The Naughty List (The Naughty List #1)(37)

I glanced at Chloe. Her eyebrows were pulled together, but she didn’t look too concerned with me. She was ticked about something else entirely. I wondered if it had to do with Aiden.

Christian was still touching me, and there was a sick turn in my belly. What now? Was he going to expose us? Try and blackmail me? I backed away from him, letting his hand fall.

He nodded, almost like he understood my dread. Then he turned around, took his sister by the elbow, and walked through the party and out the front door.

When he was gone, I ran to the bathroom and threw up.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Aiden said, kissing my neck as we lay together on the leather sofa in his basement. Normally I’d have made a squeak or two by now (he found that adorable), but my body was too numb. I was still in shock.

“Tessa,” he mumbled, running his hand down to the bottom of my dress, tugging at my hem like he was dying to pull it off. “You’re a bit … unresponsive, baby.” He nibbled at my ear.

This could have been a good night. It felt like Aiden and I were getting back on track; and now, suddenly, the whole flipping train had derailed. And I didn’t know where I was stranded.

“Sorry,” I said, shifting my position under him, trying to refocus on the task at hand.

Aiden pulled my knee over his hip as he brought his mouth to mine again, kissing me deeply. But all I could think about were the Smitten Kittens. We’d lose everything. If everyone found out that we were SOS, we’d be shunned from high school society. Oh, my word. We’d be dead meat.

My boyfriend pulled away, breathing heavily, staring down into my face. I realized I wasn’t panting at all. That might have hurt his ego.

“Tessa? What’s up?”

He was still on top of me, but there was nothing frisky going on anymore. Aiden looked pretty annoyed as he tried to catch his breath.

I wanted to trust him with our secret. I wanted so much to be free of it, but what if he couldn’t forgive me for lying to him? What would I do then?

“Nothing’s wrong,” I said quickly. Lincoln Memorial! All I did was lie.

Aiden stared at me before clenching his jaw and climbing off. He leaned over the edge of the sofa, putting his elbows on his knees and resting his head in his palms. He looked dejected.

“Aiden?”

He turned to me, his green eyes glassy but not from alcohol.

“I don’t understand you anymore, Tess,” he said seriously.

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s true.” He rubbed roughly at his face. “You’re so distant. Distracted. Half the time, I don’t even know if you’re listening to me.”

“Sweetie, I always listen …”

Aiden raked his fingers through his hair, staring across the room, pressing his lips together like he was trying to stop them from trembling. “Tessa,” he said, sounding miserable. “Maybe my mother’s right. Maybe we should—”

I jumped forward and grabbed his face, kissing him hard. I didn’t want to know what he was about to say. There was nothing to talk about. There was nothing I could talk about. He just had to understand how much I needed him. Wanted him.

“Baby,” he breathed, tangling his hand in my hair. “We don’t have to …”

But I pushed him back on his couch, and we hooked up right here, in his basement. Without talking.

Aiden exhaled, snuggling closer to me, his face resting against the back of my neck. “I love you,” he said.

I smiled. “I love you too.” We were quiet for a minute, our heartbeats mixing together. I bit the inside of my cheek. Right now, I felt safe being here with him, so warm. At times like this, I felt like I could talk to him about anything—even SOS.

“Why did you invite Christian and Chloe to your party?” I asked. My boyfriend was the biggest sweetheart in the world, but he wasn’t dense. If I knew about Christian’s interest in me, Aiden had probably read it even sooner. So why would he invite him here?

Aiden sighed. “I’m not telling you. You’ll be mad at me.”

I rubbed my back into him, letting him wrap me up tighter. “I won,” I whispered. “I promise.”

“I … thought he should know.”

I scrunched my nose. “What did you need him to know?”

“That you’re with me.”

Talking about Christian was making me tremble. Did Aiden feel it? “He knows I’m with you,” I said, but my voice cracked.

“Does he?”

I didn’t like Aiden’s tone. My paws had no intention of wandering anywhere else. “Yeah.”

“Because by the way he was playing with your hair, Tess, he didn’t seem to get the picture at all.”

My face stung. Was he accusing me of something? I sat up, letting Aiden’s arm fall off of me. “What are you saying?” I asked, glaring at him.

He scoffed. “I’m not a chump. The kid watches your ass every time you walk by. You telling me you haven’t noticed?” Aiden pulled himself up, and I wished he’d put his shirt back on. It was very distracting when I was trying to be royally PO’d at him.

“I’m aware that Christian has a crush on me,” I said. “But I’m trying to fix him up with Kira.” Though now I had to rethink that. We’d all been compromised.