Page 117 of Broken Beauty

“So, how was it?” She asks as I close the door.

I throw the journal he gave me in the back and then lean into the passenger seat.

“You're going to be giving me a lot of anal, Madden.”

Ariella shakes her head and chuckles lightly. “I only promised you that we would be trying it. That's it.”

“It was fucking torture in there. He kept saying that he thinks we will be getting closer and then he made me talk about you a lot.”

“What did you say about me?”

“How you're forcing me to go to therapy when I could just fuck you for therapy.”

Ariella gasps and she punches my shoulder. “You didn't tell him that, did you?” I stay silent and Ariella shoves my shoulder again. “I can't believe you said that to him.”

I chuckle. “He noticed that I love you a lot. He said that every time I would say one thing I loved about you, my eyes would light up and I would smile without even knowing.”

“Really?” Ariella's hand makes contact with my hair and she plays with the strands while smiling at me like she's in love.

Because she is.

Ariella Madden is in love with me.

Fifty-Seven

Ash

Present

The waves in the background is calming but I am more focused on Ariella's words and her angelic voice.

She is laying against my chest while reading a book to me. She is like my personal audio book. I've always liked audio books and just listening to her read me what she loves is calming.

Honestly, I'm not even listening to her words. I am just drowning myself into the sound of her voice.

I like how she even says, “Wait, I need to annotate this part,” and then she highlights the sentence, tabs it and then continues reading.

I need this to become a regular thing. I like seeing the way her eyes light up when she reads something she likes.

Most of the books she reads are romance but she tries to always read thriller in front of me instead of romance because of the smut scenes in the books. I can tell when she is reading smut though by the way her eyes turn glossy and the way her cheeks turn red.

“She slowly walks up to me, her breathing, shallow. When I lift her face for her eyes to connect with me, she shivers. I can see the love in her eyes. It’s filled with want and need. I like knowing that she wants me, that she needs me to be able to breathe air.”

Ariella turns the page and I hear her yawn before she starts reading again. As Ariella keeps reading, her words are getting more and more slurred and I notice how the book seems heavy in her hands.

“Ariella,” I whisper in her ear as I take the book from her hands, “go to sleep. We can finish the chapter another time.” I bookmark the book and set it down beside us on the blanket.

“But I don't want to leave yet.” Ariella turns around and looks up at me.

I tangle my hands in her hair and stare into her eyes. She looks so beautiful right now. Her face is bare, no makeup is on her face, not even mascara.

I love her when she looks like this. I love her even if she has makeup on too.

“We won't. We can stay.” Ariella's eyes lift a little before she rests her head on my chest and trails her fingers up and down my chest. “How are things with your dad going?”

“Things are normal. I finally got the money from my mom. I plan on putting down the six months’ rent for an apartment in New York that I was telling you about. I think I might be able to move out there this year for sure, maybe in the summer or earlier.”

I remember her telling me that. I remember because I plan on moving to New York with her, but she doesn't know that yet.