by Mary Martel
Boy, did he have a lot to learn when it came to me.
“Right now, at Mr. Cole’s house,” I told him, “my closet is pretty much an empty space with a few things hanging up and a couple laundry baskets. I couldn’t fit more than one laundry basket in the closet in here if I tried. I love it. Wasted space is stupid. My coffin closet kicks ass.”
He grinned, and asked, “Did you really throw a rock a Quinton’s head?”
“Get out,” I ordered as I pointed towards the door. We absolutely were not talking about Quinton and that fucking rock. Good grief. That stupid story was going to follow me to my grave
Dash held up his hands in defeat. “Alright, alright. No mare laughing at your expense. You’re going to let it go. You hijacked my cat, it’s the least you could do. Get dressed and meet me down in the kitchen.”
He walked out of the bedroom without bothering to look back.
I still had his cat in bed with me. I’d call that a win. Oh, and he was making me coffee.
This day was already off to a good start.
Chapter Thirty
Dash wasn’t upstairs, and he wasn’t in the kitchen. I moved through the dining room, then the living room, not finding him. I was about to call out his name when I came to the mud room and stopped, snapping my mouth shut.
What was going on?
Dash stood in the open door with his back to me. He moved out of the open doorway and stepped further outside, completely leaving the safety of his house.
Who was he talking to?
“She’s not here, buddy,” I heard Dash say. “Maybe you should check at her house.”
“She’s here,” I heard Chucky’s angry rumble in response. “Her car is here, and I know she showed up here yesterday and hasn’t left since.”
What?
What the hell was Chucky doing here?
And, how had he found me here at Dash’s house? First, he showed up at Mr. Cole’s house. Now, he was here at Dash’s house.
What in the actual fuck? He must have followed me. That wasn’t creepy or anything.
I moved closer to the open door, unable to stop myself.
“Listen, buddy,” Dash said, “you need to get off of my property. Otherwise, I am going to call the police on you.”
That didn’t sound like a bad idea to me. This stalker business was getting old and it had only just begun.
“What the fuck?” Dash growled angrily. “Did you follow her from her house and then sit out here all night at my house watching for her? That’s sick. You’re not right in the head, buddy, and you need to get your ass off of my property.”
Slowly, I walked towards the front door. This was my mess and I didn’t think Dash should have to deal with it on his own.
“I’m not leaving until I see Ariel for myself.”
I pulled the door open wider and stood behind Dash. His scars were on display today and I hoped he didn’t turn around because I didn’t want Chucky to see them and say something nasty to Dash about them. That would be something he would do.
“I’m right here,” I said, and Dash’s body jerked in surprise. “Now that you’ve seen me, it’s time for you to leave. Dash has asked you to go twice now that I’ve heard, and I think you should listen to him before he’s forced to call the police on you.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Chucky snarled as he leaned around Dash to see me. Dash moved, trying to block his view of me. “But you sure as hell have. You and that other guy lied to me. You said you were coming back to school and you never did. I told you that I need to see you and that something happens to me when I go a long time without being around you. I can’t help myself. How do you not care about that? How could you do this to me? All I want is to be around you. What’s so wrong with that?”
Everything was wrong with that. Absolutely everything. I didn’t care what Quinton said about there not being an antidote to his love potion. I would talk to all of them and they were going to come up with something because this was so out of control it wasn’t even funny. I couldn’t handle having Chucky show up where ever I was at. I couldn’t handle having him stalk me like that. It wasn’t just creepy, it was just a touch on the scary side. And I really didn’t need anything creepy and scary in my life at the moment, or ever for that matter.
Dash took a step back, trying to shield me from Chucky’s view. I wasn’t sure why he didn’t want the other man to see me, but he kept shifting around to hide me from him.
“Get it the house and close the door, Ariel,” Dash ordered. “Lock it. Quinton should be here any minute now and we’ll take care of this. I don’t want you out here with this guy, though. Get inside. Now.”
I hesitated, not wanting to leave Dash out here all alone with an angry Chucky.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Chucky screamed in Dash’s face. “What, are you fucking her too now?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked in a shocked voice.
Chucky’s head swiveled to the side and he glared at me with hostile eyes. I flinched at the rage I saw burning in his eyes. I didn’t deserve this kind of treatment from him.
“You need to leave,” I told him. I was proud of myself because my voice came out strong, confident.
“Ariel,” Dash snapped. “Get your ass in the house. Right now.”
“First you’re hooking up with Tyson. Then, that other guy who said he was Tyson’s Uncle. And now you’re with this ginger fuck. People were right about you, you are dirty girl, like your gold digging whore of a mother.”
Apparently, Dash had had more than enough of Chucky’s mouth and he was over the whole situation because one second he was standing guard in front of me and the next second he put his hands on Chucky’s chest and gave a mighty shove. Chucky stumbled back but didn’t go down and Dash moved right back into him.
I let out a relieved sigh when I spotted Quinton’s black car speeding down the dirt driveway.
“What?” Dash grunted.
I quickly looked away from Quinton’s car and back to Dash. His voice scared me because he sounded both surprised and in pain.
