Page 51 of Caged Heart
"Our pretty girl," Ares stated, and the sensation that trickled up my spine made me dizzy momentarily.
"I don't understand," I confessed.
Mars smiled, and Ares chuckled.
"We can revisit that when it's time. It's not time yet. I'm not ready." Mars confessed as he wiped my tears away. "But I'm okay, Carmi. Thank you for caring about me. Both of you." He said as he looked at Monica. "You two mean a lot to me."
This time when Mars looked at me again, he pulled me into a hug. One that I returned because my friend was okay. A friend that held an ominous position in my life. One that I wasn't ready to admit out loud, but it seemed that life and what Ares said was fate stared into my eyes in a way that I couldn't look away.
What was staring at me wasn't normal for many people, but normal for me was needing love, so what would I do now that more than one love was staring at me in the eye? More than one person willing to fight for me? Willing to disrupt the natural process of life just so I could feel something?
Two sides of the same coin, Ares and Mars, called me their pretty girl.
Their pretty girl.Oh God, Carmen… what are you going to do?
Chapter37
Ares
Nothing in this world I've ever been given a chance to share with my brother. Unfortunately, we've shared more than we've ever consented to share before, and now, it doesn't feel like that.
The difference now was that I knew what he wanted long before he realized he wanted it; he wanted Carmen but denied himself of her for many reasons that I couldn't take away from him. They were his and his only.
My want for Carmen was my own, and it had nothing to do with his, but this… the expression I saw in his eyes when she knelt before him and cried for him, I knew then.
There were no feelings of jealousy with how he looked at her or the feeling of being second to him. No, at this moment, I was happy because he brought something out.
Don't get me wrong, we weren't suddenly okay. There were milestones we had to overcome, but for now, we were doing better than before. This time, if he wanted me to listen, maybe I would. Hell, I'd even sit down with him, but it didn't mean we would be inseparable suddenly.
Either way, I knew that even though he admitted to me through his expression and to Carmen with his words that he was interested, he wouldn't just come around suddenly. These things took time; it would take a lot of time for Mars.
When the girls left the room to grab a coffee, Mars and I left as the nurse looked him over.
"He's not dead." At my confession, Mars slammed his eyes shut.
Mars nodded and released a long sigh.
"We have to call Bale and tell Hiram before everything is revealed. We can't let him be in the dark about it."
"I know, I know. I'll send them both a message to come to meet us here. After all, it is their family name as well."
Mars agreed with my statement as he kept his eyes shut. We were silent after that, even as the nurse left, and there was nothing but the beeping of the machines… it was too silent, and even though I knew Mars wasn't asleep, I wanted him to know I wasn't going anywhere.
"I would never hurt her no matter what I did to Artemis," Mars whispered into the room, and it transported me back to a memory of us being brothers when we were young.
The times' dad and mom would go on trips. They would leave us with the nannies, and they weren't bad. They let us stay up, watch movies, and just laugh.
"I loved her once, you know," Mars confessed. "Our sister. You won't remember because you were always a loner, but she once protected us. She tried her best, but she gave in. She became a monster to us instead of defeating the monsters who raised us. I told her I forgave her when I watched and listened for her last intake of breath in this world. The last evil she let out."
For the first time in my life, I watched my brother's tears fall from his face, but he refused to open them up. I don't blame him; I would never open my eyes to this.
"We could've been monsters too, but I had to do something," Mars gritted through his teeth. "I had to stop her, and now, she'll haunt me for the rest of my life because I don't deserve to be in love or happy but fuck it if I won't bulldoze the shit out of that thought. I know I'm batshit crazy, and I always appear as though I'm calm to others while I express myself. I can't help it, Ares. His molding of me in his image is still very much present… so I need you to understand that I would never hurt her, and I wouldn't fucking dare."
"I know you won't. You could've done it but chose not to. You chose to hurt yourself."
"I fought it hard. But after I saw you two, I figured maybe this is what it should be. How things should be. Sacrificing once more for you wasn't something that big of a deal, and there wasn't much I could give her anyway." Mars confessed, but he refused to wipe his tears away.
"I know we won't always see eye to eye, Mars because it's been too long, but I know that. I know you wouldn't hurt her, not even me. That's the difference between her and Artemis. You would never have to hurt her. She's good, Mars. So fucking good."
