Double Update, Chapters 43&44!
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Marley blinked, her hazel eyes as wide as saucers while she studied the man who knelt to flick the car off and slam the door to his red mustang.
From around Aiden's bicep Marley watched the man return to his spot leaning against the drivers side door, arms crossed over his chest.
She was too shocked to speak, to ask any questions.
"You realize you almost ran us the fuck over right?" Aiden asked tightly, but oddly enough made no moves to approach his...brother?
The man in front of them let out a dark laugh, "And you fucked my drunk virgin sister four months ago. Even Steven."
This entire situation left Marley reeling as her head snapped back and forth between her boyfriend and this whole other part of his life she never knew existed.
Aiden crossed his arms, "We were both tipsy and there was nothing about it that wasn't consensual. She told you both of those things herself, Eli. What the fuck are you doing here?"
"Call it a family reunion. I like to stop into visit the fucker who broke my sisters heart after he got what he wanted from her. Once in a while."
Aiden's fists balled, "I told her I don't-didn't date," He hissed, "And if you're here to start shit with me I'll drag you off the property myself."
Marley was still in total shell shock. Eli finally seemed to notice her.
"Whose the chick I almost ran over?" He grinned, tilting to try and see her better.
"You're lucky you're not bleeding from your fucking nose right now for driving like an asshole. Now call us even, and fuck off back to wherever you came from." Aiden growled back.
"I'm not going anywhere," he smiled devilishly, "and neither is she."
Marley heard the sound of the passenger side door clicking open. She shuffled further out of Aiden's shadow to see who had rode passenger with Eli.
The woman was a tall, slender blonde with voluminous curls and a dark red leather jacket. She may have been wearing leather pants too. Otherwise, that's all Marley could see about her in the limited lighting.
Aiden tensed from beside her as the girl gracefully sauntered over to Eli in heeled boots, popping a bubble with her gum, "Aiden," she purred, "I've missed you."
Marley had a million and a half questions she was dying to ask right now, but decided until they were alone to stay quiet and let Aiden handle this. He'd tell her everything she'd want to know later.
Even though he shouldn't have kept this from her in the first place, he'll be transparent with her now, she was certain of that.
The blonde's eyes were a very light brown, and they shot to Marley as soon as she took a lean against the car like Eli was. She crossed her arms over her chest and an ankle over the other.
"You gonna introduce us to your friend?" Her voice was husky with just the right amount of softness.
"Who are you?" Marley blurted, unable to stifle her curiosity anymore.
The girl curled a strand of her hair around her finger as Aiden leaned in closer to finally, finally give Marley some semblance of what was going on.
"This is my half brother, Elias. He's 19. He's my fathers other son that he had in an affair while he and my mother were still married. She found out and that's why they separated. The girl is his sister, she's 17, the daughter of Eli's new stepfather. They're not married, so technically Eli and her aren't legally related or otherwise. She's the one he..." Marley tilted her head up to watch Aiden's expression tighten, and a sigh escape parted lips, "was talking about."
"I like to stop into visit the fucker who broke my sisters' heart after he got what he wanted from her."
"Ah," Marley murmured glancing between the siblings in front of her, "very um..."
"Complicated," Eli grinned, "that's the word you're looking for, right sweetheart?"
Aiden exhaled loudly and focused on the people in front of him again, "What do you want, Eli?"
"Who's she, Aiden?" The girl asked, while Marley felt secondhand guilt for what Eli said happened.
Aiden hooked up with her when she was a virgin, and left her the next day. That couldn't have been easy for her and Marley did feel sorry. But Aiden isn't like that anymore. He feels guilty, and she can tell.
The warmth of Aiden's hand slipped through hers as he laced their fingers together and brought her out of his shadow, "This is my girlfriend, Marley. Marley this is Eli and..."
She watched both Eli and the girl jolt in surprise, but the girl recovered quickly to scoff.
"Dallas. I didn't think I was that easy to forget, Matthews," she smiled, unfazed now. Relaxed, even.
Marley flinched, never particularly enjoying the reminder of Aiden's long past of one night stands. Aiden rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand to provide what she felt was comfort. Solidarity.
