Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Mind telling me why you’re being dropped off by Ares-fucking-De Bellis?” My father’s voice isn’t loud. No, it’s scary quiet. He’s waiting for me in the foyer, and he looks mad.
“Did you not want me to come home?” I question.
“I would have preferred if you came home last night. What were you really doing at the De Bellis house? Since when did you become sleepover buddies with Cara?”
“What are you accusing me of, exactly? Cara is starting at my old school. She wanted to talk about it.” I shrug. Not a total lie. She is starting at the school I just left, and she did ask me some questions about the girls there.
“And that talk led to you kissing Ares De Bellis in the car out front just now?” my dad growls. Yes, growls. “I’m pretty sure I told you to stay away from him.”
My shoulders straighten. “You can’t tell me who I can and can’t see. If I want to kiss every boy I walk past, I can and you can’t stop me!” I yell.
I’m digging my heels on this one. I am not giving up Ares. Not now that I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that being with him might not end in as much devastation as I thought. I really like him, and the last thing I want to do is hurt him.
“Actually, I can. It’s part of being a parent, Zara,” my dad says.
“You know I’m eighteen in a couple of weeks,” I remind him.
“I’m aware of how old my daughter is,” he grunts.
“Then maybe you should stop treating me like a little girl and start seeing that I’m grown.”
“You think you’re grown. You’re always going to be my little girl, even when you’re fifty. I don’t care how old you are. I don’t ever want to see you with that De Bellis kid again.”
“I’m not going to stop seeing him. I like him.”
“What are you two arguing about now?” My mum walks up and hugs me. “You okay?”
“Dad is telling me I’m not allowed to see Ares.”
“You’re seeing Ares?” Mum asks with a huge smile on her face.
“She was kissing him in his car out front of the house this morning,” Dad says.
My mum turns and glares at him. “Dominic, we are not telling our daughters who they can and can’t date. If Zara wants to kiss Ares, then she can.”
“Thank you,” I direct to my mom while giving my dad a look that says you got told.
“Little Bee, she’s seventeen. We can and will tell her who she can date, and a De Bellis kid isn’t ever going to be good enough for her. She’s a fucking McKinley.”
“Don’t be such a snob, Dom. Besides, Ares is cute and we know his family. She could do a lot worse.” Mum shrugs.
“This is your fault.” My dad points at Mum.
“How so?”
“If you weren’t so fucking beautiful, our daughters wouldn’t be either and they wouldn’t attract the attention of the wrong type of boys,” he explains.
“Then maybe you should have found someone ugly to obsess over and stalk all those years ago.”
“Pfft, like it was a choice,” Dad groans. “We don’t choose who we fall in love with, Little Bee. But if we did, I’d still choose you.”
When my dad pulls my mum into his arms, I take that as my cue to leave. My parents love hard and are never shy of showing it. “Right, well, I have homework to do.”
“We’re going for lunch at your sister’s in two hours. Be ready,” Mum tells me as I walk away.
Great, there goes my day of hiding out and drowning in my own sorrows. At least all of my dad’s energy will be aimed at how much he hates my sister’s husband and not on my dating life.
The minute I step into my sister’s house, she takes hold of my wrist and drags me up the stairs. “I need your help with something,” she says loudly, making sure our parents hear her.
“You need me?” Mum calls out.
“Nope, it’s a sister thing,” Kyla replies.
She pulls me into her bedroom and closes the door.
“Okay, first, are you okay? I mean, with what you saw last night? Second, what the hell were you doing sleeping over at an apartment with Ares De Bellis? And third, was it good?” She waggles her eyebrows up and down suggestively.
“How did you know I was with Ares?”
“My husband has a way of finding out information. When he told me what happened at the party, I wanted to see you. When he looked into it and learnt you were at an apartment with Ares, I told him to leave you alone,” she says.
“You do know you can just say Lorenzo. You don’t always have to call him your husband.”
“But he is, and I like that he is so I’m going to keep saying it.” She smiles. “So, was it good?” she repeats.
