A Beautiful Fate (23 page)

“What the hell did you guys do to have Ava so pissed off at me?” he asked heatedly.

The kitchen went quiet and moments later Aggie spoke up, “Ari, I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“Whatever, Ava won’t even look at me now. What happened?”

“Oops.” I could barely hear Julia say it, but I knew it was her voice.

“Oops! Oops? What the hell is ‘oops,’ Julia? What did you do to her?”

“I didn’t
do
anything, Ari, but I guess I did get a bit carried away talking to Ava about you.”

I could hear Rory’s booming laugh.

“Julia,” Ari said softly, in an attempt to calm down. “What did you say to her?”

“I dunno, personal stuff I guess.”

“What did you say?” he was yelling at her now.

“Personal things about you and me, Ari – do I have to spell it out for you?” she snapped.

Rory’s laugh got much louder and I could hear a few giggles from Aggie.

“Holy hell, Julia, you are such a freaking idiot,” Ari shouted. I could envision him pulling his hair with both hands.

“I just thought it was harmless girl talk; I had no idea Ava didn’t know,” I heard her say.

“Julia, just leave.”

“What
ever
!” I heard the door slam shut behind her.

Ari opened the door to his bedroom. “Ava Baby, please… I am so sorry.”

“Whatever, Ari,” I retorted. “You lied to me.”

Shock, pain and a thousand other expressions washed over Ari’s face. His voice dropped to near silence, “I would never lie to you.”

“You lied by omission, Ari. We both agreed a long time ago that that was lying.”

“Ava, seriously please, I am so sorry.”

“Ari, just drop it. I tried to be nice to her and all she could do was talk about how great you are in bed. I can’t even look at you right now.”

The color drained from his face and I instantly felt bad for what I had said. He hadn’t really lied to me. If I had asked him for the details of his and Julia’s relationship, he would have told me.

“I am so sorry,” he pleaded, and his face looked tortured. All I could do was to turn and face the other way to hide my tears.

Ari left me alone, as I had asked, shutting the door behind him. I stayed in his room for the rest of the afternoon. I skipped dinner, knowing that my stomach couldn’t handle any food at the moment.

Rory poked his head in a little after dark and sat down beside me. “You comin’ to the party?”

“Yeah right, there is no way I’m doing that.”

“Please, for me? I promise I will hang out with you all night; I won’t leave your side.”

I chewed on my lip and thought it over. To be honest, I was feeling a little bit better. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was still utterly disgusted, but it wasn’t going to hurt anything to get out of this room for a while. “Fine, give me fifteen minutes.”

Rory gave me a wink then kicked back in Ari’s room. I grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom to get dressed, fix my make up and put some life back into my hair. I put on some cute jeans with a pair of slouch boots and a faded BRMC band tee-shirt and headed back to Ari’s room to fetch Rory. I slipped on my favorite cardigan and followed Rory out to the fire.

The beach was full of people. Rory found us a free spot on a log and kept me entertained by telling hilarious stories of how he learned to surf. Then, out of nowhere, he turned serious and said, “He regrets that, you know?”

“Huh?” I say, caught off guard by the quick turn in conversation.

“Ari. He regrets the decisions he made in his and Julia’s relationship. Don’t tell her but Ari wished he had found you first. He and Julia started as friends and he should have kept it that way. I know he wishes he had. I heard what Julia told you about the two of them and, yeah, she is an idiot sometimes, but knowing her, she probably was just trying to be nice. I’m not defending her, but you should forgive them both. Ari is a complete wreck over this whole thing. What doesn’t pull you apart will only make you stronger. Do you want to break up with him over this?”

“No,” just the thought put me in a panic.

“I didn’t think so. He is right over there, please forgive him and move on from this. You can’t change the past, Ava. But you can work together on your future.” Rory pointed across the beach. “He can’t take his eyes off you and he is making Lauren hang out with him; I’m sure he is driving her absolutely nuts.”

