More With You (20 page)

I pull into the lot and quickly remove my seat belt.  I fling open my door and pop the rear glass.  I hear Liam mumble something about me “acting like a lovesick fool,” well, yeah, I am.  It’s been three very long weeks without seeing her smile or having one of her hugs. The tightness that has been heavy in my chest the past few weeks eases with every step closer to her door. I raise my hand to knock, since, well, I don’t live here anymore. Before my knuckles can connect with the door, it’s flung open and Hailey is standing in front of me smiling.

I suck in a breath at the sight of her.  She’s so fucking gorgeous.  Her long dark hair is loose around her shoulders, and those blue eyes are sparkling with happiness.  Her lips, pink, plump and ready to be kissed.  I clench my bag tighter with my left hand and place my right hand in my pocket.  I have to restrain myself from grabbing her and kissing her until we’re both breathless. 
My
angel.

Hailey squeals and throws her arms around my neck. Instinctively, I drop my bag and wrap both arms around her. I hold her tight. I lean down and bury my face in her neck. Fuck me, she smells like heaven. “I missed you,” she whispers.

I pull back and bring my hands to caress her face, gently stroking my thumbs across her cheeks.  “I missed you too, angel.  More than you know,” I tell her.  I want to kiss her so fucking bad.  Thankfully, Liam and Allison step up behind us before I forge full steam ahead. Hales greets them with as much enthusiasm as she did me.  I’m okay with that though.  I know how much she loves Allie and Liam. 

After a round of hugs, we drag our bags and our tired asses into the condo. Allison and Hailey scurry to the living room to talk wedding plans. Allison has a huge ass binder that she tugs around with her. She says it’s going to be a small affair, but by the size of that binder…I’m not so sure.

Liam simply goes along with anything she wants. He says anything that makes her happy will make him happy. I chance a look at Hales, and yeah, I get it. I can see me being the same way.

“So, where do you want us?” Liam asks Hailey.

Her eyes go big and I see a blush creep up to cover her cheeks. What’s that about?

“Well,” she chews on her lip, “you and Allie can take your old room. Aiden, I have you set up in yours as well, and I will take the futon,” she says as she points to the corner of the room.

“You took Aiden’s room?” Liam asks.  Shocked that she would choose the smaller of the two rooms.

I’m watching the interaction and her blush grows deeper. She’s embarrassed. “Like she would want to sleep in the room where we had to hear you two lovebirds in all the damn time,” I say, coming to her rescue. I make a mental note to ask her about the room selection. Hailey looks relieved that I spoke up.

“Yeah, I can still hear it.” She pretends to shudder. “I decided Aiden’s would be the safer bet. Less nightmares,” she teases.

Now it’s time for Allison to blush and I can’t help but laugh. “You know she’s right, Ash,” I tell Allison.

Liam laughs with us as he pulls Allison into his side and drops a kiss on her head. “I love you, beautiful girl,” he tells her.

I roll my eyes at Hales and smile.  She offers me a smile in return as she says, “I see some things never change.”

“Nope, not with these two.” I motion my head towards the lovebirds.

“Well, I ordered pizza.  It should be here any minute.”  Just as she says that, the doorbell rings. 

She smiles and shuffles to the foyer to get the pizza. Remembering my manners, I jump off the couch and follow her so I can pay, or at least pay her back. She doesn’t need to be paying for our food. I got this.

I reach the foyer and stop dead in my tracks.  Some big-ass dude covered in tattoos has my girl in a hug.  No fucking way!  Who is this guy?  I look around and don’t see any pizza boxes.  I clear my throat.  Hailey turns and faces me, her face crimson with embarrassment. 

“Oh, Aiden.  This is Miles.  He’s Macie’s twin brother.  Miles this is my brother’s best friend, Aiden,” she introduces us.

Tattoo guy offers me his hand. “Nice to meet you.  I’ve heard a lot about you,” he tells me. 

