Black as Midnight

by Mary Martel

  My breath evened out as I let his words sink in. He was, of course, right. It's just that word Death is so incredibly final that it was a shock to see.

  "Nobody's going to die," I breathed out. "You're right and I'm being irrational. Everything I read about it said it was the death of something, not someone specifically, and the beginning of something."

  "That's right, baby," he murmured in approval. "It symbolizes the ending of a phase in your life that's no longer any good for you, and the beginning of something new. Change is coming and it's going to be a good one for you. I'm really digging this card because any change that's good for you is good for the rest of us. Please stop freaking out."

  I wasn't freaking out anymore. I was just second-guessing how much I had wanted this in the first place and wishing I could give it back, return it like a bad Christmas present. From now on I really wanted to be on the other side of things, because I didn't think I wanted to know what my future held anymore. Change was on the horizon but I still had no idea what it was.

  "Are you tired?" he asked me, changing the subject abruptly.

  "Nooooo," I whined. "I could maybe sleep again in like forty-five years." My body felt like it had been asleep for forever.

  He laughed at me before climbing to his feet.

  "We'll leave your cards in here for now," he told me as he bent over at the waist and blew out each candle.

  I stacked the cards in a neat pile as he went around the circle, blowing out the candles. I stood up with the cards clutched in my hand, pressed against my chest. For someone who claimed they didn't want anymore gifts from him, I sure wasn't ready to let the beautiful cards go.

  He smiled at me knowingly.

  "Come on, baby. Let's go on downstairs. I'm still hungry and could go for something hot to eat this time. Those sandwiches didn't cut it for me."

  I placed the neat stack of cards down on his upside down milk crate. It didn't feel right to take them from his room just yet. Maybe it was because I knew I'd have a reason to come back to his bedroom if I left them in here.

  He took my hand and pulled me into the hall.

  We didn't talk on our way down the stairs, both of us lost in our own heads and not quite interested in waking the others yet.

  Because he constantly checked in on me, I felt like we spent more time together than we really did. I planned on taking advantage of the time I had with him now.

  Chapter Sixteen

  "Up," Quinton ordered, as he patted his hand against the countertop.

  I slid across the floor on my fuzzy socks until I was right next to him. I smiled up at him, big and carefree.

  He stilled, his hand still on the counter. His eyes darkened, his nostrils flared, and the smile slid right off my face.

  "Quinton?" I asked cautiously.

  "Fuck, but you're so goddamn pretty," he snarled before rushing me. "Always, but it blows me away when you smile."

  My eyes grew round. He didn't usually talk to me like this, but it felt good to hear him tell me he thought I was pretty. It wasn't something I usually thought too much about myself. It was something I tried not to think about after getting my face sliced open and permanently marked.

  His hands came to my face and he cupped my cheeks in his rough palms. He pressed me back against the counter and my upper body curved backward. He came with me, not giving me an inch of space.

  "Smile for me again," he commanded, sounding like he believed it would really be that easy.

  I frowned deeper at him instead.

  "What's wrong with you?" I inquired in confusion. I often thought he might be possessed. This seemed like one of those times. "Quinton?"

  "Even if you were ugly I'd still love you," he growled.

  My eyebrows shot up. That wasn't something you said to your girlfriend, at least I didn't think so.

  Wait a minute, did he say....

  "You love me?" I asked.

  He backed up, giving me space, and one of his hands dropped away from my face. He placed his palm over his chest, covering his heart, and slapped it against his chest twice before staying still again, his fingers splayed wide.

  "With all my heart and every inch of my fucked-up soul."

  The backs of my eyes stung with tears as my heart felt like it seized inside my chest.

  "You love me?" I repeated the question, not trusting that I'd heard his answer correctly and needing him to tell me again.

  His face softened as he grabbed my hand and placed it on his chest, over his heart. His hand went over top of mine and he slid his fingers in between mine.

  "Do you feel that?" he asked me.

  I felt all kinds of things when he touched me and looked at me that way.

  His heart beat a steady rhythm in his chest. The hard muscle beneath my palm burned through his thin t-shirt as his dark eyes bored into me. There was a different kind of heat in them, one that threatened to catch my skin on fire.

  "I feel it," I whispered breathlessly. There was no way I couldn’t feel it, not with Quinton.

  He dropped his hands to my thighs. They curled around to the backs of my legs and he lifted me up. I let out a shocked, girly squeal as he sat my butt on the countertop.

  He pushed his hips into the space between my legs. His hands went to the small of my back where he pushed me forward until my front pressed up tight against his.

  His mouth came down on mine as his hand slid up my back. His fingers slid into my hair as his tongue slid into my mouth.

  His fingers fisted in my hair. He tilted my head to the side to get a better angle as he quickly took control of the kiss and I let him do it.

  My body melted against him as my hands went around his waist. I clung to him as I drank in his kiss. I made a greedy noise in the back of my throat that I was sure I'd be embarrassed about when I thought about it later.

  "What, are you trying to eat her?" Rain's low, menacing growl filled the room, bringing me back to reality. "How about you get your hands the fuck off my daughter before I remove them for you."

