Buried (Heavy Hearts Book 3), page 8
“So, you still love me?”
“Of course I do, but be kind to Marcus. I love him too!” Smiling, I move forward and hug Rhys, which she returns before pulling me down on the bed and screaming.
“Yes! Lexi! Oh yes! Right there!”
As I struggle through laughter and tears to try and pry her off me, the bedroom door flies open, and a murderous Ayden and Marcus barge in with the other guys on their heels.
Sitting up abruptly, Rhys grins ear to ear, throwing her hands up in surrender while I’m still in a fit of laughter rolling around on Ayden’s bed.
“I couldn’t control her! She’s like a sex-crazed animal.” Rhys teases, and I can’t even find it in me to protest because I’m so consumed with laughter.
The room suddenly sounds with seven different message alert tones, and everyone pulls out their phones as I lay on my back, gripping my middle to catch my breath.
“What the fuck!” Marcus hisses, and I pop my head up to look at him.
“Who the fuck is this from?” Rhys asks, and my attention is drawn to everyone in the room. They are all frowning down at their phones before looking back at me.
“What? What is it?”
“It’s a message from you.” Confusion laces Simon’s tone.
I sit up, “What?”
“No. It’s not from Lexi. It’s from her old number.” Ayden growls, his nostrils flaring as he glances up at me.
I lean over to Rhys. “Show me?”
“No!” Ayden hisses and starts towards us, but I grab Rhys’s phone and quickly read the screen.
Being Lexi’s friend is a fucking bad idea.
Look what happened to poor innocent Valarie. Not so innocent anymore, is she?
You have two options, arseholes!
Ditch the bitch and leave her to her fate, or stay and join her knowing she will watch me fuck each of you up the arse before killing you until there’s no one left to protect her.
Her pussy isn’t worth your life. Make good choices!
“Lex.” Ayden squats down in front of me where I’m perched on his bed, his ocean eyes swimming with a mix of emotions. His expression blurs as hot tears fill my eyes, and anger that has been dormant since waking from my concussion breaches the surface as I leap off the side of the bed and scream.
“NO!”
“Lex. Ignore the message. He’s just trying to get a reaction.” Jared says from somewhere behind me. I can’t look at them. Not when I’m like this. Not when I know I could easily kill Mike if he were in this room right now.
“Lex.” Ayden’s hand lands gently on my shoulder, but the touch sears me, and I shrug his hand away as I turn to look at him.
“Don’t touch me right now!” I’ve never felt more on edge than I do in this moment.
With Rhys’s phone still clutched in my hand, I look at the screen again and re-read it. Then, I tap on the number, my old number, and press call.
“Lexi, no,” Ayden begs, but I shake my head and take a few steps back from him, waiting for the call to be answered.
A moment later, the call connects, but the line is quiet.
“Fuck you, Mike!” I hiss, my voice filled with venom.
“Ali. So nice of you to call me. Did your friends like my message?”
“You stay the fuck away from them!” My body is burning up as if flames are dancing just beneath my skin. I can’t even see anyone else in the room. My blinding rage has given me tunnel vision, and all I can see is my fucked-up half-brother.
Mike snickers. “That would be boring. I’m having way too much fun, so my answer is no. I’m going to turn each one of them into my bitch Ali. And you are going to watch me break them until they are begging to kill you themselves.”
“I fucking hate you! I’m going to kill you!”
Mike snickers again, and I scream as the phone is snatched out of my hand, and my rage unleashes as I swing out at whoever stole it from me. My hands connect with anything in my path, and voices sound around me, but can’t make anything out as the rush of blood fills my ears. Arms. A lot of arms wrap around me. I struggle against them, screaming as I’m pulled down.
My screams won’t relent, my struggles won’t give in, my rage has turned me into a monster. I scream, and I scream until my throat is raw, and no more sound will come out. Then my body falls limp as I quietly sob. It’s guttural, heart-wrenching, soul-crushing pain that flows from my body as I am cocooned, wrapped in arms. So many arms.
