Page 36 of Caged Heart
“You’re quiet, is everything okay?” I asked.
We stopped at a red light and Ares finally looked my way, a shadow came over his face. Did I not fix my face and clothes from when Sarge practically manhandled me while no one helped me?
“What happened?” He asked.
Suddenly, everything was silent. I didn’t shut down, but it was hard to focus. I could hear the wind against our windows. The wind carried sounds of the clink of a piece of metal being kicked, a Harley rumbling to life, and police sirens wailing at first near and then growing distant.
“You’re stalling, and if you’re stalling, it means I should fucking kill Sarge, Carmen. What happened?” Ares asked. His tone was dark and eerie.
“You’re scaring me, Ares and I can’t run to Mars’s door. So please, just let’s forget it.”
“I’m not going to fucking hurt you, Goldilocks. I will hurt whoever has you thinking you can’t say shit to me. I don’t like that.”
“Why are you acting like you care all of a sudden!” I yelled back. Fear gripped me. Not because of Ares but because I feared it was too good to be true.
Too good that someone would want to come to my rescue and want to fight for me. That someone seriously wanted to have me take a break so they could fight my battles. I’ve never searched for a white knight but today… Today I wished for one.
His emotions flitted across his face. Darkness crossed his face. A pained look marred his face.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Carmen? When did I act like I didn’t care?”
“You’ve never cared until we slept together and I needed a place to stay.”
“You’re just talking shit to avoid whatever the fuck you’re feeling right now. I’m not going to engage in it because you want something else. I won’t argue with you so that you can feel like you’ve got your power back. Tell me who the fuck took your power so that I can show you what you’ve been crying for.”
My heart skipped multiple beats and I feared that I was in atrophy.
“What does that mean? What have I been crying for?”
“A white knight but that’s not what I’ll give you.” Ares shook his head and reached out, caressing my cheek before lifting my chin. “I’ll give you a dark knight. A knight filled with rage, war, and terror. The only kind that can fight your battles and win. I will rescue you even when you think I won’t.”
Chapter24
Carmen
At the funeral, I watched as both Mars and Ares gave a speech about their mother. There was no reluctance nor was there love in their tone.
Mars was just as monotonous as Ares but Ares stuck out to me when he spoke because he seemed so far removed from it that no one was behind his eyes.
“I loved my mother, and while she wasn’t perfect, she was perfect to me. In everything she did, every way she walked, and how she could persuade others.”
The words tumbled from his lips like loose pebbles bent on disturbing still waters.
“Rhea Wolfgang was a rare breed, a woman who put family first to the point that most wouldn’t believe if I told them. She loved her boys and her husband a lot. We will carry her memory with us because she left us with that. I could scream in the name of some foreigner’s god but she raised us as gods ourselves so we can simply honor her,”
Anger like sharp barbs formed on his words.
“May Rhea Wolfgang rest in the same place that Artemis Wolfgang is resting. The Pyre.”
His voice was soft as a feather, yet cold as a hungry tomb. No emotions were available for his mother, but when his green eyes found mine, something awoke. My heart banged inside my chest like a tiger raging against the cage that stole its freedom. Even amid a sadness that should have shrouded all other thoughts, it didn’t take away from how Ares affected me.
My heart was beating wildly as a simple thought came to mind. I was falling for this boy. The boy that took me in when I had nowhere else to go and one who held me when I cried because of Sarge paying me a visit. He was caring even if he didn’t know it. He was beautiful, even if he didn’t believe it and most of all, he was patient, even if he thought the opposite.
So many emotions swam in his eyes but one ruled over the others; desire. The desire precedes everything else that would have escaped in his eyes.
My eyes scanned his face, his body in the suit, and how his fingers gripped the podium for dear life. I could think of many ways to let Ares take me and my heart beat harder, faster in my chest. Was it right or sinful to get wet at a funeral?
A moment passed between us where everything was silent.
