Chapter Seven
~Dathan~
"Sir is everything okay in here?" The doctor asked.
I released Arias shoulders and her fingernails pulled from my forearms as I pushed away from the bed. I was breathing heavily, my heart was pummeling out control as I turned to look at the old man.
"Everything is fine." I said, through gritted teeth.
He didn't looked convinced but nodded once and turned on one heel to walk away. I tried to adjust my shirt and hair but it was all in vain. Aria had misplaced my hair when she had pulled it and ripped almost every button on my dressing shirt.
Things had gotten out of hand once again. I hadn't been able to stop myself from yelling at her when they had brought us to the E.R.
Things got a lot worse when they finally stitched my forehead up and placed her in a private room. I demanded to see her right away. Aria wasn't getting away with the fact that she had endangered both our lives. I hadn't pegged her for a crazy woman but now things seemed to be unfolding before my very eyes.
"I think bargaining with you is permanently off the table. Consider this a wish fulfilled on my behalf. I never want to see your face again." I spat.
"None of this would be happening if you would have just watched where you were going!" She screamed, reaching over for a booklet on the table. It flung across the room and hit the wall falling to the floor with a thud.
"You're crazy!" I snapped.
"Am I? Or have you not noticed that it's the effect people have on you when you're close by." She remarked.
"You, owe me, a new car." I stated.
Aria laughed, her fake boasting pulling the last string of my nerves. "And you owe me a new leg!"
"I'm walking out." I said, opening the door. I took one step outside only to realize that my father stood at the end of the hall. My breath hitched as I saw his head turn. Pushing back into the room I cursed the hospital for not having a lock on the door.
"I thought you were leaving?" She asked, her arms crossing over her chest.
"Listen, I am about to be in a really tight situation here, just...go with it, if you do I will do whatever you want." I pleaded.
Aria arched a brow and had no time to protest as the door to the room flew open. I stepped back a few feet as my father barged in, his eyes squared on me. My mother followed, her arms quickly wrapping around my shoulders to hold me close.
"What happened!" He snapped, he turned to close the door before anyone else could listen in on the conversation much less witness it.
"Father, I can explain." I said, trying to pull my mother away from me. Her weeping was making it difficult to talk.
"For Christ sake, Jodie, give the boy some room to breathe!" He said, taking a gentle hold on her arm. She tugged away and huddled into the crook of my fathers arm.
"I swear to you if this little accident was your doing you can be sure that I've had it. This is the last straw to all of your shenanigans! I will not have the family name be tainted by such a clumsy son. You heed little warning to everything I tell you. If I say go left you go right! Right into destruction." He lectured.
***
I felt my eyes nearly want to bulge from my sockets as I stared at the tall impressive man before Dathan. Compared to his father, Dathan looked small and cowardly. This man held an aura of dominance and authority. He dressed in a fine black suit, his eyes a penetrating gray. The moustache he sported was what gave his glare the finishing look of control.
I swallowed hard before trying to find my voice. I knew that I was no one to interrupt but I also acknowledged that sooner or later their attention would be pointed in my direction. Something stirred within me. His last words had me opening my mouth before I could regret it.
"It was my fault!" I shouted, loud enough for all of them to turn in my direction. Mr. Heart walked to my bed side and I felt I was growing small as he crossed his arms over his chest,
"Who, may I ask, are you?" He said, his voice growing a bit softer.
"I...I'm, Aria. Opel." I replied, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
"Aria? Dathan is this woman something to you?" He asked.
Dathan pressed his lips into a thin line. I knew that lying wasn't going to get us anywhere, and by the looks of it, he feared lying to his father. "I'm a friend," I said, trying to keep the lies from completely crossing over the truth.
"That still dosen't explain why you look like hell and Dathan here merely has a scratch on his forehead." He pointed out.
"Were the two of you fighting in that vehicle?" His mother asked. I turned my attention to the blonde woman standing by Dathan's side now. She rubbed his back her lips frowning in disappointment. She looked so much older, almost as if she could be his grandmother. Nevertheless, the woman had aged well.
"Yes, I lost my temper and I was the one to push him. I know I shouldn't have." I confessed.
Dathan's father arched a brow and turned to look at his son, completely disregarding my confession
"Tell me, is this woman your lover, is that why the two of you were fighting?" He asked him.
Dathan shook his head, his voice somewhere in the pit of his stomach since he couldn't muster up the courage to speak yet. "I assure you that we are not, I suffered an accident and he was being kind enough to make sure that I got home safely. In the mist of things we somehow ended up disagreeing on my health, he said something along the line "No one talks to me that way and get's away with it". I lost my temper and...I shoved him, the car steered out of control. It was all my fault." I said.
"You are covering something, and I will get to the bottom of it. Rest assure, Dathan, that if I find out what it is...you will surely regret it." He said.
He turned on one heel and marched out of the room with his wife trailing behind him. Mrs. Heart turned over her shoulder to press a kiss onto her fingers as a gesture of pity for her son. When the door closed, he let out a relived sigh and turned to look at me.
"You didn't have to do that." He said.
"Wow, I thought maybe your voice box had completely evaporated." I remarked.
