She's With Me

by Jessica Cunsolo

  “Who’s Jonesy?” I ask, ignoring the effect Aiden’s touch has on me.

  “He kind of runs this thing. He’s the neutral guy who holds the betting money for the racers. The racers put the cash down up front so that no one gets ripped off. Jonesy holds it while we race and gives it to the winner after. That way, everything’s fair and no one can short anyone money they owe.”

  “Makes sense. But where are we going now?” I ask, already knowing but dreading to hear the answer.

  “To challenge Ryan and take his money,” he says simply.

  What if Dave’s there and says something? I don’t think he will, because if he wanted to fight Aiden, he would’ve gone to him directly instead of beating up his girl to get to him. I freeze and Aiden looks at me funnily before I shake my head to clear it and continue walking beside him.

  I said his girl.

  And the weird part? I like it. I like the sound of “his girl.”

  Oh my God, I like Aiden. Like, more than a friend. Eff. My. Life. What is happening to me?

  Aiden looks down at me and tenderly strokes my hand with his thumb, thinking that my racing pulse and tight grip are due to my nervousness about being near Ryan and the Silvers, not because of my terrifying revelation.

  As we get closer to them, I know that I should feel more worried or nervous, especially since Dave and his friends assaulted me moments ago, but I’m not. I’m comforted by Aiden’s presence, and somehow I know that if shit gets crazy, Aiden’s first priority will be to keep me safe.

  Ryan leans against his Mustang, talking to some other Silvers. Dave is there, sporting a newly split lip and freshly bruising black eye, courtesy of Luke, and I feel my blood turn to fiery lava in my veins. I want to strut right up to him and castrate him where he stands. What kind of coward has his friend restrain a girl so that he can beat her up? Plus, he’s an even bigger coward because he only beat me up to hurt Aiden, since he’s too scared to face him one on one (which he should be, Aiden would totally kick his ass). Kaitlyn is there as well, talking to Makayla, and a few other girls who go to C. S. High.

  As we approach the group, they notice our presence and turn their hostile gazes on us. A malicious smirk grows on Ryan’s face the moment he sees us. The sides of his head look freshly shaved and he’s wearing a tight-fitting long-sleeved gray shirt with black sleeves that accentuate his muscles and dark-blue jeans. Again, I’m struck by how hot he would actually be if not for the fact that he’s a total dickwad.

  Ryan confidently strides toward us, followed by his pack of loyal followers. Kaitlyn marches right up to his side and he swings his arm around her. Both have venomous gleams in their eyes and stand confidently, like they own the whole world. I wish I could wipe the smug look off her face.

  “Parker,” Ryan addresses Aiden, then turns his intense gaze to me. “Parker’s slut.”

  Aiden’s eyes narrow and he goes to take a threatening step closer to Ryan, but I pull him back with our joined hands.

  “Satan,” I address Ryan without missing a beat, then look at Kaitlyn. “Satan’s whore.”

  Kaitlyn scowls at my hand resting comfortably in Aiden’s. “What do you wannabes want?”

  Aiden looks questioningly at Dave’s newly damaged face before turning his attention back to Ryan.

  “You always want to race me, here’s your chance,” Aiden says impassively.

  “You want a shot at me?” Ryan asks, acting like he’s the big man on campus.

  “Is that a yes?” Aiden keeps his tone even and his face in his regular confident and impassive expression.

  “You sure this is a good idea?” Ryan asks, trying to act like it’s no big deal, but it’s obvious that he’s excited. “We all know that the men in my family are notorious for beating you.”

  This time I can’t hold Aiden back when he lets go of my hand, closes the space between them, and takes a swing at a wide-eyed Ryan. A few feet behind him, shocked and frozen in place, Kaitlyn screams as Ryan is knocked to the ground from the force of Aiden’s single punch.

  The heat of Aiden’s anger radiates off of him to where I stand. Ryan spits out blood from his position on the ground and his loyal dog pack take a second to register that their leader was just knocked to the ground before setting their gazes on Aiden.

  Oh shit.

