Trying to find a crack in Aiden’s wall is like hitting thick steel; it’s hard, painful, and maddening.
As the car cuts the distance with high speed, a crazy idea barges into my head.
Maybe I’ve been using the wrong method to find that crack. Not only does strength have the opposite effect on Aiden, but he’s also getting the upper hand whenever I display it.
If I try to be logical and push all my prejudice aside, the crack might be as simple as… me.
Aiden King never shows interest in anyone except for his horsemen and football.
Unlike Xander and Ronan, he doesn’t have girls hanging onto his arm — and it’s not from the lack of trying. He seems to tune girls out — aside from Silver. I don’t know what’s his story with her, but she’s the only girl that gets to ride in his Ferrari.
What? It’s not my fault who I see when Kim and I go home.
Anyway, even with Silver, he usually has a nonchalant behaviour and his infuriating poker face.
The fact that he’s directing all his energy towards me is disturbing, but if I see past the surface and my discomfort, his interest in me might as well be the only chip in his armour that he allows the world — or at least me — to see.
I can use that.
I can pretend to be his toy so I could disarm and then crush him.
Now, I have to decide if I’m strong enough to play his games in order to escape him.
Considering how easily he figures out when I manipulate him, it’d be nearly impossible to fool him.
It’s a challenge to ride with him in the same car let alone to fake I have a genuine interest in him.
But then again, one can’t play with the devil in his hell and pray not to burn.
Aiden is a deviant. A dangerous deviant.
And deep down? I do have some interest in the way he’s wired. If he was in one of the Chinese war books I love, Aiden would be the tactic no general can predict.
I want to know why he’s been keeping his distance for two years, letting his minions treat me like shit, but now decides he’ll get close.
I feel like I’ll never find peace unless I unveil the truth.
You’re still avoiding the truth about your parents. Where’s your peace in that, hypocrite?
The car rolls to a stop in front of an antique-looking coffee shop. I blink, coming out of my haze.
I glance at the secluded location. Although it has an ancient feel, the coffee shop isn’t on the main street. Only a few houses are nearby. This isn’t a poor neighbourhood per se, but it isn’t high end either.
“Why have we stopped here?” I face Aiden, but he’s already out of the car. He reaches my side and opens the door.
I gawk at him.
Did he just open the door for me?
Do devils do that?
Wait. Maybe he has a storage house around the corner to which he lures his victims and kills them in cold blood before he dissolves them with acid.
“Are you going to sit there all day?” He raises an eyebrow. “Would you rather I carry you inside, sweetheart?”
“We have school.”
“If you checked the school’s website, you would’ve seen the notice that Mr Bently will be absent today.”