while later – all six of us. Peyton’s foster parents, Jim and Mary, were kind and gave the boys as much space as they possibly could under the circumstances. They sat at the opposite end of the table and didn’t interfere in any way. They spoke when necessary but seemed to do their best not to take any time away from the brothers. The caseworker, Lynn, watched Alden and Peyton carefully and didn’t hide the fact that she was studying every move Alden made and every word he said. Sometimes, I got the impression that she had already made up her mind about my rock star, and I didn’t particularly like it.

  Peyton spoke animatedly about everything – school, friends, food, television, and music. He talked so much that he hardly ate any of his lunch. Alden hung onto every word as if the kid was about to reveal the deepest secrets of the universe. I was amazed that the brothers had only just met less than a year ago. They were so much alike and so familiar with each other that it made me realize how lacking my relationship with my one sibling was. I had known Warren my entire life and we weren’t as close as Alden and Peyton were after only a few months. There was such an open exchange of love and adoration on both sides. Peyton clearly revered Alden, and not just because he was one of the most illustrious men on the planet, but because he was his big brother, and Alden was absolutely luminous in his brother’s presence.

  After lunch, they sat down on the couch with their guitars. Peyton played one of Friction’s songs as a surprise for Alden.

  “I practiced for hours and hours and hours every day for weeks,” Peyton said after he had strummed the last note.

  “I can tell,” Alden said proudly as he ruffled his hair. “That was fucking amazing, Peyton.”

  He looked at him with such pride, and even I was mauled over by the kid’s skills. He obviously inherited Alden’s talent.

  “Have you been practicing the other song?” he asked the younger, budding musician.

  Peyton frowned slightly. “Yeah, but it’s a hard one.”

  “It’s okay,” Alden assured him. “You’ll keep practicing and get better, but I want to hear what you got, little man, and…” He leaned over and whispered conspiringly into the child’s ear. Peyton’s eyes lit up as they flickered over to me, betraying his brother without realizing it. Whatever it was Alden was whispering was about me.

  I glanced at the other three adults in the room, and they looked curiously from me back to the boys.

  “Ready?” Alden asked Peyton aloud.

  “Let’s rock it,” Peyton said excitedly.

  Just before strumming the first note, Alden gave me a wink that made me shiver with delight.

  As soon as Alden cleared his throat, I knew what the song was. I didn’t know it was possible to play Jet’s “Are You Going To Be My Girl” acoustically, but Alden’s fingers gracefully and easily found the notes as Peyton tried to keep up. I became a total fan girl, clapping, singing, and squealing when Alden looked at me as he sang the chorus. He got up from the couch with his guitar and walked over to where I stood, serenading me with the repetitive question of the song. I grinned and my heart fluttered about in my chest.

  “I’m already your girl,” I told him when the song came to a smooth end.

  Ignoring the instrument between us, I stood on my toes and pulled his head down to meet mine. The kiss I bestowed upon him was at least PG-13, which was already too much for the eleven-year-old a few feet away from us and definitely too much for the crotchety caseworker. When I pulled away from him, his mouth hungrily followed after mine.

  “French kissing has to be the grossest thing ever!” Peyton exclaimed, halting Alden’s pursuit. “Who wants to share each other’s saliva?”

  He sounded so disgusted that I covered my mouth with four fingers to hide my giggle. Alden gave me a grin that promised naughty things before turning to face his brother.

  “Bro,” he said as he walked back to him. “One day you’re going to want to share saliva with some hot chick. Trust me.”

  ***

  “How did you meet my brother?” Peyton asked me an hour later.

  We were sitting side by side on the couch, playing the Xbox that was set up in the room. It was some first shooter game that I was sucking gloriously at. Alden was sitting at a table on the other side of the room, talking quietly with Lynn, Jim, and Mary. Anxiety had me glancing across the room constantly, looking for trouble. More than once, I looked over to find Lynn looking at me speculatively.

  “He nearly killed me at a concert,” I said absently to Peyton.

  He looked up at me as if I had just said the most ridiculous thing ever. I couldn’t help it. I laughed lightly.

