Heart of ice

The aftermath...

Aurora's POV

I'm in the passenger seat of Kade's car, whilst River sits on an unimpressed Theo's lap. The sight would be funny if I wasn't in so much pain. My ribs and back are throbbing. Kade suggested we go to the hospital to have everything checked out, but I refused because hospitals ask too many questions for my liking. 

I'm pulled out of my thoughts when I hear Hunter start speaking. 

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" he asks. 

I start playing with my fingers because there's no easy way of explaining this. 

"I just kind of picked it up as I grew up. I got tired of Tommy and his friends beating me up, so I carried on taking the beatings until I could protect their next moves" I tell him. 

"His friends used to beat you up too?" River asks shocked. 

"Yeah, I got used to it after a bit. It stopped bothering me. They saw me as an easy target and I was at the time. Me and Tommy have never had a good relationship. He's hated me since we were young and it was down to me being our dad's favourite. Even after our dad died when we were 7, he's never let it go that he wasn't the centre of attention" I softly tell River. 

"Can we stop talking about this" Kade grunts. 

I look to the side of me and see his knuckles turning white from the grip he has on his steering wheel.

The rest of the car ride is awkwardly silent. Even as we're dropping everybody back to their houses, nobody speaks. This carries on all the way back to Kade's.

......

When we got back to the house, Kade told me to go up to his room and wait for him. So, I'm currently sat on his bed waiting for him to come in. 

A few minutes pass and Kade finally walks through the door. I look up towards him as he makes his way over to me. 

"Dress off" he tells me.

"Excuse me?" I ask. 

"I want to see how badly you're hurt, please take it off" he whispers. 

I look towards the ground, but I do as he asks. I lift my dress off, dropping it to the ground and refusing to look up at Kade. 

I hear him walk closer to me and I know he's looking at my body. I hear him take  deep breath.

"It's probably worse than it looks, this isn't the worst beating I've got" I say.

I feel Kade gently grip my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes. "Please stop... I don't want to think about you being hurt" he whispers. 

I nod my head at him and wrap my arms around my body. 

"I'll get you some clothes to wear" he tells me, as he walks over to his draws and pulls out some clothes. 

Kade passes me the clothes and I take them into the bathroom with me so I can go and change. I put on the jogging bottoms and oversized top, finally being comfortable. I walk back out and make my way over to Kade's bed, sitting next to him making myself comfortable. 

"Kade can I ask you something?" I ask looking at him. 

"Of course you can" he smiles at me.

"What's the deal with you and Brianna?"

I see the colour from his face drain. Maybe I shouldn't have asked that. 

"You want the truth?" he mumbles. 

All I can do is nod my head at him, I don't know why I all of a sudden feel nervous. 

I watch as Kade looks away and starts speaking.

"I really loved Brianna. She was everything to me at one point. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't worship the ground that she walked on. I was so in love with her that I looked past  all the warning signs. If I hadn't been so blinded by love, then I'd of realised what she had been doing behind my back" he speaks. 

I look at him and my heart aches. You can tell that he really did love her by the way he speaks about her. 

"When I found out she cheated on me, I lost it. I blamed it more on your brother than her because I didn't want to believe it. I was so obsessed with her that I carried on sleeping with. I just couldn't break the cycle and bond that we had. It wasn't until a month ago that I cut all sexual contact with her. I didn't want that anymore. Then I ended up getting kicked out of school for sleeping with the principals daughter. I wanted to prove to Brianna that I didn't want her anymore, I know it's bad" he takes a deep breath. 

I move over closer to him and grab his face with both hands. 

"It wasn't your fault Kade. If she couldn't see how amazing you are, then that's her fault" I tell him.

Kade licks his lips, whilst maintaining eye contact with me.

"You think I'm amazing do you?" He says with a smirk on his face. 

"Don't ruin the moment, I'm being nice to you" I shake my head at him, laughing. 

Kade pulls me towards him, so I'm sitting on his lap and wraps his arms around my waist. I wince a bit at the fast movement, he notices and loosens his grip.

We're both gazing into one another's eyes having a silent conversation. Within seconds his lips are on mine. I'm slowly running out of breath, but I don't care because all I want right now is him. 

Kade pulls away and I try to get my breathing under control. 

"I'll take you on as many dates as you want Aurora, but I need you to agree to be mine. I know it's fast, but I want you, this. I want to experience what it's like to have you in my life" he softly speaks, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. 

A big grin breaks out on my face, as I nod my head at him. I watch his face light up, as he realises he's got to the answer he wants.