Annalisa’s half brother, Luke, is going to stand trial for murdering Aiden’s stepfather, which he claims he doesn’t remember doing because he wasn’t sober at the time, and Annalisa is just now realizing that she can’t bear to not have Luke in her life.
Noah and Chase are in a weird, we’re friends but not really stage because Chase walked in on Noah in bed with the love of his life, Charlotte, who really doesn’t know if she even likes either of them as more than friends.
My middle (and favorite) finger is dislocated from punching Ryan, Aiden’s now ex-stepbrother, in the face, my nose is swollen and bruised from walking into Mason’s elbow, and there are a bunch of cuts and bruises on my body from Aiden’s dad’s attempt to murder me.
And to make all of that worse, I’m being relocated as soon as the agents assigned to my case finalize our new location and identities. King City is the one place that feels like home, where I have friends I love and a boy I love. But Aiden already knows all about me, and I decided to break some small rules so that I don’t have to completely give him up, namely the no contacting anyone from your old life rule. But what my mom and the agents don’t know won’t hurt them, and I’ll be supercareful. When the time comes to leave, I won’t feel like my heart is being ripped out; I’ll still have Aiden.
But in the meantime, while I’m still here in King City, not only do I have Kaitlyn and Ryan trying to make my life miserable, but my best friends are all in the middle of their own drama, and I have two grown men trying to kill me.
Nice.
Honestly, Julian’s the only one in this group who has his shit together and is living a relatively normal life, except for the fact that he hangs out with all of us.
After the accident, Aiden and Mason give the cops a pretty convincing story about what had happened, mostly sticking to the truth but omitting any mention of me or Julian. As far as I know, the detectives don’t see any discrepancies in their story.
Harvey, the man who ran Aiden and me off the road and tried to shoot me, wasn’t found, but Aiden didn’t deliver a kill shot, so they believe he’s injured. They ran the prints on the knife that he held to Aiden’s throat, and they were matched to a Harvey Vedenin, who, to no surprise, has been arrested before. It’s also no surprise that Harvey Vedenin is a known associate and bodyguard of Andrew Kessler, which gives validity to Aiden’s story. Of course, there’s no undeniable evidence to actually prove that Andrew Kessler was behind Harvey’s actions, but we know the truth.
Aiden did end up speaking to Vivienne Henfrey, the reporter who made it clear she is not a fan of Kessler’s, and she practically begged Aiden to go on air. He and Mason stayed at the beach house a few extra days to sort everything out, and the rest of us went back home, and Jason and Jackson stayed at Mason’s house.
I watched Aiden on the news from home, my heart exploding with pride seeing his handsome and determined face, sharing a part of his life that I know he’d rather bury so far inside of him that his subconscious doesn’t even know it’s there. I know how hard it was for him to share his past, but he was confident as he told the world about how he is the son of Andrew Kessler, even though Andrew originally claimed to have no children. He explained how Andrew left when his mother was sick and pregnant, and how he hasn’t tried to contact his family since his wife died. But Aiden was on the news, looking bold, brave, and confident, his words elegant and captivating, making the listener hold their breath just to make sure they didn’t miss a single word of his story.
He was the same Aiden as usual—cold, stoic, and deadly beautiful, looking even more intimidating with the bruised jaw and ten stitches on the side of his forehead. But the world couldn’t help falling in love with him, right there and then.
That’s the thing about Aiden. He has that presence and charm, even on camera, and even when he’s not trying, that just makes people gravitate toward him, that makes people like him, makes them want him to like them, even when everything about him screams, Don’t mess with me.
Vivienne took Aiden’s story and old family photos and ran with it, destroying Kessler’s platform and family friendly agenda with it. She basically proved that Kessler is the biggest hypocrite on the planet, and doesn’t actually care or live by any of the issues he was campaigning for. Obviously, Kessler denied everything. His team worked quickly and efficiently at his response and recovery from this new revelation of information, and as far as I know, has no plans of dropping out of the race for governor.
We were all together when we heard Kessler say he has no intention of dropping out, and Charlotte asked, “He’ll never recover from this, right? People will think he’s an awful person or a phony or a hypocrite and won’t elect him if he chooses not to drop out? Right?”
Annalisa snorted when she replied. “Well, you never know—worse people have done worse things in this country and have still been elected to high places of power, so …”
We all deflated a bit after that, knowing it was true, but at least he’s under more public scrutiny, and won’t make any attempts to take my or Aiden’s life anytime soon.
Hopefully.
Now it’s Monday morning, and we have to go back to school and face the gossip mongers who have nothing better to do than gawk and stare at us. It doesn’t help that there are all sorts of rumors already swirling around before we even head to school.
A f
ew days before school, Makayla Thomas, Kaitlyn’s best friend, saw me at the grocery store, and told everyone that my face is fucked up from botched plastic surgery. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes when Charlotte told me about that rumor. Of all the things Makayla could’ve come up with, she went with the most basic and uncreative thing. But still, this means everyone’s going to try to get a look at me, but that’s nothing in comparison to what Aiden’s going to face when he steps in the building.
He doesn’t open up; it was a miracle when I got him to tell me the most insignificant detail about himself, and that was when he liked me. Having a bunch of stupid teenagers openly staring at you and stage whispering as you walk by isn’t something I think he’ll especially enjoy. I haven’t seen him since the accident because he just got back last night, but I wouldn’t blame him if he decided to skip the next few days.
As I walk into the school with Annalisa beside me, I already feel the stares on me. I fidget with the necklace that Aiden got me for Christmas, feeling calmed by its weight. It’s a pocket-knife disguised as a necklace that has a secret button to press to release the blade. Obviously, I know I shouldn’t be wearing it to school, but I didn’t wear it the night Aiden and I went to meet with Vivienne Henfrey, and we were run off the road and almost killed. I could’ve really used it then, so I decided I’d much rather have it on me now, just in case.
Annalisa holds her head high, a scowl on her face, staring down the people who gawk at us without shame until they bow their heads in submission. If I wasn’t her friend, I’d be terrified of her.
We round the corner to get to my locker, and I stop short. At my locker waiting for me is Aiden. It’s been almost a full week since I’ve seen him in person, and a sense of peace comes over me at seeing him standing there, waiting for me, looking at me like I just made his whole week. Everyone else and their stares and whispers at seeing me or Aiden fade away as I walk over to him.
2
Aiden pushes himself off of the locker he was leaning on and studies me as Annalisa and I approach him.
“How’s your face?” is the first thing he says to me once we’re close enough.
Wow. He’s so romantic. The corner of my lip turns up. “Not as bad as yours.”
He smiles at me as he shakes his head, immediately pulling me in for a hug, and I melt as he rests his chin on the top of my head.