Rory always has a way of making me feel better. I threw my arm around his massive shoulders and gave him a little half hug.

“Thanks, Rory. You are such a good friend.”

“Yup, that’s what they all say, Ava Baby.” He pulled me to my feet. “Now c’mon, please don’t make him wait any longer. He is really dampening the mood of my party.”

I rolled my eyes and took a step towards Ari, standing there on the other side of the fire.

“Lauren!” Rory roared from behind me, “make a break for it now!”

I watched as Lauren slid away from Ari and ran with a giggle towards Rory; they had probably been planning her escape all night. I made my way over to Ari and he looked at me with that adorable half smile of his, the one that melts my heart.

“Hey,” he said quietly. I gave him a smile as I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his chest, breathing in his delicious scent.

He kissed the top of my head.

“I miss you, and I don’t want to be mad at you anymore.”

“I did lie to you, Ava. I didn’t realize it, but you are right. It will never happen again.”

A morbid part of me wanted to know the whens, how’s and whys of Ari and Julia’s relationship, but I pushed the curiosity away. Knowing would only make things worse for me. His past was just that. Rory was right, there wasn’t anything I could change about it... and besides, who was I to judge?

Ari pulled my chin up and brushed his lips on mine; the tenderness lasted only a second. My lips were aching for him and I kissed him back with much more vigor. Ari wrapped his arms around me, bringing me closer to him, and then pulled me through the crowd of people to walk together down the beach towards his home.

In the house we went straight back to Ari’s room and as soon as he closed the door behind him, we picked up right where we had left off the night before. He placed my back against the wall, his body pressing firmly against mine; his hands were locked in fists around my hair. A low moan escaped my lips. He never stopped kissing me. He moved me over to the bed and climbed in besides me. My heart was beating through my chest.

When I woke up the next morning, I had fewer clothes on than I probably should have had, but then again so did Ari. I closed my eyes and remembered all the places Ari had kissed me and how his lips never left my skin. Nevertheless, we had still managed not to let things go too far.

I breathed in a sigh of relief, taking in my attire. At least I still had on my underwear – a little, black, thin-strapped tank with some cute black panties. Ari was still sleeping, our bodies were tangled together, he had only a pair of boxers on. We had never made it under his sea of covers. I could have stayed there forever, listening to the beating of our hearts. I closed my eyes and snuggled in even closer to him. I felt a soft, feather-light touch caress my thigh.

“Holy hell, Ava, you are so beautiful,” Ari said in a sleepy, rasping voice. I opened my eyes and looked into his. I ran my hand down his chest and he closed his eyes softly, his breath hitching in his throat.

“Stay in bed with me today,” he said. “Please... just you and me and the blankets. And those panties,” he added, wrapping his palm around my bottom.

“That sounds tempting, but it is a very bad idea for you and me to be in this bed any longer than necessary,” I said, moving his hand back around my waist. “Besides, I’m sure at any moment one of your obscure relatives will come barging in demanding your attention.” Just as I said this, Ari’s door eased open, revealing Nick and Lauren, both of them decked out in full wet suits.

“Big swell today,” Lauren said. “Let’s go.”

Ari let out a sigh, but before he could answer them, Rory came pushing his way through the door. He had his running gear on and clearly was waiting for me.

“I’m gonna leave you, Ava! Now c’mon, I want to get this run over with so I can join ‘em.”

Ari covered me up with the blankets, then he barked at them all to get out, adding that we would join them in a moment.

“Sorry, Ava, there is no sense of personal space or privacy around this house.”

“Oh, I know,” I said with a smile.

Rory and I ran a quick three miles, but he still managed to kick my butt. When we got back, he rushed into his house to grab his board and I took a seat by Aggie on the beach to watch them surf. Even though I hate and fear the water, watching them play around with each other was fun. Ari was so cute while giving Lauren pointers. He is a natural in the water, but I had no way to judge just how good he was. I almost wanted to join him…almost but not quite.

