I ripped off the helmet, breath catching at the way the drizzle immediately cooled my overheated face. Rain traced rivulets down my cheeks, catching in my hair and turning the fake blood into thin, red streams. It wasn’t much, but I was cleaner than I had been. Everything was fine until his shadow fell over me, close enough that his body heat seeped through the cold.
“What the hell?” I asked, trying to shake off the adrenaline. “Why did you bring us here?”
“I wanted somewhere he wouldn’t follow us or think to followus. Should I have brought him—or even them—back to our place?” He matched his tone to mine, the slight edge almost mocking me.
“This was the only place you could think of? Not somewhere dry and warm?” I wrapped my arms around my middle. I had been planning to find Anderson and quietly go back to my seat, so I left my coat behind, which I hoped Harper or Regan would grab.
He shrugged off his own leather jacket and settled it over my shoulders. It was heavy, warm from his body, and smelled like smoke and leather—like him. His fingers brushed my collarbone as he closed it, and the chill in my chest shifted into something entirely different.
“We can go inside.”
“Inside the creepy, unheated warehouse that barely has a roof? Wow, things really are looking up.”
He didn’t answer, pushing one of the old doors to the side so he could walk his bike inside, but I couldn’t move. Red dripped down my hair and I watched until the droplets turned pink.
Aiden moved the kickstand down, shaking off water as he looked around. “It’s not that bad in here. We will stay dry right here.”
“Yeah, thanks,” I mumbled, my teeth threatening to start chattering as I stepped in and he slammed the door behind me with an echoing boom, shutting us off from the world.
He turned on me, his lip curling as he stalked toward me. “What happened? Are you actually hurt?”
“No, I’m okay.”
“You’re covered in blood. Was it his?”
I looked down, most of the fake blood gone now. “This? No,this was... Well, I got stuck in a side closet and couldn’t find the lights. Then I moved around and kind of... fell into a shelf that apparently was holding red paint, or what I can only now conclude is fake blood.”
Aiden’s face was still scrunched in worry, but all at once a smile spread across his face.
“You fell and this dropped on you?”
“Yes, and I swear you better not start laughing. I’m sure I look ridiculous.”
“You look—”
I shot him a look, cutting him off with a scowl.
“Beautiful, Evie. I was going to say alive and beautiful. I’m just glad it wasn’t your blood. I basically had a heart attack walking in and seeing so much blood on you. Fuck Asher for keeping that shit around.”
When I raised an eyebrow, he continued.
“He keeps it in case the fights aren’t getting gory enough. Throw a little fake blood to add to the ambiance and bets go up, people get crazier, money flows faster. He keeps a stock of it back there just in case.”
“Fucking Asher,” I mumbled, smiling when Aiden looked over at me.
“Are you?” he asked. “Fucking Asher, I mean.”
I’d used Asher plenty of times to annoy Aiden. And I knew how it looked when Asher and I were together—easy, flirtatious, and fun—but I never thought Aiden took it to be anything serious with us.
His eyes hadn’t left me, and a trail of heat burned down my spine from the unyielding attention.
“You think Asher and I are sleeping together?”
He went still, eyes narrowing, his gaze dropping to my mouth before coming back to my eyes.
“No, but I wanted to know for sure.”
“Wouldn’t it be a relief for you if I was?” My tone sharpened, a small, cruel jab I didn’t fully understand. “Think of how much less work you’d have to do. I’d be so much less of a burden.”
