My Brother's Best Friend -VS- My Abusive Ex.

Chapter Nine

I didn’t sit there for long since Traeh followed me right out. I was in tears by time he caught up. I knew deep down that my parents being gone and Joe hitting me was not my fault, but I had once felt like it was and Ariel saying all of that just brought up those feelings again. Traeh knew exactly what I needed and without saying a word he wrapped me up in his arms and just stood there holding me. We stood there for only a few minutes before Aiden joined us. “Are you okay,” he asked me.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Is she okay?”

 

“Well… you broke her nose. It looks really bad. Where’d you learn to pack a punch like that?”

 

“From you,” I whispered.

 

“From me,” he laughed. “Shouldn’t I remember that?”

 

“You taught me when we were kids and you got tired of me being picked on. You told me all I needed was one good punch and they’d never bother me again.”

 

“I remember that,” Traeh laughed. “We were in elementary school, and you came to class just like usual except as soon as one of the mean boys opened their mouth to pick on you, you laid him out. I thought it was the funniest thing. That’s how we became friends.”

 

“And look at you now,” Aiden said. “You two are dating.” Traeh and I both shut our mouths at that remark. I knew we were both feeling guilty at that moment. I didn’t want to lie. Lying to Aiden was harder than anything I’d ever done and I felt like I was a whore of some kind. I was still hopelessly in love with Joe, I was head over heels in love with Aiden and yet, I was dating Traeh, the only guy at this point that I had no feelings for outside of friendship. I couldn’t understand how someone as good as Traeh would ever even like a girl like me. Who was I to judge Ariel? She was right about me. I thought I could have Aiden and still want Joe. Maybe I was going about this all wrong. I just didn’t know how to get myself out of the situation I was in. I couldn’t come out and tell everyone I lied about Traeh and I because I wanted to make Aiden, a guy I claimed to only like as a brother, jealous because I’m in love with him. I heard the final school bell ring and looked at Traeh.

 

“Can you give me a ride home,” I asked him.

 

“Why would he,” Aiden asked suddenly. “We were gonna talk. Don’t you want to talk still?”

 

“I just thought that you wouldn’t want to because of my little outburst back there.”

 

“Of course I still want to. You were standing up for yourself and I would never get upset with you doing that.”

 

“Well, I’ll see you later Case,” Traeh said getting into his car and driving off.

 

“Are you ready,” Aiden asked me.

 

“Yeah, let’s go.”