About an hour later, Julia sauntered down the walk and took a seat on the beach next to me. I had not spoken to her since she made me angry the day before, but I hoped that I had gotten the point across that she and I were not at the moment
les amis
.

She was clueless and all smiles, as usual.

“Hey Ava, listen,” she said, popping her gum. “I just want to say I am sorry for yesterday. I really like you and I hope we can be friends. Ari is right I was a complete idiot… I had no idea that…”

I throw my palms up to stop her. “Ok, Julia fine; just stop talking about it.” What Ari ever saw in her I’ll never know.

“K!” she said with a smile, throwing her arm around my shoulder and bringing me to her for a hug.

Ari noticed Julia’s arrival and came up the beach, shaking his wet hair out. He pointed his finger at Julia, “I thought I told you to stay away from her.”

“Ease up, Ari. I told her how sorry I am. We’re friends again, it’s ok.”

He looked at me with a questioning gaze and I shrugged my shoulders and bit my lip.

Aggie seemed to think that the conversation was just hilarious. I guess from an outsider’s perspective it kind of was. She laughed and got up, brushing the sand from her bare feet and hands and began to walk back to the house. Ari made his way back to the water, leaving Julia and me alone.

“I promise, Ava, that I will be on my best behavior from now on. I can really use a friend who isn’t related to this family; you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I guess I do,” I answered. And I did honestly feel that way. If not for the fact that she used to date Ari, Julia and I probably would have been friends long ago.

As we sat together in the sand, she started to open up a little bit about herself. Julia is a descendant of Cassandra, princess of Troy. Cassandra had been acknowledged by the Greeks to be the second most beautiful woman in the world. Her beauty was compared to that of Aphrodite. Julia’s father, like mine, had been greedy and had been swayed by wealth and power to join the Kakos. He soon realized what a huge mistake he had made. He fled, taking his family to England, but to no avail.

“It was the middle of the night.” Julia’s voice was quiet and a bit shaky. “My mom rushed in to my bedroom. She threw her palm over my mouth and pulled me under the bed. She hid me from the Kakos. She shoved a crumpled note in my hand and told me to stay put, not to move or make a sound until someone found me. The Kakos found my mom in my room, my dad tried to fight him off and save my mother but my dad was no match for that kind of evil. I heard their screams. I could see everything happen through a slit in my frilly, pink dust ruffle. I was too scared to close my eyes. I witnessed everything. The man had a knife; he struck them both so many times. Their blood pooled on the floor and eventually, their breathing and cries stopped and I was alone. I waited under the bed for two days. I was afraid The Kakos was still there waiting for me. A police officer found me covered in my parent’s blood. I couldn’t speak I was so scared and traumatized. My hand was still balled up clutching my mother’s handwritten note. On it was Andy’s phone number. The police officer took me to a hospital and a day later, Andy showed up for me. I remembered him from when I was really little. Before we moved away to England, my parents would bring me over on Sunday’s to the Alexander’s so I could play. I loved their house and the fact that there were so many kids my age to play with. Andy took me away from England and the bad memories and brought me home with him. He gave me my own room and clothes and friends. I got to go to school with Ari. Andy saved me.”

Julia closed her eyes as she finished recounting her family history and I saw a small tear slip down her porcelain cheek. I put my arm around her and she put her head on my shoulder.

“I heard them die, Ava. I didn’t do anything to save them. I was such a coward.”

“You weren’t a coward Julia, they would have killed you, too and you know it. You did the right thing.”

“Ava, I am scared for you. I’ve seen The Kakos in action. I know what they are capable of.”

“Promise not to tell anybody?”

“Promise.”

“I’m scared, too. I keep telling myself that nothing has really happened. I keep pushing my mother’s death back to the recesses of my mind. I allow myself to accept happiness here. I am too happy and too comfortable and just want to relish what I have.”