Chapter 12 She’s Uncontrollable
She’s Uncontrollable
Trenton
Ariel was likely going to be pissed at me and my brother just might be right there with her.
But I did what I had to do.
To protect Ariel. Not just physically but emotionally too.
I’d watched her crumble and shut down right before my very eyes. It was a horrible thing to witness.
I knew that this trip would be hard for her and I’d even seen it on the ride and before we’d gone into the storage unit. But she’d been strong afterwards and kept a tight handle on her shit. I’d been proud of her.
That phone call from that creep earlier had absolutely wrecked her and I wasn’t so sure Simon and I had what it took to bring her back wholly from it. It was a blow to my ego but I had to set that aside and focus on what was important here.
And that was making sure she made it through this and we returned home with her intact and not anymore broken than she already was.
She’d gone through so much already and none of it had broken her so far.
But listening to her in the car with my brother while she talked about her mother had broken my heart.
It also reminded me of just how young she still was. I often forgot about that because she was an old soul and was able to bounce back from every horrific thing that got thrown at her.
So, I had to do what I thought was best for Ariel.
I did not call Quinton.
I called Rain Kimber.
Like I probably should have from the very beginning and I’d never let her talk me into not calling him and keeping secrets from him again.
But the thing that had shocked me the most about everything that had gone down during the day? Rain hadn’t been mad at me at all. He’d been surprisingly understanding about the situation and had been respectful about my loyalty to his daughter.
Mostly, he was just concerned about how this was going to affect his daughter and that right there is why I had called him. Rain didn’t give a fuck about his sister and he hadn’t cared about the storage unit until I’d told him what we’d found in there.
I worried about him though the same way I worried about Ariel. This was going to rip open old wounds for the both of them and I didn’t want that for either of them. Ariel had an established coven and a whole bunch of people who cared about her and loved her. Her tribe was mammoth.
Rain’s tribe had only recently been established.
His coven was still shiny and brand new.
Yeah, they were rock solid and they’d all happily stand at his side to help him weather this storm.
He also had Ariel’s crew to have his back too.
But Rain was a man who was used to going it alone and I didn’t want to see him do it on his own this time.
I also didn’t know how Ariel’s mother being dredged up from the grave was going to affect his relationship with his current female, Isobel.
The bitch was certifiable on her best day and now that she was pregnant and hormonal there was no telling what she was capable of.
And that’s not even getting into Finn and Romero.
Finn was a wildcard and no one even knew all that much about him.
What we did know was that he could be shady as fuck and had gotten into some seriously messed up shit in the past. Romero was a whack job who only seemed to come alive for his coven and his son.
Dead men walking were scary to behold at times because there was no fathoming the things they’d already gone through to make them that way and there was no telling what he was capable of.
Add in Rain to the mix and they were a mixed bag of completely fucked up and deranged.
But they were family. Ariel’s family and Simon’s and my family. And family always had each other's backs. That’s just what we did. Whether we all liked each other or not, we showed up and were there for everyone’s time in need.
Ariel was just going to have to get over it and when she did, which she would eventually, she’d get why I called him and probably be upset with herself for trying to keep her dad out of it in the first place.
Quinton, on the other hand, was going to be extremely pissed at me and I knew damn well he wasn’t going to hesitate to try and hand me my ass when he heard from Rain that I called him and left Quinton out of the conversation and the decisions entirely.
I didn’t care. If Quinton wanted to square up with me I was more than fine with that.
My balls were just as big as his were and I wasn’t afraid of a dick measuring here and there.
Ariel had no complaints when my dick had been down her throat and her opinion on my junk was the only one that mattered to me.
Now I just had to break all of this down for Ariel without her losing her shit on me or crawling even deeper into her mind.
And I hoped Simon would have my back when he found out what I had done because I couldn’t handle both him and Ariel both being mad at me.
They were the two most important people in my life and I needed them like I needed oxygen to breathe.
And I didn’t want either of them ever questioning my judgment.
Their trust in me meant almost as much to me as they did. I needed it too.
I’d given them both the day to sleep in each others arms. I knew Ariel hadn’t exactly needed the sleep because she’d slept peacefully in my arms the whole night before.
But the mind was a powerfully brutal thing and she needed the break.
And Simon hadn’t woken me up to switch shifts in the night, he’d stayed up all night and needed his sleep if he was going to be on top of his game for the morning.
And I needed my brother to be on top of his game.
We were meeting that creep in a park in town square at six in the fucking morning because he claimed it was the only time the park would be free of potential witnesses.
Apparently it was full of degenerate teenagers during the middle of the night looking to score drugs and get laid.
And throughout the day it was full of housewives walking there designer purses and accessory dogs alone with their screaming brats in strollers.
I didn’t like that he seemed to have the park all figured out like he’d been scoping it out for a good long while. It made me nervous because we didn’t know shit about what we were walking into, least of all our surroundings.
It could absolutely be a total set up we were about to waltz our asses right on into.
