Positive/Negativity (16 page)

“
Enough
!” Declan said.
TTT

He was still holding her arm when he looked at me.

“Aria?” Declan said with a look of concern.

I just nodded at him to assure him I was okay. If I had used words, I was afraid I might be overcome with emotion. He then turned his thunderous stare back at Marisol.

“Marisol! I don’t know what poison you’re spilling, but it stops now! Crawl back into the hole you came from!” He said with significant disgust and thrust her arm out of his hand.

Declan then gripped my hand, firmly but gently, looking into my eyes to affirm that I was, in fact, fine. A moment later, he began to lead me out of the theatre.

As we were leaving, she continued yelling to him, “I didn’t realize we were supposed to be a secret. Oh, baby, don’t be mad! I understand now that you don’t want her to know anything! Sorry, lover, but it’s okay; I’ll make it up to you!” We could still hear her shouting as we made it to the back of the theatre.

Declan angrily shook his head and gripped my hand tighter as we continued out the door. His expression was escalating to one of pure rage, and I knew he didn’t direct it toward me, but it wasn’t one I wanted to see regularly.

When we got outside, he called the car over. Placing me into the limo, he slid in behind me. I left him to his silence for several minutes until it appeared we were leaving the city.

“Declan, where are we going?”

“Home,” he said firmly.

“Home? You mean back to the hotel?” I was confused.

“No, Aria. We’re going back home! To the house. To the Ocean.” He turned to me with a glare.

Now I was becoming angry with Declan. I wasn’t sure I wanted to come along on this trip; he wanted me to. Telling me how great it would be if I were with him, he’d promised to show me the city. All that changed, due to
his
anger and
that
woman. Well, his way of controlling the situation did not sit well with
this
woman!

At first, I wasn’t going to talk or say a thing because I knew that it had been a rough day for him. However, I’ve never been a good one at keeping my feelings hidden. That would have made them insignificant and the resentment was bubbling up inside of me. I very rarely became angry, but the events of today had pushed me to the edge, and I couldn’t keep silent.

“No, Declan! I don’t know what that was back there, but I’m not going to suffer for it. You wanted me to come here, convinced me in fact. You painted a pretty picture of a New York trip for us and made me look forward to it. Then some supermodel, bitchy, crazy, maybe ex-girlfriend of yours shows up, and you’re taking it out on
me
? That’s low.
Really
low.” I was angry now, on my way to fuming.

“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Aria. She is not, and never was, my girlfriend. Don’t make stupid statements,” he spat out at me.

What the hell? Now I’m making “stupid” statements?
I wasn’t in the mood for this.

“Now I’m stupid? Oh no,
you’re
not doing this now! You are
not
going to talk to me like
this
! I don’t know what buttons she pushed for you, but this is not
my
issue. You can take your misdirected anger at Marisol and stick it up your ass! Better yet, stick it up
hers!
” With that, I pushed away from him.

“Oh no, you don’t!” he said. He pulled me close to him and tried to kiss me, but I pushed him away. I was pissed at him, and he wasn’t giving me a chance to reject him.

He reached behind me and pulled my head back with a mix of anger and passion in his eyes.

“Get off of me! You’re being an ass! Leave me the hell alone,” I told him. I wasn’t playing this game.

“No, Aria!” he said and he pulled me closer to him and made me look into his eyes. “Marisol and her mind games are not coming between us! We’re giving her
exactly
what she wants. We stop this…
now
!” Declan exclaimed before pressing his lips hard into mine. At first I hit at him, but he kissed me until I couldn’t think or breathe.

When he released me, he continued to stare into my eyes. I was breathing hard. He infuriated me, but he excited me…and he was right. She was coming between us.

“It stops…” he said again, “…please…” Declan spoke more softly and calmly, but his fire was still evident.

I could see him allowing himself to become unleashed, not with anger, but with an escalating appetite of pure, obsessive, covetous heat, and then he took my mouth again. This time, he was all passion and no force. He laid me back against the seat and grazed his substantial hand up the back of my leg and under the back of my skirt. His touch was arousing, and it ignited my appetite for him. When he was satisfied that he had convinced me to return home with him, he held me.

“I want to go
home
, Aria, our home, with you. I used to think that it was the beach that was magic, but it isn’t. It’s what you bring to me there that’s magic. I love what
we
are there. I didn’t want to stay in New York. I wanted to be home, with you,” he said.

Declan continued staring at me, searching my eyes with questions, and I knew exactly what he meant. Home was where he needed to be.

He picked up the phone to instruct the driver. “We’ll be driving back to the ocean now.”