  Aiden is greatly outnumbered, and this is not going to end well . . . for them.

  Aiden’s taken on a crowd of guys his size and even bulkier and heavier, and still kicked ass while he wasn’t even that mad. This time it’s personal, and if Aiden’s anger alone is any indication, he’s not just promising an ass-kicking, he’s promising to destroy them.

  Just when the dog pack is about to pounce, we hear a loud and authoritative voice. “All right, that’s enough, boys.”

  The dog pack freezes and Ryan slowly stands back up. I take the opportunity to run around to Aiden and get in front of him, putting my hands on his muscled chest and pushing him back, trying to get distance between him and the Silvers.

  He registers that it’s me touching him and he doesn’t resist when I push him back, since I wouldn’t be able to move him if he didn’t allow it. His breathing is heavy and his whole body is hard and tense, ready to attack on a second’s notice. We move back a few feet, but he keeps his infuriated eyes locked on Ryan the whole time.

  “Aiden,” I say calmly and put a hand on his cheek, trying to get him to look down at me. He keeps his angry eyes locked on Ryan for a few more moments before slowly meeting my gaze. “Please don’t fight,” I whisper, staring into his darkening gray eyes, feeling his chest rise and fall with anger with my other hand.

  He studies me for a moment before releasing a heavy breath through his nose and closing his eyes. I bring both my hands around his waist under his leather jacket and hug him to me, resting my cheek on his chest.

  Aiden’s body starts to relax and he puts his arms around me. I distantly register people having a conversation behind me, so I pull back slightly but keep my arms around Aiden’s waist. I look questioningly in his eyes and he nods slightly, indicating that he’s okay.

  Reluctantly, I pull away from him, but he keeps one arm around me and firmly holds me to his side. My touch seems to have a calming effect on him, and I subconsciously sink into his side, loving the sparks I feel when I touch him.

  We face everyone else, and I see that the raspy voice that broke up the fight belongs to a short, bulky guy with tattoo sleeves and short, dark hair. He must be at least five foot two, shorter even than me, but looks to be in his mid to late twenties. He’s talking to Ryan in a professional manner, Mason standing beside him. This must be Jonesy, and Mason finally brought him over like Aiden instructed. Although short, Jonesy has a commanding air that makes it clear that he’s capable of sort of running this thing.

  We walk back to the group, Aiden already having slipped into his businesslike attitude.

  “So, is there a race happening or what?” Jonesy asks.

  Aiden’s eyes lock back onto Ryan’s. “If he’s not afraid of facing me.”

  “You’re on, asshole.”

  “All right!” Jonesy announces excitedly. “You know the drill, cash up front before the race. How much is it going to be tonight? Standard entrance fee of three hundred?”

  Ryan gives an empty, cold laugh. “The entrance fee is for pussies. How about we up it a couple grand?”

  Aiden’s face doesn’t reveal anything. “You sure you can afford that?”

  Ryan scoffs and gives a malicious smirk. “I’m going to enjoy taking two grand from you.”

  I tug on Aiden’s shirt with the hand that’s resting on his back beneath his leather jacket, trying to signal not to bet that much money. I know the Boys said he never loses, but there’s always a chance. Plus, he’s doing this in part to get back at Ryan for vandalizing my car. I know that this rivalry goes way d
eeper than just me and my car, but I still don’t want Aiden to risk that much money because of me.

  He ignores me and says, “Let’s do this then.”

  “Great!” Jonesy says, visibly excited. Aiden told me that Jonesy doesn’t get anything from the racers’ entrance fee, but he gets a cut from everyone who bets on them. He’s probably going to make a lot of money from having the two rivals finally face one another.

  “Go get ready and meet me at the starting line in your cars, with your money, in fifteen minutes! Let’s have a clean race, boys!” Jonesy hurriedly turns around, going back to hype everyone up and take bets for probably the most anticipated race of the year.

  Walking back to the group with Aiden and Mason is tense, to say the least. Aiden is seriously out of his mind. The difference between being two thousand dollars richer or poorer depends on a five-minute race against Satan’s spawn.

