Shield's Devotion: Book One

Chapter 9: Aiden

Finally, it's Friday. The school week has gone by a lot faster than I assumed it would, thanks to my friends and Aurora. The day I went to her house was great. Holy fuck, she is a goddess in a tiny human body. Her cooking skills are beyond what anyone could hope for, she's got a great voice, and she's into sports and cars. She's every man's dream woman!

She slipped on an ice cube in the kitchen and I caught her before she could hit the ground. Actually having my arms wrapped around her I realized she's really not that tiny, just short. She's toned like she works out. Tomorrow she and her friend are coming to my house to go "muddin'" as she calls it. Maybe we should add swimming in the lake to our imaginary itinerary for tomorrow.

"Get up Aiden, you're going to be late," I tell myself and force myself out of bed, ready to get Friday over with.

I remember that I'll see Aurora first period and I'm no longer dreading it. I hurry to get ready and hop into my Audi R8. When I get to school I park next to Aurora's Ferrari and I see that she's sitting inside it, looking down at her phone.

As I'm about to get out she stops scrolling on her phone, rolls her eyes and presses it to her ear. All of a sudden anger fills her face and I can tell she's forcing herself not to yell into her phone. What the fuck has her so upset? Soon she calms down and her expression turns into a confident, almost challenging one. She hangs up and tosses her phone into the passenger seat. I watch as she checks herself in the mirror before putting on a smile and getting out. I get out and catch up to her.

"Hey," she smiles up at me.

"Don't give me that fake smile. Who was that on the phone?" I demand an answer, not sure why I'm being so hostile about the situation.

"Well good morning to you too," She smirks and keeps walking.

"Aurora, who was it?"

"Tanner," she shrugs and I stop walking.

Once she realizes I've stopped walking, she turns on her white converse shoe and looks up at me.

"What?" She asks.

"Why is your ex calling you? I thought he was put away," I start to feel my blood boil.

"Yeah, put in the hospital. I never said he was put in jail."

"So he hit you and other than an ass kicking he wasn't punished?" I pull her between some cars to not make a scene.

She looks down and starts playing with her fingers and it's like she's refusing to look at me.

"Remember when I had dinner at your place and I told you that teenage girls come up with awful rumors?" She keeps looking at the ground.

"What did they say about you? Look at me," I tell her.

She hesitates for a second but she looks up at me, biting her lip but avoiding eye contact. She almost looks like she wants to cry.

"The most popular group of girls in the high school I went to came up with a rumor that um," she clears her throat and a single tear falls from her eye. "They said that I'm actually the one that murdered my mom. That I made up the man in the mask to cover my own ass," another tear falls and she looks down at her feet again.

Shit. I didn't want her to cry. Fuck. I don't know what to say. She wipes her eyes and looks back up at me.

"Anyway, he didn't get locked up because of my past. That rumor was enough to convince the police that I was unstable at the time and decided that he wasn't at fault. He used it against me," she straightens her posture and shrugs.