Page 116 of Aria

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Tears welled in my eyes as I bit down on my bottom lip to keep it from quivering. The words were on the tip of my tongue—words I’d kept buried for a long time. Months, maybe.

Words that would change everything.

“Noah, I have feelings for you. Strong feelings.” I wondered if the breath left Noah the same way it just left me. His angsty eyes shifted into something else. Something softer, yet infinitely more powerful. I squeezed my own eyes shut to avoid his gaze. I couldn’t concentrate with him looking at me with such intensity. And I had to concentrate… the words needed to be right.

They needed to beperfect.

But when I opened my eyes to continue my overdue confession, I was silenced by a familiar figure standing behind Noah at the opening of the alley. I jumped back with a gasp of horror. “Noah… oh my God…”

Ian.

No.

Noah whipped around, quickly shoving me behind him, using his body as a shield. I clutched his arm as Ian stepped toward us.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Chelly Bean. I hope you didn’t think I skipped town,” Ian mocked, letting out a malicious laugh. “I’d never leave you.”

I paled, my stomach twisting into knots. “Leave us alone.”

“You don’t want to make any more trouble for yourself,” Noah reasoned.

Ian cackled in reply. “You think I’ve got anything left to lose?”

He pulled a pistol out of his coat pocket and brandished it in front of us.

“Jesus, Ian,” I startled, pulling away from Noah and taking a step toward my armed ex. I wasn’t sure why my reaction was to approach the unhinged assailant instead of flee, but my blood coursed with fire, and my limbs twitched with purpose. “You’re fucking crazy. You always have been. Are you going to shoot me?” My fear escalated into blind rage. “Get it over with!”

“Christ, Chelsie…” Noah grabbed me by the arm and yanked me back. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m sick of this, Noah. I’m sick of living in constant fear.” I glanced back at Ian, my heart nearly beating out of my chest. “Just shoot me, goddammit!”

Ian laughed again, twirling the weapon between his fingers. “You’ve got a little spunk left in you, after all,” he said with a wink. “We had some good times.”

“Either shoot me, or leave me the hell alone. I’m done playing your games,” I pleaded. I only realized I’d been crying when the hot tears spilled onto my lips, my chest heaving with anger. I had meant it—I’d rather be dead than living in Ian’s perpetual shadow.

That was no life at all.

“Listen, just put the gun down,” Noah urged, moving in front of me, holding his arm out for protection.

Ian shrugged as he eyed the shiny pistol, running his finger along the barrel. “I rather like it. Chelsie got herself a pretty little gun here.”

Frowning, I squinted my eyes at the weapon. “That’s… your gun,” I whispered to Noah. “He stole your gun.” I gritted my teeth and looked back at Ian. “You broke into my house?”

“Yourhouse?” Ian sneered. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “You mean the residence you occupy with your millionaire boy-toy? We both know that will never be your house. That will never be your life. You’re a bottom-feeder. You’re just like me, Chelly Belly.”

I couldn’t help the wave of insecurity that washed over me as old demons resurfaced. “Fuck you.”

“Ooh,” he taunted. Ian scratched his head with the butt of the gun. “You play the part well enough. I’m sure you’ve fooled a lot of people with your Cinderella act.”

“It’s not an act.”

“Oh, darling, it’s a complete façade. If only lover boy knew the real you.”

My fists clenched at my sides, my fingernails leaving tiny half-moon prints on my palms. “That’s not me, Ian. I’m not broken anymore.”

“You’ll always be broken. You’ll always be weak.”

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