Page 31 of Tyson (Ariel Kimber 4.50)

"What the fuck are you talking about?" He snapped at me. "It's obvious she's in this for the long haul with your coven. Why are you making shit up when there's nothing there? It's stupid to create trouble where there is none."

I sighed heavily as I turned my back on him and walked towards the door. We were done here, I was ready to get out of this place.

Rain grabbed ahold of my shoulder and forced me to stop. I whirled around and snarled in his face. "Keep your fucking hands off of me."

"Stop acting like a rabid dog," he snarled right back, leaning into my face. "And tell me what the hell your problem is."

I shrugged his arm off and moved back a step, beyond angry at him having put his hands on me.

"Don't you ever put your hands on me," I gritted out as I took another step back and away from him. I did it because I didn't trust myself to be within arms reach of him because I really wanted to put my hands on him in return and it wouldn't do to hit Ariel's dad. I already had enough problems.

"What's your problem with my daughter?" He repeated on a low growl. His green eyes were burning with rage and I took another step back. This put me closer to the door but I wasn't fooled, I wouldn't make it before he got to me if he wanted.

"I told you," I snarled, "I don't have a fucking problem with her. Right now, the only problem I have is with you grabbing on to me and thinking it's okay to get up in my shit when it's not. You need to back the fuck off right now before things get any worse here for us and we can't go back from it."

"I'll back off when you tell me what's going on," he shot back. "She's my daughter and she means everything to me. I'll not get her back after all this time just to watch you mess things up for her. You better start talking, boy, and I'm not joking."

I was shaking as my back hit the door. It was an effort to control my rage, I usually didn't have this amount of control over my reactions and usually just let it all out when I got pissed. It never really ended well when I acted rashly, but it was a personality flaw I was working hard to change and failing spectacularly at. His words, though, grounded me in a way I'd never been grounded before and took some of my rage away.

"She watched me shove him," I said in a shaky, flat voice. "Then he fell to his death. Because of me. And, what's worse, is I don't even think that's what bothered her but the fact I didn't care about it afterwards. While she was crying and upset because she'd just watched someone die, all I cared about was the fact he was finally dead and gone and maybe because of it my family could breathe a little easier. I kept seeing her face up all cut up and bleeding while Dash was on the ground in a fucking bloody mess and I did not give two shits that that piece of garbage was dead. And, what's worse than that? I was pissed at her that she could even shed a fucking tear for him and felt a little betrayed that she cared so much when I didn't think she should have cared at all. I know how fucked up that is because I know her and I get why that ate her up inside, I really do, but I didn't like it at all. She doesn't do violence very well because she's spent the majority of her life being beaten down and she feels everything deep. It still cut me to see her crying over someone who hurt our family so badly, herself included. I-"

I stopped speaking suddenly and swallowed thickly. I shouldn't have told him any of that shit. I needed to learn how to keep my mouth shut and stop with the oversharing.

Rain's anger deflated before my eyes and his face softened.

"She doesn't understand what it means to be a part of a family and a part of a coven just yet," he said in a soft voice. "But she's learning and you're going to need to be patient with her and cut her some slack. From what your Uncle has told me, she watched the person she thought was her mother die and hasn't been the same since. Maybe watching this kid die triggered that memory for her and brought it all back to the surface again. I don't know that she's processed Vivian's death yet and she refuses to talk about her with me now, says it's a betrayal to the mother she doesn't remember to talk about the one who raised her."

Everything he said was true but I didn't know about that last part. "She really won't talk to you about Vivian anymore?" I asked.

When he shook his head I muttered, "That can't be healthy."

"Just cut my girl some slack, okay?"

I nodded. I had no intention of bringing any of that shit I'd just spewed out up to her. It would hurt her feelings and really upset her to know it bothered me that she cried over Chuck dying.

"Do you think I'm an asshole?" I asked Rain.

"No," Rain said in a hushed voice. "I think you're someone who loves his family very much and that family now includes my daughter. I personally like the idea of you being so upset over what happened to her face that you'd be pissed she cried over the death of the person who scarred her for life. Do I want you to take that out on her? Fuck no, she's a confused girl who needs love, not anger. But, if you keep going the way you're going, with everything bottled up tight like you've got it, then you're going to explode and there's no telling who will get hit with that shrapnel. You need to let it out. I don't want that shit raining down on my daughter and her getting cut up in the process."

"I'd never hurt her," I hurried to tell him.

"Don't you think keeping your distance from her isn't already doing that?"

Honestly, I hadn't thought about it that way. I thought maybe I was making things easier for her by not forcing her to see my face at the moment because I didn't want her to have to remember watching another human being die.

Rain gave my shoulder an affectionate squeeze and I didn't yell at him for touching me again. I let it go and we continued on our tour. I shouldn't have been surprised but was when he wasn't appalled by the basement. He didn't even ask where all the blood had come from. I caught the gist of his muttered words as he walked around the room and I hadn't liked what I'd heard. I heard words likeinterestingandrecreateand I tuned him out after that.

After my talk with him today and Quinton the other day, I realized something. I really was an asshole. Pushing my family away, keeping secrets and now avoiding Ariel out of guilt. I was lucky any of them still talked to me and I really needed to make things right with my girl before she gave up on me.

Chapter Twelve

Fuck Yeah

Soft knocking on my door woke me and I came awake with a start. I rolled out of bed and landed heavily on my feet. I stumbled to the side, put my palm in the bed and pushed myself up to standing straight.

"Christ, I'm coming," I grumbled sleepily in a thick voice as another soft knock sounded on the door. I had finally crashed hard and gotten my first real healthy dose of sleep in what felt like weeks. Judging by the way my head pounded I'd either gotten too much sleep or not nearly enough.

I stumbled through the dark room towards the door. Why the hell was someone knocking? They usually just barged right on in because no one in this damn place ever gave a shit about privacy.

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