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I whipped around as my hand flew to my chest. Dash stood in front of me and he wasn't alone.
If I thought the firing squad from earlier was bad, I hadn't seen anything yet.
Fuck my life.
Chapter Thirteen
You Can’t Be That Dense
Well, now at least I'd been saved the trouble of having to go find them to share the not so good news. I could get this unpleasant business out of the way now, then pack and hide out in my room until Adrian contacted me tomorrow to let me know my ride was on the way to scoop me up.
Sounded like a good plan to me.
"Why don't you sit down," Quinton suggested mildly, like this was any normal conversation and not something we'd both been dreading.
"Don't tell me what the fuck to do, man," Dash snarled, and I noticed for the first time since he'd walked in here that his hands were fisted tightly at his sides and he was white knuckled so he must have been doing it for a while.
"Ariel, please tell me this is a joke," Tyson whispered, and there it was. That look of betrayal and horror in his eyes when he stared at me was like a punch straight to the gut. And a painful one at that, the most painful one I'd ever taken.
I opened my mouth to defend myself then snapped it shut. There was nothing I could say to him that would make this any better or would make him hurt any less. It was what it was and I'd made the choice to follow through with it, so that was exactly what I was going to do.
I wrapped my arms around my middle protectively as I looked him straight in his soulful brown eyes. I couldn't look away from what I saw staring back at me, like a freaking car wreck on the side of the road. I bit my bottom lip, chewing nervously on my lip ring.
If he kept looking at me like that, I'd cry for sure.
Quinton had tried to warn me that this part would be hard, and though I'd believed him, I had also thought the end would justify the means. I thought I could hack it and Quinton had trusted me. If I failed now, it would be me letting down the both of us.
"Hey, guys, I was—" Julian began as he walked into the apartment Dash and I shared within the house. He caught the vibe as soon as he stepped through the door, and asked carefully, "What the fuck's going on here? You guys look like someone died."
I cringed at his poor choice of words.
"Someone might as well have," Tyson spat out without taking his eyes off of me. I flinched but refused to look away. "It's like déjà fucking vu up in here. We already had one bitch barge their way into our lives and threaten to destroy it, you fucking know it all and yet here we are." He threw his arm out at his side and waved his hand dismissively at me.
His voice hitched, and hearing it broke something inside me. I let the tears fall free. There was absolutely no stopping them now.
"Tyson," Quinton clipped warningly. I wanted to tell him to shut up, we knew this had been coming.
"No, Uncle Quint. Not this time. You didn't defend the last one, you don't get to defend this one." Tyson swiped angrily under his eyes and I realized I wasn't the only one crying. That made it all the worse. "We let her in, all of this time. What's this going to do to our family? I didn't listen to you last time, I was so damn stupid. Fuck, Ariel. Annabell almost crushed us but you, you're going to be the thing that breaks us. Congratulations, you're a bitch. I don't know why the fuck you'd finally have sex with me just last night if you were planning on leaving me as soon as something better came along, but I wish like hell you would have left me the fuck alone. I don't know what they offered you to convince you to join them, but I hope whatever it is you choke on it."
My lips trembled as my body began shaking violently. This was worse than anything I could have possibly imagined, and it was obvious he hadn't heard the entire phone conversation.
He sneered at me and my heart broke. Without a backward glance, he turned and stormed out of the apartment. His feet thundered down the stairs and he slammed the door down there so hard that the one at the top of the stairs rattled.
Before I could compose myself or prepare for it, Dash turned on me, and if I thought my heart had been broken before, I had sorely been mistaken. I would find out what a broken heart truly felt like with one boyfriend down and another one standing here ready to go.
"I don't even know who you are and I don't think I want to. It feels like we let a snake in our house that's been slowly wrapping itself around our necks this whole time just waiting for the moment to strangle us. And that snake is you."
"Dash," Julian whispered in a horrified voice. "Stop it right now. Just shut your damn mouth, you have no idea what you're talking about, and I can promise you, brother, you're going to regret this later. You and Tyson both are going to regret this later, and it's going to fucking eat at the both of you. Mark my words."
Now I wanted to tell Julian to shut up, because he was going to blow my cover and ruin everything. It would all be for nothing if he blew this now.
Dash glared at Julian, the look so dark it scared me. "Fuck that and fuck her."
And with that he left the same way Tyson had. The door at the top of the stairs even rattled behind him.
My knees buckled and I reached out to grab a hold of the side of the couch so I didn't fall down to the floor. I felt positively sick to my stomach.
"Ariel," Julian said in a strangled voice as he reached out for me. I stumbled back a step, away from his outstretched hand. "Please, honey, he didn't mean it. Neither of them meant it. They don't know what's going on, and they would never do anything to hurt you."
