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“I love you, too.” And with that, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.
CHAPTER TEN
aiden
I could feelthe tension radiating from Gem as we worked side by side at the diner. The night was starting to wind down, and we would be closing before we would know it. But the mood she seemed to be in didn’t dissipate.
And I knew why.
I had to go back to school.
“I finished with the tables and floors,” she shared as she took off her apron. “I’m going to head home,” she let me know without looking at me.
“You’re going home?” This was new. We hadn’t spent a night apart from one another the last month and a half. Now she was choosing the night before I had to leave as the moment to do just that?
I didn’t think so.
“Yeah. I have laundry to do, and Mom probably—" Her eyes widened as I stalked toward her. There was no way I was going to let her shut me out. Not after having given herself openly.
She was mine, and I was hers.
“What’s up?” I asked, and when she frowned, I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t going to wait for her to try and come up with somehalf-assed lie. Nope. The time where we didn’t talk shit out was over.
We’d wasted enough time playing like we weren’t head over heels in love with one another to play any more games.
I lifted her up, and despite the annoyance her face showed, her legs wrapped around my waist and her hands rested on my shoulders. “Aiden! What are you?—"
“Shut it,” I clipped. Gemma pressed her lips together. “We’re not doing this.”
“This?” Fear flashed in her beautiful eyes, and I shook my head.
“Don’t do that,” I clipped, my jaw clenched. “You and I are good.”
“Are we?” she retorted, and I frowned.
“Of course, we are.”
“You’re leaving,” she reminded me without needing to, and something in my gut tightened.
“I am.” Without putting her down, I locked up and headed upstairs to my apartment.
“You’re leaving tomorrow,” she repeated as if I had somehow forgotten that fact.
“I know, baby.”
“And we haven’t talked about it.”
“What’s there to talk about, Gem?”
“About us.” She pouted. I wanted to smile.
My girl was scared.
She hated change.
Part of me thought it was why she hadn’t left for college right after we’d graduated.
“We’re together,” I reassured her, and I lost her eyes. They were focused on my collarbone like it was the most interesting thing she had ever set that sweet gaze on.
