Secrets Abound (Supernaturally Bound Book 1) (23 page)

“So what? You’re with Eli, now? Of all the guys, you pick the one I asked you to stay away from.” He scolded.

“Well, you’re so back and forth, how do I know you guys won’t be best friends tomorrow?” I said sarcastically.

“I guarantee that would
never
happen.” He countered. “Did you seriously spend the night with him?” His blue eyes searched my face for an answer.

“Well, it’s not exactly…” I paused not wanting to respond, but then I realized I didn’t have to. “Wait, this is none of your business. I can spend the night with whoever I want.”

“So, you did spend the night with him.” His jaw clenched as he glanced away as if he couldn’t even look at me. I flinched at his accusatory tone, but the pang in my gut came from the brief hurt expression I’d caught cross his face. I was unsure why
he’d
be hurt.
I
was the one he’d rejected. Still, I didn’t like that I’d caused it, and I felt a portion of my anger subside.

“Was that all?” I kept my voice cool as I bit the inside of my cheek.

“No, that’s not even why I asked to talk to you. I wanted to tell you something.” He spoke in a low tone.

“What is it?”

“We won the contest.” He pulled a phone from his pocket and handed it to me.

“We did?” I grinned, all thoughts of our fight forgotten.

“Yeah, they really liked our zombie principal.” He smiled at me.

“Too bad Principal Heckler didn’t.” I said, making Aiden laugh. “Wait, does this mean we’re caught? Because I’ll be expelled, for sure.” I said, beginning to panic.

“No, they assured me no one would ever find out who did it.” Aiden set his hand on my arm. I glanced down, unsure of how I felt about it. Aiden let it drop probably sensing it was too much. “I miss you, Bridge.”

“I’m right here.” I said, but I knew what he meant. I missed him too, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready for this yet.

“I miss hanging out with you. I miss our friendship.” He dragged a hand through his hair.

“Aiden, I just can’t right now, okay?” I asserted.

I thought I spotted that hurt expression cross his face again, but if it was there, it was gone equally as fast. His face was back to being inscrutable, and it reminded of how I always had to guess what Aiden was thinking or feeling. He was never clear about what he wanted. Eli was the opposite; I knew exactly what he wanted.
Me.
Which was maybe more than I was willing to give him just yet, but at least we both knew where each other stood. It was so
uncomplicated.
Okay, maybe not completely uncomplicated, but definitely
less
complicated.

“I’ll see you later.” I told him as I went back over to Eli. I could feel Aiden’s eyes boring into my back as I left him alone in the corner.

Not long after that, the party started winding down. People were either passed out or had left. Chad and Lilly were making out and dry humping (at least I
hoped
it was dry) on a couch in the far corner. Aiden had already taken Cassie home, and I was finishing my last beer before Eli took me home. Eli’s eyes appeared heavy, and I began to worry.

“Are you awake enough to drive?” I asked with concern.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

“Maybe, you should stay in town, tonight.” I suggested.

“Okay, let’s just stay the night here.” He said sleepily.

“But it’s freezing.”

“There are some blankets over there. We can keep each other warm.” He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me closer to him. He did feel warm, and I didn’t feel comfortable with him driving all the way back to Lincoln, tonight. He grabbed three blankets and covered us up. We slept on the couch with me mostly on top of him, and my head on his chest. I could get used to snuggling with him at night. I only hoped I’d be able to sleep the next time I was alone.

We woke up the next morning to Chad poking us with a stick. My first thought was how wonderful it felt in Eli’s arms. My second thought was how late I was for school. I spent the car ride running my fingers through my hair and straightening out my disheveled clothes.

After I brushed my teeth in the girls’ bathroom, I raced to English. I was nearly twenty minutes late and couldn’t have gotten more attention if I had a spotlight shining on me. Mr. Krieger shot me a dirty look but didn’t pause his lecture. I quickly slid into my seat next to Cassie, who was eyeballing my appearance.

“Same clothes as last night?” She whispered accusingly.

“We fell asleep.” I told her. When I went into drama class that day, I saw Aiden sitting next to Mandy looking chummy. He glanced up at me as I entered the room.

“Did you not make it home last night?” He said knowingly.

I rolled my eyes and sat across the room from him without answering. I kept my gaze forward, but I could hear Mandy giggling and flirting with Aiden. I decided I wasn’t going to let it bother me. He could talk to whoever he wanted.

I continued ignoring Aiden in BCIS and decided to spend lunch in the library. On my way to chemistry, I spotted Aiden at his locker. Mandy and Candy were standing on either side of him laughing their over-the-top, flirty laughs. I supposed they thought Aiden was free game since Vicky was gone. My chest tightened with irritation.
Whatever
.

When I entered the classroom, I slid into the seat on the opposite side as my normal seat. The one I’d started using to avoid being near Aiden. However, when Aiden came in today, he sat down next to me. I stared down at my book, trying to ignore him, but I could feel his gaze on the side of my face.

