Page 6 of Sacrifice (Corrupt Empire 2)

“Least it wasn’t a can of whoop-ass.”

I mimicked the motion of whipping with my hand. He barked with laughter.

“Idiot.”

I sighed. Whilst it was all very well for us to make jokes, it really wasn’t a laughing matter. What my family had done was sick. And what Aiden asked me to do was completely unreasonable.

“I’m sorry, Ave. All of that sucks. I mean the shit with your family and the company, don’t have any clue how you’re going to deal with it. You can’t just do nothing, not when it’s basically your company now. And the stuff with Aiden… I don’t know him, but it sounds like he’s got issues.”

I hadn’t told him everything about Aiden. I’d left out a lot. Mostly I spoke about how we’d spent weeks pussyfooting around our attraction to each other until we’d given in. I kept Aiden’s not so vanilla desires to myself, as well as his real connection to my family.

“He does, but he’s been through a lot of shit. I know he cares for me. We’re more than just two people sleeping together.”

“What do you mean?”

I’d left out something else. Something pretty important.

“I have feelings for him. It’s real. It’s like we’re connected. And I know he has feelings too even if he’s unwilling to admit them.”

His eyes narrowed.

“Feelings… Are you…? Do you love him?”

I nodded. Hearing the words out loud made me feel weird. I’d told Aiden, but whether it really registered with him or not, I had no idea. I hadn’t dared to look at him afterwards. Too worried it would ruin my resolve.

“Does he know?”

“I told him before I left. I don’t know what he thought about it. It’s so complicated, James. I feel like I’m breaking inside.”

He took my mug from me, placing both on the bedside table. He shuffled down into the covers and pulled me with him, wrapping his arms around me. It didn’t feel like when Aiden held me, but I was grateful.

“I don’t want to cry anymore,” I whispered.

“I know.” He stroked my hair. “We’re just going to lie here together until you fall asleep.”

I didn’t want to tell him I had no idea how I was going to sleep. All I could think about was how much I wanted Aiden. My soul called to his. And being away from him was so much worse than any of the things he’d done to hurt me.

Such an idiot. Stupid idiot.

Hours might have passed, I had no idea, but sleep eluded me. James was conked out next to me, his hair ruffled. He looked peaceful. I sat up and crawled out of the bed, careful not to wake him. I picked up his phone from the bedside table and went through into the living room.

I pulled off a blanket from the sofa and sat on the floor with my back to it. I pressed the button to illuminate the screen. Two in the morning. What I was about to do was incredibly stupid.

I unlocked the phone. James and I had always known each other’s passcode. I scrolled through his contacts. My finger hovered over the name. I pressed down, putting the phone to my ear. It rang four times. Then he picked up.

“Hello?”

The rich, deep note of his voice broke me. I stifled a sob.

“Avery… Is that you?”

I put a hand over my mouth. Tears fell down my cheeks.

“Please tell me it’s you. Fuck. Avery, please.”

My hand dropped. Hearing his voice soothed me. It pieced together my broken heart.

You’re so fucked up.

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