Page 14 of Broken Beauty

“But I didn't know-“

“I don't fucking care,” Ash cuts me off, eyes still dark and filled with hate.

“I won't let you treat me like a toy, Ash.” I furrow my eyebrows at him and put my hands on his chest to push him away from me but he doesn't budge.

“Good. That will make this a whole lot more fun.”

Six

Ash

Summer

Today Ariella and I are at the beach.

One of her bucket list items is that she wants to spend twenty-four hours at the beach and that even includes sleeping there.

So I brought a lot of blankets and pillows for us as well as a tent we can use to sleep in.

I went to Ariella’s house first thing in the morning and we used her car to drive to Venice.

This whole day I couldn't keep my eyes off her, even as she stares up at the sky, admiring the stars, I can't grasp how beautiful she looks.

Today Ariella and I walked around the beach, went in the water where I even managed to have a small water fight with her.

I definitely couldn't keep my eyes off of her while we were in the water.

How her skin looked when it was half naked and wet.

I swear no one is perfect and I have been told that by everyone, but Ariella is.

But that's not something I should be thinking about. This thing between us is temporary.

That's what we agreed on.

It hasn't even been a month since I met her and I am already obsessed.

“Do you ever wonder what stars mean?” Ariella says which makes me focus my attention back on her.

Right now we are in the tent looking at the sky. The tent I brought has a little sky view which is nice.

Ariella really liked it when she saw that the tent had that.

“What do you mean?”

“Like, I feel like stars appear whenever someone dies. And that's heaven for them.”

“That's an interesting way to think of it.” I smile at her and Ariella smiles back. Lately I have been smiling more and it feels good to smile again and feel genuinely happy. Not to mention that the voices are gone. “I think only good people are up there though.”

“My mom is up there then.”

Ariella smiles but it's not a happy smile, it's more of a sad smile and I can't help but pull her closer to me and wrap my arm around her.

“What was she like?”

Ariella hasn't really mentioned her parents that much, only her mom. I learned she died when Ariella was sixteen due to heart failure. She told me when we were watching the stars on a hill. I know it was hard for her to talk to me about that but I could tell she wanted to.

I felt guilty about not telling her much about me but if I did then Ariella would run away.