I Love You More Than I'm Afraid (Our Forevers #2) by Rebel Hart (the first e reader .txt) 📕

of the day rolled around, and Aria was standing with Tristan and Arden at Tristan’s locker. I approached, wanting to talk to Tristan above anything else, but as soon as I approached, Aria seemed to be hit with a beat of memory.

“Oh, right, Arden.” She turned to her. “Can I have your location?”

Arden furrowed her brow. “What? No.”

The way she said it, sharply and with utter disgust, it was hard not to smile. Aria probably wasn’t used to being told no, not with how angelic she was. I kept my eyes on her, waiting for the inevitable fight that was probably going to occur, but then Aria nodded and rolled her eyes.

“Fine.” Then she turned to Tristan. “No practice for you guys tonight, right? Let’s get dinner tonight.”

Tristan nodded with a bright smile on his face. “Yeah, okay.”

My jaw dropped. Just like that? She wasn’t going to argue with Arden about it, just take no for an answer and move on? Was she at least going to be annoyed with Arden for saying no?

As if to answer my question, Aria turned and looked at Arden with a fierce stare. “I better not hear that you’re at some crazy place.”

Arden chuckled, wrapping her arm around Aria’s shoulders. “I’m headed straight home. I promise.” Then she tilted her head. “Is that why you wanted my location?”

Aria looped her arms around Arden and hugged her close. Their faces were so close to one another and they were glowing. If anyone else viewed it from the outside, they’d be certain it was romantic. “Duh. You’ve proven you can’t be trusted to be out of my eyeline for a second. I swear you’re like a child. Do I need to get you one of those damn leash backpacks?”

Arden let out a loud, joyous laughter that made my stomach flip over. “You might have to.” Then she pulled her phone out of her back pocket. “Fine. You can have it, but I get yours too.”

I had to fight back the urge to scream. All Aria had to do was snuggle up to her and she got what she wanted? I watched as they exchanged locations, including the painfully adorable interaction where Aria picked out the color and nickname for her pin on Arden’s phone.

I grabbed Tristan’s arm and pulled him back from them, so they were just out of earshot, not that they were paying even the slightest bit of attention to us. “Are you okay with that?”

“With what?” he said. “Aria sharing her location? I’m fine with it. Just another person looking out for her.”

“No not that,” I said, looking over at them hovering mere centimeters from one another laughing and smiling. If their background were pink, they’d look like a romance novel cover. “All the snuggling and closeness. Arden’s gay, you know?”

“Yeah, but Aria isn’t,” Tristan replied simply. “Besides, Aria’s an affectionate person. Asking her not to be intimate with someone she cares about is like asking her not to breathe air. I know it’s not romantic, so I’m cool with it.”

Arden looped an arm around Aria’s neck and pulled her close, kissing her on the forehead. “It gets on my nerves how incredible you are,” she barked.

Aria welcomed the embrace. “I feel like I have to be to match how amazing you are.”

I held back a gag, but Tristan was all smiles. He really didn’t seem concerned about that, but how could that be? I didn’t care for Aria’s confidence and boldness. It came too easy to her to be genuine.

In fact, I didn’t care for Aria much at all.

9

Arden

Exactly as I told Aria I would, I went straight home after school. I’d driven us to school since I needed to get my car from her house back to my house. Since Tristan didn’t have practice, she was able to leave with him. I had a couple of homework assignments for the day, so my plan was to just lock myself in my room, take a nap, and then work through the night.

But my mysterious absence from the night prior had been more of an issue than I anticipated.

“How nice of you to come home,” my father started in immediately as I walked through the door. “I mean, for all we knew, you could have been dead in a ditch, or locked in some creep’s basement. You don’t think it worries us when you just don’t come home.”

“Honestly?” I said, making my way further and further into the house as we argued.“No. I don’t think it worries you when I don’t come home.” Then I held up my finger. “Well, no, that’s not true. I think it worries you, but I know it’s not because you’re afraid I’m dead. It’s because you’re afraid I’m out being ultra gay and someone’s gonna see.”

My father’s face turned beat red. “Your attitude is totally unacceptable, young lady. I am your father and you cannot talk to me that way.”

“Is that your really roundabout way of saying I’m right?” I asked.

“Arden?” Willow asked. I looked over my shoulder, and Willow and Whitney were standing at the bottom of the stairs. My mom was holding onto them like I was a madman with a gun instead of her daughter, but Willow just looked heartbroken. “I was so worried when you didn’t come home last night.”

My eyes drifted up to my mother. Willow and Whitney knew that I occasionally spent my time out with Aria or other places because things were so hard for me at home. They both had my number and could easily have contacted me if they were truly concerned.

That wasn’t why Willow was saying something.

“Really?” I said to my mother. “You’re using them to make me feel bad?”

She bristled at the accusation. “I did nothing of the sort.”

“I’m not stupid,” I spat back. “If Willow or Whitney was worried about where I was, they would have called me. They knew I was probably with Aria and safe. The only reason she’s saying that