My breath caught in my throat and my entire body froze for a second because I rushed forward.
Dash’s hands were pressed to his stomach red covered his hands. He was bleeding. Why was he bleeding.
Silver flashed in the sunlight as Chucky moved closer to Dash, plunging a silver knife into Dash’s stomach.
“No,” I screamed as I ran towards them.
I made it to Dash’s side as his legs gave out and his knees buckled.
I grabbed ahold of his arm as his knees hit the stone pathway.
“Dash,” I cried.
His face was pinched in pain and his eyes were closed tight. I looked down and what I saw made my entire body start to shake and a sob leave my throat. Blood. There was so much blood seeping out of him.
“Ariel,” Quinton screamed, and I heard the sound of running feet but I didn’t look away from Dash.
Quinton was here. My light in the dark. Everything was going to be okay.
My head was jerked to the side as pain exploded in my face and my cheek felt like it had been ripped open.
My feet came out from underneath me and I crashed into Dash, taking us both down to the stone pathway. I landed hard on my side and Dash hit his back. My cheek burned, and I didn’t care. I only had eyes for Dash and all the blood coming out of him. I hovered over him in shock as wetness ran down my face, blood and tears. I sat beside him in silence as Quinton pressed something into my face and I didn’t even flinch. I didn’t feel anything anymore, I was numb inside. I sat there in numb silence and watched his chest rise and fall until the paramedics showed up and they took him away from me. After that, I blacked out.
Chapter Thirty-One
Quinton Alexander
I stared down at my hands in my lap and willed them to stop shaking. It didn’t work, and I hadn’t really expected it to.
I should really get up and go back
inside. I should have gone inside over an hour ago and the others were probably worried about me. It was shitty of me because they really didn’t need anything else to worry about. Dash had made it through surgery and he would make a full recovery, he had to. Ariel was going to be physically fine. She had to have stiches and would have a scar for the rest of her life. I knew it was stupid, but that was the part I struggled with the most. They were both going to be wearing scars for the rest of their lives as a constant reminder of my major fuck up.
And, I had fucked up. I had caused this to happen to them.
If I had just left that fucking kid alone, if I had never put that goddamn potion together to make him fall in love with Ariel, none of this would have happened.
Instead, here we were, at the fucking hospital. And it was all my fault.
The wooden bench I was seated on shifted under the weight of someone as they sat down on it.
I didn’t have to look to know who it was. He would always follow me and had been since we were little boys. I could walk into hell and he’d be right behind me, taking my back and ready to fight off anything that came at me.
I sighed and dropped my head into my hands.
“She’s gonna have a scar,” I muttered angrily. “Because of me, she’s gonna have a scar. Every time she looks in the mirror, she’s going to be reminded of what happened to her because of me. Fuck. I’m supposed to keep her safe, it’s my job. And, Dash? Holy fuck. His entire back was already covered. Now, he’s got some on his front, too. How the fuck am I supposed to even face him? I made him swear to me that he would take care of her while she stayed with him. I made him swear it to me. Do you think that’s why he-”
“Stop it, Quinton,” Julian whispered fiercely as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “You couldn’t have known this was going to happen when you messed with that kid. If you hadn’t done something to him, I probably would have. Hell, Abel and Addison were all for following him home from school and putting a beat down on him. He would have ended up in the hospital had they followed through with that plan. You don’t think he would have come back for revenge afterwards, or used Ariel to try and get back at them? Tyson’s been wallowing in his own guilt and misery since the first day of school. It was only a matter of time before he snapped and did something awful to him. Seriously, Quint, even Damien has this kid’s address saved in his phone. He told me that he’s been driving past his house every day. I do not know what that’s about, or what he planned on doing. I just know that he planned on doing something, and whatever it was he planned, it was probably going to be huge. You and I both know he doesn’t do things in halves. He goes big in everything he does. I can’t even imagine… And this kid, from everything that I’ve heard of him, he would have come back with something. It might not have been this extreme, but something was bound to happen.”
Julian trailed off, likely thinking about all the chaos Damien could have caused. If Damien was going to do something, he’d go out of his way to make sure it was big enough to place him in the spotlight. It was annoying as fuck.
“And, I’ve been thinking about what it’s going to take to keep the scarring to a minimal. I don’t think I’m going to be able to get rid of all of it, but I’m sure as hell going to try.”
If anyone of us could do it, it was Julian. He spent a lot of his free time working with plants and creating new potions. He had to have hundreds of jars and vials full of things he’d created. Despite the fact that none of it was labeled, he seemed to know what was in every single jar. If he told me he’d find a way to get rid of as much of the scarring as he could, then I had to believe him.
“At least there’s that,” I muttered under my breath.
“Nobody blames you.”
I closed my eyes in an attempt to hide from his words.
He was dead wrong.
Oh, I knew neither Dash or Ariel would blame me for what happened to them. None of the guys would blame me. But, I did. I blamed myself because I knew it was my fault. I would likely carry guilt over this until the day I died. Julian could talk all he wanted about what the others had wanted to do and how it might have eventually backfired on us all and maybe he was even right. Didn’t really matter though because that’s not how it happened.
