“Aria practically had a heart attack when I agreed to let you and Desiree come along.” I laugh, washing my hands.
“She’s just afraid it will be awkward.” Thien chortles.
“We’re good though, right?” I ask.
“Look, I don’t see us being BFF’s and braiding each other’s hair or some shit like that, but I don’t have a reason not to like you. Aria chose you, and while she’s obviously lost her damn mind, I have to make my piece with that.” Thien replies. “Now if you hurt her, no offense…but I’ll make it my soul mission to hunt you to the ends of the earth and rip your fucking head off.”
“Noted.” I hold out my hand for him to shake.
Thien shakes my hand and we head back into the theatre before Aria and Desiree try to kill each other. Thankfully both are face deep in their cell phones. Although I suspect it’s something they did to avoid having to talk to one another.
My phone vibrates in my pocket but I wait until I’m back in the lobby to answer it. “Now you decide to use your phone.” I sigh. “What do you want Gavin?”
“Where is he?”
“Safe.” I answer.
“Cut the shit Noah, where is he?”
“Like I said, he’s safe. He’s under my watch and there’s been a change of plans.”
“Oh really?”
“Yes. Find the second weapon and as soon as I figure out how to activate the first I’ll deliver him to you myself.” I instruct.
“So now you’re in control of this?” Gavin scoffs.
“Yes. The next time I text you, you damn well better answer your phone.” I warn him and hang up the phone.
The movie is halfway over by the time I make it back to my seat. Aria laces her fingers with mine, suddenly wrapped up in the movie, but I have other plans.
Using her chin to turn her towards me, I press my lips against hers and slide my tongue across the roof of her mouth. She let out a soft moan and gripped the back of my head, holding my lips to hers. The movie, the sound of Thien and Desiree doing Chi knows what and everything else fades into the background. We’re so wrapped up in each other that neither of us are aware of the fact that the movie has ended until the cleanup crew comes in to sweep up after everyone.
We leave the theater and head straight home. Thien takes Desiree upstairs, but he quickly comes back down looking for a seal. Wake tosses him one and then he disappears. If we weren’t both in love with the same girl, or fighting for different causes, dare I say he and I might actually be friends? His ‘hit-list’ is about as long as mine, and I have a feeling its about to spill over into the human world.
I don’t want to be around the others so I take Aria up to my room. “Wait, has Qi been in your room? Have you two…” she asks, hesitant.
“Only in her room.” I assure her. She eyes me skeptically and reluctantly comes into my room. There’s curiosity in her eyes as she browses through my room. I haven’t had time to make this place home yet, so there aren’t many things inside. There’s my laptop, my backpack, and my clothes hanging up in the closet. “Your room is pretty clean for a guy, but then again, you’ve always been a super-controlling neat freak.”
“Touché.” I smile.
Aria sits down on my bed, but that’s not why I brought her here. I open the window to the landing just outside, grab a blanket and a few candles I stole from India, code name Thrusts room, and set them up outside. When its all ready I help her out onto the landing and we lie down on top of the blanket, staring up at the stars. I pull a tiny object out of my pocket and place it in the palm of Aria’s hand.
“If you keep giving me skittles I’M going to turn sour and colorful all over.” She jokes.
I laugh. She tears open the pack and starts eating them. Every second or third skittle she feeds to me, but mostly, we lay here in silence. Well…that is until Desiree’s moaning makes it impossible to put a thought together.
“I really don’t want to hear this.” Aria groans covering her ears.
“Now you know what it was like listening to you and him go at it that night.” I smirk.
“Were we really that loud?” She asks.
“Loud enough, but I left after ten minutes.” I chuckle.
“See…this is thing I don’t understand about guys. He says he loves me, but look where he is. How can you love someone and be screwing some girl in the next room like I’m not here?”
“Would you rather be in there with him than out here with me?”
“No.” She replies sincerely. “I would just like for a guy to tell me he loves me and actually mean it.”