  Before we get to the group, Aiden tugs on my hand and brings us to a halt. “I need a minute with Amelia. Tell everyone what’s going on and we’ll be there soon,” Aiden instructs Mason, who nods and heads back to the group.

  Aiden releases my hand and looks at me with a . . . guilty expression? I’ve never seen him with a guilty look before. The difference in his whole demeanor is strikingly obvious now that we’re in private, and I forget how he acts differently with me than with everyone else. He has his guard down, letting me read his emotions, which is remarkably different compared to the guarded, stoic, impassive Aiden he was just now in front of the Silvers.

  This is real. This is Aiden. He feels comfortable enough around me to let his guard down and let me in. And the scary part about it? I’m not even sure if he consciously knows that he’s doing it.

  “Are you mad at me?” he asks softly.

  “I’m not mad, but two grand is a lot of money, Aiden! That’s money you could use for university or your brothers or—”

  “No, not that.” He waves me off. “I mean that I broke my promise.”

  I freeze, finally registering what he means and why he looks guilty. “I told you I wouldn’t fight and I almost caused one anyway. I just—he just—I had to.”

  I can’t. I can’t handle this. If he gets any more amazing my heart will explode. My body moves on its own accord, and I step closer to him.

  “Of course I’m not mad at you,” I reply honestly. “I don’t need to know all the details to know that he deserved that one.”

  “Ryan’s dad is my stepfather, and he’s my stepbrother, and I hate him, but you probably already guessed that.”

  Deep down, I knew, but thought if I didn’t acknowledge it, it wouldn’t have to be true—like if you ignore something long enough it will just go away. The thought of Aiden having to deal with a monster like Ryan because his mom married Ryan’s dad when they were kids makes me ache for him. I nod, never breaking eye contact with him, never letting go.

  I especially don’t want to think about their history or what Ryan meant when he said that the men in his family are known to “beat” Aiden. I don’t want to acknowledge the possible double meaning, and what that would mean about Aiden’s childhood. I don’t want to think about the fact that Ryan’s dad, Greg, is in jail, and the possible atrocities that a young Aiden would have had to face to make him the guarded, stoic man he is today. It just hurts too much to think about that.

  “So we’re okay?” he says, gently.

  “We were never not okay,” I say.

  He takes my hand again, a small action that I’ve become quite fond of, and we start heading back to the group.

  “Aiden.”

  This time it’s me who tugs his hand and brings us to a stop. He raises an eyebrow questioningly.

  “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” I say, ignoring the stab of guilt I feel for being such a hypocrite.

  “The same goes for you, Amelia. I’m here for you,” he replies.

  And I believe it. Aiden is genuinely here for me. His past actions have done nothing but solidify that statement, and I want nothing more than to be able to open up to him. I wish I could just tell someone my full story for the first time and just be able to be me. To have even one person know the truth would take such a heavy burden off my shoulders.

  Aiden could be that guy—the perfect guy. I just know, deep down in my heart and bones, that Aiden would be able to help me. I’m so tempted to just blurt out everything that I’ve kept bottled up for so long and cry in Aiden’s open arms.

  But I can’t. And I won’t. Because I’m Thea Kennedy. And my reality sucks.

  I’m not destined to end up with such an amazing, understanding, and loyal man like Aiden. So instead of pouring out my soul like my heart is screaming at me to do, I just send Aiden a small smile and nod. He looks at me skeptically for a second before letting it slide, and we continue walking back to the group.

  “Aiden! Two grand in one race? When you get that money, there better be some labeled Noah’s burger,” Noah exclaims when we get to the group. “Wait, what am I saying—it’s two grand . . . make that two burgers!”

  Charlotte and Annalisa notice my hand held comfortably in Aiden’s, and they each try to catch my eye, but I avoid them. They’re going to ask what’s going on with us, and I don’t even know the answer to that. I definitely don’t want to spill and tell them about my crush on Aiden. We don’t need to complicate things further.

  “When does the race start?” I ask.

  “I’ll go to the starting line in five minutes,” Aiden says, just as we hear the rumble of a loud car driving past us.