Who knew how many people were actually going to be there waiting for us.
With just Simon and I here there was only one way to scope it out and that was for one of us to go it alone while the other stayed here with Ariel and that was unacceptable to me.
They could have people lying in wait for one of us to leave.
Anything was possible and I fucking despised not knowing what we were up against or walking into. I fucking hated it.
And there was no telling if Rain was going to be able to make it here on time for our meet up in the morning. All I knew was that he was on his way and he’d get here as soon as he could. He knew where we were staying and he knew where the meet up was taking place.
That was the best I could do under the circumstances because Ariel was the biggest wildcard of them all and I knew that if we didn’t take her with us in the morning or try to keep her out of it she’d go off on her own, running straight into danger all by herself, and we’d all be left standing around scratching our balls until we could hunt her ass down.
It was really a no win situation to be put in the middle of.
My life spent watching Ariel’s ass would never be boring, that was for sure. At least I knew she was worth it.
My phone rang and I pulled it out of my pocket. This time I checked the screen before answering it so I knew what kind of bullshit I was getting myself into so I could avoid it if I really wanted to.
It said Quinton calling.
Fuck my life but I could not catch a break today.
I sighed as I answered the call and held my phone up to my ear, ready for the ass chewing of my lifetime.
“Is she okay?”
Shit. He sounded absolutely wrecked and it was the last thing I had expected from him. I should have known better because just like it was always going to be about Ariel for me it was the same damn way for him.
Dealing with all the men in Ariel’s life and having to handle their feelings was fucking exhausting. I’d almost rather have to run naked through a field full of landmines.
I sighed and let it all out. “No, she’s really not okay.
She shut down completely and spent the entire day sleeping with Simon.
She’s not scared, I know her well enough to know that.
It’s about her mother and her fucked up childhood trauma.
This motherfucking creep dangled her memories in front of her like a fucking carrot and I think she’s afraid to hope because he could just as easily be lying to us and snatch it right out from under her nose in the blink of an eye. ”
I told him when and where we were supposed to meet up with the man, even though I knew Rain had already shared all the information with him or he wouldn’t have called me.
It was good to have everyone in the know about everything now.
Fresh ears and all that. Just in case he could spot something I had missed.
He didn’t see anything I already hadn’t. His only concern was that we were going to the meet in the first place. But he had the same dilemma that I did.
If anyone got how Ariel’s mind worked it was definitely Quinton.
“If you don’t take her, she'll just figure out a way to ditch you guys and go off on her own to meet up with this guy. I’m betting she’s had that fucking phone number memorized since the moment she laid eyes on it.”
I wasn’t taking that bet because I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he absolutely not wrong.
“You think I don’t already know this, man? Why do you think I already called Rain? She’s uncontrollable. It’s one of the things I love most about her but it also drives me fucking crazy.”
He laughed humorlessly. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Fuck. Staying here is driving me fucking crazy. It’s killing me not to be there with her.
Rain sent Isobel home from work and shut the shop down early so he could take off.
Tyson and the twins are staying with her and Baxter right now.
Rain and his merry band of psychos are headed your way so they can take her back.
It’s the only thing stopping me from jumping in my car right now and speeding to her side. ”
I was glad to hear that Isobel was staying at home. I almost couldn’t believe it. Pregnancy was good for her if it kept her ass home and safe. I hoped they kept her knocked up for the next several years so she had a chance to settle her ass down a bit.
It was really too bad Ariel didn’t want any kids. Though it would probably only make her even more reckless with herself if she was pregnant. Women were crazy.
Isobel seeming less unstable was an unexpected miracle we were all blessed to have.
We didn’t need two pregnant crazy bitches in our lives.
I should have been worried about Rain bringing Romero and Finn here with him because of how nuts they were. But I was trying to look at it as his coven members coming along to take his back. And hopefully rein him in if needed.
We did not need those crazy fuckers riding in and going buck wild.
The cleanup for something like that would be absolutely ridiculous.
“You know we’re going to keep her safe, right?” for whatever stupid reason his answer meant a whole lot to me.
“I know, Trenton. You don’t have to tell me, I fucking know.
You wouldn’t be there right now if that was ever in question.
It’s not her physical safety that I’m worried about.
It’s her mental stability. And that’s not on any of us.
Everyone reaches their breaking point eventually. I’m afraid this is going to be hers.”
Hearing those words come out of his mouth was a huge weight off of my shoulders but was also worrisome at the same time because I was concerned about her mental stability as well.
I didn’t ever want to witness such a strong and beautiful person such as Ariel reach her breaking point. Something like that might break me.
“Do you have any pointers for me? Help a brother out here.”
“You don’t need any pointers, Trenton. You got this because if you don’t you’re a dead man. And that’s just all there is to it.”
And, with that, he finally got the chance to hang up on me first.
It wasn’t a threat that I was worried about.
If I were to fail Ariel and something happened to her on my watch then I’d want to die.
It was just that simple.