ELENAThe bed was cold when I rolled over. And empty. So empty, so cold. My hand patted the mattress for a ridiculous amount of time looking for Aiden. It took a minute, but I finally woke up enough to realize he just wasn’t in bed with me.I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Yawning, I rolled out of bed, grabbed my bag, and removed every inch of yesterday’s makeup from my face. I snag gedsome underwear, denim shorts, and a tank top from my bag, too, and get dressed. The house seemed quiet until I opened the bedroom door. A low murmur of voices traveled up the stairs, and I peeked into Conor’s open door to see if Chloe was inside. When I saw she wasn’t, I made my way down the curving stairs slowly.“I can’t fuckin’ believe it,” Titus growled.“Dollar!” Milka shouted.“Milka, why don’t you go play in the playhouse, baby?” Chloe asked. “Ask Pops for a cookie.”“Pops! Cookie!”“Cookies and house? Okay, Milka,” Diana said. “Pops is still out. Nana give you cookies.”A few moments of silence pass

AIDENAIDENI wished she’d let me go with her. She shouldn’t be going back to Los Angeles alone, especially not when I knew that motherfucker was there.She shouldn’t be fucking leaving me here while she goes to deal with this shit herself. That ain’t how it works. It was painfully damn obvious when her mom called that she didn’t give a shit about Elena—she was too caught up in believing that Martin was some perfect husband-to-be when in reality he wasn’t worth the bird shit on the roof of my dad’s car.And now my girl’s gotta go up there, listen to that crap, and try to walk away without being hit once again.Letting her do it alone was going against every goddamn instinct I possessed. She should be here with me, safe, or I should be there with her, making sure she’s safe. But, damn. The fact she was making me let her go was amazing and showed me who Elena Gilbert really was. Once upon a time, she could barely say boo to a goose without barricading herself into a barbed-wire cage for

I wished more than anything that someone was sitting next to me. That that someone was Chloe. That we were laughing at Joey, drinking wine, eating nachos.Instead I was doing all these things. But I was alone.And it sucked. Big time.I was in a hotel in the middle of the city I called home for twenty-two years, and I had no one here. By now, it would be common knowledge within my parents’ circle that I was fighting Martin on this abuse thing. That I was going against him.Yet my so-called friends hadn’t once tried to contact me.I changed my number, sure, but my Facebook didn’t change, neither did my Twitter, and neither did my email. I haven’t had a single message, which further proved to me that the people I had spent the last few years with are 100 percent superficial.I placed a chili-and-guacamole-loaded nacho into my mouth and grabbed my phone from the nightstand.Where are you? I texted Chloe.On the road to Philadelphia. How are you?Desperate to know when you’ll get there so

“And there’s someone here that can prove it,” I whispered.“What?” she asked.I released her and opened her hotel room door. “Elena, meet Mr. David luke, the lawyer that’s gonna win your case against that motherfucker you call an ex.”Elena brought her hand to her mouth again. “Are you for real?” she whispered, gasping, inhaling intensely. “You got me a freakin’ lawyer?”“Mr. Luke, why don’t you head down to the café and get yourself a coffee? I need a minute with my girlfriend.” My suggestion came out as more of an order, but my lawyer nodded and disappeared.Elena gaped at me and sighed. “Aiden, I can’t,” she argued quietly. “I can’t take your lawyer.”“He ain’t my lawyer,” I corrected her. “He’s yours, darlin’. He’s gonna fight your case. He thinks Martin should eat shit, and so do I. Baby, he’s gonna send that motherfucker down for what he did to you.”Elena gripped my polo shirt. “I can’t afford him. My parents . . . I kind of walked out on them, and they kind of disowned me.”I

AIDENTwo weeks and it was perfect.Two weeks of secret practices, sneaking around, and tensions running high, but it was perfect.“Just sit down.” I laughed, kissing Elena’s forehead and pushing her onto a chair.“But why?”“Can’t you just do it?”“No!” She pouted. “You all have that look. Like something is going on.”Chloe grinned.“Chloe! What’s going on?”Chloe giggled and sat next to her. “Just . . . yeah.”“I don’t like this,” Elena muttered.“Give it a minute,” Chloe replied. We let her in on the secret after she heard us playing it. Or rather she forced her damn way in to the secret.“Ready?” Titus said, sitting at the drums.“Ready,” Bray nodded.“Ready,” Conor stated.“Ready.” I smirked at Elena. She narrowed her eyes as we hit the first notes of the song.She stared at me. I looked back at her, smiling knowingly. Milka swung her legs on the chair next to my girl, her little head bobbing along to the beat.The lyrics fell from my lips, and my gaze stayed pinned on hers. Her