Stay With Me (She's With Me #2) - Jessica Cunsolo Page 0,88

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

I’m not having the greatest time at this party. With everything still unresolved with Aiden and still not having told Mason about our parents, it’s too hard to have fun, and I don’t think Charlotte or Annalisa are either. Charlotte’s still stressed about Chase and Noah, since they’re still not friends, and Annalisa’s conflicted about her brother.

“They better not. Aiden would bite their heads off if they tried getting with you,” Annalisa says to me.

I look down at my drink, my already sad mood worsening.

“Doubt it,” I murmur, but I don’t think either girl hears me over the loud music.

Things are tense between Aiden and me, and the whole house knows it. I get that he’s upset, I really do. It breaks my heart to think about how betrayed he must feel, but I have to stand my ground. He has to see why I really have no choice in the matter, and that I think it’s best to leave rather than stay and put everyone I love in danger—including him, especially him.

“How awesome are Erin’s friends?” Mason stumbles over, already one too many beers in.

He slings his arm around my shoulder. “How great is it to go to a party and not worry about seeing Dave’s ugly fat face.”

I shiver, recalling the first time I met Dave at a party, when he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I’m definitely glad he’s not here.

“You look like you’re having fun,” Annalisa tells him, dodging the splash of beer from his cup when he turns to face her.

“Yeah, but you guys don’t. Why are you all such Debbie Downers over here?”

Annalisa glares at him but doesn’t answer, and I shrug off his arm since it’s starting to get kind of heavy.

“We’re not Debbie Downers.” I defend us, secretly glad that maybe old Mason is back, and that the regular tension present whenever Mason and I are around each other is finally starting to lessen.

“You so are! Come on, k-bear! You used to be fun! But then you get in a secret fight with Aiden that no one will talk about and you become a downer. Let’s go get in on the beer pong action in the kitchen!”

Before I can even process what he said, he’s pulling me along with him and I have no choice but to comply. As we’re walking to the kitchen, we pass the living room, where I easily spot Aiden. He’s with Julian talking to some of Erin’s friends, and my heart squeezes with longing and hurt.

Almost as if he senses me, he turns his head and his intense gray eyes narrow in on me, and it’s suddenly like the world has converted into slow motion. His eyes are unreadable as they study my face, but then lock on my hand in Mason’s as he leads me past the room. His eyes stay locked there until we pass the living room, and suddenly the world speeds up again to regular time, and I feel like I can release the breath I didn’t know I was holding.

“Hey, Trey!” Mason calls to some guy in the kitchen. “Me and my girl wanna take you up on that beer pong challenge!”

I do a double take. My girl? He better mean “my girl” in the way I call Annalisa my girl, and not in the way Aiden calls me his girl.

Or I guess called me. Past tense.

We end up losing beer pong, badly. Apparently, drunk Mason has zero aim, and I’m useless once I feel Aiden burning a hole in the back of my head after he comes into the room. He’s making me nervous. All I can think about is him. He’s in the corner talking to some guys, but I feel his eyes on me, his face as stoic and unreadable as the day I met him.

I can’t take this anymore. I can’t bear the thought of him treating me like he did when he first met me, even if I deserve it.

I’m walking through the crowd of people to go talk to him when I see him put his phone to his ear, and a flash of annoyance and anger crosses his face before it’s neutral again. He leaves the room, still talking on the phone, and I stop trying to get to him, feeling my whole body deflate.

I don’t think he even noticed me.

“Hey, k-bear! Where ya goin’?” Mason steps in front of me, blocking my last remaining glimpse of Aiden. “I just challenged