Reece

After Aiden left I was not only still trying to deal with what was happening to Lacey but I was confused about why I was starting to look at Aiden in a different way. Was I getting confused? He was being a supportive friend and nothing else. What was wrong with me? Not only was I dealing with the fear for my friend I was filled with disgust over how I was starting to look at Aiden differently. Was it because he was supporting me through a difficult stage? Max had tried to be understanding but he would never understand the way Aiden did.

When I sat down on my bed and looked at my phone I decided to call Lacey and check on her. I didn’t want her to be going through such a difficult time without having me to lean on. I was her friend through thick and thin even when I was struggling to keep it together myself.

"Hi," she answered. She sounded sad.

"Hey you," I said, trying to sound more upbeat than I felt. "Why have you been avoiding my calls?"

She paused and it made my nervousness spike.

“Can you come over?" she asked and it confirmed there was something not right. My hand shook slightly as I held my phone against my ear.

"Sure," I answered, trying to keep my voice light. No matter what I was feeling I had to keep it together to support her.

I wondered if she wanted to tell me about her delaying her surgery. I was thankful Aiden had already told me it allowed me to process it before I had to face her. It would make it easier to handle it when I saw her.

I was still feeling anxious when I arrived at her house and rung the doorbell.

She opened it and I crossed my arms. “You better have a good explanation for avoiding me,” I told her when she let me in.

She went to the kitchen and I followed behind her.

“Do you want something to drink?" she asked turning to face me.

She looked fragile and sad and my initial anger at her avoiding me began to disappear.

"No," I replied while I studied her. "What's wrong?"

She sighed. It was heavy and emotional.

"I'm delaying the surgery.” I pretended to be surprised.

"Why? Is that what the surgeon said?" I asked trying to ask questions I would have had I not been told prior of her decision. "I thought he'd do the surgery as soon as possible."

She gripped the kitchen counter as she leaned against it.

”I don't want to have the surgery straight away," she explained.

"Why?" I asked, taking a step closer. I just wanted her to be okay. Delaying her surgery would make it more difficult and risky.

"I'm scared I won't make it through the surgery.” I saw a glimpse of her fear, the same fear I had been dealing with. Her eyes watered and reached out to touch her arm. I didn’t want to see her like this. My fear was one thing but seeing hers brought home the reality of her situation.

"The surgeon explained that any delay would impact on my odds of surviving," she added hoarsely.

“I know you're scared but you have to have the surgery," I urged her. I wanted her to be okay and to make it through the surgery. The sooner she had the tumor the better her chances of survival. While I understood her fear, I feared for what would happen if she didn’t do the surgery as soon as possible.

"The odds are against me and I want some time with the people I love. It's not like I'm asking for another six months. All I want is a couple of weeks."

It didn’t sound like a lot to ask for. I hugged her.

"The people who love you want you to have the surgery with the best possible odds. I know you're scared but we are all here for you."

Like Aiden and I had already decided we would be strong for her. She told me about Adonis being unable to accept her decision. I wanted to be mad at him but I also understood why he felt that way. It was a tricky situation to navigate.

Even if I didn’t agree with her decision it didn’t mean I wouldn’t do everything I could to support it. We were sitting on her bed talking about things she wanted to do in the time she would have.

"It isn't about doing a bucket list," she explained with a shrug. I had never been in her shoes so I had no idea what was driving her. "I want to be able to spend more time with my family and friends. It's not like I want to go bungee jumping or anything like that."

"Okay.” I nodded. "If you're going to risk your life for a few more memories, let's make the memories worthwhile."

I would make sure the memories she had were ones she could treasure.

She gave me a questioning look.

"We're going out tonight. We're going to drink and have fun," I told her as I stood up. I put my hand on my hips and dared her to disagree with me.

"Okay," she gave in with a slight nervous smile that made me feel determined to give her a great night out.

"Can we drag Aiden with us?" she asked.

She had no idea Aiden and I had been in touch.

"Sure. It'll be fun.” I shrugged. "He can help me make sure you have a night to remember."

I knew he would do whatever he could to help.

She called Aiden, looking excited for the first time since she had discovered she was sick. It was nice.

"Do you want to invite Max?" she asked when she was done talking to Aiden.

