Chapter 29

Aria

Bella and I stepped into the bar, the sound of the pumping music filling our ears. I shook a few snowflakes off my shoulders as we found a seat at a table in the corner, where we could have a private conversation without being in the middle of the dance floor.

“Thanks for coming out with me, Bells,” I said with a small smile. I took off my coat and hung it over the back of my chair. “I didn’t feel up to being alone tonight.”

My friend waved her hand dismissively as she took her seat. “I was just sitting around feeling bored anyway. Besides, I’m not gonna let my favorite girl be all on her own after a day from hell.”

I snorted and shook my head. “A day from hell would be putting it lightly.”

After Darren had dismissed us all, I hadn’t been in much of a mood to go home anymore—not after what had happened. I wanted to get out for a bit, and we still had those two vouchers for the bar, so I called Bella on the subway and she’d agreed to meet me here.

I was still dressed in my work clothes—not exactly the most bar-appropriate outfit—but didn’t really care. I just needed a drink.

Once we were settled, the waiter came by and took our orders. We ordered margaritas and a plate of nachos to share, and soon enough we were chatting while we were sipping our cold drinks.

“I still can’t believe Sarah works for him,” Bella sighed miserably. “And to think we were literally just talking about how it’s a small world when he hired you.”

“Trust me, I know.” I pursed my lips and reached for another tortilla chip. “I feel like I’ve only just begun to move on from what she did to me as kids, and now she’s showing up out of nowhere. In my workplace, no less.”

Bella frowned. “Do you think she put your scrunchie in the printer?”

I shrugged and popped a cheese-covered chip into my mouth. “Hell if I know, Bella. But she sure was adamant about it being my fault.” I chewed and swallowed. “Even if she didn’t do it, I think she just saw it as an opportunity to make me look bad.”

“Sarah is nothing if not opportunistic,” Bella snorted. “I mean, she somehow managed to swindle your boss into hiring her. And she doesn’t even have any work responsibilities. I wonder what she even did for him when they were younger to make him feel so indebted to her.”

“Whatever it is, I get the sense that there’s more to it than meets the eye,” I grumbled.

Bella raised a dark eyebrow. “Did they sleep together, do you think?”

The thought made my chest tighten, but I quickly shoved the feeling down. “I don’t know. Neither of them seems keen on saying what happened.”

We fell silent for a few moments, both of us thinking deeply. Bella knew very well what Sarah had done to me as kids, the bullshit she put me through. Bella hadn’t been there to witness the torture herself—we hadn’t met until I emancipated myself at sixteen and moved into the youth home—but she’d heard all of the stories.

And she had, on more than one occasion, promised to beat Sarah up if she ever saw her in the flesh.

“My offer still stands, you know,” Bella smirked as she sipped her drink, as if reading my mind. “You know I don’t care if I wind up getting arrested when it comes to protecting my girl.”

I rolled my eyes good-naturedly. It wouldn’t be the first time my friend got arrested. She’d come from a less-than-savory home herself, and had gotten into all kinds of trouble as a teen, which was why she’d been in the youth home with me. But I didn’t need her to go repeating her past mistakes. Especially not for me.

“No, Bella. I’m not gonna let you march into my workplace and beat the hell out of my adoptive sister.”

“Fine.” She checked her nails with an impish look in her eyes. “But if I ever run into her on the street, promise you’ll come visit me in prison.”

“Sure thing,” I said with a laugh.

Finally, Bella sighed and set down her drink. She leveled me with a stern look, and I knew I was about to get a talking-to. “You have to stand up for yourself, Aria. Otherwise she’s just going to keep getting worse. Unless you want a repeat of the scissors incident…”

The memory of that day sent a cold chill scuttling up my spine. The scissors incident…

I remembered it like it was yesterday.

Sarah and I had been minding our own business at home one day while our parents were at work; I was seven and she was five. I still remembered how I was humming to myself as I drew a horse with brown crayon on pink construction paper. Everything was fine.

Until the babysitter went to the bathroom and all hell broke loose.

Out of nowhere, Sarah had lunged for me with a pair of safety scissors in her hand. She’d sliced my leg halfway to the bone, leaving an enormous gash in my thigh.

There had been so much blood… And my adoptive parents just seemed annoyed with me that they had to take me to the hospital for stitches.

I shuddered again as I traced my finger along the part of my leg where I still bore that jagged scar, even today, all these years later. “It won’t go that far,” I said quietly.

Bella just blinked at me. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. She was a psycho when she was five, Aria. She cut you like that just for the joy of it. And now, it seems like she might actually have a real motivation to hurt you.”

My throat bobbed nervously. Bella was right, of course. Sarah knew that her lies about our childhood would get out the longer I spent around Darren. And if he knew that she wasn’t the benevolent little angel she claimed to be, then he might not fund her expensive lifestyle any longer.

“Still,” I said, “there’s only so much I can do. He’s not going to fire her just based on my word alone. And I don’t know if he’ll keep me employed if I keep pestering him about it.”

Bella rolled her eyes and huffed. “Give yourself a little more credit. You’re not pestering him. And besides, it sounds like he has a soft spot for you.”

“That’s the second time I’ve heard that today,” I muttered, blushing as I recalled Lily’s earlier words.

“Then maybe you should believe it,” Bella insisted. “Aria, I saw the way he kissed you that night in this very bar. Right over there.” She pointed toward the door. “I wouldn’t be so quick to assume that he’s not taken with you.”

I looked away, clenching my hand into a fist under the table. Bella didn’t know the truth—that he’d only kissed me like that because he had accidentally marked me as his mate. If it hadn’t been for some strange werewolf thing about fate and instincts, he probably would have shoved me away like I was a crazy lady.

Finally, I managed, “If he does have any sort of feelings for me, I think they’re purely driven by forces out of his control.”

“Lust, you mean?” Bella scoffed and shook her head. “Typical man. They want one thing and one thing only. It’s disgusting.”

“Yeah,” I managed, grateful for the misunderstanding. “It sure is.”

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt a hand touch my shoulder.

“Is that what you really think of me, Aria?”