Page 86 of Broken Beauty

“Shut up and go pick out more books to buy.”

She shakes her head and mumbles words I can't hear but I just stand there and smile down at her.

Forty

Ariella

Present

Ash is over right now. It's been a few days since the bookstore.

Since the moment I found him in his bathroom and he fucked me hard and rough all night long right after that.

He thinks I have forgotten about it and let it go but he's wrong.

I'm just trying to find the right time to talk to him.

“Pass me the sugar,” Ash says before licking brownie mixture off of a wooden spoon.

I hand him a cup of sugar and he pours it into the mixture before mixing it. It's a good thing only Ash and I are eating these because I know that no one would want to have Ash's saliva mixed inside the brownies.

But also, if they were to look at Ash, they would probably rethink their decision and want to lick his whole body while they're at it.

Things for the past few days have been good between us except for the elephant in the room and how I am dying to talk to Ash about that night.

I know he took me to the bookstore to make me forget about it. Although I appreciate the necklace he gave me, I can't stop thinking about him in the bathroom.

All I want to do is ask him about what is going on with him and what is happening in that mind of his.

I wrap my arms around Ash and rest my head against his bare back as he mixes the brownie mix. His body is warm against mine and I feel the way his heart beats rapidly against his chest.

“Your heart is beating so fast,” I mumble against his back and caress his chest.

Ash stops what he's doing and he turns in my arms. My arms are resting on his shoulder and his hands go down to rest on my hips.

I swear I think Ash sees the heart in my eyes as I look up at him. “What are you thinking of in that head of yours?”

I feel blush spread on my cheeks. I try to ignore it but it's hard with the way he is smiling at me.

If I tell him what's been bothering me I know he won't be happy in a second.

“I want to talk about that night.”

Ash stays quiet for a second. He acts as if I didn't say a thing and I wonder if he actually heard me but then his hands on me tense up and he pulls me closer to him.

“We don't have to talk about that,” Ash mumbles.

“Yea but I think we need to.”

Ash lets out a sigh and I can tell he is uncomfortable from this conversation but what I saw that night made me so scared and now I can't help but constantly worry about him.

“That night I saw you Ash, I was so scared,” I say as I feel my chest tighten. “Seeing you with blood all over your hands,” I look down at Ash's hands, which now have stitches on them, that he managed to do himself. “I have never been so scared in my life, Ash.” I reach down and hold one of his hands in mine. “I never want to see you in pain like that ever again.”

“You were never meant to see that and I'm sorry you did,” Ash says softly.

He takes his hands out of mine and I feel one of his hands hold my jaw.

I look up at Ash and he is giving me a soft and almost genuine look.