"And here we go again with the smart combats, can you please try to have a decent conversation with me without having to be a complete ass?" He asked.
I stared at Dathan for a long time, not pondering his words but feeling completely amazed at the fact that I had dreamt this man over and over again for the past few years and here he was. He was different of course, although he looked the same. He was much more compassionate than the man I dreamt about. The Dathan in my dreams was head strong, passionate, and temperamental. Although, I had to give it to this Dathan, his temper was much the same.
"I'm sorry, I can't help it." I honestly replied. I had never been this snotty before but being around him made a switch flip inside me. I felt I needed to challenge him in order to prove that I was not weak.
"Why did you fess up and why didn't you tell my dad the whole truth?" He asked.
"Look, let's just say we are even, you wrecked my leg and I wrecked your car." I said.
"I thought with age I'd get more confident but the man has this aura of dominance I just can't muster up to, no matter how much of an ass I am." He explained, while taking a seat beside my bed.
"Sometimes, it's better to be loved than feared. I may not know you that much but from the looks of it I can tell you are a softy."
"Great, even you can see right through me." He muttered.
Silence lingered in the room, only the faint sound of the television played in the background. The news reporter was at the crash site, police blocked the entire area. I stared at the screen looking at the shattered glass everywhere and the tipped over car which now looked like a large lump of cole. We both could have burned in that wreck because of me.
"I'm sorry, really I am." I said, as I watched his name being projected on the screen. A picture of Dathan popped up on the side and the reporter kept spilling detail after detail of the crash. Soon my picture was shown. In the end we were both labeled loony as she proceeded to dig up any kind of bad things they could place on Dathan's name. I was labeled as a crazy lover who was to blame for the crash.
He shook his head and lowered it, I could see the anger building in his eyes. "This day just got a lot worse." He muttered.
"Dathan, please, forgive me." I said. I felt my gut clench the instant he turned to look at me with a broken expression. An electric shock filled my body as the hauntingly deja vu flooded over me. That same expression had been etched in my memories.
I had dreamt him this way. In my dream we stood in the center of a large foyer, he held me in his arms, his feet gently guiding me into a waltz. Things seemed to stop once we had reached the large living room shaped like a large sphere. The walls were painted velvet, gold curtains adorned the large tall windows that displayed a sunset in the far distance.
A broken expression filled his eyes as he reached to hold my face into his hands. I felt my heart melting, my lips craving his own. Then the dream would evaporate and I would wake in a heap of sweat and frustration.
"...doesn't matter anyway. They are always finding ways to ruin my reputation. I should know better than to expect people to understand rather than judge." He said.
"I feel much like one of them." I found myself whispering.
"Aria, I think we have argued and fought back and forth long enough. If there is anything that you need, here, give me a call. I'll make sure you are taken care of. I need to go and get my life back together." He said, pushing out of the chair. I felt my heart twitch to see him so upset. Part of it was my fault, I hadn't stopped to think or listen. I had seen red the moment he had confessed that he had been the one to hit me.
The door burst open before he could reach it, cameras swarmed the room in an instant. A camera man focused on Dathan's face. A reporter pushed past the many photographers pressing a mike to his face.
"Mr. Heart, is it true you are to blame for the crash that occured? Reports of you beating this young lady and trying to cover it have reached all of Harland." He said.
I felt my face grow red with anger as I watched him get attacked by so many lies. I was also suprised that no one had gotten a single accusation right. They had not even bothered to ask about him hitting me with his car.
Cameras blinded me as I pulled the sheet to cover my face. So many voices filled the room as Dathan tried pushing them out of the room.
"Ma'am, there is no need for you to cover for this man if he beat you. You do know that you have a right to fight against men like him!" One of them shouted.
Pulling the sheets down I glared in the reporters direction. "Might I ask were you're from?" I said. He took the bait and inched closer.
"I am Liam Hazel from the Camille newsprint, CEO of the company." He gladly pointed out.
"I thought CEO's had their goons do their dirty work for them? Do you have a personal vendeta against the Hearts?" I asked.
He seemed to pale as the camera focused on him. His face turned pink as he took a step back from my bed. "I think all of you should listen, and listen closely. This man here is not to blame for a single thing. The accident was just that, an accident, there was no foul play, no argument. I know you have a job to fill, a quota, so try writing the truth for once and print these words in large. Dathan Heart is a very generous man and has been nothing but a good freind to me and my family. So please give the false rumors a rest." I said.
The room went silent as each journalist stared at me for a long moment. Soon security managed to break through the large heap of people. A large burly man signaled for everyone to step out, each person filed out quietly some still taking pictures as they left. Once the door closed Dathan turned to look at me.
"You are trying to make me your salve for good aren't you?" He asked, as a small smile played on his lips.
"Take it as an apology for wrecking your car and endagering our lives. I know you nearly ran me over with your car but I have to admit that we are pretty even with the stunt I tried to pull today. I'm sorry I lost my temper and made the car flip. Not only would it have not solved anythng but both our lives could have been lost." I said.
"Thank you Aria, I owe you one." He said. A smile reached his lips and I felt my heart flip from the tingly sensations spiraling out of my stomach. I knew I was in trouble the moment I blushed from the mere gesture.