Page 7 of Fight or Flight

I hum in my throat but don’t answer.

“So was the argument with that asshole Marcus about that? I thought I heard somewhere that he used to date the sheriff’s daughter. That’s if... If you don’t mind me asking,” Aidan asks quietly, looking straight ahead.

“You can say that they used to... um, you know. And I think he maybe knows more about what happened after she ran away than he lets on.”

“Like... about the thing with the FBI agent and the warehouse getting burned out?”

“Yeah,” I reply, feeling the cold anger spike in me again.

I look up in surprise when suddenly Aidan gets up and then pulls me by my arm to go with him.

“Come on, I’ll give you a ride home. It’s late, and I can’t let you stay here alone,” he says, his voice sounding almost robotic, and he’s not meeting my gaze.

Did I say something to upset him?

CHAPTER III

I STAND TO THE SIDE and observe his interaction with his brother, who looks like the opposite of Aidan. Where he is tall and lean, with thick black hair and a barely-there stubble, his brother is short, bulky, with a shaved head and a goatee. The brother’s neck is covered with colorful designs that reach the back of his skull, adding to his already menacing look.

The group of men that stand around them all look similar to Baldy over there. Muscled and dangerously looking.

They laugh mockingly when Aidan’s brother says something, and I don’t like how they are looking at him. I’m a little too familiar with that look. Like, what you’re saying is not valid. Like you’re the one odd out. And like you’re not in on the joke; instead, you are the joke.

I swing my eyes back to Aidan when the brothers start to fight, their raised voices carrying over the field and causing a few heads to turn toward them. He looks seriously pissed off, and I gulp. I’m not sure if it’s caused by the better light illuminating his features and making him stand out among the other men. Or if it’s the angry, macho stance he now has with the furrowed brow and glaring eyes, but I’m even more attracted to him all of a sudden. As in interested in something else than just his personality or his heart. Wow. That’s new for me.

My eyes drink him in as a fire of desire spreads from my core, heating my body, which was mostly numb until that point. I never felt that kind of pull toward someone, and even went so far as to claim that maybe I’m asexual or that there’s something wrong with me.

Now, how can I get him to feel the same pull toward me? Does he find me attractive? I know he said I’m intriguing. But really, what does that mean in his world?

Jenny would probably say something like, “Just be yourself, Claire. And if he doesn’t like it, then he can fuck off.”

Aidan finishes bickering with the group of men standing around the fire and then, with a shake of his head, walks toward me and grabs me by the shoulders to stir me away. Wow, it feels good to be enveloped like that by his heavy arm.

The men yell something behind us that I don't quite catch, and Aidan lifts a middle finger above his head with a muttered, “Assholes.”

He looks troubled, but the thrill that runs through me at his touch keeps me quiet for a bit as we walk to the edge of the woods.

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