Page 89 of Broken Beauty

I roll my eyes.

He has such a huge ego.

“Well, no one will even tell me about the trial. If it's so bad, why don't you tell me?” I ask, practically begging.

“No. It's too much.”

“So, you don't trust me?” I raise an eyebrow at him.

My father hasn't always been like this. Ever since mom passed away, he has changed drastically and it made me miss him a lot, the old him.

The one who wasn't always so overprotective of his secrets and himself. The one who didn't care about what anyone else was doing, as long as his girls were happy.

My mom made his heart calm and his lips would turn into a genuine smile.

I miss the kind of person he was when my mother was around, but at the same time I didn't pay too much attention to my parents when I was younger. I started paying attention around fifteen years old, around the same time my mom died.

“It's not that I don't trust you, I just think that the subject is very sensitive.”

“And Levi Jones? I don't understand what your deal is with him. Why do you hate Levi so much that you don't want your daughter to be happy with someone that she loves?”

I don't know why I said that.

I have never fully admitted it to myself but I feel it.

Deep in my veins I feel like I love Ash Jones because what is there not to love about him? I just wish I didn't sometimes because he can so easily hurt me with just his words.

I have felt something strong towards Ash, since the moment we were chest to chest in the bookstore on the first day of summer. I have always felt something strong towards him. With him I feel like I can be myself with no judgment.

Sure, there are problems when it comes to Ash but no one is perfect.

“You're grounded,” my father says, making me look up at him and furrow my eyebrows. “I don't ever want to hear something like that come out of your mouth again. I have never been so disappointed in you.”

My jaw fucking dropped.

Last time I checked, I am nineteen years old.

I stand up from the chair. “I turned nineteen a few days ago and you tell me that I'm grounded?”

“I'll be leaving for New York by the end of next week but until then I don't want to see you anywhere near that son of a bitch,” my father says, ignoring me.

“You can't tell me who I can't see. You can't control my life anymore.”

He rolls his eyes. “Like hell I can.” He leans back in his chair and puts his hand on his chin as if he is bored. “We'll talk more about this in the morning. I don't want to talk to you right now, Ariella.”

I nip my bottom lip. “I wish it was you instead of her.”

I don't wait to see his reaction; I don't want to see the look of hurt in his eyes.

I rush out the door and run upstairs to my room before closing the door and locking it.

Forty-Two

Ash

Present

Ariella makes me do things that I never would have thought of doing. I feel deranged whenever I am with or without her. This feeling she gives me makes me feel on edge the entire time.