“Was what good?”
“Argh, Zara, don’t do this to me. Ares, you, did you two have sex?” she whispers the last part as if we’re little kids sharing a secret.
“No. Not really.”
“What does not really mean?”
“He went down on me,” I tell her. “It was… sooo good.”
“That’s it? Did you return the favour?”
“Nope, that’s it. And we kissed. A lot. And I had breakfast with his family.”
“Oh, you’re already at the meet-the-parents stage, so it’s serious then.” Kyla nods.
“I already know his parents, idiot.” I roll my eyes, but I can’t help the smile on my face. “I like him, though. A lot. Dad hates him.”
“Dad hates everyone who doesn’t have the last name McKinley.” Kyla shrugs. “He’ll get over it.”
“He loves you and you’re not a McKinley anymore.”
“I’ll always be a McKinley, but I don’t hate being a Valentino either. I love that part of my family.”
“Is Aurora still here?” I ask.
“She left.”
“Where’d she go?”
“No idea.” Kyla shrugs again. “Now, are you really okay with what you saw? What Connor did?”
“I need to apologise to Aurora. It was my fault she was at that party and it’s my fault Connor did what he did.
It’s my fault George is…” A lump forms in my throat.
I’ve been able to push last night’s events away from my mind.
Ares has a way of distracting me from my own thoughts. But now, I feel the tears coming.
“It’s not your fault. Connor is a big boy. He makes his own decisions. Other people’s actions are not your fault, Zara.” Kyla hugs me as tight as she can, and all I can think is how much I’d rather be wrapped up in Ares’s arms right now. How much I need him.
I haven’t heard from him since he dropped me off. I have no idea what he’s doing, if he’s safe.
I also don’t want to scare him by messaging him.
I don’t want to seem needy and clingy. Even though that’s exactly how I’m feeling.
It’s confusing. Maybe I just need to take my mind off it.
“I’m going to go for a walk in your ridiculous garden before lunch.
Do me a favour and distract Dad for me. Tell him you’re pregnant or something. ”
“Yeah, not doing that. Ever. He can just find out when I’m big and fat and about ready to pop out a kid. Maybe I’ll move to New York for nine months and then come back and be like: Surprise! There are no returns on it.”
“That’s probably the safest idea.” I laugh.
Once I get far enough away from the house that no one can see me, I pull out a joint from my pocket and light it up. I need something to take my mind off everything else, something to numb me, and this helps. I inhale, my lungs fill with smoke, and I hold it as long as I can before exhaling.
I continue to walk around the garden, stopping at a pond, and sit on the grass. It’s really pretty out here. I wonder if my dad picked this house because it’s so amazing you’d never want to move out. His way of keeping Kyla close to home, I guess.
I pull my phone from my pocket and stare at Ares’s contact information. I could message with a hi, how are you? Maybe just a wave emoji? Or I could pop out my chest and send him a suggestive selfie. Before I can contemplate what to do, his name appears on my screen and I drop my phone on the grass.
“Shit.” Picking it up, I swipe the answer button on his video call request. “Hey.”
“Hey, where are you?” he asks.
“My sister’s. Family lunch. Where are you?” I try to look at the background but can’t figure out where he is.
“The distillery.”
“Oh, okay.” That’s not so bad. What bad things could happen at the distillery? All they do is make whiskey there. He’s safe. I can see him.
I bring the joint to my lips and inhale.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Ares’s voice is loud and angry.
“Sitting in the garden,” I tell him as a billow of smoke leaves my mouth.
“Zara, why the fuck are you smoking weed?” he snaps.
“Because I wanted to?”
“We’ve had this discussion. You don’t need it.”
“Actually, I do. It helps numb me.”
“No, it doesn’t. That shit isn’t helping you, P. Put it out and throw it away,” he says.
“You know what? I’ve had enough of men telling me what I can and can’t do.” I cut the call and throw my phone back down on the grass.
Screw him and his thinking he owns me.