Havoc at Prescott High (The Havoc Boys #1) - C.M. Stunich Page 0,28
purity to it that doesn’t stain like everything else in my life.
“I wish I could take care of us all,” Aaron says, squeezing my hand, his green-gold eyes boring into mine. “I wish I was strong enough.”
His expression says that one day, maybe he will be.
No matter what that sort of strength costs.
No matter if he has to sell his soul to get it.
Aaron doesn't bother to wake me up in the morning. Instead, I find myself jolting out of sleep with a gasp, sweat-soaked sheets tangled around my legs, and an unfamiliar room surrounding me.
The sweet scent of maple and bacon fills my nostrils, and I exhale.
He's going to be down there, shirtless, covered in tattoos and cooking breakfast for his little sister and cousin. My heart starts to race at the thought, at just the idea of seeing him in low-slung sweats, being all domestic and shit.
Jesus.
I swing my legs over the side of the bed, dress myself in jeans and a white wifebeater, and head downstairs.
“Bernie!” Kara shouts, turning and spotting me from her seat on one of the stools that lines the kitchen peninsula. She hops down and races over to throw her arms around me. Her cousin, Ashley, sticks a bite of pancake in her mouth and watches me warily. We've only met once, maybe twice. And she's younger than Kara by several years. Of course she doesn't remember me.
I return Kara’s hug, and then lift my eyes to her brother. He won't look at me, flipping pancakes with one hand and using a spatula on some bacon with the other.
My nostrils flare.
It's like he's angry at me when he's the one that betrayed me, when he pushed me aside and shifted from my most beautiful dream into my worst nightmare. Back in freshman year, I used to fantasize that we'd get married one day, me and Aaron. And then when his dad died and his mom left, I thought maybe we'd raise my sister, his sister, and his cousin together.
What a joke.
I approach the counter and then pause when he plates some food and passes it over to me, finally turning those beautiful eyes to my face. Brown-haired, green-eyed, tattooed Aaron Fadler. My breath catches when he looks at me, but that fairy-tale boy I fantasized about years ago is not the same person looking back at me now.
He's hard, dark, different.
“Breakfast, then I'm taking the girls to a playdate. Vic wants us back at his place after I drop them off.”
I nod, but I don't know what to say to this boy. And other than threatening me or trying to get me to run away, I don't think he knows what to say either.
“I missed you, Bernie,” Kara says, sitting back down on her stool and smiling up at me with a missing tooth. “Where'd you go?”
I have to think about that question for a long time before I come up with an answer, noticing Aaron's dark gaze swing back to me. Our eyes meet as I stab a piece of pancake with my fork.
My first instinct is to say, “Aaron didn't want me here anymore, so I went away.” But she won't understand that, and I'm angry with her brother, not with her.
“To tell you the truth, I don't even remember,” I say with a smile, turning back to face her. “But don't worry, because this time, I'm here to stay.”
If Aaron slams the next pancake down on the plate hard enough to crack it, we all pretend not to notice.
Vic and his boys are sitting in the front yard when we show up, parking next to Hael's muscle car in Aaron's mother's minivan. It looks ridiculous beside the other guys' rides, but it's practical, and it works, and it belonged to his mom, so I know it means a lot to him.
“Everything okay here after we left last night?” Aaron asks as Callum flips his hood back. He nods, so I figure he, at least, must have stayed the night with Vic.
“All fine,” Vic says, smoking a cigarette and watching me. I can feel his gaze, this dark, sweet, heat that sweeps over me and makes me want to do bad things. Very bad things. He's clearly studying me and my interactions with Aaron, like he's looking for something in particular. I give him nothing but a dark stare in return, and he grins. “Did you make me a list yet?” he asks, and I nod.