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Aiden
“Comeon,”Isay,pulling Vanessa by the arm. “You’re sleeping in my room.”
I duck inside the bedroom and snatch Vanessa’s suitcase from beneath a guy’s legs. I’m doing everything I can not to look. The girls in the room are moaning and a disgusting slapping sound directly above my head is making me feel nauseous.
“Oh, hey… You wanna join in?” A girl’s voice whimpers from above me.
My eyes grow wide. I grip the handle of Vanessa’s suitcase and dive towards the door, throwing the case in front of me. It’s like I’m desperately trying to save the game winning goal and I’m the last man standing.
“Let’s go,” I bark, jumping to my feet, collecting the case and spinning with Vanessa. We race down the corridor as fast as we can. “In here.”
I push my bedroom door open and slam it behind us. Vanessa’s pink suitcase looks even smaller now, but I don’t care.
All I want to do is hold her.
“Are you ok?” I ask, stepping over to settle down on the edge of the bed beside her. “He’s an asshole.”
She nods and swipes at her eyes, her blond hair falling over her shoulder. “Sure is.”
She sniffs harshly. My heart breaks at the sight of the woman slung over my bed. A girl as beautiful as her shouldn’t be sad. She deserves the world. Something deep inside of me wants nothing more than to go back out there and smash a fist in my roommate’s thick skull, but I know, right now, it’s better that I’m here with her.
“He can’t talk to you like that.” My body is tense, every tiny muscle twitching beneath the fury building inside me. “Vanessa, you have to listen to me. He’s a jerk and anything he says doesn’t matter.”
She straightens up, and when she looks at me, her expression transforms.
Her blue eyes are staring at me, a courage and new depth of something… Something I haven’t seen in them before. It’s majestical. Beautiful. And all I want to do is kiss her.
“I know he doesn’t matter,” she says softly. “But it just hurts, you know… He’s the only family I’ve got. Wouldn’t it be nice if he cared… even just a little bit?”
I grind my teeth together. “It’s his loss. You’re incredible, Vanessa.”
“I don’t feel incredible. I had such a good night with you… And now… Now this.”
Her head dips between her arms and I just sit there holding her. I’ll be by her side all night if that’s what it takes. No one should ever make her feel this way, and Bailey had better have his head straight when I see him next.
I shift on the bed and grab her hands. “I want you to stay here.”
She smiles. “I’m not going anywhere. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, Aiden.”
A chill crawls across my skin. My heart is pounding again, though this time, it feels different. I’m used to falling hard and fast, I’ve done it many times before. I’m Aiden Frank – that’s what I fucking do. But this… this thing with Vanessa.
I’m not letting her go. And it’s time she understood that.
“No, baby… That’s not what I mean.”
She frowns. “W-what? I don’t get it.”
“I want you to stay here. In Vancouver,” I grind out, my hands starting to sweat. Here I go again, but I can’t fucking help it. “It sounds crazy, I know. And you know what… Maybe I am crazy. I don’t care. I’m done caring.”
My mouth won’t stop. My head is spinning with a million thoughts, a million words desperate to escape. I’ve waited for this feeling for too damn long, and now I know it, I’m desperately hanging on before I hear her say those words again. Those painful words she muttered to Bailey as she stormed off. Those words that ripped my heart in two and scared the living daylights out of me all at the same time.
“Please, Vanessa… Don’t ever regret coming here. Don’t say you’re sorry you came to visit Bailey.”
She frowns at me.
“I don’t regret-”
“You said it. Out there.” My voice is shaky. A thread of cotton pulled from the stitching on my jeans my only distraction from the dread pulling at my heart. “You said you were sorry the second you stepped off the plane…”
