Page 55 of The Breaking Point

He scoffs. “Eli doesn’t hate you. I’m pretty sure he’s in love with you.”

I blink. “What?”

He stops walking, holding my hand, so I have to do the same. “Remember when you first met him? That winter break, he crashed at our place because I hitched a ride home with him?”

“Oh. Right.” The memory flickers in. Eli, lanky and loud, crashing on our couch with a giant duffel bag, he had been nice to me then.

Aiden nods. “Yeah. After I got back to school, he wouldn’t shut up about you. Nonstop. Asking about you, bringing you up in every conversation. At first, I tried to be cool about it, but then…” he pauses, grimacing like the memory still stings, “…I kind of snapped when he started telling the guys how ‘pretty’ and ‘hot’ you were.”

I stare at him, blinking. “Wait. What did you do?”

“I grabbed his throat,” Aiden says flatly.

I reel back. “You what?”

“I told him you were going to be my wife. And if he ever said anything like that again, I’d rip his face off.”

I stare at him, speechless. Aiden has never been the aggressive type, at least not outwardly. He’s always been calm, composed. The idea of him grabbing someone by the neck over me doesn’t compute.

He looks down for a second, jaw tight. “I know you don’t like possessiveness, but… damn it, he pissed me off.”

I pause. “Who said that? I never said that.”

His brows furrow, like he’s trying to solve a puzzle. “In high school. When I shoved Trevor into a locker for trying to staredown your shirt. You didn’t talk to me for two days. At least, not until I broke into your grandma’s house.”

I burst out laughing. “Oh my God, Iforgotabout that.” I shake my head, grinning at the memory. “Coming downstairs in the middle of the night and finding Grandma pointing a shotgun at your chest?Thatwas hilarious.”

“It wasnotfunny to me,” Aiden says, still bewildered.

“I wasn’t mad at you,” I say. “Remember? Your mom stormed into the school and said I was a bad‘influence,’” I throw up air quotes, “then called Grandma and got my phone taken away. You were suspended, so we couldn’t even talk at school.”

He stares at me, blinking like someone hit play on a memory reel. “Oh, that’s right. Mom wouldn’t let up until Iliedand said we broke up. I can’t believe I forgot that.”

I shrug, slower now. “It was almost eighteen years ago.”

He’s quiet for a beat. Then, a little more carefully, he asks, “So… youdon’tmind if I get a little crazy when other men look at you?”

I meet his eyes, dead serious. “Honestly? I actually find it kind of sexy.”

He tilts his head, squinting at me like I’ve just revealed I’m fluent in Russian.

“What?” I laugh.

“You’re full of surprises tonight,” he says, but he’s smiling now, something warm and slightly stunned behind his eyes.

I smile as we start walking again.

“Since you don’t mind it, remember Jack’s barking habit?”

I let out a snort. “How could I forget?” Every time I used to take Jack to the park while Grandma watched Alex, he’d be fine, running around, going up and down the slides. But the second anyone came near me, he’d trot back and start barking. At everyone.

“He barked at everyone,” I say, remembering. “Even moms with strollers.”

Aiden’s smile turns sheepish. “He couldn’t tell the difference between men and women. All he knew was that he was Daddy’s little soldier, and his job was to protect Mommy.”

My mouth drops open. “Everyone thought I was crazy for letting my son bark at strangers like that.”

Aiden lifts one eyebrow, smug and unrepentant. “I knew those parks. Knew those desperate little shits trying to pick up my woman.”

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