Page 33 of Eight Weeks
Only when thirty minutes pass and I no longer even hear voices, that’s when I start to get nervous. Occasionally, I can hear sounds, but they’re more like thuds and definitely nothing that comes remotely close totalking.
The picture my brain is painting at those sounds has my blood boil in seconds. Jealousy streams through my veins in a speed I never thought possible. But I have to remind myself that I am notallowedto get jealous.
Aaron has never been my boyfriend, he isn’t now, and he won’t ever be. I never had any claims on him. I shouldn’t care whether he’s fucking his ex or not.
But I do anyway. I do because I care.
It was always supposed to be Aaron and me. Us.
It was supposed to be us against the world.Usin a relationship with each other. We were supposed to be a couple, get married, have kids. It was never him and someone else. It was never me and someone else. It wasus.
Well, but that dream also kind of crashed like a flight going wrong when I came back to New City years ago and asked my parents to return to Germany and never come here ever again.
20
Aaron
“I’ll move mountains if I can / just to make you understand”—For Your Love by Gunnar Gehl
Winter has ruined my good mood.
My mood was already going downhill after my childhood crush broke my heart into a million pieces using a ruler rather than a knife. Fuck, even cutting my heart up with a butterknife would have been less painful.
I know Sofia was lying, the kiss we shared couldn’t have meant nothing to her. Besides, I know when she’s lying.
Her words still sting though.
Luckily, today is Saturday, meaning there is most definitely a partysomewhere. And if not, I’ll go to Brites and get the fuck wasted. I’m in need of it tonight. And tomorrow. And all the other days Sofia will be here.
I’m not saying I’m in love with her, because I’m not. One can’t just be in love with someone they haven’t seen in over a decade and had a crush on years ago. However, I am saying that I want to get to know her again. I want her in my life, steal my breath again. Dammit, I want her to steal myheartand make it hers. I want us to beusagain. Just Nix and Icicle.
Guess she doesn’t feel the same way.
As soon as I get back home, I’m pleased to find my best friends—and my sister—already in the living room, having cracked open a beer or two.
It’s only six p.m., but that’s late enough to pull out some liquor and get wasted.
If it weren’t for that one little blonde girl curled up right next to Miles.
Brooklyn smiles at me as she spots me, her grin so wide, she might reach Jupiter with it. “Uncle Ron!” She jumps off the couch, running toward me. I kneel down instantly, holding my arms open for her. As soon as her tiny arms are on my torse, I close her in for a tight hug.
There’s nothing better than to get greeted by your best friend’s daughter after a day like I had. Truthfully, I’d steal her from Miles and keep her as my own child if I could. But I guess I will settle for being “Uncle Ron”.
“What are you doing here, little princess?” I ask, knowing very well what she’s doing here. Miles is here, which means so is she. It doesn’t bother me when she’s around. I love this little blonde girl more than I ever thought was possible.
I swear, sometimes I even think I’m going to be stricter as her uncle than Miles is going to be as her father. Like, imagining her being with someone once she’s old enough—nope. Not happening.
Brooke giggles, pressing her face right into my chest. “To play games with you.”
“Games?” I gasp in shock, exaggerating just a little bit for her sake. “But I’m a sore loser, princess. And you always win.”
She pulls away from the hug, tugging on my hand now. “That’s okay, Uncle Ron, I let you win this time.”
“Sofia’s not coming?” Grey asks, his eyebrows pull together in what must be confusion.
I shake my head. “I’m not sure I even asked if she wanted to. She has plenty to do with Winter and moving into the dorms.”
“I’ll text her,” Lily says, instantly taking out her phone.
