Page 53 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

Poppy

My eyes fluttered open.Ugh. My head. It felt like a sledgehammer was hammering my skull. I pressed a hand there, groaning.

Sofia was asleep next to me, her hair splayed out like a dark halo around her.

My hand dropped to my stomach and I froze at the other hand there. The one attached to an arm I hadn’t realized was holding me.

Who—

Aaron.

Vague memories crept into my hazy thoughts. The party at Deacon’s house. Mine and Sofia’s mission to have all the fun. Liquor. Way too much liquor and dancing and laughing.

And oh God, hugging the toilet bowl.

Not my finest moment. But seeing the boy you’d always loved kissing another girl—a girl you despised, no less—required desperate measures.

I didn’t move, content with lying there in his arms. His warm breath brushed my shoulder, making my heart flutter wildly in my chest. No matter how much he hurt me, how many times he made it apparent that nothing would ever happen between us, I couldn’t stop myself from falling headfirst into fantasies of the two of us.

“Mmm,” he murmured sleepily, shifting slightly behind me. Pressing his impressive morning wood into my back.

Heat flooded me. Aaron was aroused and although I knew it was a simple case of biology, I couldn’t stop the smile tugging at my mouth.

His arm tightened over my waist, anchoring us together, and for a second, I wondered if he was awake. If he was finally—

“Shit,” he mumbled, snatching his arm away. “Shit.”

My heart sank as I lay there silent and still while Aaron sat upright as if he couldn’t get away fast enough.

He inhaled a thin breath and I wanted so badly to glance over at him and say good morning, but I didn’t want to make it any more awkward than it already was, and he obviously wasn’t happy about the situation.

The bed dipped and I immediately felt the loss of his body heat.

I let out a yawn, alerting him to my presence.

“Poppy?” My name rumbled through his chest and I turned over, smiling up at him.

“Hey.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I drank my body weight in vodka… and tequila… and some funky lime green thing.”

“That’s what you’ll get when you… drink your body weight in funky lime green things.” The corner of his mouth tipped up. “I’m going to figure out how to get us all home. Wake Sofia, okay?”

He was already backing away, every step stretching the distance between us, trampling all over the momentary elation I’d felt at waking up in his arms.

“Aaron, wait.”

“Yeah?” He could barely look at me.

“I wanted to say thank you, for last night. I didn’t plan on ending up so drunk. Guess I got carried away.”

“It’s no big deal, I would have done it for anyone.”

Ouch.

I schooled my expression, forcing down the hurt. “Well, thanks.”

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