Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
“Scared,” I confessed.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Me too. We don’t have to do this, Hails. We can wait and do other things, or we can just go to sleep and I can hold you.”
I shook my head. “No. I just… just be scared with me, okay? We’ll be scared and nervous together.”
“Okay. Yes?” he asked against my lips for what was to come next.
I nodded my head and held him closer. “Yes.”
Once he had his permission, I was swept away in his embrace. It was a first for us both. Every time he touched me, I became tethered to his soul. Every emotion rushed through me as I made love to my best friend for the first time ever.
Fear.
Excitement.
Pain.
Bliss.
Happiness.
So much happiness.
I cried because it felt so right. He felt so good. He felt… like mine.
I made love to him after he soothed every insecurity and shut off the outside noise for a little while. How could I not? He was my haven in a very hard world.
That night, I gave him every piece of me, and he gave me even more of himself.
18
Aiden
* * *
Lose your V card.
That went over well… again, and again, and again. Still, even though Hailee and I were doing well together, I worried about her.
Since everything went down with the tabloids over the past few weeks, she’d been saying she was fine, but I had a hard time believing her. My overprotective nature with Hailee was surreal. Whenever I had to leave town for work, I felt as if I was leaving her to be an open target for the jerks at school. She seemed to be taking it the best she possibly could, though.
Each day, it seemed that we were falling more and more into one another.
We had routines that we did together. Since I was getting in shape for an upcoming role opportunity, I was in the gym each morning, and Hailee started joining me each day. She’d look good as hell working out, and half the time, I wasn’t hitting my goals because I was too focused on her hitting her own.
For the most part, we fell into our relationship with nothing but ease. The only drama that seemed to come toward us was from others who had no business being involved in our business. People didn’t stop bullying Hailee, though. She told me it didn’t bother her, but I could tell it did.
I became hyper-focused on her and everything she did. Every day during lunch, she’d make small comments about counting calories or how wild it was that something had so many grams of carbohydrates in it. After lunch each day, I’d walk her to her next class, but I noticed after leaving her, she’d go around the corner to the bathroom instead of going into her class.
At the gym, she pushed herself too hard to the point of concern.
“We should get going so we can get ready for school,” I told her one morning. We both were dripping in sweat, and I was beyond exhausted. Hailee went ten times harder than I had that morning.
“Let’s get in a fast run on the treadmill before we head out.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “After leg day? No way.”
“Come on, don’t be a wimp. Ten minutes tops,” she said, breathing heavily as she held the side of the treadmill.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Hailee, let’s go.”
She hopped onto the treadmill and waved me off. “It’s fine. You go ahead. I’ll catch up with you on the way home. I’ll…” She paused and gripped the sides of the treadmill. She placed her head down and took a few breaths.
I rushed to her side. “You’re seconds away from passing out. Did you eat this morning?”
“Yeah, I did. Big breakfast. I just feel a bit faint.”
I hopped on the treadmill in front of her and took her hands into mine. “Time to sit down for a minute.”
“But the run—”
“Hailee. Sit.”
She sat down on the treadmill. I grabbed her water and handed it over to her. “You’ve been working out a lot more lately. Are you sure you’re eating enough?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just tired.”
I wanted to believe her, but I struggled to do so. As an actor, part of my job was studying characters. Understanding how they moved, how they interacted, how they existed, and how they lived.
Something was off with Hailee, and that terrified me because after I collected all the pieces, I knew exactly what I had to do. Each year, our families celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas together. We went back and forth between the houses. My family oversaw the main meal, and the Joneses handled dessert and cocktails.
When Thanksgiving came, my eyes were glued on Hailee. She hadn’t been eating a lot. If anything, she’d become a professional at pushing food around on her plate. She also wouldn’t use the bathroom at my parents’ house. She’d go over to her private bathroom attached to her bedroom, then she’d come back. It was suspicious as fuck, and she went every single time we ate anything throughout the day. So after dinner, I made the choice to follow her.