Page 119 of Firestorm
I fucking swooned.
“How long until your appointment?” I asked breathlessly, already deciding I was skipping class. Aiden hadn’t opened up to me about his counseling sessions, he’d only told me he had them and that he tried not to miss them, so I wanted to make sure he made it.
“Forty minutes,” he said in his sweet voice, staring at me with puppy-dog eyes and waiting for my say so.
He was perfect.
“That’s plenty of time,” I said. “Let’s fuck.”
Aiden’s whole face lit up.
Chapter 35
Wyatt
I tappedmy pen on my desk, anxiously awaiting my next session.
Aiden Brandt.
His appointments were a requirement from his mother as some sort of attempt to get information about his behavior. She requested detailed transcripts of all our visits, but I’d yet to actually send one to her. Aiden was an adult, and although she’d been petitioning for a conservatorship over him for years at this point, the Royal court refused to hear the case, so Aiden still had his free will.
As long as he could keep from hurting someone or himself, he was in the clear. His mother was obviously hoping I’d expose Aiden somehow through my emails, but I refused to do that. Aiden was a little shit, but he didn’t deserve anything that happened to him where his mother was concerned. Especially since anyone with eyes could see that she was the reason for most of his issues.
I glanced at the clock and blew out a breath before rubbing my exhausted eyes.
Aiden and Skye had connected.
I’d felt it. It started as a faint echo of happiness shooting through me, and that quickly morphed into ecstasy, then a sense of incompleteness.I thought I’d been finally losing my mind, but then Rafe showed up in my apartment, drunk and dangerously close to tears.
Evidently, Skye had done something to block Rafe from getting too close to her dorm room, and when she invited Aiden in, she did something else to block the sound, so the freak couldn’t even listen in.
Rafe and I ended up falling asleep in bed together like we were kids at a sleepover, and I’d definitely cried once he fell asleep. I was still trying to pretend I had any semblance of professionalism, avoiding Skye at all costs, even though Willow had called her mother and told her I’d rejected my Key, which turned into my mother calling me to scream.
So, I was failing all the women in my life. Nothing new.
Somehow, I’d managed to fuck everything up even worse with Skye.
But instead of feeling guilt, I only felt anger.
She infuriated me in a way I wasn’t familiar with. Was it because she was clearly fucking her boss from the café, and yet she came and sat with me and agreed to see me again? Was it because she was hiding a crazy secret about her affinity and now I was, against my will, in a Chain with her, meaning I’d have no choice but to involve myself in her mess and protect her?
This was the fundamental problem with Chains. It was only a bond through biology, something we had no control over. It wasn’tfair. Sure, plenty of people enjoyed it, since it took the guesswork out of dating, comforting them with the prospect that their perfect people were out there waiting for them. But what about the others, like my mother? Cast aside after years of love and loyalty, just because biology claimed someone else was a better match?
It wasn’t Skye’s fault she was matched to me. I knew I shouldn’t be rude toward her, I just couldn’t stop myself. I was torn between speaking to her like nothing was wrong and pushing her away to protect my heart.
I dropped my head to my desk in defeat just as a knock sounded at the door. I took a second to steel my spine, then approached the door.
I pulled the door open, freezing as I caught a glimpse of the smug shit Aiden, standing at the door with his hand paused mid-air to knock again.
But that wasn’t what had me frozen.
FuckingSkyewas seated in the chair closest to my office, scrolling through her phone as if she hadn’t noticed me at all. Her dark hair was messy, hanging around her face like a curtain, glimmering from the overhead light. She didn’t even glance up as I spoke.
“Come in, Mr. Brandt.” I said curtly.
Aiden ran a hand over Skye’s hair, and she lifted her head to smile at him. It was such a casual touch of affection, yet the look on her face was so soft and intimate, I immediately felt like an intruder in the sweet moment.
With all the willpower I could muster, I turned and approached my desk, ignoring the pang in my chest at how Skye had ignored me. Aiden followed after me with all the swagger of a man who’d just been fucked. If his flushed face and Skye’s frizzy hair were anything to go by…they’d just had a wild time.
