Keeping my Best Friend (Fated Series #5) Read online

  I laughed. “As if I could hide that if I tried.”

  He smiled. “What else are you hiding from me Lucy Ryan?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “I swear.”

  “How can I be so sure?”

  “You have to trust me.”

  “Well that’s out of the question.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because you’re far too mysterious.”

  My mouth curled up at the corner. “Mysterious?”

  “Perhaps the most mysterious woman I’ve ever met.”

  “I wish.”

  “I think I might have to search you,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Just to be sure you’re not hiding anything else.”

  “And if you don’t find anything?”

  “Oh I’ll find something,” he said. “And I won’t stop until I do. It’ll be something good, too.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Just a hunch I have.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “A hunch?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Where will you start?”

  “I think I’ll start with your Fighter Arm,” he said, nodding towards the arm in his hands.

  I smiled. “My Fighter Arm?”

  “Don’t you think that’s a good name for it?” he asked. “Or do you already have one?”

  “No,” I said. “Fighter Arm sounds good.”

  He cleared his throat. “Anyway, that’s where I’m going to start.”

  “Just because or-”

  “Because I figure if I can get past that one, I can get past anything.”

  “So you have a strategy?”

  “More like a plan of attack.”

  “I see,” I said, feeling my pulse quicken.

  “Plus, that’s the part of you that’s already disrobed.”

  I pursed my lips.

  Aiden raised my wrist to his mouth and kissed the inside of it so lightly it was like he’d dragged a rose petal across my skin. His eyes flicked up at me and lowered again at which point he kissed slightly higher on the inside of my forearm. Then he did it again. And again.

  And with every inch further up my arm he moved, I felt my body begin to light up like a warehouse whose lights come on section by section until my whole body was on high alert and he was just inches from the first scar.

  I willed him not to kiss it, willed him to stop before he put his face so close to my unsightly, mangled skin.

  But he did kiss it- just as softly and gently as he had my wrist, without even flinching. And I felt the tension drain from my toes and fingertips until there was nothing left but my overwhelming affection for him.

  And then he kissed another one, his lips as soft as a feather, changing the way I saw the part of me I’d been hiding for so long, changing the way I felt about it.

  There was nothing to do but watch him as he made his way past my scars all the way to my shoulder.

  And he didn’t stop there. He dragged his lips across my collarbone and then up my neck. Then he pushed the other side of my robe off my opposite shoulder, moving his lips down, inch by inch. To my chest, to my stomach, to my thighs.

  And then he made it all better.

  Like only he could.

  Chapter 8: Aiden

  “I wish I didn’t have to drop you off,” I said as I pulled up outside Lucy’s place.

  “Do you have a better idea?”

  “I could take you home and make you my sex slave?”

  “No thanks.”

  “Admit you would like that,” I said. “At least a little bit.”

  “Maybe the sex part,” she said. “But not the slave part.”

  “Maybe the sex part?!”

  “Okay.” She blushed. “Definitely the sex part.”

  “Thank god for that.”

  “But I’d still like to maintain my freedom elsewhere if that’s okay with you.”

  “We’ll try it,” I said. “And if I can’t manage, I’ll send some intimidating guys to pick you up and bring you to me.”

  “Make sure they’re wearing terrifying masks and have a really sketchy van so I’m afraid for my life.”

  “Of course,” I said. “That’s all part of the fantasy.”

  “Or we could just do it in the shower or something and let things progress more normally.”

  “You’re no fun,” I said.

  “That’s not what you said this morning.”

  I smiled. “That’s because this morning you were really fun, probably even more fun than you were last night.”

  “You weren’t so bad yourself,” she said, sinking into the passenger seat.

  “So I guess this is goodbye?”

  “More like see you later.”

  “More like when can I see you later because I’m already looking forward to it?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to see you later.”

  “No?”

  “Not today anyway,” she said. “I’m too sore.”

  I turned my body towards her. “What?!”

  “In a good way,” she said.

  “Oh.”

  “In fact, it’s not that I don’t want to see you later. It’s more like my pussy doesn’t want to see your dick.”

  “That really hurts,” I said, clutching my chest. “Thank god it doesn’t have ears.”

  “Sorry. Just being honest.”

  “Maybe we could hang out and not have sex?”

  She laughed.

  “We used to do it all the time.”

  She shook her head. “That was before.”

  “Before you knew what a god I was in the bedroom?”

  “I think it’s your humility that makes me want to spread my legs for you.”

  I smiled. “I’ll learn to grovel if I have to.”

  “That won’t be necessary.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “I like you better on your back.”

  I dropped my eyes and exhaled. “You should go now before I kidnap you.”

  “If I have to,” she said, pulling the handle on the car door.

  “You don’t have to,” I said, getting out. “But I can’t guarantee your safety if you come with me.”

