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“Turn the volume down.” I said simply, choosing only to spare him a glance before returning my eyes to the book in my hands.

I could see his smirk in my peripheral vision and I felt the urge to snatch away the blanket, we were sharing, just to wipe the look off his face but I refrained from doing so. I regretted not doing so, however, when Aaron raised the volume, his eyes glittering mischievously.

I glared heatedly in his direction when the blare of sports was too loud to even hear my own thoughts.

“Aaron.” I gritted out, eyeing him.

His smile widened in response and he nudged me with his leg.

“What, Lexi? I just want your attention. Is that so bad?” He said in a woeful tone, but his blue eyes still glimmered bright. I rolled my eyes at his words before sitting up from the relaxed position I was seated in.

“I know, Aaron, but I was just getting to the good part.” I said honestly, waving the book in his face. A regrettable action on my part as Aaron chose then to snatch it from my grip and he laughed as I let out a squeal of protest.

He lay back down on the arm of the sofa, surveying the book with careful eyes. I reached out again to grab it when Aaron opened the book and scanned the pages, but he leaned further back to stop my actions. His nose scrunched up as he read and I smiled at how cute he looked, forgetting the task at hand.

“What kind of name is Rhysand and Tamlin?” He asked and I let out a huff of annoyance before reaching even further and snatching the book out of his hand.

“None of your business.” I snapped before cuddling back into the blanket. Aaron eyed me, an amused look in his eyes.

“You give them more attention than you’ve ever given me and they’re fictional characters.” He commented, his tone flat and I let out a small humorless chuckle, before placing my floral personalized bookmark into the book and shutting it with a soft ‘thud’.

“Hey, if they get you this insecure and annoyed, then they’re real enough for me.” I quipped to which Aaron huffed, folding his arms across his muscled chest. I ignored the urge to continue looking and settled my gaze on his eyes.

“I wouldn’t be so ‘annoyed’ if you at least acted like you loved me more than those characters you drool over.” He grumbled out and I raised an eyebrow, placing the book on the small tea-table beside me.

“Well, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were jealous.” I teased to which Aaron rolled his eyes.

“I’m going to chalk it to you reading that damn book for 3 hours, but you’d be pretty fucking delusional to think that.” He replied back haughtily and I raised my eyebrows at his words.

“Careful, Aaron, if your jealousy shows more, you’ll be sporting green skin for a week.” I joked and Aaron scoffed in response.

“At least, I’d have your attention then.” He pointed out and I leaned forward abruptly onto my hands so I was closer to his face.

“Ha! So you admit you were jealous?” I said smugly, my hands leaning on Aaron’s firm legs. He turned his head back to look me over slowly and heatedly before catching my gaze with his sapphire eyes.

“Do you think I’d enjoy watching you drool over guys when I want you all to myself?” He let out simply and I could not stop the blush that made its way to my cheeks. I averted my gaze from Aaron, but even from my peripheral, I could see Aaron’s smirk.

“I know one thing- No guy, not even fictional ones, could make you blush like I do.” He commented cockily and I let out a sardonic laugh at his words.

“You’re saying that as though I had a million guys at my disposal before you came along.” I said with a laugh but Aaron’s body tensed at my words.

“And, you didn’t, right? It’s just been me?” He questioned hopefully and I nodded, not being able to keep the smile off my face due to his jealous nature.

“Yes, Aaron, only you. Well, if we count that trash bag- Elliot- out.” I said letting out a small laugh. I had assumed Aaron would laugh along with me, but when all that came was silence, I turned my gaze to Aaron to see him looking at me- a curious yet tense look on his face.

“What is it, Aaron?” I asked, concerned to which Aaron sighed heavily, running a tanned hand through his midnight locks.

“What’d you expect, Lexi? I’m not going to be ecstatic when you mention the guy who made you cry.” He muttered out angrily and I sighed, moving to sit closer into Aaron’s side. He responded by placing an arm around me and I cozied into the warmth of his body.

“Leave it, Aaron, he’s not worth the anger.” I murmured, digging myself further into Aaron’s side to which his arm tightened around me.

“You’re right; he’s not. But, he hurt you and you’re worth all the anger in the world.” Aaron commented, stroking circles against my upper arm with his fingers and I blushed at his words.

“Aaron, he’s gone now. It’s been 3-4 months.” I assured, but I knew it would take a lot more than that to comfort Aaron.

I could tell I was right when he sighed again deeply before kissing the top of my head.

“It could be 3-4 years, honestly, and I’d still feel like the beating the shit out of him any day of the week.” He said bluntly and I elbowed his side for his harsh words.

“He got enough of that from me, so don’t worry about it.” I said mindlessly, with a yawn and I let a smile grace my face at the thought of what had happened a mere few months ago.