Max. I still hadn’t worked through my own issues with being around him so I shook my head. I didn’t want to make tonight any more complicated than it needed to be. My full attention had to be on my friend, she needed me.

"No just friends tonight. Tonight I want to be able to give you all my attention."

"I don't mind," she said.

"No, it's fine." I could tell she wasn’t entirely convinced but she left the subject alone.

While we got ready to go out it brought back fun memories of getting ready to go out and for the first time I forgot for just a little while that my friend was sick. I even shut out Aiden, not wanting to take a closer look at why I was seeing him a different way. Lacey came first, everything else could be dealt with a later stage.

Lacey was excited and bubbling inside and it was a relief to see her feeling more upbeat despite everything going on.

My stomach fluttered when Aiden arrived. Lacey had hugged him but I had given him a slight inclination of my head as he did the same to me. I felt awkward but Lacey didn’t pick up on it.

"I can't understand why it takes you guys so long to get ready," he moaned when it took us a little while longer to get ready. He leaned agains the door watching us with a frown.

"We have to look good," I explained as I finished putting on some mascara.

"I'm done," Lacey announced.

"Come on you two," Aiden said impatiently checking out his watch. "You're both beautiful."

Finally we were ready to go. I sat in the back and Lacey sat in the passenger side of Aiden’s car. I stared out the window trying to stop myself from looking in Aiden’s direction. It felt wrong to sneak a peek at his side profile as he chatted with Lacey. I put it down to my theory that girls and guys couldn’t just be friends, if they spent enough time together things were just bound to happen.

All I needed was to reinforce my relationship with Max and it would put things back into balance.

When we got the party I led the way leading Lacey by the hand. Aiden followed behind us.

I headed to the kitchen to get some drinks. It would help loosen us up so we could have fun. “Do want to do some shots?" I asked when I saw a bottle of Tequila.

She nodded and I poured the three of a tot each and we downed them. I refilled them again. Lacey was smiling nicely when we moved into the living room to mingle.

There were two drunk girls singing out of tune that Lacey was giggling at. I shook my head at them. They were well on there way already and the party had just started.

We danced and laughed for the next hour. Aiden watched from the sidelines. It felt like the good old times when there wasn’t life threatening things hanging over our heads. Lacey got a few interested looks from a few boys but I knew they were wasting their time. It had only been Adonis for so long I didn’t think it was possible for her to love any other guy. I didn’t doubt that he would come around, it would just take a little time.

Some guy was talking Lacey up when I spotted Adonis enter the house. There was no way this was a coincidence. I put my hand on Lacey arm. “No way.”

Lacey stiffened she spotted him. The tension was visible in her features when Adonis stared across the room at her. He wasn’t alone, Alex was with him. I frowned.

Adonis glared at a guy dancing beside Lacey. Yeah he didn’t like it one bit, he was jealous.

When Alex spotted Lacey he frowned disapprovingly. It got my back up. Just because she was sick didn’t mean she couldn’t still do things. He was being way too protective.

"Alex is not happy to see you here," I murmured under my breath to Lacey when her brother headed our direction.

"What are you doing here?" Alex asked his sister when he reached us.

"I'm here it have fun," Lacey announced defiantly. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to get Gray out of the house," he said looking over his shoulder to his friend who had some girl chatting him up already. The sharks were circling already.

I shot a look at Lacey to see the hurt and had the urge to go over to Adonis and tell him what an asshole he was.

"I'm sorry," Alex said to his sister when he saw the emotion as she watched Adonis. "I didn't know you were going to be here."

"It's okay.“ She shrugged. "It's not like we can avoid each other forever."

She took a big gulp of her drink. Was she trying to numb the pain? Alex returned to his friend.

"So what's your name?" the guy beside her asked.

"Lacey," she replied.

The guy introduced himself with a charming smile and I stepped back to give them some privacy. Aiden joined me.

“This is not going to end well,” he murmured to me.

I shrugged. “Then he shouldn’t have walked away.”

I watch the way Adonis was watching Lacey with the guy that was chatting her up. She turned to look at us and we both gave her the thumbs up. She rolled her eyes at us and I smiled.

She was trying to pretend she didn’t care that there was some girl putting the moves on Adonis on the other but she did. She kept looking over her shoulder at him.

“I’ll distract her,” Aiden said before he approached her and asked her she wanted a refill for her drink. She nodded and gave him her empty cup.

