Aiden’s eyes found mine immediately, making my breath hitch. He wore his black hoodie, the hood pulled up with dirty blond hair peeking out. The harsh black of the fabric sharpened the electric blue of his eyes. His scowl and the bobbing lip ringpulled it all together—a dangerous, lethal man who looked like he belonged in a fight, yet was walking straight toward my bed like it was the only place for him.
“Really?” he asked, suppressing a grin. “You locked the door.”
“I mean, I had to be a little bit of a problem.”
He shook his head, setting down two cans of soda before flopping down next to me and gathering me up in his arms.
“Here I am trying to give you all your little romance movie moments and you’re locking the door and making me pick it like a criminal.”
“You are a criminal,” I said, muffling my laugh in the sleeve of my hoodie.
“Fair point.”
I hit play on the movie, snuggling back against him without another word. For some reason, I had nothing to say. I wanted this moment to be burned into my mind.
Apparently, Aiden felt the same because he pulled me back onto his chest, holding me tight as his head rested on mine.
It made me think of one of my first memories of Aiden, burned into my mind. One night years ago that I thought of too many times to count.
The warm breeze washed over me as I walked home—my so-called friend ditching me at Hellfire and leaving me to fend for myself. Anger burned hot in my chest. We didn’t live in the safest part of town, and she knew it.
I turned the corner into our cracked little driveway—the anger evaporating into something molten.
Aiden stood in front of the half-open garage door, leaning over his motorcycle. Sweat traced the muscles in his back, catching on the curve of his spine. Grease streaked his arm, his stomach. The lowlight hit the sharp angle of his jaw as he worked, making him look carved for trouble.
He hadn’t heard me come up at first, his head snapping in my direction as my boots finally hit the cement pad.
“Evie? What the hell? Where did you come from?” He looked past me, but I knew all he would find was darkness.
“Hellfire,” I said, my face falling.
“Yeah, I knew that. I meant how did you get here? I didn’t see a car roll up.”
“That’s because I walked.”
His eyebrows furrowed, the grease smeared across his arm and stomach making me lose focus as he stood straight.
I already knew Aiden was handsome—it’s not like you could forget it when he was in front of you every day and night. And it was a rough type of handsome—dirty, dangerous, and somehow perfect at the same time. His hair was a little longer now—both him and Rook were too busy lately to worry about cutting it.
“Why in the fuck would you walk from there, Evie? You know how dangerous it is this time of night?”
“Well, I was ditched, so it’s not like I had a lot of options.”
“How about calling me? I’ve been here all night. I could have picked you up.”
“Forgot to charge it.” I waved my dead phone in front of him. “And it doesn’t look like your bike is in running condition anyway.”
He pointed over to the old truck parked in the corner.
“I also know how to drive that.”
I stepped around his bike, closing the space between us until my knees almost brushed his. “I made it alive, didn’t I?”
His gaze dipped to my lips for a second—long enough for my pulse to trip over itself. “That’s lucky.”
We stood there, the air between us charged and thick. His rag hung loosely from his fingers now, his shoulders still tense but leaning toward me like he couldn’t help himself.
I felt the heat radiating off him. I could pick out the faint trace of his cologne under the grease and sweat. He was looking at me like he wanted to say something else but thought better of it.
