The sun burned down on Aria, unforgivably and painfully. After two hours Aria was still sitting on the side of the road, face wet with tears streaks.
Aria had yelled at her friends, she hadn't even thought about the fact that she told them all about her because she was so worried about JJ.
The fact the JJ had just broken her heart but all she wanted to do was curl up in his arms was a mystery to her.
Aria sighed as she began walking back to the chateau. It was a long walk and one that would, unfortunately, allow her time to think, which meant JJ.
Millions of thoughts danced around Aria's head like little ballerinas. The main one, the big bad wolf, tormented her into believing everything JJ said was true.
I mean, when had he ever lied to her. Apparently other than the times he told her he loved her. She was right, after Jordan. She was unlovable. Enough people had told her so.
Her father drilled it into her brain, her ex-boyfriend who convinced her that feeling loved was a thing only to snatch it out from under her and rub it in her face, and JJ, the one she thought would never hurt her, hurt her the most.
Aria was stupid. Plain and simple. She had been through enough situations, heard enough songs, watched enough movies to trust that love doesn't cause anything but pain.
How many times would she need to tell herself to stop before she lost it all? Or has she already lost it all?
Eventually, she found herself at the chateau, it was still day and no one seemed to be, that didn't matter though. She was only there for one thing.
Aria opened the front door still in a bit of a daze as she made her way into her and JJ's room. Ha, Aria and JJ's room, not anymore.
Aria looked through the drawers just hoping to find that little black thing then she could leave, no one will care. No one will even notice.
Finally, her lanky fingers reached across the cool metal, she hummed in pleasure feeling it.
When Aria brought it out of the draw she heard some shuffling in the backyard. She looked out and saw the person responsible for her recent heartbreak.
She couldn't see his face nor was she anywhere near close to hear what he was saying but she saw that he was alive. Alive, and late. The sun was slowly starting to set so that means that he must have gone home, or somewhere else.
Aria didn't know what to do, so she left. Quickly and quietly before anyone heard or saw her. She hid the gun in her shorts and she made her way to her final destination.
****
"Stupid creaky door," Aria whispered as she made her way into her father's house. The door, just like out of a horror movie, creaked and would have alerted her father that someone was here.
Wonder what weapon he is going to spring on her today. She thought.
"Was wondering when you would bring your ungrateful whore ass back here." James Millies slurred his words. 7 at night and he was drunk, of course.
"Didn't have anywhere else to go." She muttered.
"I don't know what to do with you anymore." He sounded almost... apologetic, maybe.
"What do you mean?" Aria gained a little more confidence since she had a handgun stashed in her pockets.
"I tried to tell, I tried to warn you, child." He shook his head moving to the kitchen getting a bottle of bourbon and bringing it back out. "Look at you, you look like a broken rag doll."
"I'm sorry," she croaked out.
"Don't be. There is no need to apologize when you're gonna be dead soon." Aria already knew her fate coming here but decided to still come, but hearing her father say those words brought another tear to her already stained cheek.
"Oh, don't cry, princess." He said in a murderous way. "So, what brought those other tears, huh? That boy, Luke's kid."
"Don't talk about him," Aria whispered.
"I thought you two would get together, you know. You are both pathetic twits with nothing better to do than steal from your fathers."
"I said don't talk about him!" Aria yelled but her dad gripped her around the neck and pushed her up to the wall. She started to scratch his hand trying to get him to stop.
"You watch your mouth, kid." He warned letting her go.
"Why didn't you like me? even before I killed mom you still didn't like me, what did I do?" Aria asked what has been on her mind for years, if she was really going to die tonight, why not?
"Did you know that I couldn't have children?" Aria looked up at him in confusion.
"What?"
"Something in me stopped me physically from having children."
Aria was hooked to say the least, if he couldn't have kids that meant that she wasn't his child. She must have had a birth father out there somewhere, she wondered who it could be, could he be better than her actual father.
"When I was a boy," He started, James had never told Aria anything about her life and now he was. "My parents didn't like me very much."
"I was the youngest of three kids, two girls and then me. Olivia and Mirabella. Liv and Mira. They were perfect, really beautiful, smart, didn't do drugs or have alcohol, like your friend... what's his name."
"Pope," Aria replied.
"That's the one!" He snapped his fingers and Aria flinched back. "Pope. Yeah, they were just as perfect as Pope. Anyway, when I was born I was my parent's pride and joy, they did like me." He took another drink.
"What happened?" Aria asked hastily.
"We were a christen family, very old school. Had to be married to have sex, don't allowed to act out against sin. Basically everything I wasn't. I had just been kicked out of my house. They didn't want me there so they had packed a bag for me while I was at school and shoved it in my face when I got home."
"That's awful." Aria sighed.
"I was living on the streets for about a year, maybe. Hanging around with some boys I knew from school and using whatever they gave me. I didn't even ask what it was."
"I have tried my whole life to stop you from turning out to be me, I didn't want you to be on the streets, doing whatever for money, I just wanted you to be like Liv and Mira."
"Am I your child, or not?" Aria asked impatiently.
"Wait!" He yelled. "Your mother had pulled me out from my dark spot, she had guys all around but she chose me. All I had to do in return was support her, something I couldn't do."
"When we were trying to have a baby, it had been at least three years before we gave up and went to a doctor. He told me it was my fault, that I couldn't give her a baby."
"I'm sorry," Aria whispered.
"Back then there weren't many options, you could try to adopt, or you could let your wife sleep with another person. We chose the first option."
"So I am adopted." Aria sighed.
"No. Before we had the chance to start looking for children we were invited to dinner at her work. So we went." Aria got confused about where this was going.