"Why don't you invite us inside? Your mom teach you some manners or just how to forgive a cheater?"
Aiden's body locked. Marley sensed many things, including his trigger. The 'cheater' part would remind Aiden of more than his father's infidelity.
She circled her left arm around his considerably larger one, kissing his bicep and speaking against his jacket, "Calm down, Aiden," she murmured, feeling his muscles loosen up at her touch.
He still spoke through gritted teeth, "You fucking blasted in here going 50 and you want to talk about manners?"
She turned her head and released her hold on Aiden's arm, "Maybe take them to the mess hall for a moment? The councillors won't be as likely to..."
"You're right," Aiden replied gently, pressing a light kiss on the top of her head, "I'll deal with them. Go to my room and I'll meet you there, okay? I'll explain anything you want me to."
Marley nodded reluctantly as he let her go and placed his key in her open palm, gently folding her hand closed around it.
"Text me when you make it back safe, okay? Please?"
She nodded so he faced his brother, who was still leaning against the car.
She turned her back to walk away, resisting any urge to stop or slow her pace, as she continued to distance herself from something that wasn't her business to intervene in right now.
Marley managed to break past the tree line and into the woods when she heard Eli's voice echo behind her.
"Don't make her go, brother."
"I'd like to get to know her," Dallas added airily.
Marley tensed and turned around, staying out of view and watching the modelesque blonde casually approach Aiden like a graceful predator, still twirling a strand of her hair in her finger.
She found herself rooted in place, not wanting to walk away when there was - even from what she could see in the near dark - a gorgeous girl closing the distance to her boyfriend.
Aiden, being the absolutely loyal one he is, took a step back and held out a hand in her direction, "If you're here for that, it's not going to happen." He ordered, "Ever. Again."
The girls' laugh was tinkling and beautiful, "You don't settle for one girl, Aiden. I've learned a lot and I can prove it to you."
Marley watched him cross his arms, "You do realize you're offering sex with Eli less than five feet away, right? The same guy who fought me on my front lawn when he found out about us?"
Eli shrugged while Dallas' smile turned hungry, "You're saying yes?"
"I'm saying never. I have a girlfriend, a girlfriend that you almost ran over."
"Who says that'll stop you? Like father, like son, hm?" Eli teased darkly.
Marley tensed, taking a step foreword instinctively when Aiden took two to get in Eli's face, "You want to talk about like father like son? You're a splitting fucking image and trust me, that's no compliment."
Eli didn't have the reaction Marley thought he did, maintaining his position but not becoming aggressive. Beside the two, Dallas placed a hand on Aiden's arm Marley wanted to bat off. Thankfully, Aiden did, taking another step back.
"Do I need to ask you for the third time why the fuck you're here or can we cut to the chase?"
In that moment Marley knew she couldn't continue to eavesdrop for any longer.
Aiden asked for her to go to his room and he'd handle it himself. This is his family affairs and she wasn't about to have to admit to him that she stood behind the trees and watched everything happen. But her mind was whirring long after she found her way back into the guys' cabin.
There was a small group lounging in the common room and a a handful of doors open on each level, with deep voices chattering and footsteps echoing around the relatively quiet atmosphere.
Marley let herself into Aiden's room, closing the door behind her and tossing his key on his bed. She dropped her jacket on his desk and kicked off her shoes, eager to get out of her tight clothes and into Aiden's comfortable ones.
But before she did anything else, she took her phone out of her pocket to send him a text like he asked. Her teeth pressed down on her smiling lower lip, planning to tease his overprotectiveness big time.
Marley: I'm here. The five minute walk took a very dangerous turn, however. Bigfoot exists by the way. Did you know he's an avid bird watcher? I said you'd kick his ass back to mythology if he came after me and he ran away with his tail between his legs.
The text bubbles appeared immediately. He'd been waiting for her message.
Aiden Matthews: Damn right I would. Nobody messes with my girl and lives to tell the myth. Love you weirdo.
