Free Aligned: Volume 2 by Ella Miles

the night if I’m going to have to keep watching him with her. I down the first drink and set it back on a passing tray before I start sipping on the second. I try to pull my eyes from his body, but I can’t. Even as his eyes find mine, I can’t rip mine away. I see his lust grow in his eyes as he looks at me, but it does nothing to me. He’s with her, not me. And as Caroline said, “I’ll only get one night with him.” One night would be more than enough to break my fragile heart. One night already has.  

CHAPTER TEN
Landon

    Could be I’ve fallen for you

    I feel her eyes on me. I’ve felt them on me the entire night. I made a mistake coming here with Caroline. I didn’t even know what I had agreed to when Caroline asked me. If I had, I would have refused her, but Caroline knows how to manipulate any situation to her advantage. She knew I would destroy whatever I had with Alex by coming here with her. I’m an asshole. I dance in the middle of the room with Caroline as we have thousands of times before. I know her body, how she is going to move, how to turn her on, but as I dance with her now, I’ve never regretted my relationship with Caroline so much in my life.  
    The music stops and I dip Caroline right on cue, but my eyes are on Alex. Beautiful Alex in her perfect black dress that looks like it was made for her. Appropriate color for a widow mourning her husband, yet she still glows despite its dull color. I can’t keep my eyes from her. She holds her chin high; her face is a deep red, and I can see her uneven breathing even from here. What scares me most is the cold in her eyes, like stone that is unmovable, unbreakable. She’s put up more walls I’m afraid are going to be impossible to break down.  
    I release Caroline as I move toward Alex. She shakes her head with just the slightest movement. She doesn’t want to draw attention to her. I don’t listen to her, though. I keep moving toward her as her scowl turns into a fake smile as the crowd’s eyes turn from me to her.  
    I reach her and take her smooth hand in mine. I can’t help but smile at the feel of her skin, the electricity running through us. And I know she feels it too despite how hard she tries to keep it at bay. It’s there, running through her body just as easily as it runs through mine.  
    “May I have this dance?”  
    She nods; her fake smile still covers her face as the crowd looks at us. They ooh and aww as I walk hand in hand with Alex to the center of the dance floor. The crowd thinks I’m trying to cheer up the widow by letting her dance with the famous rock star. That it is out of charity, not out of longing. A slow, haunting song starts, and I take her in my arms as we float across the dance floor.  
    Our movements aren’t as perfect as Caroline’s and mine were. I have to move slower to help her maintain her balance in the heels that I’m awed at her wearing with her prosthetic leg. Her body feels perfect in my arms as if her body was made to align with mine. She’s the missing puzzle piece from my body this whole time. I don’t know how I’m ever going to let her go when the song ends. How am I ever going to let her go again?  
    “I’m sorry,” I say into her hair.
    She glances around the room, the same fake smile still plastered on her lips. “Fuck you, Landon,” she hisses between clenched teeth so that only I can hear.  
    I take a deep breath before trying again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know this ball was for Ethan. I had no idea what I agreed to when Caroline asked me here. I just thought it was like any other event we occasionally attend together. It would be boring as hell, we’d make an appearance, and then I’d leave after fulfilling my duty as her friend.”  
    “It didn’t look like two friends dancing to me.”  
    My jaw clenches. “We are just friends. Nothing more.”  
    “Like you and I are ‘friends’?”  
    “Yes, exactly!” I say. Her face drops the fake smile as