Switching the car off, I tried to shake all my thoughts. I didn’t want to go into a happy house with a cloud of the past hanging over me.
I could hear the laughter before I even opened up the front door, and as soon as I did, Asher came running toward me with a helmet on his head. I jumped out of the way just in time and pushed the front door shut with my foot.
“Hey, Asher?” He turned toward me, his little face screwed up. “Slow down there, bud.”
“Can’t.” He dipped down, preparing to tackle something else. “Gotta get the bad guys.” He took off in a whirlwind, and I followed after him into the kitchen.
“Hey,” I greeted Lola. She stood at the kitchen counter, prepping food. “I got your stuff.” I placed it all on the opposite counter and stepped back. “Dad and the guys outside?” I asked, trying to see through the sliding glass door that led out into the backyard.
“Yep.” Lola huffed out a breath and swiped her hand over her forehead. “Could you go tell Belle to come down and help set the table?”
“Sure.” I planted a kiss on Lola’s cheek and exited the kitchen. Lola was only a few years older than me, and although she was technically my stepmom, she was more like an older sister. She was now a constant in my life, along with my dad and two siblings.
I took the stairs two at a time and turned left at the top to go to Belle’s bedroom. “Belle?” I called, but I didn’t get a response, so I walked inside her room and stumbled back when she jumped out of nowhere. “Jesus!”
“Scared you!” Her giggle took over her whole body as she caved in on herself, and I couldn’t miss an opportunity like this, so I dived forward and tickled her.
“Stop! Stop!” she screamed and laughed.
“Only when you declare me the winner!” I said, and threw her over my shoulder, not stopping the ticklefest.
“Fine!” She squealed as I let her down to the ground. “You’re the winner.” Her face was bright red from all the laughing, and her hair was a wild mess sticking up in all different directions. She tried to move it out of her eyes as she crossed her bedroom.
“Your mom said you need to go and set the table.” I started to turn around, just as I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye. What the hell…
“Put your hands up!” Belle shouted, widening her stance and holding me at ransom with a water gun.
I flung my hands in the air, surrendering to her. The girl was a terror. “Your mom will kill you if you use that in here.”
Belle’s eyes narrowed, and then she pressed the trigger, soaking me and the line of teddy bears beside me. She was relentless and didn’t stop until the water gun was empty. Water dripped over my face, down my chest, and in the time it took me to wipe my face, she’d raced past me.
“I’ll get you back for this!” I shouted after her as her feet stomped down the stairs.
Shaking my head, I walked into my bedroom and pulled my T-shirt over my head as I pushed the door open and then slammed it behind me. The kid was a menace, and I had no doubt she’d be a handful as a teenager. Good luck with that, Dad.
I threw the T-shirt into my hamper, murmuring under my breath ideas on how to get her back. She’s started a war, and now I had to put an end to it. My chest was still wet, so I spun to get a towel when something caught my eye. It wasn’t an eight-year-old girl holding me at ransom this time, though. It was a pair of jeans on the floor, alongside some sneakers, which were definitely not mine.
I tilted my head to the side as I stared at them, trying to work out what the hell was going on, when a throat cleared from behind me. My eyes widened as I spun around, and blinked several times, sure I was seeing things.
“Aria?”
She sat in my bed, her eyes puffy and hair even wilder than Belle’s. “Huh?” She rubbed her hands over her face, trying to wake herself up. Her gaze roved over me, starting at my sneakers, up and over my shorts, and finally my bare chest.
I wasn’t sure she even realized she was cataloging everything, but I couldn’t deny the way my body buzzed at her attention. She was in my bed, staring at me like I was her next meal, and I could do nothing but stand here perfectly still, too afraid to move even an inch in case it brought her out of her trance.
Her gaze finally settled on my face, and it brought her out of her daze. “Oh my god!” She flung the covers aside and jumped out of bed. “I’m sorry, Cade.” She was talking, saying something, but I wasn’t listening to a single word she was saying. All I could focus on was where her T-shirt stopped high on her thighs, concealing just enough to keep her modesty but making my body burn with the need to find out what it covered.
I shouldn’t have been thinking about her like that. I shouldn’t have been looking at her the way I was. But fuck…
She was standing in front of me half-naked, just like I was.
I couldn’t help myself.
My feet carried me forward, and I wasn’t sure whether it was the darkness in the room or the fact we were alone in a place that was mine. “What are you doing in here, Aria?” I asked, my voice deeper than usual. She was getting to me more than I cared to admit.
“I…” She bit down on her bottom lip, and I heard her quick inhale of breath as I halted a foot in front of her. Her head tilted back so she could stare up at me. Her T-shirt slid up, and I nearly groaned when more of her creamy skin showed, peeking at me, tempting me more than anything else ever had. “I slept here last night.”
“In my bed?” I was fighting every instinct I had not to press my body against hers, but I was starting to lose control.
Aria nodded in reply to my question, but she didn’t make a single move. Could she feel the air swirling between us? I couldn’t have been imagining this, it just wasn’t possible.
