Page 54 of Accidentally Forever
I’m sorry.
Travis:
I just need a little bit to get by. You know it’s about the art.
There had to be a couple dozen texts from him. All left unread, all within the last two hours.
I just stared down at the screen, feeling as if a snake would slither out and strike me if I dared even touched the damn thing.
“Oh, you startled me,” Aria whispered from my side as she plucked her ear buds out and put them in the case next to her phone. “Did the coffee wake you?” She went to her tiptoes and kissed my cheek, but I only saw that out of the periphery of my vision as I stared down at her phone.
“How long has this been going on?” I bit out.
I hadn’t meant to sound so angry, but the fury riding my veins was far too much to deal with.
Her eyebrows lifted before she looked down at the screen. Then the blood left her face, leaving her gray. “I didn’t realize he was texting again.”
“Again.” It was as if I were spitting out the word through gritted teeth. “He’s been harassing you this whole time? Why the fuck did you not tell me?”
“Why are you getting angry at me? I’m not replying back. But I’m letting him spew what he needs to in case he really does reach out for help one day.”
“Don’t be stupid. He’s not going to reach out for anything other than to hurt you. Or money like he clearly wants. Do the cops know about these texts? Because he’s out on fucking bail, Aria, and this is harassment. And why the fuck does he need money? He has his parents.”
She stepped back as if I’d slapped her, and I cursed under my breath. Only she held out a hand to stop me when I moved forward. “Don’t call me stupid. Yes, the cops know. Yes, they talked to him. I don’t know what else they can do other than continue to talk to him until the courts figure things out. And you know that he has community service coming up to get out of the charges. It’s not the same for him like it is for normal people. His parents got him out of it and there’s nothing we can doabout that. However, I realize that letting him say horrible things through a text message isn’t good for me, but one day he might reach out. He might need help. I’m not going to beg him to get clean anymore. I’m not going to get him out of terrible situations, so he doesn’t have to face his own consequences. But I will always be the person that he, orany of my friends, can truthfully hold on to during a time of crisis. He’s not hurting me right now. I know you don’t believe me, but his words in this state mean nothing. His words can’t hurt me because I’m past them. I have to be.”
“Aria.”
She shook her head. “No. Don’t give me that tone. That ‘disappointed, you know better than me’ tone. In the past his words would slice. But I can handle him bynothandling him.”
This woman.
I had no words.
She was way too fucking strong. And it broke me thinking about the power Travis could hold over her if she let him. “I just don’t want him to hurt you.”
Aria met my gaze, the determination within them astonishing. “He already hurt me. But everybody is standing around me trying to protect me and I am so grateful for who you are. Who my family and friends are. I just need you to know I’m not listening to histirades. I’m trying to be the good friend that will be there if needed, but not take what he says now to heart. Because that is what I would want if I was facing my own demons. Or running from them in his case. That might not be what you want. But it is what I would hope my friends would do.”
I licked my lips, emotions warring inside me. “You should’ve told me.”
“So you could get angry again? So you could handle it like you did before?”
I blinked at her. “He was hurting you.”
She shook her head before reaching forward to cup my face with her hands. “Not then. You walking into my home that night is something I will remember for the end of my days. I hated the fact that you got hurt because of what happened and that he could put you behind bars for even a few hours. And I will never forgive him for that. But I don’t need you to always stand in front of me. And frankly the only reason I didn’t tell you is that we are dealing with so many other things. I just want whatever it is between us in this moment to be nice. I don’t want this to always be about the drama that I always bring.”
I wanted to hate her words, to refute them. But I understood them and it annoyed me. “I bring plenty of drama too.” I moved my head to kiss her palm beforebringing her to my chest. “I don’t want him to hurt you anymore.”
“I don’t want him to hurt me either. I’m going to do my best not to let him do that. I’m not sure I can block him, Crew. I have this nightmare that I do that, and he reaches out just like my dad did once to someone, and I’m not there. It might make me selfish, but I don’t want to be the reason he doesn’t find a foothold in this world.”
So many emotions warred within me, and I wasn’t sure what to think. Because I knew she had the best intentions, but I did not trust that man. She might be ignoring him the way that she could, but Travis would find a way to get inside and hurt her. And I wasn’t about to let that happen.
I was so damn scared because I was falling for her. I fucking loved her. There was no falling. I had fallen long before. I had fallen in love with Aria Montgomery even when I told myself it would be easier to hate her.
“I’m sorry. For reading your texts. For overreacting. But, baby, you’re way too damn good for me.”
“That’s a lie and you know it. Though maybe it means we’re finally good for each other rather than the toxicity that could have infected whatever this is long ago. By the way, my phone was out on the island, face up, and not tucked away in secret. I don’t want to hide anything from you. Okay?”
I pulled back so I could study her face and looked into those bright blue eyes that I loved. “I can do that,” I said. I just hoped it wasn’t a lie.
