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Jacob placed her hand on her chest and started rubbing small circles with his thumb.
Nick growled. “What the hell are you doing?”
He was completely distraught. He was shaking and his eyes were continuously flickering from brown to black. I couldn’t even imagine what he was feeling right now.
“She used to do this when she was sad,” Jake explained. “She rubbed her chest to soothe herself. Usually when her grandma did or said something.”
Jacob looked down at Aria and continued rubbing her chest.
My heart clenched painfully. I could hear a small whimper coming from Nick.
“Cassie,” I looked at her. “Tell us.”
Cassie sighed and looked up at me. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears.
“She is just overwhelmed by everything,” Cassie explained. “She thinks that it is dangerous for us to be near her. She blames herself for what happened to me when Calvin threatened me.”
Nick whined loudly. “Love, no. You are not a danger to us. It wasn’t your fault.”
I reached out and placed my hand on her knee. She tensed up.
“And you two being overly possessive isn’t helping,” Jacob sighed and removed my hand from her knee.
I saw red. I wanted to kill him. He can’t stop me from touching her. She was my sister. I took a deep breath and started getting up.
This time, Nick stopped me from ripping his head off. He placed a firm hand on my shoulder and forced me to sit back down.
“Is that why you didn’t come to us, love?” Nick asked as calmly as he could.
“She came to us because we are her family,” Cassie said.
“I know this is hard for you to hear, but she feels safe with us,” Jake added. “Maybe even more than she does with you.”
Nick growled and I clenched my fists.
“This will sound weird considering that she was my girlfriend, but while we were growing up, she was like a little sister to me,” Jake continued. “Her grandma was horrible, and Aria spent more time with us than she did at home. We grew up together. She is scared and overwhelmed now. And when she was little, she came to us when she felt scared. She came to us now because she is familiar with us. She feels safe around us.”
My heart clenched painfully. I wanted to take her from Jake’s arms and hold her. I hated that she was hurt and afraid. I hated that she didn’t feel as safe with me as she did with them.
“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel safe with you as well,” Cassie said, looking between Nick and me. “But you can be a little bit controlling. And that can be scary. Especially to her. She didn’t have control over anything that happened. And when you two keep taking away that little remaining control that she has left, she doesn’t feel safe.”
Cassie’s words were like knives to my heart. Guilt washed over me.
She was right. We kept making decisions for her. We never stopped and asked her how she felt. We just did what we thought would be best.
“Goddess, love, I am so sorry,” Nick said with a broken voice.
“I love you, Aria,” I said quietly. “And I am so sorry.”
Cassie leaned in and removed Aria’s hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. Her cheeks were red from crying. Her eyelashes were wet with tears and she was biting her bottom lip.
She looked so small, vulnerable and scared. My heart was breaking.
I slowly stood up and walked over to Aria and Jacob. I knelt in front of them and placed my hand on Aria’s chest. I gently started rubbing small circles on her skin.
For the first time since we walked inside, she lifted her head to look at me. I gave her a small smile and prayed to the Goddess that she doesn’t push me away.
Nick’s POV
