Page 99 of Muse (Fighting Fate)

I had no idea how the fuck I was going to get through this.

Chapter 48

Mia

As the door slowly swung open, I anxiously waited to see who it was. Since Mom had left the room I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what she’d told me. I was having such a hard time trying to understand how Jace and I could’ve gotten together. It just didn’t make any sense to me.

When I saw Aiden’s figure appear in the gap, I grinned, relieved, but of what, I wasn’t sure.

His body seemed to relax when I smiled, and he quickly closed the door and rushed to fold me into his arms. “Fuck, Mia. If you ever do that to me again, I will kill you myself.”

I laughed softly against his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

He sat on the chair beside the bed, gazing at me while he held my hand. “How are you feeling?”

I nodded with a slight frown. “Yeah, okay. A little confused. It’s frustrating not being able to remember things.”

Aiden gave me a strained smile, and I knew there was something he wasn’t telling me. “Yeah, well, everybody is still trying to figure out exactly what went down. I think there’s going to be quite a few suspensions handed out.”

“Really?” That surprised me. I wondered what happened.

Aiden went on to explain bits and pieces to me. I knew there was a lot he was holding back, but I found myself preferring it that way. It sounded like it was a pretty bad fight. What I couldn’t understand was why I’d been there. My natural instinct was to stay far, far away from things like that.

We discussed the recording contract for a while too. That was another thing I couldn’t remember apparently. I wondered how much more there could possibly be. But as Aiden talked about their studio time and what they had to do, I decided it didn’t matter. I was so happy for him – happy for the whole band. They’d worked so hard for it.

When he mentioned about them going on tour with The Dark Hybrid, I got confused again, and the panic returned. Something about it seemed familiar, and all I felt was a deep sense of sadness.

“What’s the matter, baby girl?”

“I can’t believe I can’t remember you’re going on tour with The Dark Hybrid. I mean, that’s huge, Aiden. It’s exciting and…and…just…” I sighed. I couldn’t pretend anymore. “Was I really going out with Jace?”

When I looked back up at him, all I saw was sadness. “Yeah, baby girl, you were.”

I frowned, the ache of despair creeping back in. “I don’t understand how. Mom said we’d only been going out for a few weeks, but she said we went and got contraception. How is that possible?”

Aiden groaned and closed his eyes. “Mia-”

“I’m sorry. I know that’s not something you want to hear, but I need to understand.”

He nodded, opening his eyes. “Jace only told me he liked you last week, so obviously you tell Mom more than either you or Jace tell me. But in saying that, if I look back, it was obvious by how comfortable you guys seemed with each other that something had been going on between you for a lot longer than that.”

I frowned even more and shook my head with disbelief. “And you were okay with me being with him?”

Aiden laughed then. “It was weird, believe me, and don’t think I didn’t threaten to cut his balls off if he ever hurt you, but you were really happy, Mi. I’ve never seen you so...alive.”

The whole thing just seemed really strange. I just couldn’t reconcile the picture I had of Jace inside my head with what Aiden was saying.

“He’s really upset, Mi. I know you don’t want to hear that, and you probably don’t need the extra stress, but I just had to tell you that. He’s my best friend, and I don’t like to see him hurting.”

Tears stung my eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Aiden just pressed his lips together, giving me a sad smile. “It’ll be okay. Everything will work out. We all just have to be positive.”

Silence settled in the room for a minute while I tried to digest everything.

After a while I heard Aiden groan. “I can’t believe you were considering sleeping with him.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “You know I’m going to have to go beat him up now, right?”

I widened my eyes. Was he serious? “Aiden!”

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