Marley dropped her phone on her bed with a shake of her head before walking over to Aiden's armoire. She was careful not to disrupt his neatly folded clothes as she grabbed a pair of his grey sweat pants and one of his Kingston High football hoodies. It said CAPTAIN on the lower back in bold, white letters.
She smiled at the sight of his laundry basket, the pile of his sweaters she had in her room dropped in yesterday. She cycles the ones she has so they smell like him again when he does his laundry.
It's a very important system.
She grabbed the water bottle she left in his room, filling it up in his bathroom sink, plopping down on his bed and slipping under the covers. His sheets, pillows, everything smells like him and she loves it.
Marley sat up for Aiden's black MacBook Pro, typing in his password and sitting cross legged to surf the internet for gift ideas. She'd gone 'Incognito' too, so the history would delete automatically in case she came across something for him.
Marley wasn't too worried about what was happening as far as curiosity goes. He'd explain everything if he was comfortable with telling her. But her mind still lingered on Dallas as she scrolled through gift idea lists and images on Pinterest.
That's where Aiden found her when he walked into his room a half hour later, already shrugging out of his jacket, incredibly annoyed and tired.
Her hazel eyes flitted up from the screen of his laptop watching him kick off his shoes, his expression melting into a soft smile, "Hey spitfire."
"Hi."
"I'm gonna change and then I'll..." he waved a hand in her general direction as he headed for his armoire, "explain what all that was."
She nodded, smiling back, "I'm fine whenever you want to talk."
Aiden appeared satisfied by her answer as he turned back towards his armoire and grabbed what he needed, heading to the bathroom and softly closing the door. Marley went back to his screen while he changed, feeling as though she still wasn't getting anywhere.
She stretched her legs out under his covers, sighing in frustration. Gabby was going to be the only one easy to shop for.
The door opened again and in her peripheral Aiden climbed under the covers beside her in just a pair of his grey sweats, his body heat warming the bed instantly.
Marley was sitting against the headboard while Aiden was laid against the pillow, kissing her forearm and scooting to see what she was doing as he circled a bare heavy arm over her thighs.
"Gift ideas?"
She sighed, "I'm a terrible gift giver but I'm really going to make an effort to be a little less sucky."
He raised an eyebrow, tracing circles with his index finger on the outside of her thigh, "You're the most thoughtful person I know. And you don't need to buy-"
She pressed a finger to his lips before he could finish, narrowing her hazel eyes into a glare, "I'm not going to skip out on gifts this year when people are buying for me. Especially you. There's no way I don't buy you something." she warned as she pulled her finger away.
Marley turned back to his screen but was acutely aware of his scoot closer. From where she was sitting and he was laying, his arm lifted from her thighs to curl in front of him and slide up the edges of his hoodie with his index finger.
When a small sliver of skin on the side of her waist was revealed, she jumped at the sensation of his soft, warm lips pressing a head spinning kiss there.
"We've discussed this before," he murmured into the skin while she remained frozen in place, starstruck, "You don't need to buy me things. I do things for you because I love you and I want to make you happy. Not hoping for anything in return."
Aiden shifted his laptop off her lap and closed it, tugging her down with a hand circled around her calf. He rolled on top of her flustered form with a sneaky smile.
"Look up."
Marley raised an eyebrow in confusion, tilting her head and letting out a shaky laugh as Aiden leaned in to kiss down the side of her neck.
He'd stuck a mistletoe to the ceiling above their heads with a piece of scotch tape.
Marley circled her arms around his neck and slipped her fingers in his dark hair as he kissed his way back up her throat, "Clever...Matthews." She breathed out.
"I'm very resourceful when I need to be," He mumbled into the side of her jaw, peppering kisses along the bone with lips that set every one of her nerve endings on fire.
"Will I...will I find myself under that mistletoe often?" She gasped, her breathing quickening in tune with her racing heart.
"Who says I don't have multiple?" He questioned throatily, his lips now hovering over hers.
"Oh and by the way," Aiden added, his darkened eyes zeroed in on her parted lips, "I locked the door this time."
Marley bit her lower lip bravely, a rush of confidence simmering in her blood, "That mistletoe is telling me there's something you should be doi-mhm."
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