Bellamy followed her judgmental gaze as it lingered on the clothes strewn over the black dressers and in a pile in the corner. She noted the sketch supplies on the black leather chair, the small stack of books Ves kept on her nightstand. Their mess wasn’t even that bad, and yet… Ari had always been able to make her feel inadequate without even trying.
She shrugged, running a finger over the taller of the two dressers, like she was checking for dust. Bellamy gritted her teeth.
“Saw your girl leaving,” Ari said, wiping her hands on her entirely too-tight black pants and turning to face Bellamy. “We haven’t had much time to chat.”
Bellamy ground her teeth. Since when the fuck did Ari want to chat? “What do you really want?” she asked, letting the annoyance seep through her voice.
“Oh, Bels,” Ari sighed. “It’s been years since we’ve caught up, and all you’ve done so far is scream at me. Is that any way of treating your sister?”
“Don’t fucking call me that,” Bellamy snapped. Ari would have the absolute audacity to claim they were still family after all these years. Like Bellamy hadn’t purposefully cut her out of her life for a reason.
Ari smiled like she’d caught Bellamy in a trap. She plopped down on the bed in front of her. “Ro’s worried about you,” Ari announced, dropping the act of actually caring and sounding bored instead. “I promised him I’d check in.”
“He doesn’t know where I am, right? You didn’t tell anyone?”
“Please,” Ari laughed, waving away Bellamy’s immediatepanic. “I’m not an idiot. I know you’re marked for death. You might be an asshole, but you’re still my sister.”
Bellamy raised an eyebrow. She was definitely not buying that shit. Ari didn’t do anything if it wasn’t for herself. “Why are you here? What do you want from me?” she asked.
“I don’t want anything from you.” Ari rolled her eyes. “Not like you would even have anything to give me if I did,” she muttered under her breath.
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“I was hurt when you cut me out.”
Bellamy scoffed. “Bullshit.”
“No, it’s true,” Ari said, too casually for Bellamy to believe a fucking word. “Ro kept me as updated as he could, but you really didn’t talk to him much, not even after he gave you his spare room. For free, might I add. And you’ve been an ungrateful twat. No, he didn’t say that,” Ari held up a hand to cut Bellamy off before she could even argue. “I just know you. Or, I used to.”
“So, imagine my surprise, after, what?” Ari pursed her lips and looked up, faltering and trying to stifle a laugh when she saw the ridiculous glass light fixture that contorted itself across the ceiling. She cleared her throat and continued her irritating monologue, looking back at Bellamy. “Um, ten, eleven years since you last spoke to me, was it? And then I start working here, as a favor to my dear friend, only to find out that ‘your girl’ is one of our favorite clients.”
“Was,” Bellamy snapped. “Andyouare never touching her.”
Ari rolled her eyes. “Your girlwasone oftheirfavorite clients. And then just like that, you’re thrown back into my life. Isn’t it funny how these things work?”
“What’s your point to all this?”
“My point,” Ari glared at her briefly before finding a spot on the empty wall that was much more interesting to glare at. “Was that since you won’t talk to me, I’ve had to ask around.” She chuckled. “And what I’ve found is… interesting.”
“You didn’thaveto ask around.”
“Oh, but I couldn’t have my dear sister as my neighbor without knowing what she’s been up to all this time.” Ari smiled. “Wanna know what I found out?”
“No.”
“I learned,” Ari started, ignoring her entirely. When the fuck was Vesper coming back to put her out of her misery? “Why your girl is so loved by everyone here. I also learned that they’re all afraid of you, and that you’ve tried to kill Mazz. Have you apologized for that, by the way? Because you should know, she’s quite a lovely person. Pretty fucked up to try and kill her when she was just doing her job.”
She had actually apologized for that incident. Ves had made her, and it had been fucking humiliating. Not that she was going to admit that to her sister. She was almost positive the girls would have already relayed that story if they’d told her fucking everything else anyway.
“They’ve all warned me to stay away from you, you know?” Ari said after giving up on waiting for Bellamy to respond. “Guess they couldn’t see the family resemblance,” she laughed. “They told me that you’re only safe to be around if your girl is with you. You’ve always been so volatile. I guess some things never change.”
“Wow, great catch up, Ari,” Bellamy said sardonically. “You were leaving now, right?”
“You don’t even want to know why they all love V so much? Did you know they sometimes argue over who gets her?”
Bellamy clenched and unclenched her fists. Shedidwant to know, but she wasn’t going to give Ari the fucking satisfaction of admitting that. She’d been dying to know for years. Clearly her sister was also dying to tell her since she kept bringing it up.
“Fuck off,” Bellamy snapped, knowing Ari would ignore her anyway.