  I shoved on Quinton's chest as I broke our kiss. His mouth went to my neck where he placed a chaste kiss—well, chaste in comparison to the last one. He let me go and, without backing up much, turned around to face down my father. The look on his face was downright frightening, I don't think I'd ever seen him look so mad before.

  I grabbed on to the back of this t-shirt as I leaned around him, seeking out Rain. He stood in the doorway to the kitchen, arms crossed over his chest, eyes focused solely on Quinton. Quinton who stood in front of me like a shield.

  "Oh my god," I breathed out as I shoved Quinton out of my way. He grunted as I jumped off the countertop and ran toward Rain.

  I skidded to a stop in my fuzzy socks in front of him as he continued to send death vibes via his glare in Quinton's direction.

  "I can see your tattoos," I cried happily, excited as I reached out to touch his arms.

  To my surprise, he didn't jerk away but stood stoically still while I examined the ink covering his forearms. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Black and white covered almost every inch of skin in designs and markings that I didn’t recognize but still found oddly beautiful.

  "How old were you when you got your first tattoo?" I asked curiously, probing for any kind of information about himself I could possibly squeeze out of Rain Kimber. My father was still very much a mystery to me, and though he was willing to tell me all about my mother and my grandfather, he kept a lot of things about himself to himself. It was very frustrating and sometimes I wanted to force the answers out of him. He wouldn't let me get away with keeping things from him, he gave me those cold eyes and I couldn't help myself from giving him whatever he wanted in order to make those icy eyes melt back to something closer to human.

  "I got my first tattoo when I was five," he shared.

  I dropped my hands away from him and stumbled back a step. "Wh-what?" I stuttered. Five? Had I heard that right? That sounded a lot like child abuse if you as
ked me.

  He eyed me warily.

  His voice was very careful when he asked, "What is it that bothers you so much about this? If you had stayed with me, then you would have received a tattoo long before now and I assure you, you would wear it with pride."

  I had no doubt about what he said, but, the thing was, I hadn't grown up with Rain, I'd grown up differently and that led me to seeing things from a different perspective than the people in my life.

  "What I don't understand is why you'd get something permanent on your body at such a young age," I told him honestly. "From everything I've heard, tattoos hurt. What type of loving parent is okay with hurting their child in such a way? Wouldn't that make them not really all that loving in the first place?"

  What the hell did I know about having a loving parent and how they interacted with their children? I eyed the man in front of me. Too bad I was no longer a child or perhaps I might be able to answer my own question.

  "It's a part of our culture that I fear you will never understand until you have children of your own and have lived amongst your own kind for a good, long while," Rain informed me.

  My upper lip curled in distaste.

  "I never plan on having children," I shared, hoping he never brought up the subject again.

  After the things I'd gone through, the things I'd been forced to endure thanks to my Aunt Viv, there was no way in hell I would ever bring another innocent life into this world just so someone could have the opportunity to one day abuse them. Not the most positive outlook, I'll admit that, but it was the only one I was capable of. Maybe things would change with age, but it wasn't something I'd ever hold my breath and hope for.

  "What?" Rain asked quietly with a hint of sadness in his voice. "I know you're young—"

  "Drop it," Quinton cut in, his voice taking on a hint of defeat. "This is something she refuses to budge on and something I refuse to hear you pressure her over or argue with her about. Maybe in a few years you can approach this subject again but, until then, you leave this be."

  "And if I don't?" Rain challenged.

  My body stiffened as I took another step back, away from my father, a man I could never be afraid of but, at the moment, I was starting to get angry with. Why the hell he felt the need to fight everyone all the time, I would never understand.

  "Then you'll be asked to leave my home and not be invited back."

  My eyes rounded in shock at this and had me whipping around toward Quinton.

  The look in those dark eyes that were aimed at my father were so far from friendly they were downright hostile, and I had an alarming urge to move to the side, hiding my father from his sight. I would never do that though, never choose between them, and I hoped neither of them ever expected me to. You should never do that to the people you loved and it would be one of the quickest ways to prove they were selfish, narcissistic assholes.

  "I don't want to have kids, ever," I told Rain honestly, the words startling me. "As you well know, I didn't have the best upbringing. I'll not risk an innocent child, not ever."

  Rain flinched and my heart dropped down to my stomach.

  Fuck.

  That sounded a whole lot worse when I said it aloud to my father than it had sounded in my head.

  "Ariel," he whispered my name in a voice that shook.

  "That came out sounding wrong," I rushed to assure him, to ease his pain. I hated the thought of hurting him.

  He gave a small nod in acknowledgement. "It's okay, baby girl."

  It wasn't. His eyes had turned back into cold, dead things that hurt me to my very soul to see.

  "I love you," I said honestly, and for the second time.

  He froze, all except for his eyes that were so much like my own. They melted immediately, becoming warm pools of green.

  "What?" he croaked in a broken voice.

