Page 70 of Muse (Fighting Fate)

Mia glanced down at my mouth and slowly pulled me closer. Jesus. Was she seriously going to kiss me? In the fucking parking lot?

I went with it, not knowing what to expect, but when her lips gently brushed against mine, I didn’t care if the whole fucking school was watching.

Her lips parted for me, pleading with me to taste her, so I slid inside, tangling my tongue with hers. I groaned. She tasted so fucking good. Sliding my hands lower, I gripped the sides of her ass and pulled her closer to me.

She responded instinctively, wrapping her legs around me and burying her fingers in my hair. I deepened the kiss, hungrier for her than I’d ever been, and she clutched me harder to her, tasting me right back. Fuck, if she kept this up, I’d be taking her right there on the fucking trunk of the car.

The sound of laughing brought us both out of our cocoon, and we turned to see our entire group of friends standing a few feet away. Aiden had his back to us and was running his hands through his hair while Dean and Matt laughed at his discomfort and Amber and the girls grinned at us like idiots.

I wrapped my arms around Mia, hoping she wasn’t worried about Aiden’s reaction, but she linked her arms around my neck and held me close, so I figured she was okay.

She nuzzled into me and breathed against my neck. “Well, that was embarrassing.”

I chuckled and held her tighter. I hoped she wasn’t going to ask me to let her go because I didn’t think I could if I tried.

“Does Aiden look pissed?” she whispered.

I looked over to where the others were fucking around, laughing. Aiden met my gaze and shook his head. From what I could see, he just looked like he felt awkward. “Uh…I think he’s okay.”

She groaned and pulled away from me slowly, turning her head to look for herself. Aiden met her gaze with narrowed eyes. Mine instinctively narrowed as well. If he thought he was going to start some shit with her, he had another thing coming, because like fuck I was going to let that happen.

I wasn’t sure what he saw on Mia’s face, but I thought I saw guilt flash in his eyes, then his gaze softened and he smirked.

He sighed and started forward, coming to lean on the car beside us and crossing his arms defensively. “You know this is fucking weird, right?”

Mia rolled her eyes. “You’d think it was weird no matter who I was with because you’ve never seen me with anyone before.”

Aiden thought about that then nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right, but it’s weird seeing this one all soft over a girl too,” he said, pushing me lightly in the arm. “I should’ve fucking known. If anyone had what it took to hook Jace, it was you. You know you’re too good for him though, right?”

I groaned. “Dude! I’m trying really hard not to draw attention to that fact. Shut the fuck up.”

Mia giggled, making me smile and hold her closer.

Aiden sighed. “We should probably get going.”

I nodded. Yeah, we still had a heap of shit to get done before our gig that night. It helped having Ryan and Cain set most of our shit up, but we still needed to do the sound check and everything.

“I want to come watch you play tonight,” Mia said suddenly.

Fuck no. After seeing what happened to her not even an hour ago, there was no fucking way I was letting her go anywhere near our gig.

Aiden and I both scowled at her. “No fucking way,” Aiden said, saving me from having to get on her bad side.

She pulled away from me and sat up straight, her eyes narrowing into slits. “I don’t think it’s your decision to make, Aiden. I want to come.”

I needed to make her see reason. “Babe, you haven’t been to one of our gigs before. The crowd gets pretty intense – worse than the pep rally…”

When her chin lifted with defiance, I knew she wasn’t ready to give up yet. “I’ll sit in the corner.”

Aiden growled. “Jesus, Mia. Do you honestly think either Jace or myself would be able to concentrate on what the fuck we’re supposed to be doing if we know you’re out amongst our c

razy assed fans?”

The fight instantly went out of her and her shoulder sagged a little. “Isn’t there like a backstage area I could watch from or something?” Her voice was all sad and pleading. It made me want to agree to any fucking thing she wanted.

Aiden rubbed his hands over his face. It seemed he wasn’t immune to it either.

“Yeah, there’s a backstage area. I guess that would be okay,” he said.

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