“Do you do that often?” My voice was practically a whisper, but the thought of her sleeping in my bed had me irrationally fired up. How many times had she slept on my sheets and then I’d slept on them the night after? How many times had her red hair been spread over my pillows?
“Only when I stay over,” she said, her voice small and unsure. I was towering over her. Maybe I was scaring her?
Shit.
What the hell was I doing?
Not only was she seventeen, but she was my goddamn student, and I was here staring her down and licking my lips like she was here for me, and me only.
I needed to get away from her.
As far away as humanly possible.
Chapter Five
ARIA
“And, I swear to god, he was the best kisser ever.”
Hope’s words vibrated through my head, but I wasn’t really listening to any of them. She’d talked nonstop about her amazing weekend with her sister and their band and all the hot guys she’d met backstage. Hope wasn’t the kind of person who liked to stay home on her own, so she preferred to be around people than alone. I didn’t understand it because alone was my favorite place to be. Her life was so different from mine, and sometimes I wished I was her. She didn’t have a care in the world, or at least that was how she made it seem.
“But then he got a little too handsy if you know what I mean.” She elbowed me in the side, but I kept my gaze trained on the bustling school hallway. “Aria? Are you listening to me?”
“Huh?” I whipped my head around to face her, blinking several times in quick succession. “Yeah, yeah, he was the best kisser but then got too handsy.”
She sighed. “He was so hot too. Maybe I should have lost my V-card then and there.” She paused as I stopped at my locker to switch out my books. “What do you think?”
I closed my locker, the scrape of the metal making me cringe. Everything had me on edge today. I’d woken feeling a little weird, and not really with it. It was like the edges of my vision were constantly blurry. “I think you should have offered it on a silver platter to him.”
Hope blinked, her brows rising, and I tried to keep my face pulled into a serious mask, but I was failing epically. “Oh hardy har,
you’re so funny.”
“Thanks.” I hugged my books to my chest and leaned against the locker, able to feel like I could finally take a full breath. Hope always managed to make me think about anything else but what was whirring around in my head. There was only a minute or two until our next class, a class I still wasn’t sure whether I dreaded or anticipated. My feelings were all over the damn place, and it was all down to one person: Cade.
“Seriously though, you need to listen to your gut if you—”
A gruff laugh cut me off, and I swung my gaze toward the door to my right. I knew who it would be before he stepped out of his classroom, but I hadn’t expected a woman to follow him out. A woman who looked familiar.
I couldn’t move my attention off them as she whipped her hair to the side and placed her hand on his arm. My skin crawled as I watched her touch him, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he liked it. Was she the kind of woman he had always dated? The obviously beautiful kind?
“Isn’t that Miss Simmons?” Hope asked, and I narrowed my eyes on them.
It was Miss Simmons, aka Jasmine’s big sister. The same Jasmine who we avoided at all costs. The same Jasmine who liked to fling names at me like it was a sport. The same Jasmine who hated me for no apparent reason.
“Yep,” I said. Cade’s gaze met mine, and his dark-blue eyes flashed with something I couldn’t place. I wondered whether he was thinking about Saturday. Was he remembering how close we’d been in his bedroom? Was he thinking about the way we’d talked like we used to, and laughed like we did when we were younger? But the look was gone in an instant as he stared back down at Miss Simmons.
“I better head to class.”
“Same,” Hope groaned. “Band rehearsal at my place tonight. Call me later?”
“You got it.”
I pushed off the locker and pulled back my shoulders. Being afraid wasn’t my MO. At least, I tried not to let it be. All I had to do was make it through to the end of the school year. Then I’d be out of this hellhole and able to start my life without the past dragging me down.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Easton,” I said, my voice sickly sweet. I even fluttered my eyelashes for good measure. He’d told me he hated when I called him that, and I was in the kind of mood to get under his skin. Maybe I was looking for a reaction? Or maybe I just liked to annoy him.
“Aria.” He nodded and kept his face straight, but I noticed the small quirk of his lips. I knew he hated those words coming out of my mouth, but he didn’t have a choice because, here, he was my teacher. It didn’t matter I’d known him for more than half of my life.
“I’m sorry, Miss…” He trailed off, obviously not having a clue who the woman in front of him was. I bit down on my bottom lip to keep my grin at bay.
“Simmons,” Miss Simmons replied. “But you can call me Willow.”
“Like the tree?” Cade blurted out, and I couldn’t hold in my snort. He’d never been one for mincing his words, and I was one hundred percent sure he didn’t have a brain-to-mouth filter.
Her smile dropped a fraction, but she perked right back up and pushed her chest out. “Exactly.”
“Right.” Cade’s gaze slid back to mine as the bell rang out. “I better head inside and teach the youth of today.”
Miss Simmons giggled, and I finally spun around, screwing my face up at the way her voice tried to lure him in. Did that actually pick up men?
I headed to my usual seat and placed my books on the table. We were three weeks into senior year, and everyone was talking about college applications and what they were going to study. Football players were showing off the number of colleges that had written to them, and the cheerleaders were eating up every second of it.
I had no idea what I was going to do. Track tryouts were in a couple of days, and even though Mom had told Cade I’d be trying out, part of me wanted to deny her. But what good would that do? Maybe track would be the answer to everything, plus I’d get in extra running time to keep my thoughts at bay.
