No Judgement , Stiles Stilinski ⁴ ✓

[ 17 ] the fine art of seduction

part 2 to double update, make sure you've read chap 16!!

017. THE FINE ART OF
SEDUCTION

INSTEAD of heading home to an empty house, seeing as Scott was off at Eichen House with the others, and Melissa was on a late work shift — Aspen stayed in school late, studying in the library for some upcoming college interviews. It was quiet this time of day, pretty much everyone had gone home and Aspen found a rare sense of peace in the library, surrounded by endless amounts of literature and dim lit lamps.

Malia had gone home to her dad, Mr Tate, while the rest of the group were in Eichen House talking to Gabriel Valack. Aspen wanted to help, but she knew it would be suicide to go anywhere near that building. Stiles had told her not to worry and that she should stay home and be safe. Aspen had briefly kissed him goodbye when he told her he was going to join the others, telling him to stay safe — and also to say hello to her brother for her.

Aspen was missing Ace more than ever lately.

In a time where a shameful secret was eating her up from the inside out, Aspen just wanted to be able to talk to her brother. Ace had once been the worst of the worst — he'd done unforgivable things in his time, which meant he would never judge a word that came out of his sister's mouth. Aspen just wanted to tell him everything — about Theo, about New Orleans, all of it. He'd probably be able to give her some advice, it may not be good advice but she wouldn't care.

She just wanted to hear his voice— so badly.

The brunette was in the middle of typing something into her laptop about the English course at Harvard University, one of the many interviews she had coming up regarding scholarships, when she was interrupted by a set of footsteps approaching her. She was the only person in here, so the sound of someone else —someone else who was approaching her— grabbed her attention enough to make her look up from her screen to meet the eyes of the person.

"Well what do we have here?" Theo Raeken grinned with amusement as he dragged out the seat opposite her and sat down despite the lack of invitation, "What are you doing here this late, Aspen? Googling ways to kill your best friend, I hope."

Aspen hardly met his eyes before rolling her own, letting out a scoff and slamming her laptop shut. Theo's brows furrowed as the brunette girl suddenly begun packing up her things and shoving them into her bag, getting ready to leave without a word.

"Hey, hey, hey—" Theo stopped her, leaning back in his seat comfortably with a cocky grin, "What gives? You really gonna give up your territory because an old friend stopped by? You were here first, darling."

"Don't call me that." Aspen said with a cold glare, briefly meeting his eyes. "Besides, I was just about to leave anyway."

"No— you weren't," Theo sighed, leaning forward and grabbing one of the flashcards Aspen had been working on.

"Hey—give that back—"

"Harvard Interview Notes," Theo read the handwritten title aloud, his eyebrows raising with what almost looked like an impressed expression, "Huh—you never struck me as the Harvard type."

"That's because you don't know a single thing about me." Aspen said with a tone full of resentment and annoyance, and then snatched the card from his hands.

"On the contrary, Bellator— I know things about you that even your precious little boyfriend doesn't." Theo smirked, enjoying being her personal tormentor, dangling their dirty little secret in front of her every chance he got.