3. “Ruin Me.”

AIDAN NIGHTINGALE.

The sound of the single beep of my phone had put a temporary halt to the words I was going to say to my men and I was going to ignore the text because of the meeting but I couldn’t.

‘Octavia Adler’ The name read and I felt a disturbing quake as I blinked to be sure I’d just gotten a message from her.

‘Come get me. Drunk. Can’t get home alone. Hurt.’ The message was as incomprehensible as the thoughts in my head was but the pin she left of her location made things easier, grabbing my car keys and sprinting out of the room as quickly as I could and driving down to the club.

That particular club is known for the creeps that frequent there and there has been lots of records of sexual assaults there.

What the hell is she doing here and why the fuck is my stupid son not with her?!

With one hand on the steering wheel and the other on my phone, I dialed his cell but he wasn’t picking up no matter how many times I tried to call him.

“Stupid bastard!” I snarled, dropping my phone and stepping on the accelerator as I sped up. Desperate to get to the club before any of the creepy men there found her.

Why am I doing this again? Why am I going after a dream I know would never come true?

I’d thought that the feeling was gone, I mean, it’s been years, I should have forgotten about her but seeing her name pop up on my screen filled me with so much strange excitement that I couldn’t control myself.

‘She’s your son’s girlfriend. Nothing could ever happen between you two.’ I kept repeating to myself as I drove but all of those mantras meant nothing as soon as I stepped into the club.

There she was, Octavia, on the dance floor , swaying her hips so tantalizingly seductively that the men couldn’t keep their hands to themselves.

My fist clenched as my teeth gritted, only one other person had managed to get this kind of reaction out of me, anger, frustration and the ugliest of all, Jealousy and the insane urge to protect her raked me.

I seethed with anger, breathless with rage and with a boiling blood and an intensified rage, unmatched blood thirst and the urge to kill all of them dead, I made my way to the dance floor and grabbed one of them.

“Just who do you think you’re putting hands on?” I gritted, grabbing his fingers and snapping all five of them before letting my fist collide with his face so hard that even I could hear his nose breaking.

Never for once did I ever think I was going to lose control over another woman, a younger woman and worse, a woman my son was interested in.

I hated seeing another man’s hands on her and there are times I’ve wished I could cut my own son’s hands off but I had learned to live with it.

She could never be interested in an old man like myself, a man old enough to be her father and not just that, I’m her boyfriend’s father.

All I could see was blood as I dealt with every single man that had the nerve to touch her, rock her or even stare at her.

Fuck, how did I let this happen?

I’d kept myself busy so that I wouldn’t have to see her act all lovey dovey with my son. I stayed away because I couldn’t bear the thought of them ending up together and now she’s saying that my son cheated on her?

“He’s not my son,” I growled, quick to disown Eren, fury wouldn’t stop surging through me as my fist clenched and I simmered with anger.

“No man in his right state of mind, let alone my own son, would ever cheat on you.” I finished, my voice lower than I intended for it to be.

“But he did, all right!” She snapped, her eyes were both bloodshot and angry, both riling me up and fueling my anger even more.

“I caught your son fucking my best friend’s face in his office and he didn’t even apologize,” she laughed, her pain obvious in the sound of her laughter, “oh, do you know what they said?” She added.

I swallowed, the more hurt I saw in her eyes, the angrier I felt. I was boiling with anger and my frustration wouldn’t stop kicking me in the nuts as rage twisted inside of me and all I could think of was finding him and teaching him a lesson.

How could he? How could he hurt her?

“They said it was all a bet, I mean, he never loved me, she was never my best friend, I can’t believe I was so stupid.” She ended up crying, tears trickling down her cheeks.

“I thought that— he— he— lo—” Her voice trailed off as she looked up at me with teary eyes and I felt something sharp twist in my chest, “I thought he loved me.” She finally completed her sentence.

“He always told me he did, it was a lie and I was a fool to have believed him,” she went on, letting it all out both with her words and tears and I felt immobilized by my own rage that I couldn’t comfort her.

“I’m sorry, Octavia.” I managed to say because that was all I could say, it was all I could think of but she only laughed, smiling at me bitterly.

