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“I’ll never get used to this,” Aiden says, shaking his head.
We stay at the offices making a plan of action. I give Dale the information for my agent with Beachbody, hoping he’ll help smooth things over, and I’ll still have a job.
The day that started out lazily lying in bed with Derek sure turned shitty fast. Now I’m the most hated woman in American, and I’m not sure any amount of PR will fix that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Let me get her home,” Derek says to Aiden when we leave out the back entrance of Dale’s office.
“Home, huh?” Aiden growls out.
“Ace,” Brent warns. “Let’s just let them go so Audrey can get some rest.”
Aiden shakes his head and turns to me. “Are you sure you don’t want to come home with me? I live here too, you know.”
“I know you do, but…” Considering the day I’ve had, the fight is draining out of me.
“You wanna go with him,” he finishes for me.
“Just don’t yell at me right now. I know you think this is a bad idea, and I know you’re angry. But right now, just let me be with Derek. We’ve all had a long day.”
“I’m not mad at you.” He looks sharply at Derek. “It’s he who should have known better.”
“I’m not a child. I’m as much to blame as he is. He didn’t seduce me or come after me. This is between two consenting adults. And you know what, Ace?” I say his nickname with malice. “If you want to know the truth, I pushed him. I pushed his buttons. I made it hard for him to say no because he’s something I’ve wanted since the day I met him.”
Aiden stares at me in shock. Brent is pacing. He hates conflict, and I’m sure he’s worried about how this will blow up. Clearly, it’s having ramifications for all of us. I hadn’t thought about the effect this would have on the band’s career or mine. Beachbody didn’t cross my mind once when I was screwing Derek’s brains out.
“I had no idea. You never said anything to me, and we share everything with each other,” Aiden finally chokes out.
I can’t tell if he’s angry or more hurt that he never knew. As twins, we have shared everything with each other. It’s true what they say—there is a twin bond. I always seem to know how he’s feeling and sometimes what he’s thinking. We’ve gotten the same scores on the SATs and written almost the very same thing to our parents separately. There’s a mental connection. But this was one thing that he never could have guessed.
“I just figured you would be upset,” I tell him. “You always warn everyone to stay away from me. I figured you would kill Derek if you even knew I had a crush on him. I just don’t understand why you don’t think I’m worthy of him.”
He pulls me in for a hug. “It’s not you, it’s him.”
“But he’s good enough to start up a band with? To make your livelihood depend on?” I ask him.
“And look how that turned out,” he bites back.
“All because he felt like he couldn’t be honest with you. Because he knew this would happen. You can’t expect me to not fall in love with someone like Derek, especially when you swear me off all our friends. But they’re the people I spend all my time with. Some of them are the best people I know. Like Derek.”
Aiden just looks away from me, lost in thought.
“Just get her home,” he says, turning to Derek.
They stare at each other like they’re having some silent conversation. It gives me a little reassurance that maybe things are salvageable. But it’s almost like he’s dismissing me. My shoulders sag and Derek wraps a protective arm around me, leading me away.
“It’s going to be okay, baby. I’ll make sure of it,” Derek promises.
I want to remind him that he doesn’t know that. He can’t promise things will be okay. This has implications for both my career and his. It has implications for our family dynamic that we can’t predict or control. It looks like Aiden may be on the road to acceptance, but I have no idea. He didn’t tell him to stop seeing me, which I honestly expected.
“How’s your face?” I ask. He has a little bit of a swollen lip, which I fully expect to get worse. His right eye has a bruise forming from where Aiden’s fist connected with it.
“It’s fine. I’m not worried about it. Collateral damage in the story of us,” he says, holding my hand and helping me into the back of the chauffeured car.
I nod and sink into the seat, waiting for the car to pull away. Derek is staring at me. “What?” I ask when he’s been looking a little too long without saying anything.
“Nothing. You’ve just been so calm for the most part,” he says. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
