“What makes it worse is that he’s fucking loaded now,” Aiden says. “Does he not wonder about us? About my mom? About his kids, who he’s never met?”
“I—I don’t know, Aiden. What did you say to him when you went up to him? What did he say to you? Did you always plan on punching him?”
Aiden’s head tilts to the side, contemplating my questions. “To be honest, I don’t really know what I was planning on doing when I walked up to him. I was just really angry. When I walked up to him, I called his name, and he looked at me, studied me. I’m not sure if he recognized me or not. But he replied ‘How can I help you, son?’ And then my body just took over.”
I pull him even closer to me, not really knowing what to say, but before I can even think of a reply, we hear a loud crash and a bang from upstairs. We look at each other and get up, rushing out of his room and upstairs toward the noise, which we can still hear. It sounds like … yelling?
We follow the noise to my room, Aiden slightly in front of me as if preparing to protect me from whatever is on the other side of the door. It’s already slightly open, but Aiden pushes it open wide, and what we see leaves me completely shell-shocked.
Noah, who’s only in his boxers, is lying on the floor under a very livid Chase, who’s currently punching Noah in the face.
My eyes flicker from them to the other person in the room. Sitting in bed, clutching the sheets to her bare chest, is Charlotte, shouting in confusion and anger for them to stop, her cheeks tinged red with embarrassment.
I feel completely unable to do anything as my brain registers the scene that’s unfolding around me. Aiden recovers quicker. He rushes into the room and breaks them up, pulling a livid Chase off of Noah, who seems to have let his emotions completely take over. Chase shakes Aiden off of him and storms out of the room without a second glance at anyone. We hear the front door slam moments later.
“What the hell is his problem?” Noah demands, shrugging on a pair of jeans that were discarded on the floor.
Aiden and I glance at each other. We both know exactly what Chase’s problem is. I look at Charlotte, who’s still slightly traumatized and clutching the sheet to her chest.
“Why don’t we give you guys a minute?” I suggest, pulling Aiden out of the room and closing the door behind us.
We stand in the hall, staring at each other.
“You don’t think they were—” I start, and Aiden’s silent gaze tells me exactly what he thinks they were doing.
I sigh, and my shoulders slump as I frown at the floor. “Chase walked in on the love of his life and his best friend getting it on?”
Aiden shrugs. “That’s kind of what it looked like.”
Shit. Poor Chase. “Should I go after him? He couldn’t have gotten that far, I can probably still catch up with him.”
Aiden shakes his head. “I really don’t think he wants to talk to you, or anyone else, right now.”
My frown deepens. “So what do we do?”
Aiden puts his hand on my shoulder, his thumb rubbing soothing circles and leaving a trail of sparks from his touch. “Just be there for him when he’s ready to talk.”
The door to my room opens, revealing a fully clothed Noah. His cheek looks like it’s starting to swell, but other than that there doesn’t seem to be any damage.
Charlotte is sitting on the edge of the bed, also fully clothed, wringing her hands and wearing a nervous expression.
“Where did he go?” she asks me when I walk into the room.
“I don’t know. I’m sure he’ll be okay.”
Noah runs his hand through his hair. “I don’t even understand what happened. You guys weren’t even supposed to be home!”
I exchange a glance with Aiden before answering Noah. “Aiden kind of punched the mayor in the face.”
“What?” Charlotte and Noah ask in perfect unison.
“What does ‘kind of’ mean?” Noah inquires. “And why?”
“That’s not important.” Aiden waves him off. “Why was Chase in here in the first place?”
“I don’t know,” Charlotte says, looking completely defeated. “He just walked in and stared at us, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Then just came over and grabbed Noah, and started hitting him. I don’t understand why.”
She looks heartbroken. She knows why Chase reacted like that, even if she won’t admit it, even if she refuses to think about it. Deep down, she knows seeing her with Noah like that hurt him, really hurt him. She knows something has shifted in her friendship with Chase. I honestly don’t know if it will ever be the same between the two of them.