Stay With Me (She's With Me #2) - Jessica Cunsolo Page 0,62

is rigged anyway,” Annalisa mumbles as Julian hands her purse and jacket back.

“Amelia has two fingers taped together and she didn’t do too bad.” Julian motions to my dislocated finger, earning him a glare from his girlfriend.

“You get to pick anything on the top shelf.” The game attendant waves at the line of medium-sized stuffed animals.

Aiden looks at me. “Pick whatever you want.”

I beam at him and turn to the game attendant. “I’ll have the dark-blue dragon, please.”

I thank him when he hands it to me and clutch it to my chest as I turn to my friends.

“There’s a whole collection of cute bears and dogs, but you go for the dragon,” Aiden says.

“Dragons are badass.” I defend my choice as we walk to the food trucks where the others are supposed to be. “Plus, it kinda reminds me of you, Aiden. I think I’ll name him AJ, for Aiden Junior.”

“How do I remind you of a stuffed dragon?”

“Because you’re scary and fierce like a dragon, but on the inside you’re cute and cuddly like this plush toy,” I tell him as I hug AJ to my chest, resisting the urge to pinch Aiden’s cheeks.

“I am not cute and cuddly,” Aiden grumbles, but a small smile escapes anyway.

We laugh at him as we reach the picnic table Mason and Jason are sitting at, eating giant pretzels and arguing about something that’s most likely trivial.

“Where’s Jackson and everyone else?” Aiden asks.

“I don’t know, we haven’t seen them in a while. They went off to go on rides and stuff,” Jason says as he wipes his mouth on his sleeve.

Aiden scowls at him but is interrupted from saying anything when there’s an outburst from a crowd not too far from us.

“What’s going on over there?” Annalisa asks as she sits down at the table and steals a piece of Mason’s pretzel.

“Remember the mayor running for governor whose commercials we keep seeing? Mayor Kessler? It’s him and a bunch of reporters,” Mason explains. “Apparently, there’s this whole controversy about his platform being based on being a family man and loving children, but he’s having an affair or something. Vivienne Henfrey, the reporter from Channel Five News, especially hates him.”

We all turn to look at Mason like he just announced that he’s pregnant with the child of Satan.

“Why do you know that?” Julian asks what we’re all thinking as Aiden goes back to studying the mayor.

Mason shrugs. “Jason and I are just sitting here, eating our food truck samplings. It’s not my fault the drama is happening right in front of me and I happen to overhear it.”

I follow Aiden’s gaze as he looks over at the crowd. From what I can tell, the mayor is actually a pretty good-looking guy, with an easy smile that could effortlessly charm the pants off of potential voters. He seems very well put together, talking to carnival goers while also trying to disarm the reporters throwing accusations at him.

“What are you guys looking at?” Chase asks as he and Jackson join the group, taking a seat at the picnic table with us.

Mason fills him in quickly, but the conversation turns to Chase and Jackson’s narrow escape from being hit in the face with puke on one of the rides.

“Some of the puke got on Noah and Charlotte, though! It was soooooo funny!” Jackson laughs, blissfully remembering the incident.

“Of course that’s something that would happen to Noah.” I laugh, feeling bad for them but also seeing the humor in the situation. “Where are they now?”

Chase breaks off a piece of Mason’s giant pretzel, earning him a glare from his friend. “They walked back to the house to change.”

Charlotte must not have been happy about getting puked on, but at least she was with Noah, who I’m certain made her feel better about the situation by cracking stupid jokes.

“Did you guys win any prizes at the games?” Jackson asks Aiden, but he doesn’t hear. His eyes are laser focused on Mayor Kessler with an intensity that only Aiden can make look threatening.

I answer Jackson for him, and the conversation moves along, no one quite noticing that Aiden’s calculating eyes are narrowed on the mayor.

“Is everything okay?” I ask Aiden softly as the conversation goes on around us.

He doesn’t answer me, almost like he’s zoned out of everything that’s happening around us, and all he sees is the mayor. I don’t even know if he’s actually seeing the mayor, or if he’s been transported somewhere else in his mind. That’s