Page 8 of Caged Heart
“You said you wanted to feel good and forget the day.”
I filled it in for her.
“And so what? You offered?” She replied with an accusatory tone laced in her words.
I placed the blender down and wiped my mouth with a paper towel. I chucked it in the garbage and walked over to her, letting the counter separate us. I leaned in, allowing the counter to feel the rage always building inside me as I gripped the edges.
“No, I told you that you could make yourself feel good if that’s what you were looking for, but you didn’t want that; then we drank some more. I couldn’t tell you what was said that made us think we could hook up, but we did, and you acted uppity in the morning instead of simply asking how we got there. Remember that? Surely you weren’t drunk in the morning too.”
“I didn’t act uppity. I was just confused because, you know….”
Her words got lodged somewhere in her lying throat, so I finished it off for her.
“You have a lady boner for my brother and want him to fuck you. That’s why you wanted me to swear not to tell anyone we hooked up to the point of tears coming down your face. A normal man who didn’t have confidence in himself and what he could do would be offended, but I’m not. I’m just impressed at how long you’ve managed to keep it a lie. You suck at lying.”
Her eyes narrowed at my words.
“How would you know if I can lie or not?”
“What did you feel when you kissed me that morning after you flipped out? Why did you do it? Instead of leaving, why did you let me fuck you like I did that morning? All valid questions, right? Because you could’ve left since we both were drunk, and we could’ve chucked it up to a drunken night. But, you wanted me more. You needed more, and that’s why you couldn’t and still can’t keep your eyes from always finding their way to me. You want to know why I get on your nerves when I’ve never done anything to you?”
“What are you talking about!” She exploded. “I, I, okay! Fine, so we slept together again in the morning, and I kissed you because I could. I don’t have an answer for you, Ares!” She said my name with such venom it caught my attention much more than the last time. She had darkness in her that I wanted. “It was a mistake.”
Without saying another word, she walked off. Her door slammed, and my mouth kicked up in a smirk like it always does when destruction is close by.
“What do you think you can do to her, baby brother?” Artemis’s hand slid down my back over my shoulder as she stood behind me.
“She has darkness in her, and you can take it on. Take more from her, so she’s left with nothing but light. Did you see the look on her face when you asked her those questions? It was pure hatred toward you. She likes Mars and will never like you, so take the darkness and let her give her all to Mars. You don’t deserve anything else but darkness and destruction.”
“I know.” That was all I could manage to say.
I hung my head and shut my eyes, needing Artemis’s touch to disappear, or else she would invite the touches of others again. I haven’t felt those foreign hands, but just like I knew they would, all those hands slid across my body, making me wish I could swim in sulfur for life.
My mind went blank, and my body shook with a confusion of anger, excitement, fear, and desires. All sorts of desires. It was tainted. I was tainted.
I fought my body as I walked out of the kitchen and down the hall. I didn’t stop until I slammed the side of my fist into Carmen’s door. She opened up with an alarmed expression written all over her face.
“What! What happened?” She said in a panic, her dark caramel-hued skin became flushed.
“I need it to be quiet.”
Those are all the words she got before I sunk my fingers into her honey blondish brown curls and kissed her like that morning.
I need the quiet. I need the silence.
I.Need.The.Quiet.
And she gave it to me as she kissed me back just as I needed.
Carmen pulled her lips away, “this is the last time, Ares.”
“Shut up,” I growled out my response and kissed her again, lifting her against the wall.
She wrapped her arms and legs around me. There was no time to think about anything else. It was quiet again, not the quiet before the storm, just the peacefulness where no one else touched me.
Chapter6
Carmen
