Chapter Seventeen: Evil Dinner Thoughts

Aria hated many things but the one thing she hated the most was getting dressed for an occasion she would rather skip. Aria hated getting dressed for people she automatically disliked on the spot, Cecilia's husband had always been the one to cool her down when her wife wanted her to do things that she wasn't comfortable with.

Aria wanted nothing more than to lie and fake being ill so that she could skip going but at the same time. She didn't want her mother to be alone with that man in his apartment, so the next best idea was to find ways to ruin the dinner.

Aria had a few ideas, one was to poison the food with a substance that could make all their stomachs run except hers. Or make it look like the food had roaches, her mother hated roaches... or make it look there was a rat in the apartment.

"I know what that face means and the answer is no." she heard and turned to find James leaning on the door, arms crossed with a warning expression.

"I don't know what you mean." I lied

"You can act all you want but I know you. I know when you are in a character mood and when you just being yourself. Your mother seems to genuinely like this guy, don't do anything stupid." he warned.

"Or what James?" I dared.

"You will hurt your mother. Don't you think she deserves some sort of happiness after years of trying her best to be an amazing mother to you? I'm sure you're just looking out for her and that's good but I'm sure she gets lonely.

We all do and we haven't even gotten to a stage where kids are what we desire yet." he said, he entered, closing the door behind him, he took a few steps to her and watched her reaction.

James hadn't been close to her for a while, especially since they shared a moment a while ago and never bothered to indulge in it. Yet now he wanted to be close to her more than anything, he wanted to feel her skin and to see how she would react.

James was confused and he didn't really know why, he had always been one to know that he never liked women. Never bothered to hide that he wasn't interested in the other sex, yet Aria was always the exception.

She could read him like her favorite book, she could recite his features with her eyes closed as he could too. So he tried to keep his distance at times and stick to what he knew but lately, it was causing trouble for him.

His lover seemed to always complain about how he always mentioned Aria, how he wouldn't go a day without saying her name and complimenting her. James couldn't help it and he knew that the more things went south, the more things would get complicated.

So he wondered what was best?

He left his lover's house, angry about the third fight they had that same day, he went home. Thinking that they had all gone out or were working, only for him to find his dad at home. An envelope in his hand as he drank his brandy.

As soon as his eyes rested on me, he gestured for me to come in and take a seat next to him. I knew what was to come, I knew it was trouble but I knew that if I avoided it, there would more trouble, so I entered and took a seat.

His father gave him the envelope and when he opened it, he had paled and felt dizzy in an instant. There were pictures of him and his lover... shopping and in his home. Pictures of them kissing and cuddling. His father didn't bother to give him the speech, he just told him to take off his shirt and face the other way.

I felt the whips and the pain and when he said he was done with me, I dressed hastily and left. coming to the only person I knew would help me. Aid me. Protect me in any way she could and now here I was wondering if maybe I was falling in love with her.

She stared at me with a curious look but didn't bother to voice her opinions. I wondered how she felt as she watched me with an expression that she rarely used. Even when we acted or performed this expression was never used, it felt like an Uno card had been pulled out unexpectedly

.

She needed to remind herself that this was her best friend and that nothing would happen between them. But for some reason, she felt the pull and that pull was making her slightly uncomfortable.

"I'll help you find something to put in their food, we'll have to pretend to be ill too for a while." he murmured, his minty breath fanning my face.

Giving him an evil smile, I nodded rapidly as I got excited.

I felt like a kid that was about to ruin Christmas on purpose.