Page 55 of Caged Heart
"Oh, fuck you, Ares!"
"Fuck me?" I repeated for her to hear her words.
There wasn't a part of me that was mad. I just knew I had to do this for her. To push her over the edge so she can show me how upset she is instead of keeping it to herself.
"Yes, fuck you. I didn't say I was taking it. I'm processing and thinking about what to do. What my next steps will be. Jesus, that's why I wanted a minute."
"Well, you've had about, I don't know, nineteen years to process or maybe less since she didn't start fucking up until your dad passed, but even then, how many jobs will you get? How much money are you going to lose to that woman? That isn't love, Carmen!" My voice got louder at the end, and I didn't mean for that to happen.
The murderous gaze that Carmen gave me assured me that she could handle her own. I knew that she was always strong, and people mistook how quiet she was about things as a weakness. The way she didn't say anything to her mom or her stepfather isn't a weakness. Just because she was meek, it didn't mean she was the negative definition of it. No, she was a person who showed patient restraint.
When I reached out to grab her jaw in my hand, Carmen didn't flinch, but she ripped her jaw out of my hand. I smirked and repeated the action.
"You hold back a lot, and I know it's to spare people's feelings but don't fucking hide from me like that. I showed you a lot of me, and I expect the same courtesy; even if you want to fight me, you say that shit to me. I'm not like other people in your life that disappointed you. That's not part of what I am and will forever remain as in your life. Are we clear?"
Carmen's brow lifted, and while her glare would've made a weaker man cower or clutch his balls, it turned me on.
"You expect the same courtesy? I don't work for you, Ares."
"You're right about that, but you're part of me. That's the same fucking courtesy you should expect from me too, and I'm no longer hiding from you, so do me the same favor. Come on, baby?"
I leaned in and captured her lips in a soft kiss, and when she kissed me back, I groaned. I wanted to take her here and now, but I won't do that.
When I pulled away, Carmen still had her eyes shut, and that fucking made me smile.
"Fuck, Goldilocks, I can't wait to hear you sing my name when all this is over."
Carmen slowly opened her eyes, and the anger wasn't completely gone, but I saw her love for me while it was brimming. My baby.
I'll help her do anything, even if I have to exorcise her demons when she's trying to find her way out. Fuck the light and dark knight analogy. I don't need to be all of that. All I need to be is that fallen Angel she seeks. The one who knew better but decided against it. Who doesn't think twice about putting down whoever is in the way of their god or, in my predicament, goddess.
Everything I'll do for her; worship, kiss, bleed, and eviscerate for her.
That's what I'll do. Ares, a god who gave up his godliness so his human could become higher than him, his goddess.
Nothing is above her as long as I am by her side.
Chapter40
Carmen
Iwas worried and angry. Much more angry than worried that my mother hadn't returned my phone call. I wanted to go to the apartment, but Ares refused to let me go there. Especially not alone, and I didn't really fight him on it much.
So the only thing we could do was go to my classes as if everything was suddenly normal and continue on with life. This proved to me how much people didn't see others' pain and how people walked around with that much destruction in their path.
When Damon and Lily finally saw us all, especially Mars, in that hospital bed with those cuts and bruises, they wanted to know the truth. It was tiring having to retell it. We did, but we glossed over what happened to Mars and Ares because that would have to be something they were really ready to share with us.
Yes, we were friends but most importantly, we were family, and family lives, which in love, gave patience.
Something I wish my mother would stop testing. There was no reason for her not to return my phone call. I tried every hospital near us, but they said she wasn't there. One hospital, the city hospital, confirmed that she was there but was an outpatient. Even if I was family, I had to go there to prove it for them to tell me anything about her, and hell, that's only if my mother was also present.
"You've been quiet for a while now. You're never this quiet." Mars got my attention as I was spaced out, staring at nothing.
"Just thinking," I answered.
"About what?" He asked as he looked up at the ceiling.
Mars hadn't looked at me since he said what he said a week ago. The gang and I have been rotating times when we have a free period to make sure Mars doesn't feel lonely.
