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My friend thought he knew me, and I guess he did know me. We’d been boys since the womb, and I’d also had a file on Aspen back then. I had even though I’d only been twelve, and Dorian, Wells, Wolf, and I had all been at football camp that summer. There wasn’t anywhere I went where my laptop didn’t go with me.
Wells knew that. He did because he knew me, so once he found out who Aspen was, he knew exactly what I’d do. Stalk her.
Personally, I got why he had his back up about the situation. Aspen and I were complicated, our history was complicated, but no way did that give him license to do what he had. Dorian and Wolf had said he threatened her, which was completely bullshit.
Especially since shit wasn’t her fault.
Things had gotten pretty violent after I found out what my friend had done, and the only reason I hadn’t fully laid his ass out was because I had been stoned and wasted. I had at least fifty pounds on the guy, but my inebriation gave him the advantage. We’d both been equal that night as far as strength had been concerned, and if Dorian and Wolf hadn’t stopped our brawl, the two of us probably would have killed each other.
I loved my buddy, but he was definitely out of line that night. What was worse was he knew that. Wells folded his arms. “I think you know your attention needs to be somewhere else, and actually, we should probably be hanging somewhere else if she’s going to be around.”
I growled at his complete disregard to the fact that he was overstepping. “I’m cool, and I told you, that night wasn’t her fault.”
They all knew as I’d ended up telling them everything. There hadn’t been a point to lying. I told them everything regarding Aspen’s reappearance in my life and that what had happened the night we fucked again wasn’t her fault.
Things had never been her fault, even back then, and once more, Wells knew that. He did, but he was overprotective just like we all were when it came to each other. That shit blinded us sometimes, so that was the only reason I wasn’t holding any beef about him coming at Aspen.
But that didn’t mean that shit sat well with me. It didn’t, and I would kick my friend’s ass if he continued to push. Again, I loved the shit out of the dude, but I would hand his shit to him for being an idiot.
Wells’s green eyes shifted dark, and they were a sharp contrast to his hair. He’d dyed it as blond as Aspen’s white wig that night at the rave. “I know it’s not her fault, but you need to stay away from her for obvious reasons.” He tossed his phone in the grass. “She’s clearly triggering for you, which makes her dangerous.”
My laptop touched the grass, and that was when Dorian intervened. He was a combination of Wells’s height and my build, so he was easily able to put space between us. He was also quarterback for Pembroke’s football team, so he was quick. He pointed at Wells. “You? Shut the hell up before you get your ass kicked. I don’t think I need to explain that this guy isn’t baked today, so he actually can kick your ass if Wolf or I let him.”
I smirked, and Wells lifted his eyes.
Wells shoved Dorian’s hand off his chest. “Whatever.”
“And you.” Dorian directed his dark eyes at me. “Open your ears and actually fucking listen to what this idiot has to say. Wells’s delivery may be shit, but he’s not far off that you probably need to keep your distance from Aspen Davis.”
So that, I wasn’t expecting, and when Wells started to smirk, I went for him.
Dorian stopped that too. He could hold his own against me. At least, for a little bit. Dorian frowned. “I’m just saying there is something to what he has to say about Aspen being potentially triggering for you.”
“I told y’all what happened,” I said, shoving him off me, and Wolf put down his book. Things would get crazy if he got involved. The dude had a wingspan like the missing link and probably a good amount of the strength. I rearranged my shirt. Wells got a hold of it before Dorian forced us apart. My eyes narrowed. “Aspen had nothing to do with what happened that night.”
She hadn’t. Point-blank, and Dorian scrubbed into his blond hair.
“You know, we all know that, but you can’t deny you wouldn’t even have been in that situation if you hadn’t been with her.”
There were no lies there, but I didn’t want him to be right. Because I didn’t, I fully intended to start a completely baseless argument, but hesitated when I spotted a familiar woman on the quad.
Oh no.
My mom’s petite stature set off alarm bells in me, and not thinking much of it, I put my laptop away and got up. The guys did too, but by the time they had, she was nearly over to our group.
“Hey, babe,” Mom stated, going to hug me first, but my wingspan nearly swallowed her up. I’d say my mom didn’t fit in our family with how small she was, but my sister was really tiny too. Mom was a blonde, though, whereas my sister was a brunette like my dad and me.
“Hey,” I returned, and the guys greeted her too behind me. When it came to all our parents, we were all pretty close. In fact, each set of my friends’ parents were like my own and vice versa. Our parents had all been friends since long before we were born, so that made sense. I pulled away. “Everything okay?”
It was unusual her being here. Home was like hours away, and normally when things went wrong back home, she called.
Which was why my stomach was all clenched to shit right now.
Those emergency calls had been pretty frequent this entire goddamn year, but before I could take off on the ground running with my panic, my mom lifted her little hands.
“Everything’s fine, baby. Sorry to freak you out,” she said, putting her hand on my face, and the guys behind me ran their hands through their hair like me, fidgeting. Dorian, Wells, and Wolf definitely all knew my trauma shit, and like stated, they were family. Mine was theirs, and though things at home hit me closer, they felt it.
They all felt what was going on back home with me, and after they greeted my mom with hugs, Mom asked if she could steal me away for a bit. Apparently, my sister texted her where the guys and I were this hour.
