Page 113 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

The sensible thing would have been to leave, to remove myself from this potentially dangerous situation. Aaron would never physically hurt me, but the pain he could inflict on my already broken heart was immeasurable.

He only wanted to help though, I knew that. But things couldn’t just return to how they used to be, no matter how much I wished they could. Because I was tired of living a lie. Tired of pretending that I didn’t want him—that I wasn’t hopelessly in love with him.

The second he stepped back into the bathroom, the air disappeared.

“Here.” He stalked toward me and I couldn’t resist drinking in the sight of his body. Inches and inches of tanned skin, toned and cut with the hours upon hours he spent working out. His latest tattoo snaked around his bicep, trailing like vines up and over his shoulder. I had the sudden urge to reach out and trace it with my finger, to feel the heat of his skin.

But I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe as he cupped my face again, ghosting his finger over my jaw. “Jesus, Poppy.”

“I’m fine.”

“Do you have any idea what I want to do to the asshole who did this to you?”

“It was an accident.” I pushed his hand away, dropping my gaze.

I couldn’t think straight when he reeled me in with his blistering gaze. It was too duplicitous. Telling me one thing when I knew he meant another.

“Is that for me?” I eyed the ice pack in his hand.

“Yeah.” He hesitated, looking at his hand and back again. “Can I?”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Aaron.”

“Please.” His voice cracked. “I need to do something, Poppy.”

“Why?”

My eyes fluttered closed the second the words left my lips.

“Because…”

A non-answer.

A coward’s answer.

Aaron was cautious as he pressed the ice pack to my jaw, cradling my face in his hand as if he was handling something fragile.

Something precious.

His eyes searched mine as we stood there, friends and yet not.

Not anymore.

“I wish… Fuck, fuck,” he murmured under his breath, letting out a resigned sigh.

“What do you wish, Aaron?”

“I wish for one night that I was just Aaron and you were just Poppy.” My heart stilled. “I wish… I wish I could kiss you, the way you deserve to be kissed. But most of all, I wish that you’d look at me again like I’m the most important person in the world to you.”

“Aaron…”

He dropped his head to mine, inhaling deeply. So deeply it felt like he was breathing me in.

“Aaron,” I whispered again, his name like silk on my tongue.

“Yeah?”

It was a mistake.

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