  “You talk a big game,” she said, opening the back door and lifting the strap of her duffel bag over her shoulder. “I used to think you were full of shit.”

  “I’m so glad I’ve changed your mind.”

  “I didn’t say you had,” she said, walking around the front of the car to the curb.

  I popped the trunk and reached for her custom doggy bag.

  “I just realized you’re full of other stuff, too.”

  “Good stuff?” I asked, slamming the trunk and stepping onto the curb.

  “Very good stuff,” she said.

  I walked up to her and held my arms out. “Made from the best stuff on Earth- that’s what they’re always saying about me.”

  She furrowed her brow. “I thought that was Snapple?”

  “Yeah, well. We have that in common.”

  She pushed her sunglasses on her head and squinted at me.

  “Don’t forget your cake,” I said, holding the container out.

  “Good one,” she said, taking it from me.

  “Fiona’s never even going to see her piece, is she?”

  “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “Well, thanks for being the best date ever.”

  She smiled. “You’re welcome.” She looked down for a second and then back up at me. “Thanks for being so… accommodating.”

  “It was my pleasure.” I leaned in and kissed her, holding her chin with my fingertips and wishing she’d never pull away.

  But she did.

  “I’ll call you,” I said.

  “I’d like that.”

  “Should I wait a respectable three days so you don’t think I’m too eager?”

  She laughed. “That won’t be necessary.”

  “Good,” I said. “Tell Fiona I said hi.”
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  “I’ll tell her you ate her cake.”

  “Anything for you, Luce.” I stepped off the curb and opened my car door. As soon as she got the door of her building open, I sank into the driver’s seat and sighed.

  Damn.

  What a smoking hot woman?! I can’t believe we used to be just friends?! How the hell was I going to make up for all that lost time? All that lost sex?!

  One night at a time I suppose.

  I turned the key in the ignition and pulled out into the road. I wouldn’t say I was normally a nervous driver, but I couldn’t help but notice a distinct sense of calm that seemed to be in the car with me.

  It was like even though everything I was passing was familiar, it was different, too. The buildings, the way the light hit them, the way all the red lights seemed shorter than usual. I couldn’t help but feel like something in the air was different, that I was different.

  I felt like even Dave couldn’t have been on my level.

  And then it hit me. I fucking loved that girl. Shit. I loved her. I loved every hair on her head, every scar on her arm, and every tooth in her cheeky grin. I was fucking smitten off my ass for her.

  I shook my head like a wet dog. I needed to get a grip. Nothing had changed. I’d always loved Lucy. That was nothing new. But this feeling was new. This was more than loving her.

  I was in love with her. I was smiling at strangers, giving pedestrians the right of way, whistling fucking Dixie in love with her.

  I couldn’t believe it. One night with her had changed everything. One night had set us on a course so different from the one we’d been on that I was so shocked I probably shouldn’t have been driving.

  I already knew she was hot. I knew she was fun to sleep with. I knew she was funny and smart and talented and kind. But I didn’t know I loved her. Not like this.

  And I did. I knew. I could tell. Because I was inexplicably optimistic in a way I’d never been before about- well- everything and anything I could think of.

  It was actually kind of ridiculous. Thank god I dropped her off so she wouldn’t see this crack pot manic episode I was having as I realized the truth. I took a deep breath. I needed to calm down. Lucy was already concerned about what would become of our friendship. She’d said as much anyway.

  But I could see that she was worried about the wrong thing. She was worried about what we had to lose by taking things further instead of what we might lose if we didn’t.

  Besides, I didn’t want to be her friend anymore. There was so much more to her. But how could I prove that to her? How could I prove that even though I’d joked about not being able to guarantee her safety, doing so was actually what I wanted to do more than anything?

  How could I prove to her that she should be with me and just me in every way she knew how and hadn’t discovered yet? What did I have to do to show her that I was serious about her in a way I’d never been about anyone before?

  It wouldn’t be easy. She thought I was a joker with the attention span of a goldfish. But the fact of the matter was that Lucy had intrigued me and kept me on my toes for longer than anything else ever had- besides Rugby.

  But two true loves wasn’t too many, especially now that one of them was more or less out of the picture.

  If only I could make her believe what I knew in my heart, which was that she wasn’t a fling and that my feelings for her weren’t going to go away.

  It had to be something epic, something she couldn’t ignore. After all, she was the most stubborn, cautious person I knew.

  But I would think of something, something special, something big.

  I had to.

  She deserved that much.

  Chapter 9: Lucy

  I pushed the apartment door open with my butt and backed in, setting my stuff down once I’d cleared the entryway. When I looked up, Fiona was standing in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal.

  “Oh my god,” she said, the spoon half way suspended to her mouth.

  “What?”

  “I take it you had a nice time?”

  “What makes you say that?” I asked, walking towards the kitchen counter.

  “The look on your face is priceless.”

