Chapter 26

Josie

I bang furiously on Aiden’s apartment door. He just moved in here a week ago, deciding living with Kevin was just not conducive to their friendship remaining intact. His car is parked out front and I expect he’s not been here too long, as my conversation with Reed didn’t take that long.

Nope. Didn’t take him long at all to show me just how utterly and completely stupid he can be.

He can sit there and go on and on about how he’s not good enough for me, but the truth is, he’s not giving me the benefit of the doubt to know that I might actually know what I want. He’s taken it upon himself to proclaim that I’m too good for him, and the thing that sucks about that is it’s because he believes he’s not good enough for me.

I don’t let that sadden me, though, because if I start to feel an ounce of sympathy for that jerk, I might turn around and go back to his place to talk some sense into him.

Instead, I let the anger he lit within guide me to do exactly what he goaded me to do.

I’m going to see if there’s something there with Aiden.

I bang harder on the door.

It flies open while I’m pounding and Aiden’s standing there with a wild look in his eyes. “Jesus, Josie, what the hell is wrong?”

There is simply no answer I can give him. Instead, I throw my arms around his neck, pull him down to me, and plaster my mouth to his.

I ignore the way Aiden jolts in surprise or the way his mouth stays firmly closed to mine. I merely press my mouth harder to his and he finally opens up.

And then we’re kissing. It’s just like I remembered and nothing like I want.

I freeze in place and open my eyes. Aiden’s eyes are wide open and staring right back at me. Both of us go still, staring at each other, and then I pull away.

“Find your answer?” he asks as I drop arms from around him.

“Yup,” I say with a sheepish, apologetic grin. “You’re not it for me.”

“That would hurt my feelings if I didn’t agree with you one hundred percent. So why are you here kissing me and not at Reed’s kissing him?”

“Got any alcohol?” I ask him blandly.

“Couple bottles of wine,” he says as he steps back from the door and motions me in. “Let’s get drunk and you can tell me all about it.”

“Sounds good,” I say as I walk in and drop my purse on his couch. I look around and see Aiden’s made no more headway on unpacking his stuff than he had a few days ago when I’d come over to work with him on our project. “And I’ll even help you unpack your crap while we get drunk and talk shit about Reed.”

Aiden laughs as he heads into the kitchen. “Deal.”

I grab a box labeled KITCHEN and put it up on a counter while Aiden pours us two glasses of red wine. I take a healthy slug and then rip into the box.

“So, start from the beginning,” Aiden says as he leans back against the counter, content to let me rummage around his stuff.

“He doesn’t think he’s good enough for me,” I say with a casual shrug of my shoulder. It’s my way to convey that this isn’t hurting me, but truth be told, I’m really fucking hurt he would push me away. We have something special, and that bonehead won’t look past his insecurities to hold on to it.

“Well, he’s not,” Aiden says, and I turn to look at him in surprise, a stack of dish towels in my hand that I’d pulled from the box. Aiden opens up a drawer by his hip and I toss the towels to him. When he stows them away, he adds, “But no one really is, Josie. You’re a total gem. A prime catch. Not many people can stack up to you.”

“Oh, shut up,” I say with an impatient wave of my hand, and take another hefty sip of wine. “I’ve totally got my faults.”

“What was with the kiss?” Aiden asks curiously. “It was awkward and inappropriate.”

I grimace as I think about it. Not that it was bad, because Aiden is a good kisser, but because it was wrong and I was angry at Reed. “Reed told me that I should give you another shot. He apparently thinks you’re better suited to give me everything I need.”

Aiden’s been so laid back about my relationship with Reed that I actually expect him to brush this off. Instead, he looks at me with contemplation. “Could he be right?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think so,” I tell him truthfully, and it hurts me to see a flash of pain on his face. He wipes it away quickly, though, and goes back to being my friend so fast I almost doubt I saw it.

“Why is he pushing you away then?” he asks me.

I think about it a moment while I pull more towels out of the box. “It wasn’t an involved conversation, but the gist of it was that he doesn’t think he can support me the way I need to be. I think it’s wrapped up in what I do for a living. It doesn’t make any sense, because Reed is one of the most confident people I know, but I think it’s nothing more than pure insecurity on his part. And seriously, Aiden…why do you need this many dish towels?”

“Maybe it’s not insecurity but rather pure devotion driving him,” Aiden says, ignoring my dish towel jab.

My head pops up and my body locks over his theory. “What?”