I should feel like I’m suffocating, but instead, my body accepts the warmth from each embrace and the care that flows from each body. I’m buried in love right now, love that I did not ask for, yet it found its way to me.
Mike thinks he can hurt my friends, but I won’t let that happen. That fucker has to get through me first.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Last night turned into a shit show. My memory is vague from the point I relinquished control to the beast inside me, my mind a red haze of snapshots. I remember soft whispers and feeling safe wrapped in an embrace. I could be wrong or could have dreamed it, but I could have sworn there were more than one set of arms wrapped around me and more than one voice whispering to me tenderly. Whatever it was, it helped me fight the monster that took over, and the blinding rage simmered until sleep dragged me under.
Now, in the early light of morning, I lay silently listening to the quiet snores that fill the room, as well as my rumbling tummy. Damn, I didn’t get to eat dinner last night. As my stomach growls in protest, I pry my sore eyes open, lifting my head a little to spot Rhys on the floor next to my side of Ayden’s bed.
She’s wrapped in Marcus’s arms, looking content, snuggled up with him. I guess she’s as confused as I am because yesterday, she told me she doesn’t want a relationship with him. Why is she laying in his arms like that if she feels that way? I’m pretty sure she’s trying to fight something that deep down, she really wants, but is too scared to accept. The problem with that is poor Marcus’s heart is getting dragged through the mud while she figures her shit out. Maybe I should have another chat with her?
“You okay, beautiful?” Ayden’s voice wraps around me like an invisible energy making my heart skip a beat before taking off on a sprint. I’ll never get sick of hearing his voice or hearing him call me beautiful.
Snaking his arm over my side, Ayden pulls me back to his front, his warm lips pressing gently to my temple. It’s hard not to moan, feeling every place his body contours with mine. I instantly relax in his embrace, my body needy for his touch, even though I sure as shit don’t deserve it. Not after my meltdown last night. Fuck! How humiliating! They all saw it. They all saw me switch into the monster that runs through my veins.
“Did I hit you?” I whisper, my skin heating with self-loathing. “I remember my hands connecting with someone. Was it you?”
Tugging me closer, Ayden’s breath dances over my hair. “Don’t worry about any of that, Lex.”
He really should know me better by now. As if I won’t worry about it. How can I not be concerned about lashing out at him? Hitting him? The thought alone makes my stomach roll.
Shuffling in his arm, Ayden loosens his hold, giving me the space to roll over and settle on my side as I look at him. Big mistake! Guilt burns like a bitch as I take in his face, and even in the dim light of the room, I can still see the shadow of a red mark on his left cheek.
Fuck! I did that!
I inhale sharply, my eyes burning and my gut twisting with regret.
“I’m so sorry, Ayden.” I whisper past my quivering lip, “Fuck! How many times did I hit you?” Shame feels like an elephant on my chest. It’s crushing.
Those ocean eyes that call to my soul, soften as they roam my face, my expression. Lifting his hand, Ayden strokes back some of my wayward hair. “Lexi, it’s fine. You only got the one hit in. I moved away pretty fast after that with the phone.”
How can he be okay with how I acted? The red mark on his cheek has to hurt. I did that to him. He should be pissed at me. “One hit?” I ask, frowning, trying to reach inside my mind to retrieve the memories. They are too fuzzy, though. “I remember hitting someone more than once. Who was it?”
Ayden grins, and it’s smug as fuck. “That would be Jared, and Marcus, and Garrett.”
I bolt upright, my mouth in an O of horror as I glance around the room, panicked, until I spot Jared and Garrett on the floor at the end of the bed in sleeping bags.
Ayden sits up next to me, chuckling, and before I can say anything like, dude this isn’t funny, he weaves his fingers with mine.
“They are tough, Lex. No need to worry about them, either. We all just wanted to protect you and keep you safe.”
Keep me safe?
Dragging my gaze away from the guys on the floor, I glance at Ayden. “Keep me safe from myself, you mean?”
Ayden tilts his head to me, his lips thin as he shrugs one shoulder. “It was a fucked-up situation. The best thing we could do was stop you from hurting yourself. I’m sorry you had to be restrained.”
