✓ | WELCOME TO DEADTOWN → original

eight

KAYDEN TURNER WAS SITTING ON HER BOYFRIEND'S COUCH, HER LEGS CROSSED AT THE ANKLE AND HER HEART RATE STEADILY CLIMBING. She jumped slightly as her phone let out a ding, and she closed her eyes, knowing Aiden had probably gotten her note by now. She felt awful for putting him through all the shit of the night before, and she didn't want to do it again.

She took out her phone, her eyes scanning the one new message notification below:

Aiden: I'm not giving up on you. Don't you give up on me.

She felt warmth flood from the top of her head all the way to her toes, and she let out a little breath of air. He was different, that was for sure. She had felt herself drawing away from everyone and everything ever since she had been with Kyle- even Lex- and when she had truly talked to Aiden for the first time at the party the night before, she felt alive for the first time in a long time.

Where Kyle made her anxious and on edge, Aiden made her feel at ease and safe. She had laughed with him last night. She couldn't remember the last time she had laughed with Kyle. They had just been together for so long it was hard for her to imagine her life without him. It had gotten to the point where he made sure he knew where she was, where she was going, and what she was doing at every second of every day. She thought long and hard about the last time she had had alone time with Lex without Kyle, and was stunned when it surpassed less than a month easily.

He had shoved everything that was important to her to the side and put himself center stage. And she had never questioned it.

Until Aiden.

Kayden squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force herself to think of something else, but every time she had tried since she left the note in his car, her mind kept shooting back to him. His dark hair, his sarcastic remarks, the way he made sure she was okay for the entire fucking night before.

But this was the right thing to do. She knew it when Kyle had gone as far as to show up to his house, threatening to make Aiden a target as he wrapped his hands around her throat. And there was no fucking way Kayden was going to stand by and watch as he beat him to death. She couldn't do that to him.

Aiden was not going to get hurt because of her.

Kyle's house was quiet and empty, his expensive couch looking as though it hadn't been touched in weeks. Cigarette butts and empty beer bottles littered the floor, reeking of stale liquid and smoke. It looked as though the house hadn't been lived in for awhile, and maybe it hadn't. Kyle was also known for throwing parties at his house because of how often his parents were gone on some luxurious vacation, and it seemed like this time was no different.

And Kayden didn't know if that made her relieved that they wouldn't be there to see what was about to happen or terrified that she would be completely alone for it.

As she checked the time on her phone again, deleting Aiden's message in the process so that Kyle wouldn't see it, she heard keys jingling outside by the front door and loud voices. She froze where she was, hurriedly sticking her phone in her pocket and waiting tensely for the door to open.

It did, revealing Kyle and three or four football players. They came into the living room, joking and laughing and carrying 8 packs of beer until one of them spotted Kayden and nudged Kyle in the side.

Kyle looked up, his eyes focusing on his girlfriend. He pushed his dirty blonde hair out of his eyes, raising his eyebrows. "Well, look what we have here, boys."

A few of them guffawed, as if this was the funniest shit in the world, and Kyle squinted his eyes at her. "Little bitch decided to come home."

Kayden felt her insides twist, bile rising up her throat. He was obviously drunk, swaying slightly on his feet and his eyes bloodshot. What she didn't know was why. It was one in the afternoon on a Tuesday, and he usually saved his drinking for in the night. What had he needed to do or work up the courage to do to get this drunk for?