Chapter Fourteen
Julian
I couldn’t stop my fingers even if I had wanted to. They had a mind of their own. I kept running them through the damp, blonde locks of hair hanging around her neck.
I continued playing with her hair long after her breathing evened out and her body grew heavy on top of mine.
She was asleep, and I still continued to run my fingers through her soft hair.
All the while, my mind raced with images of another beautiful girl who had magic and had wormed her way into my life. That was the only thing the two of them had in common.
Annabell was on the shorter side and so thin she looked in danger of having her legs snap like twigs when she walked. She had small tits and no ass to speak of. But still, she’d been beautiful. She had thick, gorgeous black hair that was shiny and just begged for you to sink your hands into it while your tongue was roaming around inside her mouth. Or other places. I knew from experience how great that felt because I had done it as often as she’d allowed me to.
She’d had a beautiful face with eyes that didn’t even hint at being brown, they were all black and the darkest eyes I had ever seen on another person. They were mysterious and held a depth of knowledge I had once found fascinating and it had turned me on knowing my girl was crazy smart. I had later come to understand that she wasn’t just crazy smart but a mastermind at creating chaos and a serious psychopath. After everything she’d done had been brought to light, I hadn’t been sorry to see her go.
Ariel wasn’t anything like Annabell. That’s not to say I didn’t find Ariel beautiful, because I did. Very much so. But, where Annabell was dark, Ariel was light. Where Annabell’s eyes were so black they could be described as soulless, Ariel’s were a bright green that resembled emeralds. If emeralds could be described as haunted.
Although, lately her eyes could be described as a lot less haunted and a lot more as cold. I could understand the why of it, but that didn’t mean I liked it. I didn’t want her to look like that scared girl I’d first seen running around the side of Marcus’s house, but I didn’t want her to be cold either.
We were falling down on the job left and right with her. The Council would disapprove, wholeheartedly.
When she had been out long enough for me to be sure she wasn’t going to be waking up again any time soon, I very carefully slid out from underneath her and off of the couch. I stood up without making noise and stared down at her. She lay fully on her stomach now. Her arms had moved up under her head and she had her head down on her forearms, using them like a pillow.
That ridiculous fucking robe Dash had ordered specifically for her, draped around her body like a damn cape. I shook my head as I slipped my cell phone out of the front pocket of my jeans. Dash had said he thought it would be cute if they both had matching robes to walk around the house in. Absolutely ridiculous. Quinton had thought it was adorable. Damien had wanted to buy her one for our house in case she ever stayed over with us. I thought they were all nuts. Dash looked like a porn star waiting for his scene to start when he pranced around in that stupid robe.
I swiped my finger across the screen on my phone, bringing it to life. I clicked on the little camera icon and quickly snapped a picture of her before she could wake up or move and ruin my shot.
I hit the texts on my phone and pulled up the group chat we always kept going between us guys. I knew we would never be adding Ariel to that chat. We talked about her too much in it.
I sent the picture before I could think twice about it and decide to keep it for myself. There didn’t need to be any more resentment between us and I knew they’d all dig the picture. She always looked like she had the weight of the world resting on her shoulders and, in sleep, the weight had been completely lifted away. It was a nice change for a difference, and they’d all want to see it. Besides, I knew they’d get a kick out of the robe.
My phone immediately lit up and I was glad I had it on silent and it didn’t even vibrate. I didn’t want to wake her before I moved her.
I read their responses quickly.
Abel: Cute pic. ;)
Addison: What in the hell is she wearing? I mean, she still looks pretty, of course, but… what the hell is that thing on her, man?
Abel: Shut up, twin. It looks cute on her.
Addison: You shut up.
Abel: Ow. Fuck. He just threw something at me from across the room. Asshole.
Addison: #Nailedit
I shook my head at those two and slid my phone back into the front pocket of my jeans.
Reluctantly, I left the living room and headed for the stairs. I went up, ignored Dash’s room and walked right into Ariel’s. I didn’t worry about her being upset about me invading her girl space. She didn’t seem bothered when people invaded her room, and she didn’t seem to have very many boundaries when it came to us. Besides, I wouldn’t be digging through her drawers and I wouldn’t be in here for very long.
