Page 18 of Tyson (Ariel Kimber 4.50)

"Why am I crying?" she asked in a voice that shook.

I was just asking myself that same exact question, I thought.

"Because you just watched someone die," I told her instead of saying what I'd been thinking.

At least that's why I assumed she'd been crying, really I didn't understand it and that was the most obvious answer I could come up with.

"We don't know that he's dead," she whispered hoarsely.

She had to be fucking kidding me. Chucky was as dead as dead could be.

"We should call someone," she continued to whisper. "Like, for an ambulance or something. He needs help."

He didn't need help. What he needed was a goddamn body bag and a trip to the morgue.

"Girl," I muttered irately, "he's dead. Fucking dead. And, we're not calling anyone. We're going home and going to bed."

"We can't just go home and go to bed like it's any old night," she snapped at me and I had to bite back my smile, pleased she was no longer crying and some of her fire was returning. I didn't think I could stand any more tears from her, they hurt my heart.

"Yeah, we can," I told her seriously. "And that's exactly what we're going to do. We're going back to Dash's and we are going to sleep. What we aren't going to do is call the police and ask for an ambulance and send them out to where the Council is currently living. That would be the absolute biggest mistake we could ever make. And, I'm telling you, someone probably heard you screaming and went out to check. If he was still alive and there was anything they could do for him, I'm sure they are doing it. If he is dead, well, then they are probably going to bury his body somewhere and that will be the end to that. They won't care because he doesn't have any magic and he tried to kill two of our coven members and they won't give a shit about him dying."

"So, we just go home?" she asked incredulously. "Just like that?"

I strangled the steering wheel, trying to choke the life out of it. Unfortunately, you couldn't strangle inanimate objects to death.

I sighed, and said, "Yeah. But tomorrow we will have to call Uncle Quint and the other guys over and fill them in on what happened and that is not going to be fun at all."

Honestly, there hadn't been much about my life lately that had been a whole lot of fun and this night had ranked right up top of the very long list of shit.

My night had started out with an almost frantic message then phone call from the ex. She'd hit a whole new level of crazy, demanding to know how serious Damien's relationship with Ariel had progressed. Then she'd gone on bizarrely about how sweet he'd looked sleeping outside underneath the stars and it had been the only time she'd seen him let down his guard. And, if she hadn’t sent me that photo, I’d have no idea what the hell she'd been on about but what I did know was that the crazy leaking out of her voice had absolutely terrified me. She'd sounded obsessed and jealous as she talked about him and it worried me almost as much as that picture of Ariel she'd sent me had. She was incredibly dangerous and I now had to worry she’d hurt Damien when my main focus had been only on Ariel before but there really was no telling what she’d do, what lengths she’d been willing to go to.

So, I'd started pouring through books, looking for a spell, anything really, to work in my favor and help me get rid of her. I had locked myself away in my bedroom and tirelessly poured through everything I could get my hands on. I didn't sleep or eat until I found what I'd been looking for. Something that would shut her up for good and get her out of my hair and away from my family.

I'd promised her sex to take her mind off of Damien, picked up my forced partner in crime and the two of us cruised on over to the motel.

No big deal, right?

Wrong.

Things had gone great with Annabell and she'd choked down the concoction I'd whipped up for her like a good girl. For all my talk of being uncomfortable with harming her, I had really changed my tune. As it turned out, I didn't like it when people, even ones I'd fooled myself into thinking I had once loved, threatened my family then all bets were off and I had no problem with putting my hands on her, holding her down and forcing my potion down her throat. In my eyes, she'd deserved it.

It had gone so smoothly that I was almost in shock at my good fortune just to walk out the door and straight into yet another problem. That motherfucker Chuck. Who'd taken a serious tumble down to his death, something Ariel seemed to be struggling with.

I knew Ariel was upset by my lack of concern or care at his death but I didn't have it in me to reassure her when all I felt about him being dead was immense relief that the chapter in my life where I had to worry about him harming my family was finally over and we could all breathe a little easier.

Add it to the fact Annabell would no longer be a threat and I really shouldn't have found the day to be on my shit list. I should have been celebrating. Instead, I was tense and quiet as I drove my girl, who was probably scared of me now given what she'd seen me do, home so we could get some sleep before we faced the next drama.

Which came the next day when we faced down the other guys and told them I'd been keeping secrets and had been forced to drag Ariel along with me for the ride.

Needless to say, they'd been pissed and it had just been one more thing I hadn't enjoyed doing but was seriously relieved when it was all said and done.

I slept just fine that night for the first time in a long time, but like most good things in my life, it was bound to not last for very long.

Chapter Eight

The possibilities were endless

I fidgeted nervously as I stood in front of the dirty window that could have used about twelve bottles of Windex and some serious elbow grease to cut through the grime so the actual inside of the store could be seen.

---