Aiden gives me a slightly patronizing look as he pushes off the counter. He grabs my wine from where I’d set it on the counter and hands it to me. I drop the towels and accept, bringing the rim to my lips and polishing off the contents in a drunken bar girl fashion.

As Aiden refills my glass, he smirks at me. “I don’t think Reed’s pushing you away because he’s insecure. I think he’s pushing you away because he’s crazy, head-over-heels in love with you and he truly wants you to have the absolute best you can have in life. I’d say he’s confident in himself and this isn’t really about him. It’s more of a misguided notion he thinks he knows what’s best for you.”

“I honestly need to be drunk to understand what you just said,” I mutter, and take another long sip of my wine.

“This is it for Reed,” Aiden says confidently. “He cares for you so deeply he’s willing to sacrifice his happiness to ensure you get yours. Of course, he’s wrong about you needing something more than what he provides, but that’s beside the point. He’s truly doing this with nothing but pure altruism in his heart. Mark my words.”

Aiden continues to smirk at me, completely pleased with his analysis. “You’re saying he loves me and that’s why he told me to give you another shot?”

“It’s totally screwed up thinking for sure, but yes…that’s what I’m saying. I’m also going to go out on a limb and say that Reed’s never been in love before. This is a life-changing moment for him and he’s acting in your best interests. Again, his reasoning is kind of stupid, but what can I say…he’s a dumb jock.”

“Hey,” I say irritably, and smack his chest. “Don’t call him that.”

Aiden laughs and finishes off his first glass of wine. I finish mine too and he pours the rest of the bottle between our two empty glasses.

“Come on,” he says as he walks into the living room. “Let’s sit down and just get drunk. Unpacking can wait.”

Sounds reasonable to me, so I follow Aiden into the living room. He sits in a recliner and I take one end of the couch.

“I don’t think he’s ever had a serious relationship,” I say as I swirl the wine in my glass.

“I think that would be a good guess, seeing as how he’s not handling this very well,” Aiden surmises. “And if you spill that wine on my white couch, you’re buying a new one for me.”

I immediately stop swirling the wine, and when it settles, I take a big sip to bring the level down a little. “You know how I first met him?” I ask Aiden.

He shakes his head.

“He was banging some woman at his apartment and the damn headboard was knocking against the wall and I could hear her screaming. I went over to his place and gave him a piece of my mind.”

Aiden’s mouth falls open. “Seriously?”

“Yup,” I say with a giggle, and that’s totally the wine, as I’m not a giggler. “I called her Screaming Barbie and she didn’t like that at all.”

“Barbie, huh?”

“He had a type and I watched them come and go from his place. Let’s see…there was Screaming Barbie, and Ditzy Barbie, and Fashionista Barbie. Oh, and Carbie Barbie.”

Aiden lets out of bark of a laugh as he throws his head back and his wine sloshes over the edge of his glass. Luckily it just splashes on his pants and not his white recliner. “You’re making that up?”

“I am not,” I say indignantly, my head already swimming a tiny bit from drinking so fast. I take another long swallow. “But I guess his type has changed now, huh?”

“I’d say so,” Aiden says on a low chuckle. “What are you going to do?”

“Well, I’m going to continue getting drunk with you, since we already started, and I deserve it after this shit Reed’s put me through.”

“And tomorrow?”

“And tomorrow I’m going to go knock some sense into Reed. Or maybe I’ll tell him I slept with you and he’s absolutely right. That you’re the guy for me.”

“Thatta girl,” he praises me with a laugh, holding his wineglass up in a toast. “But I think you’ll get better results with just knocking sense into him.”

I raise mine in return salute and then I smile at him. “Thanks for being a good friend, Aiden. I know this can’t be exactly easy advising your ex-girlfriend on her current romantic troubles.”

“My pleasure, Josie,” he says and his smile drifts away. “And again…I’m sorry for hurting you. It was the last thing I wanted to do.”

“It’s all right,” I say, brushing off his apology.

“No, it’s not.”

“Actually,” I tell him with a sober look. “It’s all right, Aiden. Because I think I’m right where I’m supposed to be, and with the man I’m supposed to be with.”

He nods with a wistful smile. “Agreed. But if he hurts you further, I’m so going to kick his ass, and then I’m going to sweep you back off your feet again.”

I laugh at his jest, although I know there might be some slight truth to it. But the thought of Aiden and me together is implausible.

There’s only one person for me, and I just need to make sure Reed knows that I wouldn’t change a thing about him, nor could I ever want anything more than what he gives me.