With purpose, I moved across the room to her bed.
I had been fortunate enough to be in here and witness her reaction to her room. She loved her new space and couldn’t believe that we had done this for her. I picked out her furniture. Ty, the personal stuff like the posters and comforter. Dash had put the furniture together. It had all come in pieces in boxes and I didn’t have the patience for all of that. Tyson had painted the walls, claiming the pretty yellow color to be her favorite. I hadn’t entirely believed him until I watched her walk around the room that first time.
A small smile crossed my face as I took in the mess on top of her bed. There was a box sitting on the bed at the foot. I rightly assumed that was the box she’d told me about finding in that bitches closet. A yellow handled hairbrush sat next to the bed with a handful of hair bands strewn about beside the brush. The hair bands were all black. A wadded-up pair of dirty red fuzzy socks weren’t far from the box.
That wasn’t the mess that had the small smile on my face.
No, it was the smearing of white on the comforter by her pillows. I ran a fingertip across it lightly and brought my fingertip to my nose and sniffed. The toxic smell didn’t even cause me to flinch. I was used to the smell. I worked with a lot of unpleasant smelling things, this was really nothing. But, to Ariel, it hadn’t been nothing. To Ariel, it had smelled like shit.
I was willing to bet that was why she had taken a shower before coming down the stairs, she’d wanted to get that smell off of her skin.
She was out and likely wouldn’t notice until morning if she slept on something that smelled like that. But I would know, and it would bother me.
I carefully lifted the box off the bed and looked for a place to put it. There were a couple of boxes on the floor at the foot of her bed. Another box halfway between the bed and the bookshelf. Another one on the floor in front of the dresser.
I didn’t want to put this box with the rest of them. This one held contents that were special to her, important even. She wouldn’t place this box with the others, which is why it had been on the bed.
I put it on the floor against the wall directly beside the head of the bed. It would be right next to her while she slept at night and she would have easy access to it whenever she wanted it. I liked that for her.
She would need a safe place to put them.
I knew she didn’t have much in the way of belongings. I had seen the room she’d lived in while staying at Marcus’s and the room where she’d lived before moving to Marcus’s house. I think she was lucky to ever even have clothes to cover her body with.
I frowned. She would need more of those as well. Damien was just the man for that particular job, but he would need me to go along with him. Ariel had this cute gothic punk thing going for her, only it wasn’t exactly either of those. Her style was hard to explain and pinpoint, but it certainly was cute.
Damien wouldn’t get it. He liked preppy clothes. He liked designer clothes, the more expensive the better. The things he would buy Ariel if left to his own devices she would probably toss in the garbage.
I frowned.
No, that wasn’t right. The twins had told us all about how she felt about wastefulness and why she felt the way she did.
Damien could absolutely not be left alone to buy Ariel new clothes. No way, no how. It was kind of sad, really, because he loved to shop, and he loved to buy new clothes.
I would need to do some research beforehand. I moved Ariel’s brush and hair bands to the top of her dresser. I picked up the dirty, fuzzy socks and walked them to the bathroom where I dropped them into the hamper where they belonged. Dash would wash them for her. He needed a purpose and I was almost certain that taking care of Ariel would soon become his main purpose.
Right then, I had my own purpose.
I removed the comforter from her bed. She’d only slept under it twice, that I knew of. I balled it up in my arms and walked out of her room. I thought about going downstairs and putting it into the washer but decided against it. I stuffed it into the hamper in the closet in the bathroom on top of Ariel’s dirty socks. Dash could wash that as well. I didn’t feel bad about it. He got to live with her, he could suck it up.
I went back into Ariel’s room. I checked her pillows and the sheets, making sure she hadn’t gotten anything on them. They were fine, clean, and didn’t smell like anything but Tide.
After smoothing out the sheet, I picked up the comforter that had come from Marcus’s house and spread it out over the bed. I smoothed the comforter out, making it look nice. After, I pulled the top sheet back with the comforter so I wouldn’t have to do it when I brought her up here. This way, I’d be able to put her in her bed and cover her up without hassle.
