The Night We Met

Chapter 56

Riley's POV:

The restaurant dinner was fairly good. We made conversation. James was rather over-protective, keeping his arm wrapped around my waist even when the waiters walked over to order our food. Aiden had been given me some looks to which James would then glare at him but Madelyn sat there the whole time, silent. She'd barely even eaten, just stirred through her spaghetti with her cutlery. Perhaps it would have been better if James and I didn't tag along but we needed to make sure Madelyn was safe. As much as I dislike her, it's the least I could do.

After eating, we'd decided to go to the club bar nearby to maybe clear the ice. Clearly, everyone was feeling some sort of enmity towards someone at the moment. I was still frightened of Aiden and jealous of Madelyn. James was wary and cautious of Aiden. Madelyn was nervous about this whole dating Aiden thing and was jealous of me, while Aiden was wary of all of us right now, probably thinking this was a set-up. We had to find a way to get him and Madelyn to connect, to start talking and to like each other. They were so alike: confident, hot, talkative. They should be hitting it right off.

At the moment, the two of them were on the dancefloor, smirking at each other and clicking their fingers to the beat of the music. Meanwhile, James and I were off to the side. I was sat on the edge of a table while James stood in front of me. His hands were on my waist as he looked down at me, kissing me every few seconds, and one of my arms were flung around his neck while the other held a glass of cocktail in my hand. Bringing the glass to my lips, I take a sip as James watches me closely before shaking his head, taking the glass out of my hand and putting it to the side.

"You've had enough of that, babe," he says, even though it was only my second drink. Before I can begin to argue with him, he crashes his lips to mine, making me jump at first before I melt into it. With my free hand, I use it to tug at his shirt, pulling him down to my height so that I could wrap my legs around his thighs, holding him close to me. I wasn't exactly a big fan of PDA before but with James? With him, I just can't seem to steer clear of kissing him. I moan against his lips softly, making him kiss me that much more and with that extra added passion as I giggle against his lips.

"You know what?" I whisper, my voice breathy as I pull away from him for a second. "I like this side of us," I tell him.

"Just you wait, Ri," he says in response. I didn't have the chance to ask questions before he cut me off again, pressing his lips to mine once more and then lifting me up off the table, carrying me by the thighs and then walking me towards a private room in the back and then pinning me up against the wall. Laughing, I continue kissing him and trail my fingers down the side of his face until I reached his chin where I stroke my finger over the stubble that decorated it. As he moans softly, I continue, kissing him still with both our sets of eyes closed.

"I- love you . . . so . . . much," I say through each breath, making him smile. He pulls away from me for a second as he grins at me.

"For infinity?" he asks, and I smile.

"For infinity," I whisper, telling him what he wanted to hear. Smiling at me, he then leans in and is about to kiss me again but is stopped by the sound of footsteps.

"James?" a voice says. As soon as we hear it, James quickly pulls back and slowly and attentively lowers me back onto my feet, pushing me behind him while he turns around to face the person. Rolling my eyes at James's austerity, I step aside so I could see who was stood there and straight away, I look down as I see Aiden. Now I understand why James had pushed me behind him. "Can I . . . have a word with Riley?" he asks. Immediately, James looks down at me before back at Aiden and then his lip curves downwards into a scowl.

"What about? I'm sure whatever you need to say, you can say it right here," he says sternly. Aiden looks towards me and so I sigh, scratching my arm briefly before biting my lip. I reach my hand forward towards James's and then place my spare hand on his back.

"It's okay," I tell him, making him look down at me. "I'll be okay. I need to talk to him anyways."

James keeps his gaze on me for a moment before he looks at my ex and he shakes his head, biting his bottom lip harshly before giving my hand a squeeze. "I'll be right outside. If he does anything, scream, okay," he tells me. I nod and then he reaches down to kiss my cheek before letting go of my hand. As he walks past Aiden, he gives him a glare before eventually walking back into the club. There was no door, meaning if he was stood right on the other end of the wall, he would be able to hear me if I was to call his name.

Fiddling with my fingers, I sigh as I look towards Aiden and he looks at me. He kept his distance this time. He didn't look angry or frightening. He looked nervous, almost. And I didn't have any idea at all as to what that might mean.

"You love him," he says, causing me to look down, unsure of what was about to happen. "Don't you, Riley?" he asks as I bite my lip. I look back up at him and swallow before nodding my head.
"Yeah," I whisper. "I love him."

He nods his head and as his cheek goes in when he bites the inside of it, I watch him take one step closer towards me. I was already against the wall so I couldn't exactly go further back, so I just watch him carefully. I knew him well enough to tell if he was going to turn violent. But for some reason, I don't think this was the same situation. He seemed like the guy I feel for months ago. A renewed version.

"Does he treat you right? Better than I did? Because . . . I know I treated you like shit," he mumbles and I bite my lip harder. I don't know what he was trying to get out of me, which is why I do nothing but nod again. "I'm going to prison, aren't I?" he says, stepping nearer to me. I shake my head. "You're going to take this to court. You're going to matchmake me with Madelyn so that I hurt her the same way I did to you then when you take it to court, there will be two victims and I'll get a longer sentence. That's your plan, right?" he says scornfully as a tear rolls down his face. I close my eyes and look to the ground, thinking of nothing but my mother's words right now.

"I'm not taking this to court, Aiden," I say with as much confidence as I can. "I loved you, okay. I was in the relationship too. I'm the one who decided to stay with you. I'm not going to involve the police and judges and whatnot in this," I tell him, making him break down as he lets go of the inside flesh of his cheek and he looks at me with tears in his eyes. "I'll let you go if you let me go," I say as he takes another step closer to me. Our bodies were only centimetres apart now. I look at him and then down at the gap between us before looking up at him again. "If you leave me alone, I'll do the same to you."

"But Madelyn-"

"No one's forcing you to date her," I say, reaching my hand up and cupping his cheek with my inner palm. "I'm telling you to use her as a stepping stone. She can help you. Maybe you can build up a friendship. Who knows, maybe one day you'll even be in love with her. All I want is for you to be happy, Aiden. You don't need me, okay. I don't need you either. I want you to have Madelyn so that it distracts you from me. So that you stop thinking about me and my personal relationships," I say as I look into his eyes. He closes them and listens to my voice and I breathe out shakily. "You were my first everything, Aiden, but now you need to let me go," I say and he reopens his eyes, staring down at me.

"Riley," he says. I watch his eyes as they dart towards my lips. He closes his eyes, moving his head forward, about to lean in, and that's when I take a step back away from him. I move my hands off of his cheek and I begin to fiddle with my fingers again.

"I can't," I tell him, shaking my head sternly. "I'm done with you. We were over long before James came along."

With that, I watch as he punches the wall with his fist before resting his head against it and for the first time in ever, I watched as he cried to himself but I didn't regret what I had said. It's what I should have said to him a long time ago.

I make my way back into the club to find James stood against the wall, scrolling through his phone. As soon as he looks up at the sound of the door opening, I smile at him and walk over to his frame as his arm finds its way back around my waist again. "Everything okay?" he asks me, kissing the top of my head and I nod, wrapping my arms around his chest.

"For once I can actually say yes," I chuckle, making him look at me and smile before kissing my lips again that night.