Love Novel 59

I scream.
Zaid grunts and the sound of the punch echoes through the room. I watch in horror as Zaid stumbles back with his hand
clutching his nose.
“Aiden!” I yell, turning to him.
He shakes his hand, face twisting in pain. Still, he looks at Zaid with rage in his pretty eyes.
Zaid straightens, and the world spins around me the moment his intentions register on his face. He drops his hand, blood
dripping from his nose. He tightens his fingers into fists, his jaw tight.
“Don’t!” I step between them, my hands up, palms against Zaid’s chest.
My heart is pounding, a wild rhythm in my chest. Aiden is breathing heavy behind me, but I can’t see the expression on
his face.
I keep my eyes on Zaid. “Please, don’t.”
Zaid’s gaze meets mine, and something shifts in his expression. His fists unclench slowly, and he exhales sharply through
his nose, his posture relaxing, but only just.
I turn to Aiden, my chest heaving as I shake my head. “What the fuck was that?”
He shakes his head, his shoulders rising and falling, and then his eyes shift to me, desperate, wild. “Alina, I’m sorry. I—
he’s lying. You know he’s lying, right?”
The sound of his voice cracking makes me flinch, but I don’t respond. I can’t.
I don’t think Zaid is lying.
“He’s trying to ruin everything,” Aiden grunts, stepping toward me, his hand still cradling the one he used to punch
Zaid.
I take a step away from him, and it makes him pause, hurt flashing across his face.
“My future. It depends on you keeping this secret. Please, just come talk to me. We can fix this.” He’s begging at this
point, tears in his eyes and lips trembling.
His words hang in the air, suffocating me. The weight of them presses against my chest. His future. Not mine. Not Zaid’s. Not anyone else’s. Just his.
I shake my head, my voice barely above a whisper. “Not tonight, Aiden. Tomorrow. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
I need time to clear my head, to let the adrenaline wear off.
To think about what the fuck I am doing and get my shit together.
Aiden’s face falls, his eyes glassy with something I can’t name. Is it fear? Guilt? Rage? He glances at Zaid, his expression
hardening.
“This isn’t over,” he mutters, before turning and walking away.
I stand frozen, trying to steady my breathing. The silence feels like it’s alive, pushing down on me, thick and suffocating.
Finally, I find the strength to move, my legs shaky as I head to the kitchen.
Zaid doesn’t follow, but I know he’s still standing there.
I dig through the cupboards and grab a rag, filling it with ice, my hands trembling as I make my way back. He’s leaning
against the wall, his posture tense, but he doesn’t look at me.
His eyes are glued to the floor, watching as the blood drips from his face and falls to the ground.
He stays like that until I stop in front of him.
“Come on,” I say, my voice soft now.
He hesitates, but then he follows me to the living room. I gesture for him to sit, and he does, his movements stiff. I kneel
in front of him and between his legs, gently wiping the blood from his nose. He watches me, his gaze steady.
He looks regretful, like he might apologize, but I have to look away. There’s a depth to his eyes and to his pain that I’ve
never seen in anyone else.
It chills me to my very core to see the capabilities of his emotions and his ability to express them through such dark and
beautiful eyes.
A twinge of pain pulls at my chest.
I wipe most of the blood and look at the bridge of his nose.
“I don’t think it’s broken,” I say quietly, pressing the ice against it.
He hisses, his hand shooting up to take the ice from me.
“I got it,” he mutters, lowering it for a moment to look at me.
His eyes drop to my lips, and my breath catches. He leans in, his movements slow, deliberate, giving me time to stop him.
But I don’t. Not until his lips are inches from mine.
“I’m still Aiden’s girlfriend,” I whisper, my voice shaky, unsure, quick.
He frowns, his eyes searching mine. “It didn’t bother you before.”
I shake my head, pulling back slightly. “That was different. Heat of the moment. And I wanted answers.”
He stares at me silently and my cheeks burn from the lame excuses that rush out of my lips.
“It can’t happen again.” Even that doesn’t sound believable to me.
Zaid’s frown deepens, his jaw tightening. “You’re staying with him.”
It’s not a question, it’s more of a realization and it feels like a knife twisting in my chest.
I can’t exactly break up with Aiden and then date his brother. That would be the worst possible thing I could do. And
Aiden is one of the few things keeping Jake at a distance.
Aiden is what I know. What I find content in. He makes me forget about the darkness and the nightmares.
I can be normal with him.
Zaid is too much like me.
We share too much of the same soul.
The pain that crosses Zaid’s face is a hundred times worse than the pain I saw on Aiden’s face.
“Did you tell me the truth because you wanted me to break up with him?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.
His expression hardens, and he stands abruptly, running a hand through his hair. “You can do whatever you want, Alina.”
He doesn’t look back as he leaves, and I’m left sitting on the couch, my head in my hands, my chest aching with the weight of it all.