When I had that done, I got to work on the important stuff. Research.
I went to the dresser and pulled open the top drawer and immediately pushed it shut again. We wouldn’t be buying her underwear. No way, no how. Damien would like that way too much for my liking.
I pulled open drawer after drawer and frowned. They were all empty. The closet was empty as well.
I looked around the room, taking in the boxes on the floor. This was all that she had? I thought Marcus would have done right by her, but by the looks of it, I was wrong.
I didn’t want to go snooping through her boxes, but I would have to now in order to find her sizes.
I looked through the opened boxes until I found a tank top and a pair of shorts that told me what size she wore. I made sure to put everything back how I’d found it before I touched anything.
She had one lone pair of flip flops on the floor in the closet. I picked the right one up and read the size on that, too.
I made sure to memorize the sizes for everything. I didn’t want to forget and get it wrong later.
I knew it was petty, but it felt good to know something about her that I was sure Ty didn’t know about her. On the way downstairs, I couldn’t help wanting to kick my own ass for thinking that way.
Tomorrow I would have to find Tyson and apologize to him for being such an asshole. He would accept my apology and we’d both go about pretending to forget it ever happened. Neither of us would forget anything. It would fester between us until his temper got the better of him and he snapped. It would likely end in another bout of violence with him hitting me first. Then, we’d be even.
Ariel hadn’t moved from where I’d left her on the couch. She was dead to the world and I hoped it meant she wouldn’t wake up when I moved her.
Very gently, I rolled her over to her side with her back to me. I slid my arms under her knees and around her back. I stood up with her in my arms and cradled her high against my chest.
She weighed less than she had the first time I’d lifted her up in my arms. The first time, the only time, I’d seen her naked it hadn’t registered to me what I’d actually seen until hours later. Then the vision of her had been burned into my brain for days. My dick got hard every time I thought about it and I’d hated myself for it. Any other time but then and it wouldn’t have bothered me.
I held her tight to my chest as I made my way up the stairs and back to her room.
I heard Dash snoring quietly from behind his bedroom door and I shook my head. He almost never snored and had always been a light sleeper. Those pain meds must have knocked him out on his ass. Good, I thought. He needed the rest.
Ariel mumbled softly under her breath when I laid her down in her bed. I had no idea what she’d said but it sure was cute. I tucked her feet in and pulled the top sheet and blanket over her. I tucked her in tightly and forced myself not to look at her. I wouldn’t look at her. If I did I would want to lay down beside her and sleep with her in my arms all night long. She hadn’t invited me to sleep in her bed with her and I wouldn’t do it until I was invited.
I went down the stairs with empty arms and a longing I didn’t enjoy feeling because it brought on memories I had no desire to revisit. I hated Annabell but I missed the physical relationship we’d had. She’d been the only female I had ever touched in any way and it had been my favorite part of our short-lived affair.
I knew there would be no touching Ariel in that way anytime soon and I was more than okay with that. I knew she’d kissed Ty and Quint because Quint had told me. But she had a deeper connection with the two of them than she did anyone else. I wanted that connection for myself a hell of a lot more than I wanted to have sex with her. That’s not to say I didn’t want to have sex with her because I did. Lots and lots of sex. But I had done things backwards with Annabell and skipped the connection part with her and went straight for the sticking my dick in her part. And the whole thing had blown up in my face. It had blown up in all of our faces and we’d almost been torn apart because of it.
I was determined to do things the right way with Ariel and I would get the connection I craved with her. I knew she wasn’t anything like the other one but if we had that soul deep connection then she wouldn’t go anywhere, and I wouldn’t have to worry about losing any part of her. I shouldn’t have worried about her going anywhere but I did. The women in my life didn’t stick around for very long. My mother had died young and took my heart with her. Annabell was gone and good riddance. But she’d made sure to shred my heart in the process. It had sucked worse than normal because I had just managed to grow the damn thing back and it hadn’t even been full sized yet when she got ahold of it.
Ariel wasn’t going anywhere. For one thing, Quint was in so deep with the poor girl that if she tried to leave him then he’d find a way to drag her right back to him.
