by Mary Martel
I stopped speaking suddenly and swallowed thickly. I shouldn't have told him any of that shit. I needed to learn how to keep my mouth shut and stop with the oversharing.
Rain's anger deflated before my eyes and his face softened.
"She doesn't understand what it means to be a part of a family and a part of a coven just yet," he said in a soft voice. "But she's learning and you're going to need to be patient with her and cut her some slack. From what your Uncle has told me, she watched the person she thought was her mother die and hasn't been the same since. Maybe watching this kid die triggered that memory for her and brought it all back to the surface again. I don't know that she's processed Vivian's death yet and she refuses to talk about her with me now, says it's a betrayal to the mother she doesn't remember to talk about the one who raised her."
Everything he said was true but I didn't know about that last part. "She really won't talk to you about Vivian anymore?" I asked.
When he shook his head I muttered, "That can't be healthy."
"Just cut my girl some slack, okay?"
I nodded. I had no intention of bringing any of that shit I'd just spewed out up to her. It would hurt her feelings and really upset her to know it bothered me that she cried over Chuck dying.
"Do you think I'm an asshole?" I asked Rain.
"No," Rain said in a hushed voice. "I think you're someone who loves his family very much and that family now includes my daughter. I personally like the idea of you being so upset over what happened to her face that you'd be pissed she cried over the death of the person who scarred her for life. Do I want you to take that out on her? Fuck no, she's a confused girl who needs love, not anger. But, if you keep going the way you're going, with everything bottled up tight like you've got it, then you're going to explode and there's no telling who will get hit with that shrapnel. You need to let it out. I don't want that shit raining down on my daughter and her getting cut up in the process."
"I'd never hurt her," I hurried to tell him.
"Don't you think keeping your distance from her isn't already doing that?"
Honestly, I hadn't thought about it that way. I thought maybe I was making things easier for her by not forcing her to see my face at the moment because I didn't want her to have to remember watching another human being die.
Rain gave my shoulder an affectionate squeeze and I didn't yell at him for touching me again. I let it go and we continued on our tour. I shouldn't have been surprised but was when he wasn't appalled by the basement. He didn't even ask where all the blood had come from. I caught the gist of his muttered words as he walked around the room and I hadn't liked what I'd heard. I heard words like interesting and recreate and I tuned him out after that.
After my talk with him today and Quinton the other day, I realized something. I really was an asshole. Pushing my family away, keeping secrets and now avoiding Ariel out of guilt. I was lucky any of them still talked to me and I really needed to make things right with my girl before she gave up on me.
Chapter Twelve
Fuck Yeah
Soft knocking on my door woke me and I came awake with a start. I rolled out of bed and landed heavily on my feet. I stumbled to the side, put my palm in the bed and pushed myself up to standing straight.
"Christ, I'm coming," I grumbled sleepily in a thick voice as another soft knock sounded on the door. I had finally crashed hard and gotten my first real healthy dose of sleep in what felt like weeks. Judging by the way my head pounded I'd either gotten too much sleep or not nearly enough.
I stumbled through the dark room towards the door. Why the hell was someone knocking? They usually just barged right on in because no one in this damn place ever gave a shit about privacy.
I yanked open the door and growled angrily, "Leave me the fuck alone, asshole."
Bright green eyes set inside the face of the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen filled with hurt and tears immediately began to pool at the base of her eyes. Her ash blonde hair had grown down well past her shoulders since I'd first met her and hung loosely around her face. She chewed on her lip nervously, sucking the black ring in her bottom lip into her mouth.
"Shit," I muttered as she lowered the hand she'd had raised to knock on my door. "Sorry, girl. I was asleep and wrongfully assumed you were one of the guys here to bug me. Sorry."
Shit. Yeah, I'd already said I was sorry, I didn't need to repeat it a bunch like an asshole. That would only serve to make her more uncomfortable with me than she clearly already was.
"I'm sorry, Ty." She mumbled quietly in her soft, sweet, feminine voice that I always felt straight in my dick every time she spoke to me. "I shouldn't have bothered you. I don't know what I was thinking coming here, but I'll just... um... leave you to it now, I guess."
She released the ring from her mouth as she played with the hem of her hoodie nervously, tugging it down roughly.
She turned to walk away but before she could get more than a step further away from me I reached out and grabbed ahold of her hand, stopping her.
"Please," I said when she finally looked back at me over her shoulder. "Believe me when I say that wasn't directed at you."
She gave a small, hesitant nod and I took advantage of her hand in mine and gave a gentle tug towards me. She stumbled backwards and crashed into my front. I wrapped my arms around her middle and lifted. She squealed as she placed her hands on my arms and clung to me.
I backed up into my room. Once we were both on the right side of the door, I turned around and, without putting Ariel down, lifted my bare foot and kicked the door shut.
I hustled us over to my bed, turned so my back was facing it and fell backwards. Ariel cried out in either shock or surprise as we fell. I landed on my back with Ariel still wrapped up safely in my arms and on top of me.
