The Bad Boys Exception

Chapter 20

Aiden hesitates at the door but when he looks at me I can easily register the realization in his eyes, he nods and comes to sit beside me before taking off his - well Roberts shirt and discarding it on the floor. The fact that he took his shirt off didn't faze me at all, I was very aware that a lot of guys couldn't sleep with a shirt on and I just assumed Aiden was no different.

Seeing him take off his shirt off made me realize that I also couldn't sleep restricted by my sweats, so with that thought, I climbed out of bed and grabbed one of Luke's shirts from his drawer and pulled off my shirt, obviously turning around so my back was facing the half-naked bad boy that was waiting for me in my bed and replacing it with Luke's before sliding off my sweats, and on some tiny shorts. I knew that if I didn't change now, I would take off my sweats mid-sleep once the heat got too much and be left in only a crop top and my underwear, so I decided that an oversized shirt was better than the alternative.

Aiden thankfully keeps in any perverted comment he had thought of hidden and lets me climb back in bed and face the ceiling, Aiden turns to face the ceiling as well.

Nala jumps on as well and lies at my feet, curling up in a ball and falling asleep almost instantly. She seemed to know that she couldn't sleep up on the pillow with me tonight, and instead decided that my feet were good enough.

"And yes," Aiden whispers.

"What?" I whisper back to him, turning to face him while he still faces the ceiling.

"I think Luke will be fine, I mean he'll be broken for a while but he'll get over it eventually, you guys weren't meant to be" he replies thoughtfully.

"How come you're around for all the drama in my life but I never hear anything about you?" I laugh quietly, now also facing the ceiling.

"I'm just better at keeping my demons at bay," Aiden chuckles.

We lie in silence for a while.

"Em, why don't you love Luke? He's perfect." Aiden breaks the silence, I glance at him but return my stare to the ceiling.

"I don't know, I guess everything is so reliable with him. He knows me so well but I'm too close to him, I've been through too much with him and if I'm ever going to fall in love then it's going to be with someone I can escape with." I reply breathlessly, I had never admitted that to anyone before.

"What do you mean? I mean I think I understand, but I'm not sure," Aiden looks at me curiously, something about the way he looked at me not only gave me butterflies but gave me the impression that he really did want to hear what I had to say. The thought made me internally smile.

"There's a quote from my favorite TV show character in The Vampire Diaries, its about a love triangle between a beautiful and kind girl and two brothers. In the beginning, she falls in love with the 'perfect' man and the 'good' brother, but in the end, she falls in love with the 'reckless' and 'bad' brother. Literally, the whole universe does everything in its power to keep the 2 of them together, fate even demands the girl and the 'perfect' brother end up together but she falls for the 'dangerous', and 'unreliable' brother anyway, the one that makes her feel more alive, even when she feels dead inside. I guess who allows her to forget her past," I continue, Aiden looks at me in wonder; "The dangerous brother says something to the girl way before they get together, he says; "' You want a love that consumes you, you want passion, and adventure and even a little danger,' And for some reason, that quote always resonated with me. It meant so much, and it meant even more after everything that happened" I finish, smiling at the mention of the quote that had always meant so much more to me than just a stupid TV show quote.

"So that's why you don't love Luke, you want someone who can make you feel things you've never felt before, someone who's a risk but at the end is worth every minute," Aiden says in realization.