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“Nightmare? Shit. He’s still having them?” Riley’s face fell. “I thought it got better.”
“He said he didn’t have as many when he was up there, but he still had them occasionally.”
“That’s good, at least.” Blaire let go of Charlotte’s hand and propped her head on her palm, elbow on the table. “You said he acted different? What did you mean?”
It felt weird. Her friends were looking at her like an anomaly. Asking questions that didn’t feel intrusive but bordered on clinical. Asking what happened, how Aiden was different. She expected silly questions from maybe Blaire, like if he was good in bed or something, but this felt different. They seemed concerned and a little put off by the idea she and Aiden had sex.
“I’ve just never experienced him so aggressive and intense before. Not that it was a bad thing. Just new.” She shrugged. “I mean, everyone acts a little different when they sleep together, right?”
“Sometimes,” Blaire conceded.
Riley’s cheeks tinted. “Yep. Absolutely.”
Blaire laughed. “Apparently, Seth is very different behind closed doors.”
“Huh?”
“He’s a dom.”
Riley swatted Layla’s arm. “No, he’s not!”
“It sounds like it from the way you describe him.”
“How the hell do you know about doms?”
“I have access to the internet, you know. Just because my parents shelter me doesn’t mean I’m ignorant.”
“Bless your heart,” Riley muttered.
“Anywayyy,” Blaire said, trying to get the conversation back on track. But Charlotte didn’t mind the detour. It felt so good to sit and joke with her friends and ignore the awkward situation she found herself in. To be happy for once in what felt like ages. “So what went wrong? If it was so good, then why are you upset?”
She sighed, slumping against the squeaky leather booth. “The next morning, he seemed fine. Touched me. Seemed affectionate… but then, nothing. He kept his distance but acted like he always did. Then when we hit Rosebrook Valley? Bam. It’s like someone put up a wall between us. I haven’t heard from him in a couple of days since he drove me back home.”
“He didn’t seem like anything was wrong, did he?” Blaire asked Riley. “Lukas said he seemed weird, but I thought nothing of it. Figured he was getting settled back in.”
“I’ve only seen him once. He seemed fine, but I wasn’t paying attention honestly. I kinda chewed him out for being gone so long and not letting me visit.” Riley at least had the good sense to look embarrassed by her behavior.
Layla shook her head. “I haven’t seen him at all.”
“I’ll get Seth to talk to him,” Riley said. “Maybe he’ll mention something.”
Charlotte’s stomach clenched when Blaire and Riley shared one of those looks again. She wondered if they knew more than they were sharing.
21
HOT AND COLD
The walk from the diner relaxed Charlotte’s frazzled mind. The girls acted weird about not only her possible inquiry into Blackthorn Academy, but also her intimacy with Aiden. Did they not want her around him? That made little sense to her.
She took her time walking through the evening crowds in the Valley Center Plaza, a sprawling outdoor shopping mall with dozens of stores and restaurants with pathways branching in different directions lined with small businesses. The smell of popcorn drifted on the warm breeze coming from the theater on the corner close to the diner.
It had been three months since she visited the town. Nothing changed except for the diner. Kids still climbed all over the massive marble fountain in the center of the plaza, while teenagers hovered near the theater, clustered together as they decided on their next movie. Couples held hands while carrying shopping bags in the other, moving from one store to the next.
The temperature had finally dropped, so the entire area was filled to the brim with life.
Had she expected anything different in the small town? Her life had turned upside down, but her hometown remained undisturbed by the outside world. It further backed her desire to stay.
Her phone chimed, and she shifted her Styrofoam box containing leftovers into her left hand to pull her cell phone from the back pocket of her shorts. Her stomach swooped when she saw the sender.