“You too,” is my reply. I can’t take my eyes off his arm that is thrown over her shoulder. I hear a low chuckle come from tattoo guy, Miles, and he tightens his hold on Hailey. She doesn’t appear to be uncomfortable and she doesn’t make any effort to have him move his hand. Is she with him?

Hailey turns to Miles.  “So what brings you by?”

“Right, I brought your clothes by that you left at my place the other night,” he says with a wink as he hands her a bag of clothes.

What. The. Fuck!

Hailey blushes. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that. I could have got them another time.”

“It’s not a big deal, sweetheart. I wanted you to have them in case you needed them,” he says, pulling her tighter against his side.

I’m just standing in the foyer, trying to control my anger. I have no right to be pissed. I did this. I decided the reward didn’t outweigh the risk. I made the decision for us to remain friends. I’m the one who is too chicken shit to tell my dream girl, that she’s that, the girl of my dreams, the most important person in my life, because I’m afraid to lose her. And now…well, now I get to watch some other dude claim her as his.  My night just went to shit.

Allison texted me about ten minutes ago and said they had just hit the city limits.  I’m pacing back and forth in front of the living room window, waiting for them to arrive.  Finally, after what seems like way longer than ten minutes, even though I know it wasn’t, I see them pull in.  Allison had told me they were in Aiden’s new Tahoe and that it was white.  I watch as Aiden jumps out of the driver side, grabs his bag, and takes quick long strides to the front door. 
God, I missed him.
 

I run to the foyer and throw open the front door.  Aiden has his hand in the air ready to knock.  I launch myself at him.  I feel his arms wrap around me and I sigh and hold tighter. 

I hear Allison and Liam join us and I attack them with hugs as well. This is the first time in the last three weeks, I really feel like I can breathe. I have missed these three so much. I’m afraid that saying goodbye on Sunday is going to kill me. It will definitely be worse than the first goodbye. My heart now knows how it feels to be so far away from them.

I usher them into the house and Liam asks what the sleeping arrangements are. 
Shit!
 
I knew this would be brought up, with me insisting that they stay here and all, but I thought I would at least have a few minutes to get myself together before I had to announce that I’m in Aiden’s old room.  There is no way that I can tell them the real reason why.  I wanted to feel close to him.  My emotions are all over the place, seeing them, seeing him. Being in his arms.  I can’t think fast enough to come up with an alternative answer.  As if Aiden can read my mind, he speaks up and saves me.  He jokes about me having nightmares about what Liam and Allie had done behind closed doors in that room. 
Thank you, Aiden!

I go along with the excuse, thankful that he stepped in and saved me.  It’s believable enough and we all laugh about it. 

The doorbell chimes, and I grab my wallet to pay for the pizza. What I find is Miles.

“Miles, hey!” I say, surprised to see him.  They all knew that I was busy tonight.

“Hey, Hales. How are you?” he says, bending down to give me a hug.

“Good, actually.  Liam, Allie, and Aiden just got here.  I thought you were the pizza guy,” I say, releasing him from the hug.

I hear someone behind me clear their throat, and I know, before I even turn around, who it is.  Aiden.  I can feel him.  I slowly turn, face flushed with embarrassment.  I don’t know why; it’s not like I was doing anything wrong.  Beside, Aiden and I are just friends. I can hug who ever in the hell I want.  My heart needs to get on the same damn page as my brain. 

Miles throws his arm over my shoulder as I quickly make introductions. They shake hands; it appears to be reluctant on Aiden’s part. Needing to break the tension, I look up at Miles and ask him what brings him by?

To further increase my embarrassment, he hands me a bag of clothes that I left at their place earlier in the week.  The four of us had went out to dinner right after class and I changed there.  Instead of tugging my bag along, I left it there.  It was late by the time we got back and I just got in my car and left.  Standing here now, with Miles’s arm around me holding me close and Aiden standing there looking like Miles just kicked his puppy, this situation looks a lot worse than what it really is.  The way Miles said it sounds like I was there to spend time with him, intimately. 