“Not that I’m taking his side or anything, but hear me out. Guys aren’t wired like girls. Girls romanticize EVERYTHING, and because of that, they have these impossible expectations of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, although it’s not normal to you or it doesn’t make sense, it makes perfect sense to a guy that he’s where he’s at right now, with who he’s with.” I explain. “Guys are simple. We’re either in a committed relationship or we’re screwing everything that walks. Depending on what we want from a girl, it can even be both. That’s why some guys are players. We want the perks that come with being in a relationship, but we also want to be free to conquer at will.”
“That makes no sense. Guys are so dumb.” She sighs.
“Um…thanks? I think.”
“No seriously. Why not say what you mean and mean what you say?”
“Who says he doesn’t?”
“His actions.”
I sigh and turn to face her. “Skittles look, it’s this simple. Havoc loves you and he wants to be with you, but you turned him down because you’re with me. What else is he supposed to do?” I put it to her simply.
“Fight for me.”
“Guys don’t work like that. We’re not fighters in that aspect. Not unless you tell us that’s what you want, because otherwise we’re more like waiters…we wait for you to figure it the fuck out and then tell us what you want us to do.”
Aria shakes her head and props herself up on her elbows. The moon makes her green eyes more alluring and all I can think about is kissing her. Acting on that thought, I lean in and gently kiss her on the lips. A fire sparks to life in her eyes. I have her undivided attention.
I don’t want to do anything that reminds her of Thien. I don’t even want her mind drifting back to the moments they shared, so tonight, we won’t go beyond a kiss. Truthfully I brought her up here because I want to ask her something and I don’t know how she’ll respond to it. I also don’t want the others to overhear.
“I have to ask you something.” I whisper as I kiss along her neckline.
The look in her eyes tells me she wants me to shut up, but again…that’s not why I brought her here. Still, I nibble on her earlobe to give her a little of what she wants.
“Aria, I need your help with something.” I whisper into her ear.
“With what?” She replies breathlessly, trying to keep her eyes open as my tongue traces her ear.
“I need you to help me kill Desmond.”
She pulls away from me and studies my face, hoping this is a joke, but it isn’t. “Why would you want to kill Desmond?” She asks.
“To absorb his power.” I answer. “I’m not like Thien. I wasn’t given a shitload of natural power when I was born, which means I have to steal it.”
“Okay, but right now Desmond wants the same thing we do. Your brother. But don’t you think it’s better to have Desmond out there trying to find Gavin too?”
“Desmond will never find Gavin, but I can. Only, I need to be stronger than I am to do it.” I explain.
“I don’t know Noah.” Aria shakes her head.
“I don’t need an answer right this second. Just think about it.”
“Good, because we’ll need to know what we’re up against, which means Thien will have to do some research and…”
“You misunderstand.” I place my index finger against her lips. “I just need you. It would be just the two of us.”
“We aren’t strong enough to take on Desmond and his demons by ourselves. It’s suicide.”
“You’re stronger than you know Skittles.”
“You need someone with Thien’s strength.” She argues. “He may be a bonehead, but the jerk has unlimited potential-”
“As do you.” I cut her off. “In all honesty, I don’t understand why they haven’t given you your title back as General. As a matter of fact, your team is a crutch. The more you lean on them, the less you grow to understand what you’re capable of.”
“Even if that is true, Desmond is not the demon to test that theory on. If we’re wrong, he’ll kill me.”
“If I’m right, then we’ll be able to stop him from killing anyone ever again.” I argue. “Just think about my proposition.”
“Proposition.” She smirks. “What will I get in return?”
“Whatever your heart desires.” I smile.
Aria shakes her head and pulls my lips to hers. Being with her made me second-guess the current path I’m on. This is what happened the last time we were together. Her smile, her touch, and those eyes all make me wish I were a better man. They make me wish I could be good.
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