AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"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 wasmessedup."
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 shedidswear 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 bagChuck. 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 andcutopen my face, for goodness sakes. I'mgladyou 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 absolutelyterrifiedof him and thought he was going to hurt me again. If he had touched me I swear, Ty, I fuckingswear,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'sstupid."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'renot," 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 relieved 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 fuckingselfish,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.
