I’d never had anything against Aiden before. I actually kinda liked him. He seemed good for Cade.
But that fucker was asking for it if he smirked at me one more time.
It wasn’t three more hits before Aiden slammed into Brody on purpose again, leaving him spluttering with a mouthful of water and sending rage through my blood.
“That’s enough!” I yelled, hitting the surface of the water in Aiden’s direction. Not that I thought a splash of water was going to hurt him, but it seemed like a natural reflection of my frustration with him.
“I didn’t do anything,” Aiden said, a half-laugh and a smirk painting his face a color I really didn’t like on him.
“You –” I started, but Brody cut me off.
“It’s fine,” he said, his voice a hell of a lot more calm than mine. “I can take it.”
“You don’t have to take it,” I hissed. “And it’s fucking dangerous, Aiden! We’re in the water!”
“If it’s too much for you, get out,” Aiden shrugged.
Those fists were back at my sides. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
All this time, I’d thought Brody was the asshole.
Maybe I’d been watching the wrong person’s behavior.
“Let it go,” I snapped at Aiden. “So he hurt your boyfriend four years ago. Cade doesn’t even give a shit! And he’s the reason you managed to get Cade, anyway, so lay off!”
“He’s the only reason I got Cade?” Aiden repeated, folding his arms over his chest. It felt kind of surreal to be having this conversation while both of us paddled our feet under the water to stay afloat, but the absurdity didn’t make me feel any more relaxed. “What, you think I couldn’t have got him any other way? Like this asshole helped me out and did me a favor?”
“I think you’re in danger of losing the person you care about if he sees you acting this way,” I said, surging closer to the net. I couldn’t see Cade behind me, and I was only guessing. But he seemed like a nice guy and he’d repeatedly asked everyone else to stop giving Brody a hard time. I didn’t think he would be the type to put up with jealous, controlling, violent behavior.
“Screw you,” Aiden snarled, coming closer to the net on his side. It was the only thing between us. “Don’t act like you know me or you have any say in my relationship. You can’t threaten me.”
“I don’t need to,” I retorted. “You’re making an ass out of yourself all on your own.”
Aiden shoved me.
He actually shoved me, through the net. I moved back through the water a length or so, then flailed my arms to get my balance back and float.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
No fucking way I was letting him get away with that.
Everything after that was a blur.
I know I went towards him. I know he ducked under the net toward me.
After that, everything was chaos –
Until the moment his fist connected with my eye, at which point reality snapped back in pretty clearly.
Brody
I swore out loud at the same time as everyone else did. We’d been watching Aiden and Ace like we were frozen, but the second that punch landed, it was like the magic spell was unlocked.
We all rushed forward. Half of our team held Aiden back, but I was ducking through to reach Ace’s side.
He’d taken a punch for me.
The guys up on the poolside loungers were shouting now, leaping to their feet. I don’t know when they started paying attention to what we were doing, but one look at the thunder on Cade’s face was enough to know he’d seen the whole thing.