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault,” she sniffled as she wiped her tears, recovering from her pain, “it’s okay because as of right now, I’m a free single woman, although it hurts to be broken up with on my birthday.” She laughed.

“I mean, I’ll heal and move on from him just like that.” She snapped her fingers as she smiled, revealing a perfect set of white teeth.

Anger twisted in me but then again, there was another part of me that was elated. If Octavia is single now then maybe I can give it a shot.

The matebond pulling me to her is unbearable too and for years I’ve tried really hard not to act on it but maybe— maybe it wouldn’t be such a horrible thing to act on it now.

That aside, for now, I have to get her out of here, “I’m taking you home, let’s go.” I pulled her but she wouldn’t budge as she pouted at me.

“I’m still having fun,” she said, “see, these men want to dance with me and I—”

“If dancing around hungry men will get you to forget about my jerk of a son then you can just dance around me!” I cut in before she could finish.

Did I just indirectly call myself a hungry man?

“But what I’m not going to do is stand around and let these men get close to you.” I finished and with that, I picked her up, threw her on my shoulder and walked off.

“Wa— what do you think you’re doing?! LET ME GO?!” She yelled and thrashed but I didn’t stop until I got to the car and after safely tucking her in, she became surprisingly calm.

The drive home was unbelievably silent until she broke it, “why did you come for me?” She asked without looking at me.

“Because you asked me to.” My response was short as I kept my gaze fixed on the road and my grip tightened around the steering wheel as the car fell silent again.

“You can feel it too, can’t you?” She asked and I stiffened as I thinned my lips, my wolf was going crazy and it was taking all that I had in me to keep it at bay.

Ignoring her question, I sped up and focused only on getting home. After a few minutes of driving, I pulled into my mansion and parked the car properly as I got out.

“Come here, I’ll help you,” I told her as I undid the seat belt and helped her out of the car, “let's get you hydrated and get that alcohol out of your system.” I added, holding her close and urging her to move but she didn’t.

“Let go of me!” She said firmly, pushing me away from her and I rolled my eyes at the realization that she was about to throw another tantrum.

“Don’t be like that,” I sighed, “let go inside and—”

“YOUR SON JUST BROKE MY HEART!” She snapped and I could feel my own patience thinning as she yelled and hurled insults at me.

“YOU SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE!” She continued as my wolf reared its head, “YOU SHOULD DO SOMETHING!”

“WHAT CAN I POSSIBLY DO?!” I yelled back at her, immediately regretting it but maintaining composure as I stared into her eyes.

“I WANT REVENGE! I WANT YOU TO FUCK ME.” She yelled and almost seemed surprised that she had said that herself.

“You don’t mean it, you possibly don’t want to use me as some sort of—”

“What? Are you scared you’re going to fall in love with me, your son’s ex-girlfriend after a one night stand?” She was awfully bold, thanks to the alcohol and I couldn’t help but smile.

That’s not what I’m scared of, I’ve been in love with her longer than I can remember.

“No,” I replied, closing the gap between us as I placed two fingers underneath her chin and lifted her face so she was looking directly at me.

“I’m not afraid of anything,” I replied, “I’m worried I won’t let it stop with just a one night stand.” My voice was rough, it was taking every ounce of willpower I had in me to not kiss her.

Leaning closer and lower, I ran my nose across the ivory skin of her neck, my wolf was going crazy, ready to mark her, to make her mine.

“Jasmine, Orange blossom,” I murmured, closing my eyes and taking in her scent, “Goddess, you smell so pure, untainted, I can’t even smell my son on you.” I opened my eyes and looked directly into her alcohol dilated ones, wanting to see her reaction as my lips parted, “You’re a virgin.”

Her eyes widened a little, her lips trembling as my gaze bore into her wide, terrified eyes.

I was right. Eren hadn’t touched her or she hadn’t let him.

“Not only are you so pure, you’re innocent,” I pulled away from her, “I’ll ruin you, Octavia.” I finished and was taken aback when she responded.

“Do it. Ruin Me.”