When Aiden returned with her drink she was still keeping a careful eye on Adonis and the girl hanging on his every word.

She drained some of the drink quickly. I wished Adonis hadn’t shown up. He was ruining a night that should have been carefree and fun.

The guy pulled Lacey onto the dance floor and I watched as they started to dance together.

“How long do you think it is going to take before Gray interrupts this?” Aiden asked beside me.

“It won’t take him long,” I said moving my focus to Adonis who was already pushing through the crowd to Lacey.

“And here we go,” Aiden murmured.

“Do you think we should stop it?” I asked wondering if we should be doing something.

“Let them sort it out.”

He was right. They were big enough to sort their own problems out.

While we both watch the confrontation between Adonis and Lacey I couldn’t help sneak a glance at Aiden who was too busy watching to notice he had my attention. I didn’t like how I was looking at him. It was wrong but no matter how much I argued I couldn’t stop myself.

I forced myself to watch the drama unfold before us. Adonis was jealous and making a scene. The poor guy who had been trying to flirt with Lacey was gone. I couldn’t blame him. How was some ordinary guy supposed to compete with a rock star?

They were drawing a crowd. Their voice became more heated and I didn’t like how he was upsetting my friend. For crying out loud she was sick and she had a big surgery looming on the horizon. I’d had enough. I couldn’t stand back and let Adonis do this to her. Enough was enough.

“I can’t stand back and watch anymore,” I said to Aiden before I marched over to them.

"I want to talk to you," I said angrily to Adonis with a glare. "Now in the kitchen."

I strode to the kitchen ignoring the stares we were getting. I didn’t look back to see him follow until I entered the kitchen and turned to face him.

Lacey stayed in the doorway with Aiden.

"You can't do this," I yelled at him pointing a finger in his direction.

"Do what?" he asked, glancing at Lacey. He knew exactly what he was doing.

"Don't play stupid." I approached him and looked up to him refusing to feel intimidated by his height.

"You're either in or you are out," I told him. "You don't get to break up with her and then get all territorial like some caveman."

His expression was unreadable.

"You can't do both. Pick one and stick with it. You don't get to walk away and then pretend she is still yours."

He was like a dog with a bone. He didn’t want it but he didn’t want anyone else to have her. The world didn’t work like that.

I glanced at Lacey to see Aiden pull her closer. I suppressed the pang of jealously I felt. What the hell was going on with me?

Adonis looked between me and Lacey. He was making his choice.

"I'm out," he said and I looked to see the shattered expression on Lacey’s face.

He gave her one last lingering look before he shook his head. Aiden pulled Lacey into a bear hug as Adonis passed them on his way out.

I was still reeling from his decisions. Honestly I never believed he would walk away. Clearly I hadn’t known him as well as I had thought I did.

While Aiden consoled my friend I raked a hand through my hair trying to right my emotions. Maybe I should have left the whole situation alone. Watching Aiden hug her made me feel guilty I had pushed the sensitive situation into something worse. Aiden’s eyes met mine over my friend and I put a hand to my forehead to collect myself.

We left the party after that. There was no coming back from that. The night had been a bust. Lacey sat in the back seat and I sat beside Aiden in the front. I was still so angry with Adonis. How could he have been so cruel to my friend, especially when she had so much on her shoulders? I felt bad that my plan of going out and having fun had only end up in heartache for Lacey.

“I can't believe he did that," I muttered to myself still going through the conversation I’d had with Adonis in the kitchen.

"Some guys just aren't worth it," Aiden added. I shot him a glance.

It wasn’t long before we arrived outside Lacey’s house.

"You going to be okay?" Aiden asked her.

She smiled weakly and nodded her head. I could see straight through her brave exterior.

"I'll walk you," I said getting out the car. I walked her to her front door.

"You okay?" I asked needing to gage whether it was okay to leave her alone or if it would be better for me to stay over. At the moment I was too wound up to be nice understanding Reece especially when it came to the subject of Adonis.

"I'll be fine. I'm just going to take my medication and go to sleep.” She gave me a hug.

I didn’t want to go but I went back to the car and got back into the passenger’s side.

“She okay?” Aiden asked.

“No. She’s not okay.” I answered truthfully. “But only Adonis can fix that.”