“Good afternoon, everyone.” Mr. Reynolds stood in front of the classroom. “For the next few months, we are going to be focusing all of our energy in the lab portion of chemistry. So, I’d like everyone to look at the person next to you and meet your new lab partner for the remainder of the year.”

I didn’t even look over; I knew who was sitting next to me. It had been over a week since we had sat together and, suddenly, the one day he decides to sit next to me is the day Mr. Reynolds assigns lab partners? I highly doubted that was a coincidence. I wanted to call Aiden on it, but he’d only deny it, so there was no point.

“Your assignment for this week is on the board. Grab goggles and gloves and get to work.” Mr. Reynolds told the class.

Aiden got us out goggles and gloves, and I gathered the chemicals we needed from the front of the classroom. When we sat back down at our table, I put my goggles on and flipped on the Bunsen burner. Aiden started measuring out all the chemicals we needed to add. Slowly, one by one, I started adding the chemicals into the beaker.

“Aiden.” We heard someone say to the right of us. We both glanced up to see Candy staring at Aiden. “I don’t understand this. Can you help me?” She said in a flirty, pouty voice that made my stomach turn. I narrowed my eyes but kept working.

“Sure.” He twisted away from our table to where he was facing hers.

I tried to ignore the knot of jealousy that was forming in my stomach, but I couldn’t. I was so irritated that I wasn’t paying attention to what chemicals I was pouring into the beaker. When Aiden finally turned back around to our table, I was pouring the last of our chemicals in.

“No, don’t put that-” He began to say, but it was too late. I had already poured it. “Get down!” He commanded forcefully.

He yanked me down under the table with him. He had his arm around me where I was under him and the table. We had barely gotten down when we heard an explosion.

We crawled back up to the table to find that our chemicals were on fire. Mr. Reynolds grabbed the fire extinguisher and put it out, but the table and the floor were covered in black residue.

“Oops.” I said to the amusement of Aiden who let out a chuckle, but Mr. Reynolds did not share his sentiment.

“You two are coming back here after school today and cleaning this mess up. Do you understand?” He said sternly. We both nodded simultaneously.

There was only one class left after chemistry before school was out for the day. As I sat in the back of my history class pretending to listen to Mrs. Conner, I started thinking of how much time I was going to have to spend with Aiden now that we were lab partners. As much as I wanted to keep hating him, I knew that if I did, I would end up flunking chemistry. I already failed my last chemistry test due to our make out session. I couldn’t afford any more low grades because of boy drama.

I decided I’d make a serious effort to get over what happened. Hanging out with Eli would help, too. The more I started to like Eli, the less I was hung up over Aiden. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.

When the bell rang, I had to stop by the counselor’s office to check in for my probation. Since I was underage, my probation officer decided it was best to have our scheduled appointments at the school. I had to submit to a drug test once a month or whenever the officer decided to randomly show up at my house with a pee cup.
Lucky me.
Plus, my curfew was technically supposed to be ten at night, but I never abided by it. So far, it hadn’t been a problem, but I’d be screwed if my probation officer decided to do a random curfew check.

As soon as my meeting was over, I headed straight to the chemistry lab. Aiden was already in the classroom cleaning up by the time I got there. I felt guilty that he was stuck cleaning up the mess I had made because I wasn’t paying attention.

“You don’t have to stay and help. I’ll finish cleaning this up.” I told him as I set my bag down on a nearby chair.

“Well, the sooner we clean this up, the sooner we can start studying.” He said, still scrubbing at the floor.

“Studying tonight?” I asked, confused.

“Yeah, if you didn’t know not to mix nitrous with sulfate acids, then we have a lot of work to do.” He smirked. I groaned as I picked up a rag and started scrubbing the table.

“I didn’t actually want to go to the movies tonight, anyway.” I said sarcastically.

“Were you going with Eli?” Aiden asked.

“I don’t want to talk about Eli. You’ve made it perfectly clear how you feel about him so just drop it, okay?” I scrubbed harder out of frustration, with him and the mess.

“Okay, I’m sorry. Consider it dropped.” He said.

“Thank you.” I was quiet for the next few minutes as I tried to scrub the table.

“Is something else bothering you?” He asked.

“No.” I said sharply. I paused. “I guess I didn’t think spoiled cheerleaders were your type.”

“Are you talking about Mandy and Candy? Why do you care?”

“I
don’t
care. If you want to live out some Doublemint commercial fantasy, that’s fine by me. Far be it for me to give you dating advice.” I grumbled.

“You’re right because that would be extremely hypocritical of you to dish out dating advice when you are so against receiving it.” Aiden countered.

“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes and started scrubbing even harder. After a few minutes, I caved and asked, “How are you getting this off because I’m having absolutely no luck?”

“You have to use this. Soap and water won’t get it up.” Aiden handed me some special cleaning fluid. I wanted to complain about his delayed information, but I let it go. The cleaning chemical did work but only with real elbow grease. My arm killed me after scrubbing the table for over an hour.

