Cabin Fever | ✓

(36) I Could Have An Opening To Be The Big Spoon For A Few Hours

Aiden's body turned to stone, "That pipsqueak? I threatened to beat the shit out of him already-"

"Bree?!"

Marley turned her head to see Angry, Protective Boyfriend #2 enter the scene with a worried expression on his face.

"I'm fine, Jay." She gestured to herself as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and let out a loud sigh.

"That doesn't mean it was okay to wander off like that."

"And whose fault is that?" Aiden growled out. Marley watched Jason's brown eyes lower and his lanky form shrink, "Do you know what could've happened to her? Do you realize how reckless it was to leave them alone like that?!"

"Aiden if you're going to yell at anyone yell at me, it's my fault. I wandered off."

"I'd never to yell at you like that," Aiden replied calmly, but his sharp eyes were still narrowed at Jason.

"Ethan is more than likely running the dirty cheater account," Bree announced to Jason, who recoiled, stunned.

He blinked. Once, twice.

"Wow. I mean, I'm more surprised about this than I was when I heard that my second cousin knocked up my great aunt."

Jess and Larissa gasped, while Marley's mouth fell open in shock. Bree shrugged, already knowing about this.

"She's always been a little weird." Jason added into the shocked silence.

"Okay." Marley held a hand up, drunk enough to be confused, "We need to, okay, in...inter...interrogate Ethan, find Gabby, talk to Dalton and Leo and-"

"Marley," Aiden interrupted calmly, "We can figure it all out tomorrow. I ended the fight. I dealt with Leo and Gabby. You need to sleep this off before we handle everything."

When Marley remembered something else, she groaned, stomping her feet like a toddler having a tantrum, "I have to work in the morning."

He held her tighter and kissed her hair again, "I know. You physically pried that last shot from my hands. You're even more of a little spitfire drunk, hm?"

She ignored his comment, "Where's Gabby?"

When Aiden didn't answer right away, Marley tilted her head up to get a look at his expression. His lips were pursed, and his eyes were tight.

She reached up with an index finger and a thumb to squish his cheeks together, causing his eyes to flicker downwards and a questioning eyebrow to raise in humour.

"Answer. Me." She was puckering her lips right back to match his, and in an unexpected action he bent and, with a hand on her lower back, pressed their fronts together. He connected their fish lips in a quick kiss.

She dropped her hand when he pulled away, still determined to get an answer.

He let out a loud sigh, studying her carefully, "She didn't want to see anyone. She took her own Uber."

Ouch.

Aiden rubbed a soothing hand up and down her back, "Can I take you home?"

Marley nodded, resting her head on his chest. And for the first time since they met, wanting to be somewhere else with someone else.

-

Waking up at four thirty in the morning is hard.

Waking up at four thirty in the morning after having been drunk and not falling asleep until one in the morning the night before, is almost impossible.