My gaze drops to where Ayden’s strong hand is entwined with my dainty one. “Jesus, I’m messed up. Do you think I should see a therapist or something? What I did, losing control like that… it’s not normal.”
Lifting our linked hands to his lips, Ayden presses a warm kiss on the back of my hand, his lips soft and comforting.
“What has happened to you isn’t normal, Lexi, but your reactions to it are normal. In saying that, a therapist may be good to help you work through your feelings.”
I nod, knowing he’s right. I should talk to someone other than Mr Matthews, the school counsellor. I hate talking about my feelings, though. I’d much prefer to push that shit down and bury it. Doing that won’t help me, though. I’m sane enough to know that.
“Did you speak to Mike when you took the phone from me?” The idea of Mike speaking with Ayden unsettles me. I don’t want Mike getting his claws into Ayden. He’s too good a person to deserve to have such vileness taint him.
Before Ayden answers my question, he releases my hand and pulls the blankets back off his thighs. Before I can ask him what he’s doing, he reaches over and lifts me like I weigh nothing, placing me down to straddle his lap.
“I may have had a chat with him.” He smirks at me, brushing back my blonde waves so he can see my face better in the dim light, before tugging the blankets up to wrap over my shoulders.
My brows rise in curiosity. “What did you say to him?”
Ayden settles his arms around my middle and strokes his hands up and down my back. Oooh, that feels good. A girl could get used to this.
“I might have told him he can make all the threats he wants, but none of us will ever stop protecting you. And then I hung up before he could say anything.”
Oh man, I bet that pissed Mike off. I would have loved to see the sick fucker’s face. Even though I hate the idea of Ayden talking with Mike, it’s sweet that he declared they will never stop protecting me. They can’t possibly live up to it, but it’s sweet that he thinks that. I know deep in my bones that Mike’s not going to stop. Not until either he’s dead, or I am.
“What’s that look?” Ayden whispers, examining my expression before brushing warm lips across the tip of my nose.
Shit. Why am I so easy to read?
“What look?” I try to straighten my face, hoping he didn’t see the fear in my eyes. Even though I don’t believe he and the guys can protect me from Mike, I don’t want him to know that I doubt him. It’s not that I doubt his abilities and desire to protect me. It’s that Mike is another level of fucked up, and I know he will do whatever it takes to bring me down.
“I’m not sure how to explain it. There was fear, but there was also something else? Acceptance maybe? What were you thinking about?” Bringing his hands out from the blankets, Ayden cups my face, his eyes doing that thing they do when they try to peer into my soul.
I shrug. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Did I just accept that this will only end with mine or Mike’s death?
“Maybe that was her lust look.” Rhys’s voice floats up from beside the bed, and she pops her chin on the mattress, looking up at us with puppy dog eyes.
Ayden chuckles, “Nope. That definitely wasn’t her lust look.”
“You two look cosy. Were you about to fuck?” Rhys wags her brows.
“Rhys!” I whisper-yell, and she grins cheekily.
“Maybe we already have.” Ayden taunts, and I dart my head back to him with my mouth open.
“Ayden!” I hiss.
“What?” He shrugs, and Rhys giggles quietly.
“Nah, I would have heard the sex noises. There’s no way I’d sleep through that.” Rhys teases, and I throw my hands up. This chick is infuriating. Funny but still infuriating. Especially when it comes to embarrassing me, and damn it, Ayden has jumped on board too.
The cheeky shit!
“Maybe we were really quiet.” Ayden teases, sliding his warm palm up the side of my neck to tilt my head back so I have no choice but to look at him, and then he shoots me a wink.
And now my pussy is hungry too! Great!
“No way. Lexi is a screamer. The entire city heard her from the rooftop.” Rhys giggles, and my head darts in Rhys’s direction.
“You heard us?”
She shoots me a well duh look. “Only once I made Simon stay quiet so we could hear properly. That was until party pooper Marcus made us leave. Such a drag.”
A loud slap dances off the walls in Ayden’s room, and Rhys’s eyes roll back in her head.
“Oooh yeah, baby. Do it again.”