At this point, there is not much I can do to diffuse the situation.  I don’t want to make a scene, so I simply say, “Thank you,” and take the bag from him.  Miles is being really flirty and calling me sweetheart.  This is something that he does, but he seems to be really laying on the charm tonight. 

Miles tucks me tighter into his side. I see Aiden’s jaw clench and he shoves his hands deep in his pockets. His eyes capture mine for a long pause before he turns and walks away.

As soon as he is out of earshot, Miles releases me and holds his hand up for a high five. I slap his hand, not sure, what we are celebrating.

“He’s jealous,” Miles says, grinning. 

“He…what?” I’m confused.  He thinks Aiden is jealous and he’s happy about that?

“Just what I said.  Your boy is jealous, which is exactly what I was going for,” he says with a wink.

I just stand there staring at him with my mouth open. He was trying to make Aiden jealous?

“Look, Hales, with everything you’ve told me, it’s clear he wants you. He’s fighting it. I know you’re tore up over this guy, so I thought maybe if he thinks he has a little competition, it might motivate him to take what he wants, which is you,” he explains.

“We’re just friends,” I whisper, still in shock that Miles planned to make Aiden jealous.

“Bullshit!  That guy wants you.  He’s pissed off thinking you and I are together.  I plan to do this all weekend.  That is, unless you insist that I don’t.  Kaden, Mace, and I talked about this last night. Aiden has never had competition before. He or Liam always ran them off before you had the chance to pursue anything, right?”

I shake my head yes.

“Well, now that they are gone; you’ve met new people. It’s not our fault if they get the wrong impression.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal that Aiden thinks he and I are together.

“Miles, I…” he stops me.

“Let’s just try it and see what happens. I want to see you happy, and I don’t think you will truly be until you are with him. So, I want to help make that happen. Let’s just let it play out, okay? You don’t even have to lie to him. You can tell him that we are just friends. He will believe what he wants, because he’s tore up about it. He wants you, but thinks you’re mine.”

I stand there in the foyer, torn.  Do I do it?  Do I let Aiden assume that Miles and I are an item?  No, I will deny it. I can’t lie to him.  “I won’t lie to him.”

“I’m not telling you to lie to him. I’m asking you to trust me to make him see that you are what he wants, and that he’s not willing to stand by and let another man take what’s his.”

“I don’t know…”

“We’re not lying to him. We’re just giving him the nudge he needs to take the next step,” he says, squeezing my arm. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.” He turns to leave and then turns back around with a smile. “Pizza’s here.” And he walks away.

I see the delivery guy walking towards the door.  I go through the motions of paying for the pizza and giving him a tip.  Taking a deep breath, I walk into the living room with a smile on my face.  I’m acting like nothing happened, that Miles didn’t suggest that I had spent time at his house intimately, and that Aiden didn’t get pissed off and leave us there. 

“Hey, guys, sorry it took so long.  Miles dropped by to give me some things I left at their house, and then the pizza guys showed up,” I say, holding up the boxes before placing them on the table. 

“Aiden said a friend dropped by, but he failed to tell me it was a guy. What the hell, man?” Liam says to Aiden.

Aiden shrugs his shoulders and opens one of the pizza boxes.

“It was just Miles.  He’s Macie’s twin brother.  He’ll be at the party tomorrow night, so you all can meet him then,” I tell them.

Aiden’s head snaps up and his eyes meet mine.  I can’t read his expression.  He turns his head and continues eating. 

“So, this Miles character? Are you guys together?” Liam asks me.

I shake my head no. “He’s just a friend.  He, Macie, and Kaden have become close friends of mine.  I pretty much had to start over when you all left,” I say softly.

Liam is up out of his chair and wrapping his arms around me. “We are just a few hours away. I’m sorry we had to leave. I know this has been hard on you.” He drops a kiss to the top of my head. “I can’t wait for you to spend the week with us. Who knows, you’ll be done with school in a year. They hire nurses in Charlotte,” he says with a wink.