I can imagine him playing my death in the back of his mind.
Why?
I don’t know and I never asked.
Because I have a rule: Never try to understand bullies.
They’re entitled arseholes who use their power to humiliate others, what’s there to understand about them?
But as I stare up at Aiden’s punishing eyes, my earlier thoughts shrink behind my trembling, defective heart.
He scares me.
Call it instinct or an intuition, but something terrifying lurks behind that easy-going smile and football star image.
“What did you just do?” His voice is calm and quiet with a slight huskiness.
An outsider would find it welcoming, but I know it’s one of his multiple façades.
The voice the devil would use to lure his victims.
I lift up my chin, even though my hand clutching the phone trembles. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He extends his palm in front of me. “Give it.”
I start to bypass him. Aiden sidesteps in front of me. He’s stupid tall. Stupid broad. Stupid everything.
He blocks my vision of Kim and Xander.
But he’s not done.
Aiden advances into my space. He’s so close that I can make out that small beauty mole at the corner of his right eye.
> I instinctively step back with every stride he takes forward. My throat dries, and I hate how I shrink in front of his attack.
He’s just too damn tall and has this unreadable mask on his face. The only available image of Aiden is the one he shows to the outside world. Aside from that, he’s… nothing.
A dark secret.
A deep hole.
An endless abyss.
My back hits a tree trunk, and I wince. When I attempt to walk past him, his arm shoots up and slams on the tree by the side of my head.
I’m imprisoned, just like the first damn day I met him.
Since then, Aiden has never gotten this close. He’s the ‘King’ after all. All he has to do is issue a decree and the entire kingdom would bow. People do his dirty work for him – including bullying.
He still smells of body wash and something entirely his. It’s strange how certain things never leave our memories.
He extends his hand again. “Give it, Frozen.”
Frozen.
I’m just that nickname to him. It’s another form of bullying and intimidation.
But I’ve already decided that I’m done with being a victim to Aiden’s unjust war. I’m tired of being the one who always breaks eye contact first and hurries in the opposite direction.