Discipline

CHAPTER 16

I didn’t remember taking my phone out from the Jeep last night. But apparently I had because upon waking up, having gone to bed again after our midnight drive, I saw it sitting on the nightstand beside the Ketel bottle.

Lying there, I simply stared at the dark screen, enjoying the sound of Aaron’s breathing for a few seconds before I let my hand reach for the phone.

I barely reacted to seeing Ben’s name light my screen when I clicked it on. However, I did slip out of bed to read it in the bathroom, somehow feeling too guilty to even look at Ben’s text near Aaron’s peaceful, sleeping body. It wasn’t until I’d closed the door that I let myself read the message.

Come home to me, babe. You belong in this bed.

“Are you kidding me?” I breathed, feeling heat rush to my cheeks. My fingers surprised myself by rapidly typing and sending a response.

The last place I belong is anywhere near you. Leave me alone. Leave Aaron alone.

It took me a couple seconds to realize my mistake in saying “Aaron” rather than “Mr. Cole,” and only because of the immediately reply Ben sent.

You’re fucking him then.

I stared at my phone, at the ellipsis indicating that Ben was still typing. Suddenly, his messages came all at once, buzzing angrily in my phone, practically numbing my hand.

I know you’re in the Hamptons.

Tell me if he’s with you.

I stared at the texts, frozen. They didn’t stop coming, buzzing into my phone one after the other until finally, it rang with his call.

“Shit.” My fingers scrambled to silence the ring, my head poking out of the bathroom door to see if it had woken Aaron. I heaved a sigh of relief to see him still sleeping on his side, his arm still reaching out where my body had been a few minutes ago.

But just as my body relaxed, another text buzzed in my phone. I jumped.

I know you’re with your friends I’m fine with that. I just need to know if that teacher is with you and if you’ve been seeing him. Tell me and I will leave you alone.

I stared at the text. There was so much wrong with it but I decided to focus on that last four words. Fingers flying, I typed a response.

He’s not here. I haven’t been seeing him. Now leave me alone.

Once I sent it, I turned my phone off. Resisting my urge to throw it, I returned it to the Jeep before silently going into the house and climbing back into bed with Aaron.

~

It was our last night.

Adriana and Linh danced around the fire pit as the guys attempted to throw each other into the sparkling pool, which was lit by a row of lights on each side. The sky was dark and dotted with stars and every few minutes, I gazed at them. Not necessarily because I wanted to, but because the generous amount of alcohol in my last drink had my head swaying, my neck rolling. Linh had mixed countless cups

of punch for me and I’d downed them all, even as Aaron — who was fairly intoxicated himself, considering it’d been Mike’s mission all day to “get him hammered” — began putting his hand on my lower back every few minutes, murmuring the same question in my ear: “Are you okay?”

I wasn’t. Not since Ben’s text messages, but I did a good job pretending I was. Though as I teetered from the terrace and into the kitchen to locate a new bottle of vodka, I felt a finger poking my back.

“Hey, psycho. I’m cutting you off.”

I turned around to see Em, whose almond eyes narrowed at me.

“I know the difference between you drinking because you’re happy and you drinking because you’re in a dark place. Now hands off the Grey Goose.” She held the base of the bottle in my hand and pried my fingers from the neck. “If you don’t recall, I was the person you talked to when you first started hating Ben. Right before he stopped letting you out the house, essentially.”

I stared at her, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.

“Tell me what’s on your mind, Nina,” Em said gently. “I’ll just listen. I won’t threaten to kill him for you or make any kind of scene.”

I swallowed, leaning back against the marble counter. “I screwed Aaron.”