After we finally got the mess cleaned up, Aiden and I walked home together for the first time since our fight. I started feeling uneasy as we sauntered up to his house. The last time I was here, things had gotten hot and heavy. I wasn’t confident that my feelings for him were in a stable enough status to be back at the scene of the crime.

When we entered his living room, I instinctively headed for the couch but then decided I would sit in the chair, instead. I didn’t really want to sit where we had just made out not that long ago. Aiden sat on the end of the couch closest to the chair and tugged out his text book.

“Listen, Bridget, before we start studying, can I say something?” Aiden asked.

It was hard to say no when his blue eyes stared at me so intensely. My eyes briefly moved to his lips, and the urge to kiss him swelled up inside of me.
No!
I mentally slapped myself.

“I guess.” I focused on his eyes and refused to look lower than his nose.

“This whole thing got so out of control. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you. That was the main reason I broke it off between us. I didn’t want us to get serious only for me to move away. That would be too much for both of us.” His explanation sobered me, and I remembered that I was cross with him.

“I hear what you’re saying, and I get it. I do, but you
did
hurt me, Aiden.” I said with more honesty than I thought I’d have the courage to say. I needed him to know the truth, though, so he could understand where I was coming from.

“I know. I am so sorry, Bridge.” He said genuinely. He set his hand on my arm, and his plea tugged at my heart.

“I believe you, and I am trying to get past it, but if you want us to be friends again, you have to meet me halfway.” I said, staring him in the eyes so he knew I was serious. “It’s too hard to hang out with you when you’re always fighting with my boyfriend.” I could see Aiden wince when I said boyfriend, but that’s what Eli was, and I wasn’t going to pretend otherwise.

“I understand. I’ll try.” He said unenthusiastically.

I heard a familiar song begin to play. Aiden motioned his head toward my pocket, and I realized it was my new cell phone. I was still getting used to having it. I tugged it out and Cassie’s name appeared on the screen.

“Hey.” I answered.

“Do you want to do something, tonight? I was supposed to be hanging out with Bryan, but Hail has him running all around Lincoln searching for Nicole. Apparently, she got in a fight with her parents and ran away. If you ask me, she’s just trying to get attention.” What was with everyone running away, lately?

“I can’t, I have to study. But let me know if they find Nicole.” I told her.

After she whined for a few more minutes, we hung up. We spent the next few hours studying, and I eventually moved next to him on the couch. It didn’t feel so uncomfortable, anymore. And it felt fantastic to have my friend back. As much as I hated to admit it, Aiden was right. It was a good idea that we didn’t go any further than we did because we barely survived this. If we had dated and broken up, I don’t think our friendship would have survived, and I needed him in my life more than I’d ever admit out loud. I don’t think I realized how huge a part of my life Aiden had become until he wasn’t there anymore.

The next day, Aiden and I were on the road to mending our relationship. The day was mostly spent with small talk but at least it was friendly. My mind was elsewhere, though. I had called Nathaniel and told him I’d be coming over tonight to deal with the ring. He’d almost sounded disappointed that I was going through with it. I hadn’t heard a peep from Jeremiah since his last threat. The one where he promised to slit my throat while I slept. I shuddered at the thought. He’d only given me a week, which was just about up. If this didn’t work, I had no idea what I would do.

I couldn’t think about that, right now. I needed to remain positive, even if Nathaniel’s fearful attitude made it difficult. I mean, I could understand why he was scared. If Jeremiah managed to get free, his first mission would be to kill his brother.

Chad was already going to Lincoln for the day and said I could hitch a ride with him. I was surprised, though, when he picked me up with Tom and Drake in the vehicle. Drake sat in the passenger seat while Tom sat in the back. I slid in next to Tom, greeting the group.

“So, where to, my little jailbird?” Chad asked. “Or should I ask if this involves any illegal activities, first.”

“Shut up.” I shot him a dirty look before giving him the address.

“Seriously, though, BK. Why are you going to the Winslow estate?” His curiosity was clear in his voice.

“I just need to return something that belongs to them.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“And that will take hours to do?” Chad lifted a disbelieving brow.

I was annoyed by his interrogation. Chad usually didn’t give me the third degree about my activities, but I guess he could sense something wasn’t quite right.

“When I asked for a ride, I didn’t expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition.” I muttered.

“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.” Tom chimed in, finishing the reference.

I grinned over at him. Very rarely did other people understand my Monty Python references.

“Hey, no nerd bonding in my backseat. I just got this thing cleaned.” Chad reprimanded.

I was grateful that Chad seemed to get distracted after that. The rest of the car ride was filled was joking and laughter. It felt like old times hanging out with the three of them.

Chad seemed hesitant to drop me off by myself when we drove up to the Winslow estate. He offered to leave Tom with me, but I insisted that I needed to do this alone. He still seemed skeptical of the reason I had offered but let me out without a fight. He didn’t drive away until I was safely inside the house. Little did he know just how unsafe I was about to be.