Page 12 of Tyson (Ariel Kimber 4.50)

At least the memories had finally faded and I could find peace in the nothing going on inside my brain. Something I found myself thankful for.

I rubbed my tired eyes before picking the phone up where I'd carelessly tossed it beside me on the bed. It had been vibrating off and on for days on end and I hadn't once bothered to look at it. I had no idea why I did now and I was slightly irritated with the stupid thing because the battery life should have run out by now.

Just my luck that it hadn't.

The screen was cracked from where I'd thrown it at the wall in a fit of rage after coming home after my lovely lunch with the wicked bitch that was my ex girlfriend. The cracks weren't bad yet but they'd soon spread and it would be a bitch to see anything on the screen. I'd need to buy myself a new one. Something else I blamed that bitch for.

I pulled up my text messages and the most recent one had been from Annabell so I opened that one first.

Wicked Bitch: I grow tired of this game, Ty. I want to play a different one.

Below was a picture of Ariel standing beside her Rover with the driver’s door open. She had a big pair of sunglasses shoved up on top of her head, pushing her hair back from her face when the damn things should have been covering her eyes because she was squinting as if the sun were blinding her.

She was such a damn crazy person, it wasn't even funny.

I wanted to smile at how beautiful she looked even though she was a nut when realization slammed into my gut like a heavy fist and I was left with nothing I'd ever dare smile about. Not ever.

The evil ex not only knew what Ariel looked like but she'd obviously been following my girl.

I scooted to the end of the bed and got my feet planted firmly on the floor before it started rising up my throat, looking for a place to escape. I bent forward at the waist and reached out for the metal waste basket that sat beside my nightstand.

Once I had the basket in hand, I threw up, emptying out the contents of my stomach inside of it. I was lucky I had lined the inside of the basket with a plastic grocery store bag otherwise all I would have succeeded in doing was making an even bigger mess of things and ended up with vomit on my floor.

Inside, I seethed as my heart clenched painfully. That fucking bitch had gotten close enough to Ariel to take pictures of her. Who the hell knew how long she'd been following her around for. Or how close she'd actually gotten to my girl. Annabell knew how to do things Ariel had no knowledge of, like basic self-defense and how to fend off an attacker with magic. Ariel hadn't been taught any of that. I had no idea what she'd learned with Adrian outside of how to bleed herself for their gain, but I was almost certain it wasn't basic self-defense. They'd want her vulnerable and defenseless. And I had no idea what types of books she'd been reading on magic. I had never looked through the one's on her shelf that Uncle Quint had picked out for her out of his own private collection but I was also willing to bet that self-defense hadn't been on his mind when he'd picked them out. He would have gone more for general, basic info and steered clear of anything that might get her into trouble. Besides, he'd want her to be coddled and handle the defense part on his own.

The vomiting had finally stopped, my stomach was empty of all contents and there was nothing left to purge. I set the basket down on the floor with a thump and swiped the back of my hand across my mouth.

Who else was she following? Was my whole family now in danger because of this bitch or was it just Ariel? Something had to be done to get rid of her for good because I couldn't have her coming back and doing this again. There would be no hiding her from Uncle Quint if she kept coming back, he'd kill her if he found out she was taking pictures of Ariel and practically stalking her.

My phone vibrated again with another text message. I wanted to ignore it but couldn't afford to now that she'd upped the game with pictures and was talking about wanting to play. I'd played with her before and lost horribly. I didn't want to lose anything else to her.

I picked up the phone and read.

Wicked Bitch: She left him outside all by himself. Doesn't he look lonely? If he were mine, I'd never leave him alone like this. That bitch doesn't know how to play with you guys the right way. I do.

Below was a picture of Damien asleep and outside in his backyard. He was laying on a round rug that had been covered in pillows and blankets. He was tucked away under thick blankets and looked peaceful. I had no idea why he'd be sleeping in his backyard when I'd never heard of him having done such a thing before and it wasn't like he was in a sleeping bag or a tent or anything. It was bizarre and made no sense to me. What I did understand, however, was that Annabell had somehow gotten into his fenced in backyard and close enough to him while he was sleeping to take a fucking picture of him. This was different than being at the same gas station as someone even if you followed them there and taking a close-up picture of them that they weren't aware of you taking. This was way beyond that level of stalker and straight to the depths of fucking psycho crazy stalker bitch who was potentially dangerous. And she needed to be stopped.

My eyes ran over Damien sleeping peacefully and knowing he'd been violated in some way by someone we'd once been with and my gut clenched painfully.

I leaned over the basket and dry heaved.

Nothing came up but I couldn't seem to stop even thought there was nothing to get out. When I was done, I nudged the basket with my foot, sliding it further away from me.

I wrapped my arms around my stomach and laid back on the bed. My mouth tasted like shit and my stomach felt like I'd been knocked down and kicked in the middle over and over again.

There had to be a way to get rid of her from our lives but not make the Council pissed at us and want to come at us with everything they had. If she were hurt physically and they couldn't use her body for their pleasure and gain anymore then they would take that out on my coven if we were to blame.

There had to be a way.

Think, Ty, think.

My father had made me read every single day even though I'd hated doing it. I always wanted to be outside and doing anything but being locked up in the library with dusty old books. My father hadn't collected them to the extreme my grandfather had but he hadn't been too far behind him.

He didn't make me read for hours and hours a day, every day. It was more like an hour every day on top of my school work and they were always books having to do with magic.

Still, my mind blanked on what I needed to do to handle this situation with the ex. Magic was the answer, I just had to find the key.

I blew out a heavy breath as I laid back on my bed. I forced my body to relax as I closed my eyes. I needed a break and I needed to step back from the problem in order to find a solution. If I kept at it tonight I'd only end up exhausted and with nowhere to go from here.

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