Sins of Aiden

21

CHAPTER 21

Aiden doesn't hug.

He does not embrace someone.

He has never been seen hugging a person.

I've specifically heard and witnessed to that fact.

I thought it was obvious.

He does not have his arms wrapped around a girl.

Who I've never seen before.

With a hand around the back of her head and the other wrapped around the small of her back—I can feel something shatter within me. Somewhere deep. Something serious.

Because seeing this. . . I just can't wrap my head around it.

I swallow thickly, moving slightly lower, out of view—still drenched from sweat and face flushed from a particular dream. My blankets as scattered across the floor as I managed to escape my bed that now feels like a crime scene. Despite sleeping, I feel exhausted, heart beating so overwhelming against my rib cage that it almost starts to hurt.

I blink, staring out my bedroom window.

I had a dream. A dream that struck me like lightning when I jolted awake and I'm sure a permanent ruddiness will shroud my cheeks into the foreseeable future.

When I finally caught on to my surroundings—in a dark, silent room in the middle of the night—my entire body twisted into a furnace. Heat coiled unbearably low in my belly, crawling up my throat, clinging to my skin like a fever I couldn't undue. I clapped both hands over my face, mortified. Because what the h-e-l-l just happened?

I flopped backward onto the bed, then bolted upright again because the damp sheets touched my skin and made everything worse.

I had a dream.

An erotic dream.

About Aiden.

"Oh god," I whisper again, louder this time, dragging my hands down my burning cheeks. My heart won't settle. It's pounding so hard it feels like it's echoing in the room.

I shoved my blankets away and swung my legs off the bed—I needed air. Cold air. Something to wash away my sins.

A rush of cold night air smacked me in the face when I stumbled to my window and pushed it open, instantly cooling the sweat on my neck. I braced my hands on the windowsill and leaned into the breeze, breathing hard.

My pulse began to slow.

Little by little.

But then something caught the corner of my eye.

Movement.

Across the street.

Near the end where Lucas Brown lives.

I blinked, peeking my head out, squinting as I peered through the soft luster of street lamps and shadows.

A black car is parked near the end of the street and the back door of the car opens.

And Aiden steps out.

I can recognize his shadow anywhere, having accustom his presence for a few years. His silhouette is unmistakable—broad shoulders, dark hair falling over his forehead, the lazy swagger in his steps as he staggers out of the car. He shuts the passenger door behind him and begins walking away from the car.

My previous flush comes back in full force—heart climbing up yet again to a violent gallop in my chest. Seeing him clashing with my dream I just had and I think I will just combust entirely.