My gaze continually drifted to the clock, and I watched the seconds tick by. This was my last class of the day, and as soon as I was done, I could go home, get into my bed, and sleep the evening away. It was a tactic I’d taken to doing when I didn’t want to be in the world around me. It wasn’t that I wanted to leave it completely. I just…needed a break. I needed to reset, and it was part of my process. If I allowed myself to give in to my cravings constantly, it would never work. I’d given in six days ago, but I was determined to at least make it to seven days this time.
One day. All I needed was one more day, and then I could finally scratch the itch burning inside of me.
The bell rang, and I jumped out of my skin. I’d been so far in my own head, I hadn’t even realized school was almost over. The students filed out of the room and spilled into the hallways. I waited an extra second, shook my head, and then stood.
“Aria?” Cade called, but when I looked over at him, his attention was on his laptop. “I need a word.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me, and pushed my books into my bag. Mom had texted me to tell me Sal would be picking me up, which meant I couldn’t make him wait long because I knew he’d be heading back to the diner afterward.
“Sir?” I asked, my lips quirking on one side as he raised his brow and finally gave me his attention.
“Hate that,” he murmured, then stood to his full height, towering over me. “Tryouts are in two days. I didn’t see your name on the list.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared me down.
“You know that doesn’t work on me, right?” I circled my finger in the air to point at his face. He narrowed his eyes even more, and if I were anyone else, I’d probably be shitting my pants, but I was Aria, the girl who watched on the sidelines as he practiced his lacrosse. The girl who laughed when he jumped at a scary part in a movie.
“What about now?” he asked, and I couldn’t hold in the chuckle dying to break free.
“Nope.” I tilted my head to the side. “You just look like a pissed-off teddy bear.”
He gasped and slapped his palm against his chest. “I’m offended.”
I rolled my eyes. “No, you’re not.” My breath left me in a whoosh, and I spun around. “See you tomorrow, Mr. Easton.”
His footsteps followed behind me, but I hadn’t expected his hand to wrap around my arm and stop my momentum. His fingers curled all the way around, meeting each other, and I couldn’t help but stare down at them.
I flicked my gaze up to his face, but he was staring at his hand too. I wasn’t sure what the frown on his face meant, but he didn’t let go as he looked up at me. “Try out for the team, Aria.”
“Why?” I asked. Why was he so insistent?
“Because I’ve watched you run. Your mom is right. You could get a scholarship.”
“Have you been stalking me?” It was meant to come out light and fluffy, but my voice betrayed me. The thought of him watching me made me feel like that same eight-year-old girl with a crush all over again.
“So what if I have.” He stepped closer, his hand tightening on my arm. I wasn’t even sure he was aware he was doing it. “Try out, Aria. You have nothing to lose.”
He was right. I didn’t have anything to lose, because I’d already lost it all.
* * *
ARIA
I stood on the sidelines and jumped up and down on the spot, warming my body up. I’d never run competitively, always doing it to find an escape, but this could change everything. If I made it onto the team, it could potentially take me away from this place. It could start something good in my life. But it could also make my escapism disappear.
Running was always my first port of call, but it was never my last. I used it as a buffer to stop myself from doing what I really wanted to, but it only worked half of the time. The other half I gave in. I let my body and mind have what it craved so much: silence. It was all I wanted. A reprieve from everything rolling around in my head. The memories, the image
s so vivid…
It was almost as if I were back there.
“They’ll never be able to get us once we’ve finished,” Dad’s high-pitched voice told me. There was something off about him, and as soon as he came into my room and told me we had to go to the store, I knew I had to go along with what he was saying.
He opened up another box of aluminum foil and attached it to the kitchen window. He’d covered every single surface, and all that was left now was this window and the apartment door.
“Tape,” Dad demanded, and I pulled some off for him and handed it over. “I’ll always keep you safe, Aria.” He stared down at me and held his hand out for more tape. His light-brown eyes were the same shade as mine, but right then, they looked so different.
Like there was something missing.
“I want all of you to run around the track five times.”
Cade’s voice interrupted my thoughts, and I stumbled back a little. I was heading down the dark path again, and I was scared of what would find me at the end of it. It was so easy to lose myself in the memories, and it was happening more and more lately, almost as if they were haunting me, trying to pull me back in and not let me go.
“Remember to pace yourselves,” Cade continued.
I tried to shake all of my thoughts and concentrate on what was in front of me: tryouts. Cade stood at the start line, his arm raised as we all lined up. I didn’t know most of the girls trying out for the track team, but one face I was more than familiar with: Jasmine. She was a cheerleader, so why the hell was she trying out for track?
Cade blew the whistle, and everyone took off. Some of them sprinted, others paced themselves, and I was right in the middle. It only took one trip around the track for me to zone in and lose myself to the rhythm of my feet slapping the ground. The more I ran, the easier it was to forget about the images in my head. Each beat set me off higher, and by the time I’d finished the fourth lap, there were only two girls in front of me.
Defy Fate: Fated Duet: Book One Page 6