I dug my heels into the bed as I pushed my way up towards the headboard. When the back of my head hit my pillow, I rolled over onto my side and released Ariel. She scrambled out of my arms and turned over on to her back with her face turned towards me.
"Give a girl a little warming next time, Ty." She joked as she lightly slapped her hand against my chest.
My lips curled up in the ghost of a smile as I laid my right hand on her stomach and pressed my face into the hair at the top of her head. I inhaled the scent of cinnamon that clung to her hair and usually her skin.
"You smell like Dash," I informed her. "Like cinnamon."
She giggled quietly. "Damien and Julian think it's nice," she told me in confidence. "Neither one of them seemed to know it was Dash's scent. It comes from his shampoo. There's always a bunch of new girly crap showing up in the bathroom at home and I always just assumed it was Damien who bought it and put it in there for me. Either way, it doesn't matter, I can't bring myself to use any of it. Dash's scent is just so familiar to me now, so comforting."
Her cheeks tinted lightly with a blush and I bit my lip hard so I wouldn't smile at her and make her embarrassment any worse.
"I know that's weird," she mumbled. "I really am a freak."
The urge to smile immediately disappeared and I leaned back from her hair and scowled at her.
She frowned when she saw my face and her eyes filled with concern. "Ty, I-"
"Shut up, girl," I whispered fiercely and her mouth immediately snapped shut at my tone. "The last thing you are in this whole fucking world is a freak and I really don't want to ever hear you talking like that about yourself, it pisses me off. There's absolutely nothing wrong with you. You live with Dash now, it would make sense you would find his scent to be so comforting. You associate him with home now and this is the first really safe place you've ever been in before. There is not one thing wrong with that. If I'm being honest, I'm a little jealous of Dash right now because I'd love for you to carry my scent around on you all the time too. It's cute and sweet."
What I didn't tell her was the thought of my scent rubbed all over her skin made my dick even harder than her voice usually did when she said my
name all soft and sweet like. I didn't think she'd appreciate hearing that from me at the moment, or probably ever.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," she mumbled without meeting my eyes. "I do feel safe there and it really does feel like home to me. I didn't think I'd ever get this level of safety and comfort from living somewhere but I've finally given up on waiting for the next bad thing to happen and have just been trying to focus on my magic and being happy. For once in my life, I think it's finally safe to be happy. And I have Rain now, so I've got a whole lot to be happy about."
I noticed she'd said she had Rain to be happy about but hadn’t said fuck all about the rest of us. Except for Dash, of course. It seemed he made her all kinds of happy. The lucky dick.
I slid my hand around her waist to her side and stroked my fingers up and down her ribs. Her breath hitched as her eyes widened and finally made contact with mine. Fucking finally.
"Are you afraid of me now?" I murmured. I couldn't hold it in any longer. I needed to know if things had changed between us because she'd seen me do such a horrible thing even if it was an accident, I'd still showed zero signs of remorse and I had no intention of faking it for her now or in the future.
Her brows furrowed in confusion. "Why would I be afraid of you, Tyson?" She asked in a voice laced with worry. "I feel like you've been avoiding me for the past week and I didn't know why. Which is why I showed up here in the first place. I wanted to know why you were upset with me. I don't know why you'd think I would be afraid of you, though. What are you even talking about?"
I sighed in relief.
"I'm not upset with you, girl," I told her honestly.
"Then, what's your problem?" she demanded to know and I found myself having to bite back yet another grin when it felt like I hadn't had a reason to smile in weeks, maybe even longer. I'm surprised my face didn't crack from lack of having moved in that direction.
"Chucky," I explained my problem with one word. She was a smart girl, she wouldn't need me to explain any further.
"Yeah," she said quietly as she scooted closer to me and didn't stop until her sweet body was pressed up tight against mine. "What went down with Chucky was completely messed up."
Talk about an understatement of the fucking century.
Jesus.
"Yeah, Ariel," I agreed with her. "That was messed up."
Her nostrils flared angrily as she fisted my t-shirt in her hands. She was cute when she was pissed off. In fact, she was always damn cute.
"Are you laughing at me, Tyson?" She asked tersely. "Because if you're laughing at me about this then you're messed up, too, and that's not cool."
"I'm not laughing at you," I rushed to assure her.
"Maybe we shouldn't be talking about this," she muttered, still sounding pissed but moving more towards disgruntled and I knew I needed to set this shit straight before things really went down the shitter for us.
"I was worried you'd see me differently after that night," I shared. "Because it's my fault he's dead. It's my fault you had to see that shit and if you do see me as differently now, well, then that's my fault too. And that doesn't feel all that great."
Her body twitched but she closed her eyes tightly.
"Ty," she breathed out softly. "What the hell's the matter with you? Really, I want to know."
I flinched at her question but couldn't help but feeling amused at hearing the curse word come out of her mouth. Still, to this day, the twins still claimed she rarely swore and if she did swear at you it was because you were a complete asshole and deserved it because only an asshole could make a girl as sweet as Ariel come at you with dirty curse words. They were delusional and the sad thing was they knew it and had no fucking intention of ever changing it or their absurd ways.
