Page 48 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

Aaron

“Let’s go somewhere,”Zara whispered in my ear, rocking her hips to the beat as she sat in my lap.

I was hard. Rock hard, but it wasn’t because of the girl in my lap. No, it was all thanks to Poppy’s little display earlier.

Fuck, she’d looked hot. Her toned, lithe body moving to the music. Her cropped tee riding up her stomach, revealing a tempting sliver of skin.

But it wasn’t so much the way she looked dancing, it was how she looked at me. Big green eyes full of desire and lust.

Poppy Ford was all grown up and it had taken some swim team douchebag showing interest in her for me to realize it.

No, that wasn’t entirely true. I’d known it for a while now. I just hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it, because doing so would change things.

It had changed things.

“Aaron.” Zara gripped my chin and forced me to look at her. “I said do you want to go somewhere?”

I lifted my taped arm. “Not tonight, yeah.”

She rolled her eyes, giving me a little huff. “You don’t have to do any of the work.”

Cole snorted, and she cut him an icy look. “You know you don’t have to sit there all night. I’m quite capable of taking care of him.”

“That’s what I’m worried about.” Cole took a long pull on his beer, his eyes moving past her to me.

I let out a heavy sigh, tipping my face to the night sky and ran my good hand down my face. It wasn’t like I came here planning to hook up with Zara, but she was like a rash I couldn’t get rid of. And Cole knew as well as I did, a placated Zara was better than a scorned one.

“Look at the state of them,” she sneered. “I didn’t even know precious little Poppy Ford had it in her.”

“Zar,” I warned, forcing myself not to look over at them again.

“What?” She pouted, flashing me puppy dog eyes. “I know the two of you are like family friends or something, but doesn’t it get kind of boring having her follow you around like a lost puppy?”

“I need to piss,” I said, tapping her thigh.

“Do you need me to come with you? I could—”

“Hold his dick?” Cole finished, chuckling at his own joke.

“Dude.” I shook my head. Baiting her was not the answer.

“Yeah, whatever. I’m going to see what the rest of the guys are doing.” He got up and walked off, leaving me with Zara.

“Come on.” She slipped her arm around me, burying herself into my side.

I didn’t have the energy to tell her I could manage on my own. Between the pain meds and the handful of beers I’d had since arriving at the party, my head was cloudy. Not enough that I felt out of it, but enough that I leaned on her more than I should have.

People moved aside, letting us through and soon enough, Zara gently pushed me up against the wall beside the bathroom door.

“Hey.” She hammered her fist on the door. “We need—”

It flung open and Sofia glared back at us. “What’s going on?” She eyed Zara and then me. “Oh God, please tell me you’re not coming in here to fuc—”

“Are you done?” Zara cut her off before I could get a word out.

“Who is that?” another voice called.

Poppy’s voice.

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