But that didn’t tell me anything about what would happen to my heart if it happened.
I slipped my cell out of the front pocket of my jeans and laid back down on the couch.
I closed my eyes and sighed. I was exhausted and hadn’t been getting enough sleep lately. This past week had been hell for all of us. What I needed was to go home and sleep in my own bed, but I wasn’t leaving here. Someone would be staying over until Dash was fully recovered and capable of defending himself and Ariel.
Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone slept over every night after simply because Ariel would be here and they could. I wouldn’t blame them. But I really did want to sleep in my own bed.
I lifted my phone up and lightly tapped the screen with my finger tip. It lit up and I moved to my texts knowing there would be several new ones. If nothing else, the twins would still be bickering with each other.
I scrolled to the top, then scrolled down past what I’d already read and started reading the texts.
Tyson: Why’s she sleeping on the couch?
Quinton: She’s beautiful. Her cheek looks a lot better. Good work, Julian. I’m happy she’s sleeping, she needs it.
Tyson: Is Dash out? He should be sleeping, too. In his own damn bed.
Quinton: Nah. Calm down, Nephew. She should sleep with Dash. Julian can take her bed.
I laughed quietly.
Quint wanted to be first for everything and better at it than anyone else. It was weird that there was no jealousy at all there when it came to Ariel. Just when I thought I had Quint all figured out, he went and surprised the shit out of me.
Damien: Do you think Dash will order one of those robes for me? I need one.
Tyson: You do not need a matching robe. You have enough clothes to last you three lifetimes. And don’t you have like four robes already? Shit, Damien. Get over yourself already.
I frowned. Tyson was being an asshole to Damien because of me and what had happened earlier between us.
Addison: We need matching robes.
Abel: But in black and white.
Quinton: Salt and Pepper.
Addison: Say what?
Quinton: Ariel calls you two her Salt and Pepper twins.
Abel: Awwwww. She’s adorable.
Addison: We just call her girlfriend!
Abel: Now we need to come up with something good for her.
This was going nowhere fast.
I sighed and started typing out a text.
Julian: I just finished tucking Ariel into her bed. I wanted her to sleep under her dreamcatcher. Dash took his meds and has been out cold ever since. Dash ate dinner, but Ariel slept through it. I didn’t want to push the issue and I let her sleep.
Quinton: Thanks, Julian.
Tyson: Thanks, man. For taking care of the both of them.
That irritated me.
Julian: You guys don’t have to thank me for taking care of my family.
Julian: She knows who her biological father is and wants to find him using magic. It’s a long story and I’ll let her tell it to you in the morning, but she’s got a box full of letters and pictures from him.
Julian: She needs clothes. Damien, do you want to go shopping with me tomorrow to get her some stuff?
Quinton: I’ll be over in the morning and I’ll do whatever I can to find her dad for her. He better not be an asshole.
Damien: Hell yes! I want to go shopping. I’ll come by in the morning and bring you some clean clothes. Then we can go. I also have the DVD’s I got her in my car and I need to drop those off for her. She left them at Quint and Ty’s and I don’t want them left over there.
Abel: I told you, we weren’t going to watch her DVD’s!
Quinton: Heads up – the Council has Chucky. They refused to tell me why and said they’d explain it to me when I see them next. I don’t think they are going to leave until they get to meet her. I don’t think she’s going to like it and I don’t think she’s going to want to meet them. Honestly, I don’t want them anywhere near her.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
We did not need a visit from the Council right then. We were down a person and now Ariel had a scar on her face. The Council would have a field day with that and it would come at our expense.
Quinton: Get some sleep. All of you. We’ll look at it all tomorrow with fresh eyes.
Tyson: What about the football player?
Quinton: Tomorrow. Go to sleep.
I shut my phone off, not bothering to see if anyone else was going to reply.
I wished I could have shut my brain off as easily as I had my phone.
It took me over an hour to fall asleep. And when I did sleep, I had horrible nightmares where everything around me was painted in blood. Sadly, it wasn’t the worst nights sleep I’d ever had.
I only got up twice to check on my family upstairs. Those two both slept soundly, and I was glad for it.