…and as the driver settled in for the long ride, Declan and Aria salvaged the day by making the
drive most memorable…

T
Words – Skylar Grey

TT
State of Grace (Alpha X Remix) – Chilled by Nature

It was a day that I looked forward to, our first Fourth of July together; however, Aria was dreading it because she’d have to experience it without her dad for the first time. I understood that she would be fragile today, and I wanted to be there to support her.

As the days and months went by, our relationship grew deeper, and we began to fit together like a puzzle. Her overnight stays had become more frequent. Before we knew it she had accumulated more of her things at my house than her aunt and uncle’s. It happened so gradually that it seemed like a natural progression. When we were eating breakfast one morning, I promised to make her “dessert” every day if she would move in with me. At first, she seemed shocked, but the more we talked about it the easier we both felt with being together and she agreed.

As with all new things, especially living arrangements, adjustments are made. Our twenty-four hour personalities were becoming better acquainted. When she irritated me, I learned to be more tolerant, and when I drove her crazy, she learned to have more patience. I pushed Aria because she had led a more sheltered life than I. I challenged her to taste new foods; I’d order for her in restaurants and ply her to try the unique bites with promises of massages, foot and elsewhere. I even drove her to my favorite spots, where she had never been before, so that we could explore together. Her delight became
my
delight. Her emotions were always translucent, and that was one of the things I loved most about her. The more I learned of her, the better I comprehended what her facial expressions displayed. As for today, from the moment she woke this morning, she was edgy and apprehensive, and as I watched her during her morning routine I could see the emotional conflict she was experiencing.

I made a pot of coffee. The aroma must have enticed her to come downstairs. When Aria walked into the kitchen, she sat down at the table, looking a little sad.

“Good morning, beautiful. Want some coffee?”

“Yes, please,” she replied, putting her head down on her arms.

Pouring her a cup, I placed it in front of her. She didn’t budge, so I sat down and pulled my chair over. I brushed her hair from her sleepy face and saw the trouble brewing in her eyes.

“Talk to me. What’s wrong, baby?”

She knew it was no use to hide her emotions as I had learned to read her too well over the past few months. After our fiasco in New York, we promised to be open with each other in regard to our feelings. I saw that she was struggling with tears and words, yet she hadn’t spoken. It always took her a moment to start.

“I am excited for tonight, Declan. Really, I am. I can’t wait to watch the fireworks with everyone and enjoy the entire celebration with you. Mom will be here, and she sings your praises to everyone. I’m excited for you to meet my aunts, uncles, cousins, and all the little ones. They’re all going to love you; I just know it.” After pausing for a moment, she continued in a slower, sadder voice, “It’s going to be great…”

I saw her trying to hide the tears from me that were forming in her eyes and falling down her face. She was also trying to keep her voice on an even keel to keep the emotion undetectable.

“But…” I said, encouraging her to continue.
T

She turned her chin up to look at me, her head still resting on her arms, and more tears trickled down. With a trembling voice, she finally admitted the core of her distress, “But…Dad’s not here,” she said, lifting her head to place her chin in her hand. “Don’t get me wrong; I’m really excited for everyone to meet you. I know they’re going to love you as much as I do,
especially
the teenage girls. My aunts are going to gush over you, and my Uncle Bill’s wife, Thelma, is going to make you eat until you’re stuffed. She’s so hospitable that you’ll feel like you’ve known her forever. Everyone will be talking and laughing; then everyone will go onto the front porch…” Aria’s voice trailed off, and she began to cry.

“Why are you crying, sweetheart? Help me understand.”

“It’s the porch, Declan. My dad had been ill for a while, and his legs hurt him all the time, but he never stopped going on vacation with us. In the morning, he’d sit on those Adirondack chairs for coffee; then at night, he’d sit there to have a beer. On the Fourth of July, he’d sit in
his
chair, even though it wasn’t really his, and my uncles and cousins would come over to talk to him. They knew he couldn’t go up and down all of the steps, so they all took that into consideration and came over to him, never making him feel inadequate. They always made him laugh talking about the old days, arguing politics, making comments about the people passing by; whatever the topic. Most of all, and most important, they never allowed Dad to feel left out.”

“On each Fourth of July night, for just
that
night, he seemed to forget his pain. It was as though he’d never been ill. He’d be smiling, laughing, and he was just ‘one of the guys’. Declan…I’m afraid to be there tonight. Just thinking about being there without him…I don’t want to be like this in front of everyone, and I don’t want to make anyone feel sorry for me if I become emotional. I’m not sure if I’m strong enough to control my feelings, so I just feel torn. I want to go because I want everyone to meet you, but I don’t want to go because I don’t want to hurt inside.”

My sweet girl was breaking my heart. I wanted to make the pain go away, but I knew she needed to work this out on her own terms. She would. She didn’t realize it, but she was one of the strongest people I knew. I pulled her over onto my lap and held her close for a few minutes, and then I brushed her hair back from her face and looked at her.