All I had wanted was to keep our girl safe. It never occurred to me that a person would harm someone like that when they were in love with them. Stupid, stupid. I knew better. People in love do all kinds of fucked up things. Why hadn’t I remembered that? I should have remembered.
“Quint,” Julian said as he squeezed my shoulder.
I shrugged his arm off and stood. My fists were clenched into tight balls at my sides. I wanted to hit something. This burning in my gut was just waiting to explode.
I wondered if Julian would take offense if I punched him in the face. Maybe I would get lucky and he’d hit me back. I could go for some extreme violence in my life right about now. Just so long as I was the one causing it.
“Hey,” Tyson called out from behind me.
I didn’t acknowledge that I’d heard him. He needed to get away from me before I entertained the idea of punching him in the face as well. I couldn’t hit my nephew, no matter how much I wanted to sometimes.
“You should go back inside,” Julian advised Tyson wisely.
I couldn’t agree more. The less people around me, the better. I didn’t want witnesses for my potential explosion when it came on.
Tyson ignored Julian’s advice and said two little words that made the fist around my chest loosen.
“He’s awake.”
I sighed in relief, the fight immediately going out of me.
I had known Dash was going to wake up, like I knew he was going to make a full recovery.
I knew it.
But hearing Tyson say that Dash had woken up, hearing it out loud, outside of my head, made me breathe a whole lot easier.
Dash was awake, and Ariel was going to be alright.
Everything would be okay.
Chapter Thirty-Two
I slumped back in the chair, exhausted. My cheek felt tight, nothing hurt but it felt like my skin was stretched. There were twelve stitches in my cheek and I was going to have one wicked scar when all was said and done. I could live with a scar, just so long as Dash was okay. That was all I cared about.
I had been sitting in this chair in his hospital room for over an hour now, waiting for him to wake up. Quinton had tried to get me to go home but I had refused. Which home would I have gone too? The half empty one filled with moving boxes? Or, the one with blood all over the walkway? When I’d asked Quinton, he’d snapped his mouth shut and stormed off in an angry huff. I knew he hadn’t been angry at me, it was the situation he was upset with, and I couldn’t blame him for that, either. I imagined he was not feeling very good about himself at the moment. He’d been downright hostile to everyone since I’d woken up. And, when I insisted on sitting in here with Dash, he looked like he was going to explode and that’s when he’d told me I needed to go home.
I could only imagine how guilty Quinton felt about everything. If he hadn’t forced the love potion on Chucky, none of this would have happened. Then again, Quinton didn’t freak out and stab Dash in the stomach multiple times and he hadn’t been the one to slice open my cheek with a knife. I didn’t blame Quinton for anything. In fact, when I saw him next, I was going to give him a hug. He could use one.
Movement on the bed caught my attention and I looked up in time to see Dash’s head on the pillow turn in my direction. His gray eyes were open, his demons shining bright for all to see. Now he had more because of me.
I leaned forward and placed my elbows on my knees.
“I should have gone inside when you told me to,” I whispered in a hoarse voice.
“What the fuck happened to your face?” He croaked, and I flinched.
I got up from the chair and grabbed a cup of water off of a tray on a side table. I held the cup to his lips and held it there while he sip
ped at the water.
“We got into a knife fight,” I told him as I moved the water back to the tray and sat back down in my chair. I knew I shouldn’t be joking about it, but it was either joke or cry. “I’m pretty sure we both lost.”
He blinked slowly at me and asked, “Where is everybody?”
I sighed heavily as I sat back in the chair and told him, “When they found out you were going to be alright, Damien and the twins went to the police station to find out what’s going to happen to Chucky. Quinton needed to walk off some steam and Julian followed him to make sure he didn’t hurt anyone. And, Tyson went to get us some coffee.”
I think I covered everybody. There were so many if them it was hard to keep track.
“But you stayed,” he said as he reached out with a hand, searching.
I immediately placed my hand in his and squeezed.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I promised him.
He smiled softly and closed his eyes. It didn’t take long for him to fall back asleep.
I sat back in the chair and watched over him. Which is exactly what I did for the entire four days he was in the hospital. It drove Quinton crazy, but I didn’t care and, eventually, he stopped trying to get me to go home.
When Dash left the hospital, I went home with him.
Mr. Cole had showed up at the hospital to check on me and when I had told him I was moving in with Dash, he seemed relieved. I tried not to let his reaction hurt me, and failed miserably. I wasn’t looking forward to saying goodbye to him, but I also wasn’t dreading it anymore. I had Quinton, and Tyson, and my Salt and Pepper twins. Now, I had Dash, too. I had a family to call my own, and I wasn’t alone anymore.
Everything would work out just fine. In time.
The End.
Thank you for taking the time to read my book!
The next book in the Ariel Kimber series will be Blood Magic and does not have a release date at this time.
If you enjoyed the book, please consider leaving a review.
In my group, I asked about deleted scenes and people said they wanted to read them so here you go!