  "I love you," I repeated as if it were obvious, and to me it was. "How could I not love you? You're amazing, Rain. I know I've only said it once before now and should have told you a lot sooner, but that has had absolutely not one thing to do with you and everything to do with me. I tend to keep people at arm’s length because I'm emotionally stunted and I don't want to put myself out there for fear of getting hurt. But, the thing I'm coming to understand with you, is that you're never going to hurt me, so it's safe to tell you I love you. Honestly, I can’t even believe how comfortable I am telling you this now, like I said, I'm messed up."

  Rain let out a sound that was filled with so much pain that it had me stumbling back a step away from him and rubbing my hand over my heart. It hurt hearing that noise come from him.

  Rain rushed me as I stumbled back. His eyes looked wild, crazed even, as he wrapped his arms around me and picked me up off my feet.

  "I love you too, baby girl," he whispered into the top of my head. "So goddamn much, you have no idea. Been waiting to hear those words come out of your mouth for years. When you said them the first time I shut down and didn’t know how to respond to you without breaking down.”

  Without hesitation, I wrapped my arms around Rain's middle and held on tightly. This man meant everything to me and hearing him tell me he loved me for the first time made something important settle inside my soul. I hadn't realized I'd needed to hear the words as much as he'd obviously needed to say them to me.

  Quinton cleared his throat from behind us. "Are either of you hungry?" he asked cautiously. "I'm going to make spaghetti."

  I blinked, coming back to reality as Rain set me down on my feet and stepped back. I'd forgotten entirely why Quinton and I had come down to the kitchen in the first place, that there'd been an actual reason and that had been in order to feed him.

  Rain kissed me on the forehead before walking around me, toward Quinton.

  "I could go for some spaghetti," he muttered.

  I looked around the room as if I'd never seen it before. What the heck had just happened here? Had my long-lost father and I really just had an I love you moment for the first time after he'd caught me making out with one of my boyfriends? Just to have him then go off to eat Uncle Quint's spaghetti like nothing had ever happened?

  I turned on my heel and watched as Rain pulled out a stool at the island and plopped down across from Quinton. Quinton smirked at me before he moved to the refrigerator and pulled the door open. He came out with a package of hamburger and dropped it down on the counter beside the stovetop.

  Rain looked at me over his shoulder and raised a haughty eyebrow.

  "Get over here, baby girl, and take a seat," he commanded as he patted the stool beside him. "You're far too skinny and we need to fatten you up a bit so that you look healthy. I hate seeing you so skinny. You can practically see your ribs sticking out through your tank top."

  I sighed heavily in defeat as my shoulders slumped forward. Rain didn't see it because he'd already turned back around to face Quinton, expecting me to follow his orders without argument.

  I grumbled under my breath about how I needed another male in my life who wanted to shovel food down my throat like I needed a hole drilled into my head.

  I had always been skinny because I'd been underfed, and when I did get the chance to eat I'd never eaten anything that was really good for me. That hadn't been my choice though, and if I could have gone back in time and changed things, then I would have and made it so I wouldn't have had to go hungry because my mother spent her money on slutty dresses for herself and alcohol and would have bought food for her child instead. But there was no going back. Vivian hadn't been my mother and now she was dead. I hated to think she got what she deserved, but as I sat down beside Rain the thought certainly did flit across my mind.

  I sat there quietly as I watched the two of them interact like they hadn't threatened each other minutes before, like they were somehow friends. It made my heart a little bit lighter to see, which I'm sure they both noticed when my tense body relaxed entirely and I placed my forearms onto the island counter, getting comfortable.

  Quinton cooke
d while keeping up a conversation with Rain about, surprisingly enough, Fortune's for the Unfortunate, of all things. I think he did it just to keep things from getting too heavy again, for my sake.

  I thanked him in my own way by eating an overflowing plate of his spaghetti. Neither of them were satisfied with what I'd eaten—even though it had been a lot, more than either of them had piled on their own plates—and tried to shovel more noodles onto my plate.

  After rinsing my plate off in the sink and placing it in the dishwasher, I practically ran out of the kitchen and away from the two of them. I didn't even care if they knew I was escaping them.

  I needed to get the heck out of here.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Give me my goddamn keys," I snarled.

  Face completely devoid of emotion, Trenton stared down at me, the keys to my Rover held aloft and out of my reach. He'd easily snatched them out of my hand when I'd walked past him.

  "Where do you think you're going?" Simon asked from behind his brother.

  My fists clenched at my sides and I had an insane urge to throw my head back and scream at the top of my lungs.

  "I don't need a babysitter," I growled, sounding impressively angry, even to my own ears. My angry outburst had taken me by surprise. I didn't make a habit of yelling at people who'd done me no wrong.

  "I'm not your babysitter," Trenton replied casually.

  A little too casually if you asked me. My hand twitched with the urge to reach out and smack him across his stupid face.

  "I don't need a bodyguard either," I snapped, but the heat in my voice was almost gone, the fight going right out of me.

  I'd like to think I didn't need a bodyguard, but with masked men with swords running rampant and mother-effers trying to burn down Dash's house, not to mention they'd been happily dragging his unconscious ass off somewhere into the woods... Well, I was seeing why the people who gave a crap about me would think a bodyguard might just be the exact thing I did need in my life.