Page 129 of Betrayal (Corrupt Empire 1)

Chapter Twenty Three

Avery

Aiden taking me to meet someone he considered family was a big deal to me. It showed me I was someone to him. I hadn’t really meant to tell him I felt like I was his toy. It just came out. My usual filter was wearing thin. My nerves fraying as I tried to work out what the hell he wanted me to do for him. He’d told me I’d hate him for it numerous times. There were things I hated about Aiden, but there were things I adored too. He was complicated. I didn’t want to change him. I wanted to make him happy. The deep-seated unhappiness inside him killed me. My heart bled for his. My stupid heart.

I lay staring at the ceiling in the darkness. Aiden lay next to me, his arm draped across my stomach. When I brushed the hair from his face, he didn’t stir.

It’d been a week since we’d gone to see Tina. All of the Christmas stuff arrived a few days ago. We’d spent a couple of hours decorating the living room together. I couldn’t reach the top of the tree, so Aiden had helped me. I knew we weren’t together, but it felt like we were a couple in those moments. I wasn’t going to kid myself into thinking I’d ever be Aiden’s girlfriend. A part of me craved it. The other part was realistic. I was just the girl he fucked because neither of us could stay away from each other.

There was no way I was getting to sleep with all this shit running through my head. I carefully moved Aiden’s arm from my stomach, checking to make sure he hadn’t woken up before I slipped out of bed and padded out into the living room. The Christmas tree lights twinkled. We’d set it up by the window.

I nabbed my hoodie off the sofa and shoved it on. It was a little chilly. In its pocket was the burner phone Aiden had given me so I could speak to James.

James.

I hated all the lies I’d fed him. It bothered me so much. I just wanted to strip them all away so we could go back to how we were before this happened. I checked the time. One in the morning. Would he still be awake?

I curled up in Aiden’s old leather armchair by the window, tugging the blanket I’d left there over my legs. I dialled James’ number.

“Hey Ave, bit late, isn’t it?” James said after he answered on the first ring.

“You’re still awake.”

“What’s up?”

I fiddled with the tassels on the end of the blanket.

“There’s some things I haven’t been honest with you about.”

“I gathered, but I didn’t want to push you with everything that’s happened.”

Not surprising. He always knew when I kept things from him. James and I knew just about everything there was to know about each other.

“It’s about Aiden… and me.”

“So there is something going on.”

“It’s not what you think. It’s not like we’re together or anything.”

“No? So he’s just fucking you? I fucking knew he’d taken advantage of you.”

The frustration in his voice was evident. How the hell was I going to explain this without going into detail about how we actually met? And whilst Aiden had done some fucked up shit to me, I’d wanted him. I’d pushed so hard, he couldn’t keep saying no.

“Don’t put this on him. He said no to me for weeks.”

“Wait a sec, are you telling me you went after him? Seriously? That’s not like you.”

“It’s complicated, but sort of.”

I shifted on the armchair. I’d known this would be a difficult conversation, but things needed to be said and I need my best friend to understand.

“Why are you being honest with me about this now?”

“Aiden can never know we’ve slept together.”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly going to going to come over with a banner saying ‘I’ve had sex with Avery’.”

“Ha-bloody-ha.”

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