  Ryan’s red Mustang slowly cruises by, the driver’s-side window rolled down so that he can talk to us from where he is.

  “You know, Greg’s due for parole soon. Maybe if he gets out early he can visit with Jason and Jackson. They need a strong father figure with a heavy hand,” Ryan teases, and Aiden’s face contorts with pure rage.

  Aiden quickly moves forward, as if he could bare-handedly strip the metal off of Ryan’s Mustang just to get to him, but Mason and Julian jump in front of him and hold him back as Ryan speeds away to the starting line. Aiden keeps his burning gaze on Ryan’s car and roughly shakes off Julian and Mason.

  “Change of plans,” Aiden growls. “I want more money from this douche bag.”

  Aiden’s furious. His little brothers are his life. No one is going to get away with threatening his family.

  “You know the rules. Once you agree on the amount with Jonesy it’s locked in,” Noah sadly reminds him.

  Chase nods, a thoughtful look on his face. “Plus, when you beat Ryan, he’ll be so ashamed that he’ll probably just throw a fit and leave.”

  “Can’t you just smash his kneecaps in with a tire iron or something and get it over with?” Annalisa suggests.

  Aiden meets my eyes for a second, then looks back at Annalisa and shakes his head. “As much as I’d love to, that won’t do anything in the long run.”

  Aiden’s smart. He’ll always have the opportunity to beat Ryan’s face in with his own two hands, but right now, he has the opportunity to screw him out of more money than Ryan could even count.

  “I agree with Aiden. That piece of shit needs to learn a lesson about not being a complete fuckface. If it takes screwing him out of four grand to do so, then so be it,” Julian declares, everyone else nodding in solidarity.

  Did he just say four grand? Like a four, with three zeros after it?

  “Great. So what’s the plan?” Mason speaks up.

  Aiden looks at us with a serious expression on his face. “You’ll know it when you see it.”

  Chase checks his watch. “It’s time.”

  Julian opens the tailgate of his pickup truck and hoists Annalisa into the bed of the truck, giving her a better standing view of the track, and jumps up after her. Chase does the same with Charlotte as Mason speaks in hushed tones
to Aiden.

  Noah heads over to Mason’s Range Rover, parked beside Julian’s truck, and hops in, his head emerging from the sunroof seconds later as he hoists himself up and sits on the roof, his legs dangling down the side of the SUV. Mason finishes with Aiden and goes over to his vehicle as Aiden walks back over to me. He stops in front of me and puts his hands on my hips, the warmth from his hands spreading throughout my entire body.

  “Be safe,” I whisper, my mind too focused on his warm hands to come up with anything else to say.

  He nods, an unspoken agreement in his eyes, before he tightens his grip and easily lifts me onto Julian’s pickup.

  I stand with Charlotte and Annalisa, still not recovered from Aiden’s closeness and the tingling feeling his hands left on my body. He gets into his Challenger and the engine roars to life, and we watch him drive to the starting line to embarrass Ryan and screw him out of more cash than I’ve ever seen in one sitting. To say that I’m nervous would be an understatement.

  Aiden drives to the starting line to race his enemy and stepbrother for two thousand dollars—his enemy, who vandalized my car, probably made Aiden’s life miserable as a child, and threatened to sic his abusive father on Aiden’s little brothers. Ryan deserves a lot more than losing two grand in a race. Aiden and Ryan stop their cars side-by-side at the starting line, and Jonesy walks between them. I see Ryan hand him an envelope of cash. Aiden does the same, and Jonesy takes a second to quickly count all the money. Apparently satisfied with the envelopes’ contents, Jonesy shoves them in his pocket and takes a few steps back.

  “Who’s ready to race?” he yells over the music blasting from someone’s car, and the crowd cheers in anticipation. People are standing on cars and crowding the starting line, trying to get a look at the two greatest known enemies going head to head. From where we’re standing in the bed of Julian’s pickup, we have a pretty good view of the track. The headlights from the numerous scattered cars illuminate the pitch-black winding country roads, the bright moon only giving off so much light.