Page 29 of Broken Beauty

“God fucking damnit Ariella. You aren't that drunk, I've been watching you.” Ash's voice fills my ears and I wipe some water off my face and open my eyes seeing Ash's face against mine.

“I hate you.” I push his chest to make him let go of me but he doesn't budge.

“Hate you too, Madden.”

Thirteen

Ash

Summer

Ariella and I quietly walk inside the hotel room.

It's the middle of the night and I feel like shit for ruining our night. I wanted to take her to this rooftop bar where a famous DJ was performing.

The view would have been amazing and it sucks that me fighting in the subway ruined everything.

I had to call my dad to get me out of jail. He wasn't happy when I was talking to him on the phone.

I couldn't even concentrate on him. The only person I was concentrating on was Ariella and how she was basically alone in the city without me while I was detained.

I was scared for her because I know that the city is a big place.

But when I saw her in the police station as the officer was taking the cuffs off of me I was shocked.

I'm surprised she found her way here and not the hotel to wait for me.

By the look on her face, she looked like she was relieved to see me. I can't forget her screams and how she yelled at me to stop and was trying to get people to get me off of the guy before I pummeled him into the ground.

Sure I may have overreacted but the way he was saying those things to her made me want to end his life.

I got that familiar feeling creeping up my neck at that moment and the next thing I know, I couldn't stop myself.

The way my fists connected with his face gave me so much adrenaline that I couldn't stop.

I didn't want to stop.

“Sit down so that I can clean your hands,” Ariella says as she puts her jacket on the chair.

I sit down on the bed and rest my hands on my lap and look at Ariella who walks towards the bathroom.

Probably to get the first aid kit.

I look down at my hands and see cuts all over them.

I get flashbacks of moments from me punching the glass mirror in my bathroom. The way the shards of glass would enter my skin and make me bleed.

I was always fascinated with the way the blood ran down my hands.

“I found this first aid kit but it doesn't have a lot of the stuff we might need to make sure it's not infected,” Ariella says while walking back into the bedroom. She drops the first aid kit on the bed and kneels in front of me. She takes my hands in hers and she inspects the cuts. During the drive home she wouldn't talk to me or look at me. My father had a driver come and get us. Despite him being mad, that douchebag cares about me. “God, Ash,” she whispers before letting go of my hands and looking through the first aid kit.

I stare at her as she tends to the cuts on my hands.

She's so beautiful.

I have always thought that Ariella was beautiful but every time I admire her I can't grasp how beautiful she is.

Since we started hanging out more I noticed how much I want to always be around her.