aiden wilkinshire had no fucking right to put his hands on you. or to be the guy you were in an arranged marriage with.

you could say that you hated him all you wanted, but briar knew the truth. the real you. which included him being yours, and you being his. that was what it was supposed to be. that was what it was— no matter what.

sure, aiden had been his best friend since he was 5, but you had been his first love since then.

the three of you all grew up as next door neighbors— you being in the middle of them. your parents were friends and the three of you had always been as well. at least, until high school.

aiden and briar became insanely popular— and were totally different from the little boys you had grown up with. for you— popularity came naturally to you. but for all of the wrong reasons, mainly your bitchy-ness. and the fact that you were in an arrangement with the king of the school, aiden.

big-fucking-deal. that arrangement had been settled since you were fourteen. maybe it had been because it was the only way to keep briar away from you, and aiden had no problem helping you.

see, but briar still consumed you. with hate, with love, everything. even if you couldn’t stand each other anymore— he still made his message clear. he still had a choke-hold on you. even if you tried to stay protected by aiden. which was slowly drifting away from you as well.

when people looked at you and aiden, you were seen as a power couple, when really? he didn’t have the heart to love anyone, unless it was viviane— one of the only girls who had ever stood up to him. you didn’t necessarily care, considering you didn’t truly love him either, but he had been your protection from the truth. and now? that was slowly drifting away.

which brings you to today.

you had been shaken up the past few days since saturday. briar hooked up with you. no— he consumed you. and then? he told you to stop the arrangement. and honestly? you were almost tempted to.

you despised him for even making you feel that way. you needed to make sure your protection was still strong.

which is how you ended up at aiden’s house— explaining everything to him.

he was heartless, sure, but he listened. even if he acted like he didn’t care.

“im not seeing my place in this, {{user}}.” aiden responds with a bored expression.

“i cant lose this arrangement, aiden.” you blurt out, already regretting the words.

aiden looks at you for a moment, as if he was comparing his options, before finally agreeing on—

“you’re scared.”

you look at him, as if he’s grown two heads, “why would I be scared of—”

you get cut off by someone joining the conversation.

“well isn’t this a lovely surprise.”

you feel a shiver run down your back, and you cruse yourself for feeling that way. you couldn’t run from briar and he was making that painfully clear.

you turned to him, as he watches the scene with amusement, but you can see the annoyance underlying it. you went against him.