Elliot had played me. He had wanted to get back at Aaron and had tried to use me in the process. And, he had almost succeeded. I remember, in the vulnerable and insecure state that I was in, how I had fell for his words. In that state, I had craved the attention he gave and every compliment blinded me to who he truly was.

I had believed him over Aaron and the thought of how stupid I was made me want to kick myself over and over. However, the pick-me-up was never far away as I thought of the last encounter with Elliot. He had tried to pull the wool over my eyes and I had delivered a tight slap to his face. The look on his face was one for the photo album.

Aaron pulled away from me abruptly, and I toppled slightly further into him before composing myself and hauling myself up. I opened my mouth to question his strange behavior, but stopped when Aaron moved closer, his hands gripping my arms.

“What do you mean? What happened?” He urged, his blue eyes scanning me up and down as if any injuries I attained would still be present now. I leaned forward and pressed a hand to his face, smiling when he leaned into my touch.

“Aaron, don’t get worked up, we’ve been over this.” I soothed, caressing his face, but he huffed, taking hold of my hand with his much larger one.

“Of course, I’ll get worked up, why won’t you tell me? I want to know what he did.” He almost but demanded, his eyes a blue fire and I sighed heavily, shaking my head.

“You’re annoyingly persistent, you know that?” I remarked with an affectionate smile. Aaron relaxed slightly at this, his lips curving up lightly, but the determination was apparent in his eyes.

“Don’t change the subject.” He said simply before silently urging me to continue and I cleared my throat before sitting up and placing a stray hair behind my ear. Aaron followed each movement like a hawk and I laughed internally at his guarded stance.

“He came over and told me that he had started the fight because he couldn’t tolerate the disgusting things you were saying about me. He-“

“That fucking liar.” Aaron interrupted, lifting out of his seat as though it was possible to go to Elliot now and knock him out again. I tutted before yanking him back down by the hem of his shirt.

“Aaron, I know he was lying. He was the one saying those disgusting things about me.” I reassured him, but Aaron shook his head, his eyes transfixed on the door as though he was calculating his escape.

“Not just that. Who would believe that limp noodle would start a fight against me? I fucking started it.” He uttered to himself in disbelief and I nudged him with my leg to which he then turned his gaze to me.

“You initiating the violence isn’t something to be proud of.” I admonished and Aaron rolled his eyes at my words, waving a hand dismissively.

“Yeah, pacifism is the way to go, hurting people is bad and all that jazz, I get it. I’m more interested in what happened after?” He said and I chose to ignore his first words and focused on the latter.

“I don’t know, he called me Alex and I just saw red and…. I-um…. I slapped him?” I let out meekly, feeling slightly foolish when I had just given a mini-lecture on the wrongs of violence.

I had expected Aaron to pick up on my hypocrisy or, at the very least, laugh at what I had done, but instead, his body tensed yet again.

“What did he do back, Lexi?” He questioned quietly, but I could hear the murderous lilt to his tone. I knew what Aaron’s line of thought was- he thought that Elliot had turned to aggression to deal with me.

I moved forward, enveloping Aaron in a tight hug, but he didn’t respond. He was too angry to focus, that much I could tell.

“He didn’t touch me, Aaron.” I consoled and I felt him relax before putting his arms around my waist tightly, the heat of his arms were prominent through my sheer shirt. When he stayed silent in my embrace, I continued talking.

“He got angry, but I was angrier. I threatened to call the police and told him to get out of my house. He left after I practically screamed in his face.” I said with a laugh and, thankfully, he let out a small laugh this time and I shuddered at the husky sound of it in my ear. Aaron seemingly sensed this and his arms tightened around my waist.

“I’m proud of you, Lexi.” He said, tracing his nose against my neck. I nodded numbly, opening my mouth to say ‘as you should be’, but every sarcastic reply died down when he placed a small kiss on my neck.

“But, next time you plan to be violent, I’d rather you call me to do the job for you.” He whispered against my neck and I shuddered at the feel.

“Forget about him,” I murmured, wanting to focus on Aaron, not Elliot.

I felt Aaron smirk against my neck, his hands tracing my sides.

“Oh, I plan to.”

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Coming next...

“Yes, it was me. I brought you here.” He said simply and I raised my hand sharply to slap him. However, it didn’t reach its destination and was stopped-rather- by his tight grip on my wrist. He looked down at me with no expression as I tried pulling my hand away yet to avail. I was too weak at this minute of time.

He looked down at my hand as he spoke.

“Call me selfish, I don’t care. I didn’t bring you here for you or for anyone else. I did it for me and I’d do it again.” He said, shrugging his shoulders indifferently.