Page 63 of Twisted Truths

I tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear, but I don’t agree with her.

“It’s not true, do you hear me? Stop thinking that about yourself.” Tears well in her eyes, and I cup her face.

My sweet Ariana. What the hell did I ever do in this life to get her?

“He used to tell me all the time how much of himself he saw in me. How, out of all my brothers, I was the one he knew would grow up to be just like him. The idea of it terrified me. That’s why…” I search her face. I don’t want to cause her any more pain, but this feels like the moment to lay myself bare. “That’s why I tried to end my life a decade ago.”

She sucks in a breath, and something passes over her stricken expression I can’t quite place. “Oh, Obsidian.” The tears pooled in her eyes slip free. “Thank God you weren’t successful.”

“It had nothing to do with God. Kol found me and got my stomach pumped before it was too late.”

“I don’t care what your asshole of a father told you, you are not that man. You aren’t filled with darkness. We all have pieces of ourselves that live in dark corners, but it doesn’t make up the entirety of who you are. If it did, you wouldn’t even care if you turned out like him.”

She has a point. I’ve never thought about it that way.

I’m quiet, contemplating her words, when she says, “Can I ask you something?”

I trace my fingers over her forehead, down her temple, then along her jawline. “Anything.”

“Why didn’t your mom stop it from happening?”

It’s a fair question. I’d ask her the same if the roles were reversed. “He was physically abusive toward her too. A lot of times, what my brothers and I were being punished for was sticking up for her and trying to intervene.”

She shakes her head. “You were just children.”

“That never mattered to him.”

“How did your father die?”

I hold my breath, then it comes out as a rush of air. “That’s the only thing I can’t discuss with you, I’m sorry.” I thread my hand through the hair at her temple.

She looks as though she wants to ask more, but respects what I said with a nod. “Well, however it was, I hope it was long and painful.”

It was.

Ariana leans her head back down on my chest. “Thank you for telling me all of this. I know it must be difficult.”

My hand runs up and down her side, basking in the feel of her soft skin. “I want you to know all of me, Ariana. I want to be worthy of your love.”

She pops up again, this time straddling my lap and leaning in so we’re surrounded by the flames of her red hair, noses touching, breathing in each other. “You are more than worthy, Obsidian.”

Then she slides her body down mine and takes me in her mouth, obliterating any thoughts of the past. By the time she’s finished with me, it’s hard not to believe I’m the luckiest bastard in the world.

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

ARIANA

This week has been a blur, and I can hardly believe it’s Saturday. Between the beginning tendrils of friendship with Anabelle, Rapsody, and Cinder, and having Obsidian tell me he loves me, I’m floating on a cloud.

The only shadow to be found was in his confession of the abuse his father inflicted on him. I can’t believe men like his father actually exist. Thank God that man is already dead, or I might have tracked him down and murdered him myself.

The day after Obsidian and I made love, I googled his father and found out that he was murdered just like his mother. The only difference is that Obsidian and his brothers were all suspects in his death at one point or another, but the police never had enough evidence, so the death remains unsolved.

Truth is, even if one of them did kill him, I’d be unbothered. Every monster deserves a monstrous death.

The driver stops the vehicle in front of Black Magic Bar, and I step out. My mood plummets when I stare at the door because I’m here empty-handed. I couldn’t go through with stealing from the man I love. The moment Obsidian told me he loved me, it created a mountain of problems for me.

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