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Chapter One
ARIA
It started with the tingling in my fingers. I stared down at my hands as it traveled up my arms, and then it dispersed throughout the rest of my body. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I was…feeling. I could physically feel the strength flowing through my body and making me stronger and stronger by the minute.
A gasp left my lips at the sensation, and I glanced up at Cade. It was because of him. I’d been searching in all the wrong places to feel normal again. Nothing else had worked but the caress of his lips against mine and his whispered promises. I just hoped it didn’t dissipate this time.
“Cade,” I murmured, but he wasn’t looking at me, his attention was focused on the door, his face draining of any color. I frowned at him and glanced over at the door.
I wished I hadn’t.
I wished I’d stayed in my own little bubble where everything was starting to feel okay.
My eyes widened when I saw Miss Simmons standing in the doorway. Her gaze met mine, and I blinked. Had she seen what we did? Had she witnessed what we’d kept secret for so long? Her heels tapped on the floor as she stepped inside fully, and my breath caught as she closed the door behind her, the click of it ringing out in the otherwise silent room.
“What are you doing?” Willow asked, her voice deceptively soft, but I could see the anger swirling in her eyes and the way she held her shoulders back. She wasn’t happy with what she’d seen, but the question was whether it was because me and Cade kissing was wrong or because she wished it was her.
My fingers drifted to my lips as I remembered the way Cade’s lips had softly touched mine. My waist still burned from the feel of his hands on it even though he was several feet away from me now. I was caught up in my own head, not really understanding what had happened. Not until I shuffled on my seat and winced from the sharpness of the wound on my thigh.
I’d cut again, but this time I’d done it in school. I never thought I’d go that far, but what made it even worse was Cade had noticed. I was losing myself, more than I ever had before, yet he was there, offering me his hand to bring me out of the darkness and back into the light. And now…now Willow was blocking the light.
“Willow,” Cade started. He held his hands up in front of him like he was surrendering to her. “It’s not what it looks like.”
She raised her brow, her blue eyes narrowing on me and then Cade. “It looked like you were kissing.” She paused, waiting for either one of us to say something, but when we were both silent, she continued, “But that can’t be right. You wouldn’t be having sexual relations with a student, would you, Cade?”
“I—”
“That would be absurd.” Willow laughed, but I could tell she was trying to convince herself she hadn’t seen what she had.
“She…I…she…” Cade trailed off, and I felt his eyes burning a path over my skin. I flicked my gaze to his, my stomach dropping at seeing his dark-blue eyes focused entirely on me. It always felt like too much for me to handle when he stared at me like that. His eyes swirled, a muscle in his jaw ticked, and my heart beat faster. He’d made up his mind, and as soon as he took a step toward me, I knew what he was going to do.
He’d made me a promise, and this time, he was intent on keeping it.
But I couldn’t let him destroy everything he’d built just for me. His determination was as clear as day, but I refused to let him do it. I couldn’t let him take the fall. This was my fault. If I hadn’t cut at school, he never would have touched me, he never would have kissed me.
Ford’s words echoed in my mind, the warning he’d given me when we were in the hospital. It wasn’t only about Cade losing his job. He would lose so much more than that, which meant I had to save him. I had to do to him what he’d done to me, even if it meant I’d lose him all over again.
“It was me,” I croaked out. My hands flattened on my desk and the coolness of the wood seeping into my palms as I looked over at Willow. Slowly, I stood, bringing my bag with me. I was doing this. I was protecting the person I cared about most in this world, and I didn’t think twice about it. “I came on to him.”
Willow blinked as if she hadn’t heard me, but I felt Cade move a step closer. “Aria,” he warned, his voice low, but it was too late. He may have broken my heart, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t the one who had made it whole in the first place.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Easton,” I murmured and stared up at him. I tried my hardest to convey to him what I was doing—that I had his back—but the swirl of his dark-blue eyes warned me against it. I knew the line I was drawing—but it was all for him, everything would always be for him. “I shouldn’t have tried to kiss you.”
“You shouldn’t have,” Miss Simmons cut in, her voice razor-sharp. I turned to face her again, steeling myself for what she would say to me. “It’s girls like you who cause people like us to lose our jobs and ruin our reputation.” She stepped toward me, her shoulders pushed back. “I knew you were trouble the first time Jasmine mentioned you.”
