Page 116 of Northern Stars

“Practice.”

I smiled. “Is that so?”

He grew closer, pulling me onto his lap. His mouth grazed against my neck. “Yup. If at first you don’t succeed…” He slid a hand between my legs and began rubbing my inner thigh. “Try, try again. I can promise you that you won’t be overthinking anything once you let me inside you again and again and…” His lips fell against my earlobe. “Again.”

“Well.” My heart was racing as my desires grew more and more. “When do we start?”

In the morning,I woke up to a million missed calls and text messages from my parents and Kate. Aiden was still sleeping beside me as a few sunbeams peeked through the window. As I opened the first message, my heart leaped to my throat.

Mama:Don’t read the articles.

What?

What articles?

I opened the messages from Kate, and a wave of memories came rushing back to me.

Kate:These people are fucking assholes. Screw them. How did they even get those pictures of you and Aiden? That means there’s a rat in town.

Oh no.

I went to the internet search engine and typed in Aiden’s name. The first articles that popped up had my face plastered all over them. Just like five years ago. The most unflattering photographs I could’ve ever imagined with the headlines “From Hollywood Royalty dates Small-Town Nobody.”

There were photographs of Aiden walking with me. Aiden laughing with me. Pictures of me walking out of Aiden’s room at the inn covered in mustard. Even photographs from the night he and I got into a fight outside the Starlight Inn when Tommy was punched.

How did they get all that footage? Who in town had been following us around?

I felt nauseous as I began to read the comments posted about me. I should’ve closed the browser. I shouldn’t have been allowing those comments into my psyche. Yet I kept reading them. I kept taking in the words that the world had been defining me by.

Fat ass.

Disgusting.

Did you see the size of her thighs?

My tears flooded, but I didn’t cry as I kept reading the commentary. Aiden stirred in bed, and I shifted my back to him. He muttered a little before wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into him. I hid the phone beneath my pillow.

“Still sleep time, Hails,” he mumbled against my neck.

“Yeah, I have to get into work a bit early. Mr. Lee needs me.”

“Oh, okay. Let me get up to walk you.” He started to get up, but I stopped him.

“It’s okay. I’m okay,” I said as I turned to face him.

I’m okay.

I’m okay.

I’m okay.

I kissed his lips gently. “I’ll see you after work. Okay? You sleep in a little. You had a wild night,” I joked, trying to hide my nerves.

He smirked and stretched his arms out. “Here’s to hoping for another wild night with you tonight. Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you?”

“It’s fine. Rest. I’ll see you after work. Just lock up once you leave.”

He muttered something I couldn’t understand, before hugging his pillow and falling back to sleep. As he rested peacefully, I hurried into the bathroom and locked the door behind me. In that instance. I was transported back to that scared, hurt seventeen-year-old that the world bullied. My chest ached as the emotions fell from me. I choked on my sobs, trying to conceal them so Aiden wouldn’t hear. My chest burned from heartbreak. They were still saying all the awful things they’d said all those years before. They were still calling me all the cruel names.

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