"Why do you always take on the blame for everything?" Ariel asked seriously as she pressed her hand into my abs and pushed herself up until she loomed over me.
She didn't give me the chance to answer her, not that I had an answer for her because I had no idea what the hell she was talking about. I didn't take on the blame for everything, only the things that could be laid at my feet.
A small hand came at my face right before Ariel placed the soft palm of her hand against my cheek.
I froze, afraid to move. It was rare when Ariel initiated physical contact and I took it as the precious gift that it was. I didn't want to move because I didn't want to break the spell and make her pull her soft hand away from me.
"If anyone is to blame for what happened that night, Ty, it's that douche bag Chuck. Adrian told me that he wanted to do bad things to me before Quint even messed with him. He was not right in the head. He just kept coming at me, coming at us, over and over again and, despite the weak assurances from the Council that he wouldn't be coming at us ever again, there was no stopping him. He was mentally unstable and obsessed with me. He stabbed Dash and cut open my face, for goodness sakes. I'm glad you stood in between the two of us that awful night because, Ty, I don't think you were paying enough attention at the time to have noticed, but I was absolutely terrified of him and thought he was going to hurt me again. If he had touched me I swear, Ty, I fucking swear, I probably would have passed out from sheer terror. I was huddled against the door, shaking in my boots, and, if I had thought I could have made it, I would have bolted and left you there alone to deal with him. Which would have made me the worst kind of coven member possible and likely made Uncle Quint hate me."
She pressed the pad of her thumb gently into my lower lip when I opened my mouth to combat her words, stopping me from speaking.
"No, Ty," she growled adorably. "I don't want to hear whatever messed up crap that's about to come oozing out of your stupid mouth. I don't want to hear it, and, I'll remind you of what I just said, It's stupid." She shook her head in disgust and did it sadly. "I don't know if you were always like this or if the change in you happened after what that greedy cow did what she did to not only you but Damien and Julian. But I think you're a little bit broken inside, Ty. I didn't see it at first, only having seen your asshole side and your confident attitude. Somehow, I missed this side to you. I see it now and, oddly enough, I don't even dislike it. It makes you seem less perfect, less intimidating and I know it makes me a bad person for feeling that way but I don't even care. Don't take that as me saying I'm going to take advantage of this side to you because I never would do that to you. What I will do, though, is have a care with you when that's not something I even thought to do before."
She stopped pressing on my lip with her thumb to gently swipe it the rest of the way across but she didn't give me a chance to speak and kept right on talking. Not that I had anything to say. My brain was as frozen solid as the rest of my body. Except for my heart, that normally useless organ was beating double time like I'd been running in a fucking marathon.
"I've been selfish for months, Ty." She said shocking me even further and my hands itched with the need to touch her but I kept them where they'd landed when she sat up and that was at my sides.
"So stuck in my own head and focusing on my own pain and miserable existence that I didn't pay enough attention to what was going on with the rest of you. That was my bad, my mistake, and it's on me, all on me, Ty. But I'm in a good place now with everything and my eyes are finally wide open and aimed at something other than my own damned self for a change. I think it's high-"
Finally, my body came unstuck and my brain came back to life. I sat up and passed my elbows into the bed. The move brought me closer to Ariel, right into her personal space. She stopped speaking and her hand dropped away from my face.
"You're not selfish," I told her and, at hearing my words, her lips pinched tightly and she shook her head in the negative.
"I am," she replied immediately.
"You're not," I stressed.
"It took me a couple of days to realize why I'd been so upset and crying when he died. And, do you want to know what I came up with? I cried because I felt guilty. I felt guilty because I was rel
ieved he was dead I was glad another human being was dead because him being dead would make my life a whole lot easier. That's fucking selfish, Tyson. Not to mention it's gross and totally messed up. But, I promise, that's over with now and I'm paying attention now. I'm going-"
My heart burned inside my chest as I snarled, "Shut up," right before turning my head up and slamming my lips against hers. She let out a little sound in surprise before melting into me. Her lips parted hesitantly and I slid my tongue inside, not at all hesitantly.
Her lips moved against mine as I explored her mouth with my tongue. She made a different kind of noise in the back of her throat as she pressed her chest deeper into mine and wrapped her arms around my neck. She clung to me as I deepened the kiss.
I came up off my elbows to wrap my arms around her. One hand moved to her lower back just above the waistline to her pants, I slid my hand inside her hoodie and whatever shirt she had on underneath and pressed my palm flat against her heated bare skin. The other hand went to the back of her neck where it slid up and I tangled my fingers into her hair at the back of her head.
I used my hand in her hair to angle her head slightly to the side so I could deepen the kiss. She moaned sweetly into my mouth and the noise coupled with her tits pressed up against my chest sent a burning wave of heat and raw lust straight down to my dick.
Her arms around my neck loosened so she could get her hands into my long hair at the back of my neck. Her fingers tangled in my long hair much the same as I had my fingers tangled in hers.
