Grimacing, that dimple popped in his cheek as he tucked a hand in his pocket. “You fucked me up, Stevie. For the longest time, I didn’t think I’d ever want to see you again.”
“Yet you’re here.” A gentle statement.
“I’m here.”
I cleared my throat. “I thought you would’ve left after, well, you know.”
“Finding out you’re pregnant with that asshole’s baby? Yeah, I thought I would’ve too. I tried, but I don’t know, something stops me every time.”
It hurt. It cut and burned me to say it. “Don’t let that something be me, Aiden.”
His dark eyes caught mine, locking tight. “You don’t get to tell me what to do or how to feel.”
I was being plucked at the seams. Everything that I’d tried to bury resurfaced within minutes. “I need to get inside.” I made to walk by him, but he slid his hand around my wrist.
Voice low, with vehemence shouting at me through his eyes, he said, “I don’t care if you’re having his kid.” He bit his lips, then shook his head. “No, I do fucking care. It kills me, Petal. But I can’t just stop loving you because that’s happened. I wish I could, but I can’t.”
Tears blurred. “Stop.”
“No, so I’m here. I’m here until you’re willing to talk to me.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. At the first sign of trouble, you left. You blocked me from your life completely.”
“So he can do that to you for years, but I can’t fuck up once?”
“Fuck you, Aiden. That’s different.” I tried to pull free, but his grip tightened.
“It’s not, and you know it. Yeah, his brother died. That’s fucking terrible, but it doesn’t give him a right to stomp all over you because he’s still saddled with guilt.”
Horrified, I wrenched my wrist free. “You’re a real bastard, you know that?”
“You’re only saying that because you know it’s true. My mom died when I was just a kid. Do you see me acting like a self-absorbed shithead?”
A shallow laugh left me. “Yeah, actually. I do.”
His eyes closed, and he set free a loud exhale. “I’m sorry. It’s just—”
“How about instead of trying to make your absence seem more acceptable than his, you just fucking apologize and admit you were wrong? Because you were, Aiden. You were wrong to judge what you saw before giving me a chance to explain. You were wrong to leave me broken on the sidewalk as you drove away. And you were wrong to ignore me for weeks on end when I so desperately needed you.”
I stopped, drawing in a burning breath as tears rimmed my eyes. “You were wrong because I wanted it to be you, and all I wanted was you.” My voice caught. “But then you left.”
“Stevie.” He grabbed my face. “Don’t cry. Fuck.”
My head flopped to his chest, and the scent of his cologne had me shaking as I tried to steady my breathing and push everything back down.
“I fucking love you,” he whispered, choked. “You’re having his baby. I don’t know how to compete with that, but I can’t leave.”
That broke the spell, and I moved back. “I’m not asking you to compete with anything.”
Panic struck his expression. “You’re right. What I did was beyond messed up, but you have me by the balls. You have since the day I first saw you. I didn’t want to share your heart, so I needed to see if I could shake you.”
“All or nothing,” I said quietly, a pinching tightness clamping around said heart. “Turns out, I’m not exactly able to just stop loving someone.”
Aiden stepped forward, the moon highlighting the pained angles of his cheeks. “I can try—”
A throat cleared down on the sidewalk, and my blood ceased flowing, every muscle in my body freezing as Everett came into view. “You can fuck off now.”
Aiden closed his eyes. When he reopened them, that troublesome glint had reappeared. “I’m good where I am, thanks.”
Everett’s jaw turned to stone as he eyed where I stood on the steps, then he marched over, getting right up in Aiden’s face. “I was being polite, so let me rephrase that. Get the fuck out of here before I rip that smarmy smile off your pretty boy face.”
My ears began to ring.
“Aww, you think I’m pretty?” Aiden drawled, stepping chest to chest with Everett. “You’re kind of sweet for a drunk.”
With a growl, Everett shoved Aiden, hard, and I raced down the steps, screaming at them to stop. “Cut it out. Aiden, go home.”