Page 53 of Broken Beauty

“How do you know?”

I turn around and face Ash. “Because you have this stupid grudge against me and you want to, and I quote, 'ruin me' when I have done nothing wrong.”

Ash walks up to me until his chest is pressed against mine. The thin tank top I'm wearing fails to hide how hard my nipples probably are and how hot Ash's chest is against mine.

His hard, rippled body pressed against mine, making me want to curl inside of him and never leave his embrace.

“My plan has always been to ruin you, Ariella, but I was never meant to hurt you.”

“They are both still the same thing.”

“No, not to me.” Ash leans in a little closer to me. “You were never meant to not be mine, Ariella. I knew from the moment I saw you in that bookstore that you and I were always meant to be together.”

I can't trust him.

He is a boy who will break my heart and tear my soul in half like my mom said. Ash is the one guy who I, out of all people, should have no reason to be near.

He will just bring darkness in my life.

“Well, I'm not going to be. Not when you are having a grudge against me. And let's also not forget about how you have your own demons and darkness to fix before we talk about last summer and what happened.”

Ash's lips turn in a smirk. “I thought you liked my darkness, Madden?”

Ash leans close and his lips ghost over mine. The way his breath is hitting my lips makes me want to lean into him and close my eyes to absorb him.

But he only brings trouble and heart break. That's what Ash does.

I push Ash away from me. “Leave me alone and don't touch me.”

“You can only control this thing for so long, Ariella.”

“We'll see about that Ash,” I tell him before I see a ghost of a smile on Ash's lips.

I just hope I don't fall into his trap again like I did last summer, because if I do, then it's game over and he will ruin me like he wants to.

Twenty-Four

Ariella

Present

Liam's eyes haven’t stopped looking at me since I entered the classroom.

Almost no one is here, and I just got a text from Bridgette that she can't come today because she woke up with a cold.

I cursed at her through the phone, wishing that she could come today.

Usually, I meet Bridgette in class early so we can talk or she picks me up from my house and we just chat while driving to school. I decided to drive myself today because after classes I have my annual appointment with my gynecologist.

I always have these appointments. Ever since I started my period, I’ve been seeing her. She makes sure I am healthy and we always catch up when I see her. Her and my mom went to school together so they were pretty close and I trust her a lot.

“Ariella.” I lift my head from my hands and see Liam looking at me. “Can you come here for a quick second?” Liam asks, which makes me wipe the sweat from my hands on my thighs and stand up.

I walk towards his desk and stand in front, putting my hands to my side.

“What's up?”

“Your grade.” Liam turns his computer around and I furrow my eyebrows when I see a 62%.That's impossible, I just turned in an essay last week.“You need to do better.”