Page 39 of Significant
Anger pulse through his veins, before surging through him. “Fuck! Is it so bad that I want topleaseyou?”
Please me?He swallows down his frustration. Even Wolf seems surprised by his reaction and his choice of words. He didn’t want to admit that. He hands me his credit card again and now I take into my palm, before he gathers his stuff and starts leaving his garage without a word. He seems upset, like by refusing him I’ve hurt his feelings. He thinks I’ve rejected him. He cared. He cared, and I pushed him away. Did he really want to do this gesture just to please me? Without another motive?
“Aaron, wait!” He turns back to face me, his expression cold as ice. “Thank you… but I won’t buy anything expensive.”
“Don’t think about money, please. It’s my treat.” He glances over at Monica whose eyes have widened, shocked by our exchanges. “For the both of you.”
He leaves before I can reach for him. He is still upset. Does he regret what he said?
“Well, fuck! I didn’t know you were that close.” Monica gives me a sinful look.
“He is just being nice.” I brush my fingers through my hair awkwardly. She snorts before raising her eyebrows theatrically while we exit the garage and head toward her car.
“We are an agreement, that’s it,” I remind myself, using the term of how Wolf describes whatever relationships he has with women.
“You know, Aaron doesn’t do something he doesn’t want to do.”
“Unless he doesn’t have a choice.”
“Aaron is the best racing driver out there. Do you really believe he couldn’t win Longfoard nor the media in his own way? You can’t oblige a man like him to do something. He doesn’t follow the rules. If he did it, it’s because a part of him wanted to,” she points out, sure of herself.
“This doesn’t make sense. He’s doing that to be in peace, that’s it.” I frown my eyebrows, not believing her theory.
“Sometimes your unconscious knows better about what you need and want.Maybe you were linked by destiny.”
Linked by destiny? How could two screwed up people be linked together? Nothing good can come out of it. Science says two negatives make a positive. Two negative charged ions can heal together to create a positive outcome. But our chemistry is extreme. It’s destructive and doomed from the start.
“Monica.” We turn around to see Louis standing in front of us, his skin as white as death. He is staring at Monica like he has seen a ghost. He seems crushed. Cursed. I peek over at her to notice her eyes have reddened with hatred.
“Let’s go, Elle,” she shouts while opening the door of her car.
“Monica, can we talk, please?” Louis begs. His usual flirtatious grin is gone. He seems weak in front of her, torn between his emotions, like something crippled inside of him.
“Stay away from me, Louis!” They are caught in a staring war, in which Louis is losing to the blades Monica sends him.
“I’m sorry. I’ve never meant to—” Louis’ eyes soften in a tormented way. Is that regret? Pain? He is always so sure of himself, but now he seems devastated. Agonizing in his body.
“You’re sorry?” Monica laughs nervously. “Because of you, I lost everything! I trusted you, and you leaked naked pictures of me for fun into your dumbass drivers’ group chat!” She shakes her head in anger. “You got what you wanted, you screwed me. Now leave me alone! You can rot in hell!” She slams the car door, and I open my mouth in shock.
“Mo—”
“Louis, leave her alone. I can’t believe you did that. This is disgusting.” My lips curve into an expression of disgust, understanding why Aaron warned me against him, saying he doesn’t respect women. He is a creep. He went from Golden Boy to fuck boy, losing my respect.
I hop into her car, and Monica races her engine fast to distance herself as far away as she can from Louis. “I’m sorry you had to see that.” Her eyes are locked on the road.
“For what it’s worth, I know what it is to put your heart into the hands of the wrong person.”
“Thank you for not judging me, Elle.” I smile at her, letting her know that I’m here if she needs to talk. “I want you to know I’m not a whore. After Henry’s death, I wasn’t myself. Louis was our friend. I always knew he had a crush on me, and I wanted to heal, you know?” Just like I wanted to forget when I’d met Aaron.
She exhales, her hands grabbing the steering wheel harder. “So, I slept with him. How classy of me, right? And then we start getting very close. We used to send… steamy pictures to each other, when he was away… but it turns out, he used me. He leaked these compromising pictures of me in the group chat, probably to impress the other drivers.” By the way she talks about Louis, I could guess she started to open up to him. To trust him. Being betrayed is the worst feeling.
“It’s not your fault, Monica. I’ve been used in the past, too. You couldn’t know he would do that. Were you able to make the pictures disappear?”
“Yes, they were gone the same day, but I was already too ashamed. I didn’t want Aaron to know, to think I’d betray Henry like that. Of course, he did know, all the racers received the pictures. I thought he would hate me, but he didn’t. He blocked the pictures, dealt with Louis, and defended my honor in front of the others. I’m very thankful to him, even though I still can’t face any of them.” This is why Aaron hates Louis. The rivalry between them. The reason jealousy hits him when Louis tries to get closer to me.
“He did what was right. And he cares for you, I don’t believe he’d hate you. When you suffer, you aren’t capable of making smart decisions. You just want to forget. To reinvent yourself.” I don’t know if at this moment I’m talking about me or her. But I learned something, Aaron cares. I was right.
“It’s funny, Aaron used the same words as you. Something about forgetting.” We arrive at the shopping center, and she takes a deep breath, finding her smile again. “Here we are. No talking about Louis, please.”
