Page 34 of Pillowtalk

“Even with this guy aboard the ship?” He nodded to the husky, someone Chelsea wasn’t too fond of.

A wrinkle appeared above her nose. “He’s a little devil, that dog, but as long as you’re around, I imagine he’ll mind his manners.”

“One can hope,” Aaron teased, but he swung an arm around Chelsea’s shoulder and led her to one of the canoes along the lakeside. The sky wasn’t nearly dark enough for any stars yet, and the clouds loomed overhead, making it look as if there was a fat chance of seeing anything at all, but having lived in Lyra Valley and its random weather patterns, Aaron knew the stars would arrive at some point in the night.

Chelsea climbed in, Charlie jumping after her with a force that rocked the canoe to nearly capsizing. Chelsea bit back what Aaron assumed was an insult to the pup and slumped down to steady the rocking. Aaron laughed as he pushed the canoe off into the lake and hopped in, water splashing up the back of his jeans.

“Damn,” he said, swiping at his pant leg. “Almost made it.”

Chelsea eyed the splash. “I’d say that’s pretty good since you haven’t been out here inyears. I still get soaked up to the back of my knees when I do it.”

A chuckle rose from his gut, and he grabbed the oars and pushed them out farther from the shoreline. It was true—he hadn’t been out on the lake in years, the last time being with Jared, actually. He frowned as the memory weaved through his mind, and his gaze went across the lake to the docks. It had been a bright day, the calm before the next storm, which had been expected that night. Aaron’s gut had been shriveled into a dried replica of what it usually was, his heart cracked and oozing thick, black liquid as he spoke the words that he knew would end everything.

“I slept with her,” he’d said. “Last night…Liss and I…Jared, I’m…shit, I didn’t mean…”

Jared had blinked, his mouth turned up in amusement, as if he’d assumed Aaron was joking. He had to be; they were best friends since childhood. There was no way that Aaron could have done something so cruel. But he had, and Aaron’s heart had plummeted to the deepest parts of hell when he saw Jared’s expression contort with the realization that there was no joke.

“I didn’t mean to….” Aaron had blurted out. “Damn it, it just—”

Jared had stood up, stormed over to him, and socked him in the chin. “Don’t tell me it ‘just happened.’ ” Then…his facecrumpled,his fists clenched around the thick rope he’d been securing to the dock when Aaron had found him. His friend broke in front of his very eyes, a man who’d never cried even when he’d shattered a bone, skinned his knees, tore a muscle. Jared had paced back and forth on that short dock, shaking his head in disbelief, repeatingno no nounder his breath to useless explanations that kept flooding off Aaron’s tongue.

Aaron could still recall Jared crouching in front of him, holding his head in his hands, back jerking with sobs, and Aaron unable to do anything to stop it, to take it back, to make it better. The memory slammed into him just as hard as that punch to his chin, knocking the wind out of him. He ran a hand over his scar, tore his gaze away from that dock, and blew out a careful breath. It was good that he remembered these things with such clarity. Maybe it would be easier to put a stop to the rising feelings he was having for another girl who had been, and perhaps still was, Jared’s.

His eyes scanned over the water, seeking out the royal-blue top, the pale, smooth skin, and the curled brown hair he couldn’t stop thinking about. His blood ran warm when he spotted her leaning over the edge of her and Austin’s canoe, her fingers running over the top of the water with the lightest, most delicate touch. What he wouldn’t give to be worthy of a touch like that.

Charlie nudged up against his leg, and Aaron forced his eyes away from Kennedy and told himself not to look over there again.

“So,” Chelsea started as Aaron tucked the oars away and the canoe settled. Her lips curled up, and she flipped her head wrap over her shoulder. “How was four-wheeling?”

He shook his head, knowing that she suspected something was going on between him and Kennedy. Hadhebeen obvious, or was it her?

His gaze almost went back to Kennedy, but he stopped himself. “Like riding a bike,” he teased.

“You don’t say?” Chelsea’s eyes rolled at his joke, landing on the canoe Aaron was trying to avoid. “Did Kennedy have a good time?”

The image of her on the quad prodded at his mind before he shoved it away. He couldn’t have that running through his head right now. “She seemed to, yeah.”

“Thank goodness.” Chelsea relaxed, propping her elbows behind her on the edge of the canoe. “All I’ve seen that girl do since she got here is lock herself in her room or stand at the edge of the dock and stare at the lake.” Her eyes widened. “I took her out that second night, you know?Mistake.Poor thing bolted halfway through the night and apparently was standing in the alleyway out back until I finally realized she wasn’t next to me.”

Aaron’s brows rose, the back of his neck burning as he recalled that night outside Carson’s. It was the night he gave himself sixty seconds of weakness before he also “bolted.” It seemed a lifetime ago…had it really been only a week?

Chelsea let out a long sigh, and Aaron watched as her mouth turned up into that signature Chelsea curl. “At least she seems to be having funwith you.”

A grin pulled at his lips; he’d known Chelsea long enough to recognize when she was suggesting something. It just happened to be that she was spot-on this time around.

“Just say what you want to say, Chels.”

“I don’t think I have to.”

He felt his grin fading as quickly as it had come, and his gaze shot back to the docks, over to Kennedy, back to Chelsea. “She’s Jared’s,” he told her in a quiet but firm voice.

“WasJared’s,” she countered. “She’s available now, Aaron.”

He shook his head. “I’m not so sure about that.” With Kennedy telling him she wasn’t sure what was right, what was wrong, his heart cracked and ached not just for himself, but for her. He’d lost his best friend a long time ago and relived it all over again when that damn cancer stole Jared away, but he’d never lost someone that he loved like Kennedy loved Jared. He didn’t know what that love was, but if he were to describe the feeling, he imagined it would start in the same way as he felt right now. The thought of pushing Kennedy away shot him straight in the chest. He couldn’t even think of how it felt to her to lose that feeling completely.

“Why’d you come back home?” Chelsea asked, leaning forward to rest her chin in her hand.

“You know why,” he whispered.

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