  “It’s true,” I said. “Your brother’s enormous ego nearly killed me. I didn’t really listen to Friction, but I went to the concert with my best friend because she’s a manipulative little monster, and would have cried if I refused. Of course, Kristy got pit tickets, and of course, we ended up right against the guardrail. As soon as the band came out, the crowd surged forward and I was smooshed up against it. I wasn’t happy about that and I wasn’t happy about watching Alden strut around the stage as if he were God’s gift to the entire female gender.”

  “Girls dig my brother,” Peyton said with an air of authority.

  I snickered. “Yeah, they do, but I wasn’t one of those girls. Your brother got on my last nerve. I hated everything about him, and he knew it. He stood up there on stage, trying to make me smile and swoon and all I did was scowl. I was so glad when I thought the concert was over, but they came back out for three encore songs. Toward the end of the third song, Alden jumped off the stage so all of the crazy, idiot girls could touch him. They went nuts. I was pushed up against the railing so hard that I couldn’t breathe. The closer he got to where I was, the worse it got. Then the absolute worst thing that could happen in that situation happened.”

  “What?” Peyton had paused the game to listen to me tell the story. He stared up at me with wide eyes, totally enthralled by the tale.

  “The railing broke and I fell on the floor. All of those girls were so insane about getting to Alden that a lot of them stomped right on me like I was part of the ground.”

  “What happened next?” Peyton asked eagerly.

  I looked down at him with a small smile. “Your brother saved me.”

  “Get out! He was your hero?”

  I looked across the room and just happen to catch Alden’s eye this time. Despite the clear tension in his jaw and neck, he winked at me and offered me a sweet smile.

  “He’s still my hero.”

  “He’s my hero, too,” Peyton said softly. I turned my attention back to him. “Someday soon he is going to come get me, adopt me, and let me live with him. I like Jim and Mary, but Alden is my real family, and he seems like he really, really loves you. So, I guess that makes you my family, too, since he really, really loves me, too. I can’t wait until we’re all together.”

  My heart squeezed in my chest and I had to blink rapidly to keep my tears at bay. I’d only known this kid for a couple of hours and I was head over heels in love.

  “Alden will be a very, very happy man when the adoption is finalized,�
�� I promised in a slightly quavering voice. “And no matter what, he will always be there for you, and he will always love you, because even though he is a complete idiot, Alden Breck has the biggest heart I’ve ever known.”

  Peyton’s brow furrowed. “Are you about to cry?”

  “No, I think it’s just allergies.” I smiled and got to my feet, putting the controller on the couch. “I’m going to go find something to take. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  I hurried away from the kid before the dam broke. I mistakenly glanced over at Alden again. He watched me with his brow furrowed just like Peyton’s. When he ignored Lynn and started to stand up, I gave a small shake and jerked my head at the caseworker, and then looked away before she could see my stricken face.

  Inside the en-suite bathroom, I stood in front of the sink with the palms of my hands pressing into my lower back as I stared down at the floor. Big, fat tears hung on the ends of my eyelashes before dropping to the tile.

  I hated that Alden had to go through so much shit to get Peyton. He was his brother for heaven’s sake! It shouldn’t have to be so hard. Peyton’s life had been hard enough already. With Alden, I knew he could be happy, healthy, and above all else, loved. Alden had a bit of a Peter Pan complex, but I knew he was really trying to be a better person for Peyton’s sake. I knew that he would do whatever he had to do for his little brother, the only flesh and blood he had in the world to love.

  Love.

  I loved Alden, despite the fact that I had tried so hard to hate him before. I never knew it was possible for me to love someone in the way that I love this untamed man. I thought for sure that my teen years and my years with Larson had sucked my soul and heart dry, leaving me incapable of ever trusting another man, let alone loving him. I wasn’t sure that I even knew how to love someone. I thought I was utterly, thoroughly broken, as the ink on my chest claimed, but Alden Breck snuck up on me. He claimed me, fixed me, cared for me, and loved me, and he demanded nothing in return. This was a man who never allowed himself to feel more than passing lust for a woman, who swore never to fall in love. It’s not like he needed a permanent girl on his arm, he had millions of horny women across the globe willing to step in as needed. He had been happy living his life just like that until I literally fell at his feet.