“Come back down here and leave Lexi alone.” Marcus croaks, his voice husky from sleep.
Rhys rolls her eyes but focuses on me again. Jesus, she totally enjoyed that slap. Hell, I’d probably enjoy that slap. Not from Marcus, though. That would be just weird. Ayden, though? Hell yes!
“Lexi, before I get side-tracked, I should tell you that while you were the juicy filling in a fucking hot sub sandwich last night, your mum kinda got upset after she witnessed you go Cujo.”
“My mum saw that?” Crap. I keep forgetting she’s even here. What the fuck is wrong with me?
“Uh, yeah.” Ayden speaks this time, drawing my attention to his kissable lips, “After I hung up on Mike, my parents came in with your mum. I filled them in, and dad called Officer Reynolds. My mum wanted to check on you, but the guys wouldn’t leave you. The fuckers wouldn’t even let me get to you until you fell asleep.”
“Really?” I’m surprised punches weren’t thrown. Ayden gets a little jealous of the guys. I mean, I don’t blame him. I’d lose my shit if he had close friends that were girls who showed him the affection the guys do to me. Crap, maybe I should have a word to the guys and ask them to dial it back a bit.
“Lexi, the way your pack cared for you was kind of sweet. I was jealous, let me tell you! What I would have done to be the filling in between all that hard muscle.” Rhys licks her lips seductively, and Ayden chuckles, “I swear I thought Ayden was going to go caveman on them. The way Jared, Marcus and Garrett had you in their arms, and the way Shaun was stroking your hair. Who would have thought Casanova would be so sensitive? Oh,” Rhys laughs, “and Simon. He had your feet covered, giving you a foot massage. I swear that guy has a foot fetish.”
I shudder at the thought, and I feel the rumble of my guys chuckle against my chest.
“Your mum really was pretty upset, though.” Rhys turns serious.
“She was?” I frown. The concept of my mum being upset about me is foreign.
“Yeah, she mumbled something about wishing she had run away with you when you were little. I asked her what she meant, but that woman closed up tighter than a clamshell. She walked out crying after that. I went and sat with her for a bit, but she didn’t want to talk.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if all this heavy crap sends mum to drink again, which will lead her back to the pill-popping. She’s not used to feeling, well, anything. She’s barely been out of rehab, and she has to take on all this bullshit because of Mike.
Marcus sits up abruptly, snaking his arms around Rhys’s mid-section, and drags her back down to the floor. I expect my goth girlfriend to squeal, but the horny bitch moans and I have the overwhelming urge to cover my ears. Exhaustion hits me hard then, wrapping itself around me like a vice. As if sensing it, Ayden pulls me to his chest, laying back with me, and my eyes flutter closed, desperate for sleep.
I can’t stop thinking about Mike’s text message to the guys and Rhys. He’s got a lot of nerve doing that. He obviously doesn’t care anymore if people know what he’s up to. The message had been sent from my old phone, the one he swiped when he ran off after his first attack on me. The thing is, I wasn’t friends with Rhys back then, so how did he get her number if it wasn’t already in my phone?
“Stop thinking, beautiful. Try to get some more sleep.” Ayden’s whisper is a caress against my ear, and I bury my head into the crook of his neck, inhaling his spicy scent.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I need to put his scent in a bottle and spray it everywhere. Smelling him everywhere would make me happy all the time then. And horny! I’d definitely be horny, too. The smell that is Ayden Mitchell works its magic, and I somehow manage to stop thinking about everything and slowly fall into a peaceful sleep.
CHAPTER NINE
The warm spring sun streaming through Ayden’s window pulls me from sleep hours later, and I reluctantly drag myself out of bed. Peter’s apartment buzzes with energy as everyone washes, eats, talks shit, and prepares to head back to Fox Pines. I take my time using Ayden’s bathroom to wash and get dressed before joining everyone in the kitchen.
Slowly nibbling on a piece of toast, I try my best to drag out our stay for as long as possible. I’m dreading going home. I’d much prefer to hide away here in Peter’s apartment and pretend like my sibling isn’t threatening my friends and trying to kill me.