  “What look?”

  “I’ve never seen you look so smug or pleased with yourself for as long as I’ve known you.”

  I set my to-go cake on the counter. “I am pleased.”

  “Is it safe to say you and Aiden made up?”

  “Oh we made up.”

  She dropped her shoulders.

  “Over and over again.”

  “Tell me everything,” she said, crunching a dripping bite of Honeycombs.

  “Well, first he was kind of standoffish, ya know-”

  “Cause he was still pissed.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Even though it’s really me he should’ve been pissed at.”

  “About that, apparently you’re not forgiven.”

  Her face dropped.

  “I’m just kidding-”

  She shook her head. “Not funny.”

  “I think he’s over it,” I said. “Though Chelsea did crash the wedding.”

  “She didn’t.”

  “She did. Just rolled up like what are you doing here, bitch?!”

  Fiona’s mouth fell open.

  “She didn’t say that out loud though. Just with her eyes.”

  “I bet.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Aiden talked her down from the ledge and somehow got her to leave without making a scene.”

  “I’m not surprised. He could persuade me to do just about anything.”

  I felt a twinge in my stomach.

  “And I’m probably even crazier than she is.”

  “Neck and neck I’d say.”

  “Wait- back up,” she said, setting her bowl down and plucking the last honeycomb out with her fingers. “How did you do Claire’s hair?”

  “Simple updo. Loose tendrils around her face. She would’ve been gorgeous no matter what I did though. She was like straight out of a bridal magazine.”

  “I wish my Daddy were rich.”

  “Don’t we all?”

  “Was I right about the bobby pins?”

  “Totally. She thought I was a saint because I gave her a box so none of her bridesmaids would be caught out.”

  “That was nice of you.”

  I shrugged. “What would’ve been really nice is if I’d had a card or something because apparently loads of her friends are getting married this fall and thought I did a good job.”

  She scrunched her face. “I didn’t even think about that.”

  “Me neither. Remind me to make sure Aiden gives her my info so she can pass it on.”

  “I’m sure he will.”

  “Yeah,” I said, knowing he’d probably intimidate them into hiring me if I asked him to.

  “So blah blah the ceremony was gorgeous and you barely held it together.”

  I laughed. “Basically.”

  “And did he look so handsome?”

  “He did,” I said, leaning against the back of the couch. “You probably would’ve choked on your tongue if you’d seen him in his tux.”

  “I’m sure I would’ve,” she said. “Gladly.”

  “Wait- before I forget- Chelsea isn’t the only one who crashed the wedding.”

  “I’m starting to think I should’ve come after all.”

  “Nathan showed up-”

  “The lawyer guy?”

  “Yeah, with the cops.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Apparently Chuck has a whole other life we don’t know about and was already in legal trouble.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “Are you serious?”

  I nodded. “They asked me all these crazy questions like, did I know anything about his other businesses, and had he ever hired any illegal immigrants as far as I knew?”

  “Shit.”

  “Or anyone underag
e.”

  “What the hell?”

  “Apparently, Pedenko isn’t even his last name.”

  “Does this mean I’m finally going to meet Elliot from SVU?”

  I laughed. “I don’t think so.”

  She furrowed her brow.

  “I think someone has to die for him to show up.”

  “Too bad.” She scratched her clumping bed head. “So what does that mean for our case?”

  “I don’t really know. Nathan said he would keep me posted.”

  She nodded.

  “But I would assume it’s higher priority now that it’s linked to whatever else they’re investigating.”

  “Which can only be a good thing.”

  “Right,” I said.

  “And the rest of the wedding surprises all came from Aiden in the bedroom?”

  I felt my cheeks get warm.

  “You don’t have to answer. It was a rhetorical question. Like I said, your face gave you away when you came in the door.”

  I sighed.

  “Are you so happy, Luce? I mean, I know you’d never admit it, but isn’t this kind of what you always wanted?”

  “What?”

  “To be the subject of Aiden’s sexual attention?”

  “I didn’t not want it.”

  “Oh come on. You must be jumping up and down inside.”

  “I do feel a bit springy alright.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “There’s no problem.”

  “Why can’t you admit how ecstatic you are?”

  “Cause it’s confusing.”

  “What?”

  “Well, obviously we had the most amazing weekend together.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “But it’s more complicated than that.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know how to explain it.”

  She cocked her hip out with her head and stared at me. “Try.”

  “This is going to sound so stupid.”

  “I can handle it.”

  “It feels like there’s been a death.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “A death?”

  “Yeah, like something’s died.”

  “I know what death is, thanks.”

  I shrugged.

  “But I don’t see what it has to do with you and Aiden finally hooking up.”

  “What I mean is, I know whatever’s ahead of us will be new and exciting, but whatever we had is dead.”

  “Are you sure it hasn’t just evolved? Or mutated? Like Wolverine?”