And I worried that she might actually need her dad more now than ever.
“Do you think we should go and get Rain?” my brother asked, echoing my thoughts. Trenton was more than just my brother and this just proved it.
“No Rain,” Ariel replied in a scratchy voice. “I’m not ready to face him just yet. I’m not exactly avoiding him, I just need a little more time to get it together before I face him.”
We could do that for her if it’s what she needed. But I wasn’t so sure it was the right call to make. I didn’t have the heart to tell her no though.
“You know he loves you more than anything in the whole world?” I asked her in a worried voice. “That’s never going to change, no matter what happens. Love like that is a beautiful, precious thing, and it’s special. You’re very lucky to have that from him. I know right now you’re probably feeling a whole lot but maybe you two should be feeling those things together, as a family. He might actually need you right now. And he might need to see that you’re okay.”
“Simon…” Trenton hesitated and I knew he wanted to tell me to shut up but wouldn’t because he also probably knew I was right. He didn’t want to say that I was right though because he didn’t want to go against what Ariel was asking us for.
“He’s right,” Ariel whispered. “And I know I need to make sure my dad’s okay after that shit show. But I also really need tomake sure I’m okay before I can do that and… right now I’m just feeling a whole lot of things.”
I just bet she was.
And I was also proud of her because the old Ariel might have acted out without thinking and this girl was clearly thinking things out and sorting through her emotions instead of acting on them.
Well, after having acted on them earlier.
She’d definitely done some serious growing up along the way. And it sometimes showed.
“You can take as much time as you need,” Trenton murmured.
I kind of wanted to punch my brother because he was really eating up this role of the good guy right now. Normally I wouldn’t care but I certainly did not want to look like the one pushing Ariel to do things she wasn’t ready to do.
What a kiss ass.
Ariel sat up and turned around so she was on her knees facing us.
“Do you know what I really need right now?” she asked as she whipped her shirt off and tossed it aside. She wasn’t wearing a bra. “A distraction.”
I swallowed thickly.
Fuck.
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” Trenton said in an attempt to reason with her. “We probably shouldn’t…”
My brother was an idiot sometimes. “I think it’s a great idea.”
She could use me in any way that she wanted to and I was more than okay with that. That’s what I was here for after all, to be whatever she needed me to be.
If it was a piece of ass that she needed or my dick to distract her then who the hell was I to tell her no.
“Great,” Ariel said as she looked me up and down as if I were a piece of meat and she was a starving wolf. “Now take off your clothes and get to distracting me.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice.
I stood up from the bed and began stripping out of my clothes. I paused when I noticed the dried blood smeared across my hands.
“Uh, Ariel,” I hesitantly looked at her in the bed with Trenton propped up behind her. My brother looked like a smug prick and I wanted to punch him in the throat to wipe that look away. “You’re kind of covered in blood. Maybe Trenton’s right and now’s not the best time for this.”
She rolled her eyes as she slid off the bed and landed gracefully on the floor. “That’s an easy fix. I’ll just take a quick shower and I’ll be right back. You both better be naked and in bed waiting for me when I get back.”
She sauntered towards the bathroom with an extra sway to her hips as she shimmied out of her clothes, leaving them on the floor in a trail behind her.
“She shouldn’t be alone right now.”
My brother was absolutely correct.
