Dealing with all the men in Ariel’s life and having to handle their feelings was fucking exhausting. I’d almost rather have to run naked through a field full of landmines.
I sighed and let it all out. “No, she’s really not okay. She shut down completely and spent the entire day sleeping with Simon. She’s not scared, I know her well enough to know that. It’s about her mother and her fucked up childhood trauma. This motherfucking creep dangled her memories in front of her like a fucking carrot and I think she’s afraid to hope because he could just as easily be lying to us and snatch it right out from under her nose in the blink of an eye.”
I told him when and where we were supposed to meet up with the man, even though I knew Rain had already shared all the information with him or he wouldn’t have called me. It was good to have everyone in the know about everything now. Fresh ears and all that. Just in case he could spot something I had missed.
He didn’t see anything I already hadn’t. His only concern was that we were going to the meet in the first place. But he had the same dilemma that I did.
If anyone got how Ariel’s mind worked it was definitely Quinton.
“If you don’t take her, she'll just figure out a way to ditch you guys and go off on her own to meet up with this guy. I’m betting she’s had that fucking phone number memorized since the moment she laid eyes on it.”
I wasn’t taking that bet because I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he absolutely not wrong.
“You think I don’t already know this, man? Why do you think I already called Rain? She’s uncontrollable. It’s one of the things I love most about her but it also drives me fucking crazy.”
He laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Fuck. Staying here is driving me fucking crazy. It’s killing me notto be there with her. Rain sent Isobel home from work and shut the shop down early so he could take off. Tyson and the twins are staying with her and Baxter right now. Rain and his merry band of psychos are headed your way so they can take her back. It’s the only thing stopping me from jumping in my car right now and speeding to her side.”
I was glad to hear that Isobel was staying at home. I almost couldn’t believe it. Pregnancy was good for her if it kept her ass home and safe. I hoped they kept her knocked up for the next several years so she had a chance to settle her ass down a bit.
It was really too bad Ariel didn’t want any kids. Though it would probably only make her even more reckless with herself if she was pregnant. Women were crazy.
Isobel seeming less unstable was an unexpected miracle we were all blessed to have.
We didn’t need two pregnant crazy bitches in our lives.
I should have been worried about Rain bringing Romero and Finn here with him because of how nuts they were. But I was trying to look at it as his coven members coming along to take his back. And hopefully rein him in if needed.
We did not need those crazy fuckers riding in and going buck wild.
The cleanup for something like that would be absolutely ridiculous.
“You know we’re going to keep her safe, right?” for whatever stupid reason his answer meant a whole lot to me.
“I know, Trenton. You don’t have to tell me, I fucking know. You wouldn’t be there right now if that was ever in question. It’s not her physical safety that I’m worried about. It’s her mental stability. And that’s not on any of us. Everyone reaches their breaking point eventually. I’m afraid this is going to be hers.”
Hearing those words come out of his mouth was a huge weight off of my shoulders but was also worrisome at the same time because I was concerned about her mental stability as well.
I didn’t ever want to witness such a strong and beautiful person such as Ariel reach her breaking point. Something like that might break me.
“Do you have any pointers for me? Help a brother out here.”
“You don’t need any pointers, Trenton. You got this because if you don’t you’re a dead man. And that’s just all there is to it.”
And, with that, he finally got the chance to hang up on me first.
It wasn’t a threat that I was worried about.
If I were to fail Ariel and something happened to her on my watch then I’d want to die.
It was just that simple.
13
I’d Survive This
Ariel
To say Trenton and Simon were on edge would be a huge understatement.
