(Fr)Enemies

Chapter Seventeen

Not even lying, this chapter took four weeks to write. I can't do male POV.

💀Aiden Vincent💀

When Grace walked away with Kayleigh, laughing about some joke I didn't hear, I turned my attention to Adams.

"What the hell was that?" I hissed punching him in the arm.

He didn't even flinch as he watched Grace walk away. "That's Grace? Your Grace? For Fuck's sake, Aiden."

I knew it had been a mistake to tell him about her all those years ago. But I had been drunk for the first time and he had been the only other person at the track. Plus I hadn't know him back then and I needed to talk to someone. Grace had just broken my heart and I was a fucking mess.

But I knew I would regret it.

"I see why you got your heart broken. I would let that girl break my neck." Adams was saying and I rolled my eyes. As foggy as my mind was, I knew he wasn't being disrespectful. Adams was a good guy.

"Don't you think you made it a bit obvious that I talked to you about her?" I wasn't really worried about it. Grace was drunk and her mind probably didn't catch on to the fact that Adams said her name like he knew her. That he'd hugged her. But I still didn't like it.

He shrugged. "Someone's gotta push you kids in the right direction. You two finally getting along."

I rolled my eyes. he said it like he'd known us all his life. He didn't even really know me besides the conversations we'd have at the track. ''We're friends." I said sounding stupid even to myself.

The truth was Grace and I would never be friends again. Not the way we had been years ago. Some stuff you couldn't put back, no matter how hard you tried and to be honest I didn't even know if I wanted things back the way they were.

I didn't see Grace the same way I had when I had been fourteen years old, I couldn't. Even way back then I had started to see her as more than a friend.

Now, It was too late. Grace had changed and I knew it. I had changed and Grace didn't even know the half of it. The innocent story of Grace and Aiden was going to end in disappointment and I had to be okay with that if I wanted to have even a pretense of a friendship with her.

And I wanted to at least try. Because Grace looked like she could use a friend. And because her just standing next to me settled shit in my mind that I didn't even know had been going haywire.

"Sure. Whatever you say bro." Adams was saying, sounding like an asshole. "Still." He said when I didn't give him the reaction he was looking for. "I'm happy that you guys are 'friends."

Using all of my patience, I ignored his implied quotations on the word friends and turned when I heard my name being called.

"Aiden, get your drunk ass over here and help!" Kayleigh was yelling waving her arms around in the air and looking like a fucking idiot.

When I looked past her, I saw Grace on the floor, her head resting in Emmett's lap. There was a small crowd surrounding her and I felt my stomach drop.

What the fuck...

I ran to where they were at, pushing people out of my way to get to her. By the time I got there she was up, her face pale as she sat on the ground. Emmett was crouched down next to her, some expression on his face that I couldn't place and I didn't spend to much time worrying about. My eyes locked on hers.

"What the hell happened?" I asked my voice sounding angry. I was mad. I just didn't know who exactly I was mad at at the moment.

To my surprise, she turned to Emmett, and her expression made me want to kill my friend where he stood. She looked terrified. She looked so scared that I actually looked at him, expecting him to be holding a gun to her or something. When I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on, I asked again.

"What the hell happened?" This time I directed my question at Emmett, who was suspiciously calm.

"I think she passed out. She must have drank to much..."

I shook my head. I had been with Grace for the whole night. She hadn't drank enough to pass out. Then again, I didn't know her tolerance. Maybe she was a lightweight.

"Just got a little dizzy." Grace said not meeting my eyes. I assumed she was embarrassed.

"Come on." I mumbled reaching a hand out and yanking her to her feet.

She didn't stumble at all as she got up and that made me doubt the whole 'had too much to drink' theory. I made a mental note to make sure she got some water just in case she had been dehydrated.

Once she was settled beside me, I let go of her wrist. But not before I noticed the way her pulse was racing.

"Alright people, move along. Nothing to see here." Darian was saying, fanning the crowd away. "Come on guys. I know I'm pretty but I'm also shy."

I was ready to go home. I was worried about Grace and I had a bunch of feelings that I needed to sort through. I couldn't do that at a race track.

"Hey, wait!" Emmett was saying as I led grace away from the crowd and towards the car. "You dropped your phone."

Grace froze as Emmett walked up to us, her phone in his hands.

When she didn't reach for it, I clenched my teeth. I wasn't stupid. She was acting weird, he was acting weird. Something obviously had happened.

Since Grace wasn't making any attempt to grab her phone, I snatched it out of his hand, handing it to her.

"Am I missing something?" I asked Emmett this time. His cocky smirk made me want to knock his teeth out and I literally felt Grace shiver next to me.

"Just being a gentleman." He replied placing his hands up in surrender.

Since this was the third time today that I wanted to beat the shit out of him, I decided we needed to have a talk. Because Emmet was a friend but if we kept going on this way I was going to end up beating the shit out of him.

"Darian, you want to take the girls to the car? I want to speak with Emmett."

He looked from me to Emmett before shaking his head. "If you guys fight, are you going to share custody of me?"

Emmett raised a brow, but he didn't look concerned. "Are we fighting?" he asked with a smile.

"We're talking." I responded. "Darian." I said.

He took the hint, throwing an arm around Grace and Kayleigh and going to find the other girls.

When we were alone I narrowed my eyes. "Are we going to have a problem Emmett?" I asked, my voice low. I didn't need anyone overhearing me and starting some dumb ass rumor. Winterbrook was small.

"Doubt it." Emmett said. "I got your text, Grace is off limits. Didn't know it meant I couldn't help her if she was literally unconscious on the floor."

"That all you did?" I asked watching his reaction. I didn't like that Grace looked terrified of him. I wanted to know if he did something to her.

"That and handing her back her phone that she dropped. I'm not into girls that aren't into me Vincent so chill out."

I was ready to let it go for now until he opened his mouth again.

"Damn. I'm starting to think you're dipping your dick in your houseguest man."

I grabbed him by the collar, yanking him up. Since I was a few inches taller than him, he had to stand on his toes. "Watch your fucking mouth." I growled.

This was why Emmett and I weren't as close as Darian and I. He was an okay guy, but he had a blatant disrespect for women and he talked about them in such a crude way that it got on my nerves. I had a fucking sister and a niece. I had Grace. That shit didn't sit right with me.

"Calm your shit, Aiden." Emmett was saying, no expression on his face. "I'm not after Grace. You need to chill."

"You need to listen to me." I said, roughly pushing him away from me before I gave in and punched him in the face. "If I find out you had anything to do with this, if Grace tells me you did anything to make her feel uncomfortable, I'm going to kill you."

Emmett laughed. "really, Aiden? Murder?"

I shot him one last look before I made my way to the car. I wasn't fucking bluffing.