The Ice Alpha’s Mate (Aria and Ryder) novel Chapter 75

Chapter 75

ARIA

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It’s around five in the morning when I feel Ryder shaking me awake. My eyes are burning and I feel so exhausted that I want to ignore him and go back to sleep.

“Aria,” he says. “I have to go.”

My eyes suddenly spring open and I climb off the bed. My room is still dark, and I look around disoriented while he puts his clothes on. He’s watching me with a humorous gleam in his eyes He whispers, “You okay?”

I nod, rubbing my eyes.

I step out of my room first to make sure the coast is clear. Then, Ryder follows me toward the door. It doesn’t even cross my mind that a neighbor could be watching this happen and will later tell my uncle. Right now, that’s just not my concern.

When we reach the door, he turns around and tells me, “Promise me you’re not mad at me anymore.”

I can’t help but smile at this. “I’m not.”

“Promise?”

I nod. “I promise.”

He kisses me softly, then starts running down the street. His car probably parked somewhere else. I watch him for a bit, then close the door. Uncle Barty is an early riser and I don’t want him to see me here. As I walk toward my bedroom, I’m already paranoid about all sorts of things. What if he heard us? What if he questions me about it in the morning?

I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

But this thought in itself doesn’t let me sleep once I’m in bed. Though I can’t stop smiling when I think about the way he kissed and touched me, the smile drops when I realize that my uncle might look at me differently in a few hours.

When it’s time to get up, I do. I get in the shower and take around twenty minutes. I’m distracted and I keep forgetting to scrub myself.

I hear Uncle Barty in the kitchen and feel worse.

But everything turns out okay. He greets me normally and doesn’t ask me anything about a noise or anything like that. I sit down while he serves me breakfast, and then it’s time to go.

Once I reach campus, Uncle Barty drives around it while I start toward the main building. I’m approached by Tyler, and the sight of his face makes me really nervous. “Hi, Aria.”

“Hi,” I smile.

“Last night was nice,” he remarks as we head inside the building It was nice seeing you again after so long. That’s what I

mean.”

Though his presence made me more anxious than anything else I tell him, “Yeah. I agree.”

I don’t want to be rude to him. The truth is that Tyler has never one anything to hurt me, so I don’t see why I have to push him away, especially after what happened between us.

He asked me out and I turned him down.

“I miss being your friend,” he admits. When I glance at him, I see him smiling softly. “Maybe we can just…hang out. It

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Chapter 75

definitely doesn’t have to be more than that.”

“Why?” I hear myself asking. I think of adding what I was thinking about moments ago, then decide against it.

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Tyler stops walking and I do the same. “Because I think we started off as friends and there’s no reason why that should change. Look, everyone knows Ryder had some weird fascination with you. I’m not an idiot. He’s the reason why I stayed away from you for so long, but now he’s engaged, so it doesn’t matter, right?”

I never thought about it this way. Of course, Tyler noticed that something was off. Who wouldn’t? I feel so embarrassed that I can’t even think of what to say to him.

He adds, “I won’t ask you what it was about.”

“Good. I won’t be able to explain it.”

“Good.” He smiles. “Yeah. So, will you come somewhere with me”

I fold my arms and look around. I should say no, but I feel obligated to say yes. I don’t know why. “Where?”

“It’s a hangout place downtown. Opening on Saturday night.”

“What kind of place is it?”

“A bar, mostly.”

“I don’t drink.”

“Neither do I. It’s just where everyone’s going. Well, not everyone. It’s not a place for people who think they’re above others, if you know what I mean. I could ask Coach if you think he’ll

say no.”

“No, that’s not necessary.”

“So? What will it be?”

I nod. Well, that doesn’t sound so bad. I’ll have to talk to Ryder about it, though. I don’t want things between us to be

unclear.

Besides, Tyler is nice. Why can’t I have friends? Am I not allowed to?

As I’m heading toward my first class of the day-History-someone grabs my arm. My heart drops when I realize it’s Ryder.

I look around wildly to make sure nobody’s looking at us, and then allow him to drag me through the hallway.

My heart’s pounding against my chest. Thankfully, there isn’t anyone around. Honestly, it feels like a miracle.

He drags me inside a janitor’s closet, and we face each other in the dark.

“Ryder!” I exclaim. “That was risky! How can you-”

“What did Hawke want from you?”

I tuck a lock of my hair behind my ear. “He just…wanted to talk.”

“About what?”

I’ve never heard him sound this way around me before. Now, I’ reluctant to talk about the invitation or there could be trouble and I don’t want that. “He just wanted to see how I was doing.”

“What was he doing at your table last night?”

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Chapter 75

“He just wanted to say hi.”

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Ryder inhales sharply through his nose and places his hand on the wall right close to my head. He hangs his head and says. nothing for a few seconds, then claims, “I hate the thought of him anywhere near you.”

“Why? He’s a-”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” he hisses. “He’s not a nice guy. He’s interested in you.”

“Does that make him a bad person?”

I can tell by the way he’s breathing that this situation is making him really mad, but what can I do about it? In any case, I’ll have to find another time to tell him about Tyler’s invitation. It’s either that, or I don’t tell him at all. Or I don’t go at all. I don’t know anymore.

“If you do this again, we’ll get caught,” I tell him. “It was risky.”

“You know what? Maybe I’m starting to care less and less about that.”

My eyes bulge. “Really? And what will you do, then?”

“I don’t know. I can’t live without you anymore.” He brushes his knuckles against my face and memories of last night race through my mind and they make me blush. “I think about you might and day.”

“Me, too,” I admit.

His eyes search mine feverishly before he presses his lips against mine hard enough to bruise mine, and he kisses me for so long that by the time I make it to our History class, I’m pretty sure I’ll get a warning from Professor Denver.

But he doesn’t even look at me. He just continues with his lesson like he didn’t even see me.

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09:57 Mon, Mar 2