It takes a special person to do that.

But he left.

I swallow the tears and exit the room. He won’t get to me. If he wants to consider this arrangement as a sex only type of thing, then so be it.

I can do that.

I can be as detached as he is.

Use then throw away.

Now, I just have to convince myself not to feel like a dirty whore.

Sounds reach me from downstairs.

Very distinctive sounds.

I stop at the top of the stairs, my cheeks heating.

Moans and grunts come from the lounge area.

My heart slams against my chest and I nearly fall to the ground.

It’s not… Silver, right? Aiden wouldn’t have brought Silver over to antagonise me.

He wouldn’t rip my heart open that way.

Not after the connection we built last night.

“Fuck, princess. You taste like sin.”

A harsh breath heaves out of me.

It’s not Aiden’s voice, but it’s a familiar one.

The moans escalate and then the air is filled with rough slaps of flesh against flesh.

I remain rooted in place with my cheeks aflame. No idea if I should disappear inside or stay here to not make a sound.

“Fuck, fuck!” The man grunts as she whimpers.

“Oh, God. Harder!”

“Harder, huh?” Slap. Slap. Slap. “How about that?”

“Aaaah! Levi!”

Levi?

Levi King?

The sounds die down as they both appear to have reached their heights. I still don’t know if I should go back inside or run out of here.

If I barge in on them now, they’d think that I’ve been hearing them all along and that would be super awkward.

And perverse.

“Oh, stop it.” Astrid — or who I assume is Astrid — scolds.

Her voice is a bit husky, but I hope it’s because she’s breathy, and not because she’s a different girl.

Please let it not be a different girl.

“You just came,” she hisses.

“I can never get enough of you, princess. Besides, I have other ways,” he grunts and soon after a giggle comes out.

Are they going at it again?

Maybe I should return to bed and pretend I’m asleep or something.

“Get a room.”

My back snaps at the signature bored voice.

Aiden.

He’s… back.

Something in my chest lifts. I don’t know if it’s joy or relief or anger.

Or all of them.

The anger at myself wins. How could I give him the remote control of my emotions this easily?

Astrid’s gasp is followed by scrambling about and a rustle of clothes.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Aiden?” Levi growls.

“This is my mother’s place.”

Wait. The Meet Up was Alicia’s place?

“Stop looking or I’ll poke your fucking eyes out,” Levi tells him.

“Looking at who?” I can almost imagine the smirk on Aiden’s face.

He’s taunting his cousin and he seems to enjoy it a bit too much.

The bastard can be so sadistic.

“Cover your arse, Lev. It’s not exactly a good sight first thing in the morning.”

“You little fucker, I’m going to —”

“I’m good,” Astrid sounds flustered, and I’m sure she is Astrid now that she’s speaking normally.

“Since when do you come over on the weekend?” Levi asks.

“Since now. Find yourself another place. Don’t you have a flat?”

“Fuck you,” Levi tells him. “I’ll be here whenever I damn well please.” A pause. “What’s that?”

“I’m making breakfast,” Aiden says. “And stop eating my groceries. Fill the fridge when you come over.”

“Wait. You are making breakfast?” Levi asks in an incredulous tone.

“Yeah.” Astrid laughs. “What gives?”

Aiden doesn’t answer, then after a moment, he speaks. “Leave. Both of you.”

“Nah.” I can hear the grin in Levi’s voice. “We’re staying for that breakfast.”

“In your dreams.”

“Wait,” Astrid says in a suspicious tone. “Is Elsa here?”

“No.” Aiden doesn’t miss a beat.

Why is he lying about that?

“She is, isn’t she?” Levi laughs. “Princess, go search upstairs and I’ll search the downstairs.”

“Deal.”

Aiden grunts.

Footsteps come closer.

I run back to the room and close the door. I quickly remove my jacket and pretend to put it back on.

A knock comes through before the door cracks open. Astrid’s head peeks inside. When her sparkly green eyes meet mine, a huge grin breaks on her face.

“Found her!” She barges inside.

Her denim overalls are buttoned all wrong and her brown hair is dishevelled at best.

I try not to recall what I heard happen between her and Levi downstairs.

“Morning, Elsa.”

“Morning.”

She leans in, face scrunching as if she’s about to tell me a top-secret. “I have huge news. Aiden is making breakfast.”

I offer her an awkward smile. “Okay.”

“Okay? What do you mean by okay? This should go in the Daily Mail or something. Hell. Jonathan should use it for marketing.” She pauses, narrowing her eyes on me. “Wait. Your lack of reaction can’t be because he made you breakfast before, right?”

I nod.

She stares at me with a parted mouth.

“Is it that strange?” I ask.

“Strange? Try miraculous. Aiden never makes breakfast. Not even when Levi forces him to help out.”

“He’s not the type who can be forced into doing anything.”

Understanding covers her features. “True.”

“Did you just come over?” I try to sound innocent like I didn’t hear her and Levi fucking each other’s brains out.

God. I’m so bad.

“Yeah. We wanted to spend the weekend at the place that started it all.”

“Started it all?”

She beams. “Levi and I started at the Meet Up. Crazy, right?”

I shake my head. “You guys are so good together.”

“Right? I agree. I need more people like you to say it to his fangirls.” She laughs before a nostalgic expression covers her features. “We weren’t always on good terms, you know, but I think the clashes in our personalities are what brought us together even more. Like yin and yang of sorts. We’re not there to be each other, we’re there to insert a piece of us in the other half.”

I heard about their rocky relationship last year, but I never asked. It’s understandable, though.

Levi might appear fun, but he has his own demons. Just like Aiden, he keeps them carefully tucked under the surface.

And this petite girl, only a year older than me, has managed to not only see his demons but to also make friends with them.

Hell. She fell in love with them.

Astrid seems like the type of girl who’s all in. She took Levi the way he is and even loved him for being who he is.

Maybe that’s why Levi watches her like she holds the world in the palm of her hands.