Once we’re seated, Aiden throws one last pleasantry at Uncle before he hits the button. The engine’s strong vibrations startle me and I grip the backpack tighter.
The car revs in the wide streets. I suppress a gasp at the strength of this thing. I can’t even help clenching my thighs together.
“You like the power, sweetheart?” Aiden watches me intently as I fight the strange rush of excitement.
All the thrill fades away when I recall that I’m riding with the devil. “Pull over.”
“We’re not there yet.”
I face him with an incredulous look. “You really think I’d let you drive me to school?”
“I told you yesterday that you’d re
gret ignoring me.”
“You honestly believe I would reply to your crude texts?”
He lifts a shoulder. “But for future reference, I dislike being ignored.”
“I don’t care about what you dislike, Aiden.” My voice rises.
The stunt he just pulled and Aunt’s disappointed face makes me sick to my stomach.
“You should or…” He reaches over and clutches my hand in his. “I will continue dropping in unannounced and make your adoptive parents fall in love with me.” He lifts my hand to his lips and brushes a kiss to my knuckles.
To an outsider, the gesture would look gentle, almost chaste. But this is Aiden fucking King. The malice in his eyes twists me in knots.
“The look on your face when I stepped into your house was priceless, sweetheart. I should’ve caught it on camera.”
I jerk my hand free. My automatic reaction would be to scream and make him drop me off, but things don’t roll that way with Aiden.
He gets off on anger and strong emotions. Since I’m almost sure he’s a psycho, and therefore lacks feelings, he uses them to antagonise others.
If I give into his trap, I’ll never find a way out.
I just saw first hand how he manipulated Aunt and Uncle, who’ve known me for my entire life, into thinking I was hiding a love affair from them.
The only way to escape his intricate manipulation web is to be level-headed.
I square my shoulders as I face him. My voice is calm. “I don’t know what your obsession is with me, but it’s not going to work.”
He squints an eye. “Let me worry about that, sweetheart.”
“I'm not your sweetheart, Aiden. I’m just a girl you bully and I hate to say this, but I prefer the days you had your minions bully me over this unwanted attention. I don’t want you anywhere near me or my family. It’s one more year and everyone will go their own way, so let’s pretend these last couple of days never happened.”
“Pretending was never my thing.”
“Oh, please. You just pulled off a Broadway-level performance about how much you care about me when we both know you don’t.”
“I do care about you, sweetheart. Maybe not in the conventional term, but I never stopped caring about you. It’s becoming tiresome and fucking irritating.” His dark eyes shoot a path into my soul. “The time has come to do something about it.”
Chapter Thirteen
The time has come to do something about it.
The car ride has been silent since Aiden said those words.
I’m at a loss for words.