"Somewhere in that night I had got a little too drunk and Alise had to send me home, she had to stay longer since she was getting an award. The next thing I knew was she was coming home with ripped clothes makeup smeared all over her face and dark bruises on her neck."
Aria gasped, she had hoped she wasn't right, she prayed that what he was telling wasn't true.
"Alise was distraught crying out of her mind screaming whenever I tried to touch her. Eventually, she brought me up to what had happened."
No, no, no, no, no, no, please no. Aria thought.
"She had been raped." Aria gasped, her poor mother. "And then, magically you were born, nine months later."
"I was born through sexual assault." Aria felt fresh tears come back to her.
"Yup. We tried a DNA test on you to hope you were maybe mine, but the results came back negative."
"Every time I look at you I see the reason why Alise couldn't sleep at night, why she would jump whenever people came up behind her. It was all because of you."
"I not only killed my mother but I am a constant reminder of her abusive." Aria felt the tears fall from her eyes.
"Yes. And somehow you turned out more like me than your sweet innocent mother, and that is how you failed her."
"JJ was right. I am poison." Aria whispered. She slowly reached into her pant pockets, feeling for the gun.
Aria felt the gun in her hands and slowly brought it into her view, she clasped the metal object and she wanted nothing more than to put it between her teeth and pull the trigger, but before she got the choice it was smacked out of her hands.
"No! I was going to tell you this and then kill you, but look at you, your so pathetic you are gonna do it yourself." James muttered.
"Please, I don't deserve any of this." Aria ran to go get the gun but her father had pushed her up against the wall and banged his fist into her face.
"Shut up! Just shut up!" He kept punching at her. Aria felt blood all around her mouth and wondered whether or not she had bitten off her tongue.
"Do it!" Aria screamed. Her father had dropped her to the ground and started kicking her abdomen. "Come on!" Aria cried out just wanting it all to end.
"Your a worthless little bitch! You steal from me and still think you can ask me to do to things for you!" Aria turned on her back and sobbed out. She was so hurt right now, mentally and physically but the latter didn't really matter to her anymore.
"Please." She whispered. Her father grabbed his shotgun and push the butt into her head slamming it against the concrete floor. Black dots started to appear in her vision.
The front door was suddenly forced open. Her father had stopped attacking Aria to look around and see none other than Luke Maybank at the door.
"Damn it!" Her father yelled slamming the gun into Aria one last time. "We are gonna continue this later bitch." He whispered before walking out of the door following his fellow friend.
Aria was left. She felt alone she sobbed and cried on the kitchen floor. Aria's mother, Alise, was the only person Aria knew who truly loved her, she was so hurt by the fact that her entrance into this world caused her mother so much pain she couldn't bear herself.
All Aria wanted to do at this moment was crawl into JJ's arms, but he didn't love her, hell he didn't even like her.
Aria was a lost cause, she had no one. Her eyes fell heavily with that thought and soon enough she was in a deep sleep.
****
"Shit," Aria whined as she was covering the bruising on her stomach. It was around nine at night right now and she had already had an Ice bath and cleaned herself up.
She had no idea why she did but something told her too. She needed to talk to someone, anymore, but she couldn't. Jenson wasn't the one working it was some random guy who kept checking her out.
Aria had managed to turn her mind off, she had stopped the thoughts going through her mind otherwise they would lead back to two people she wanted to stop thinking about.
It felt unfair that Aria was thinking about JJ even with everything her father had told her. Aria checked herself one last time before making her way to the Chateau, hoping anyone, other than JJ, was there and could talk to her.
When she finally dragged her limping body to the chateau she heard weird noises from the backyard. She walked around to see JJ sitting in a hot tub with Pope and Kie standing opposite him.
There was running water and JJ was holding what seemed to be a bottle of champagne.
"Can't a man have a little luxury in life?" JJ questioned, he sounded broken and Aria couldn't bring herself to step up or do anything just yet. "Come on, all this scrimpin' and scrapin'..." JJ took off his sunglasses.
The normal deep voice sounded rusty and croaked with every word he spoke. Aria looked around and she quickly noticed that the sunglasses he was wearing were the ones he had bought for her.
"I mean, like...guys, we-- You only live once, right? Enough of this emotional shit. Get in the Cat's Ass. Come on." JJ continued, he looked like a lost boy.
"In the what?" Kie questioned softly.
"In the Cat's Ass. That's what I named her. Oh, hey, yo, I almost forgot." JJ flipped a switch and that made all lights go quickly and jets seemed to appear. "Huh? Yeah, that's right, I know. Disco mode. That's right, baby!"
"Are you kidding me?!" Pope questioned. "You could have paid for restitution!"
"Or literally given it to any charity!" Kie continued. Aria slowly crept forward not knowing what to do.
"Or better yet, you could have helped us buy supplies to get the rest of the gold out of the well!" Pope scolded.
"Okay, well, you know what?" JJ stood up. Aria gasped and came to a complete stop her presence still being unknown but she looked at the dark purple and black bruises placed on his body. "I didn't do that!"
"I got a hot tub! For my friends. I got a hot tub for my friends. You know what? No, you know what? Screw friends. I got a hot tub for my family!"
"JJ, what the hell?" Kie questioned. Aria slowly started walking forward again.
"I got this for you. Guys, look what I did for you! All right? Look at this! Look at this!" JJ pleaded.
"JJ," Kie whispered.
"No, you stop being emotional. It's fine, okay?!" JJ cried. "I mean, it's sweet, right? Everything-" Kie climbed into the hot tub with JJ. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he cried on her shoulder.
"I just couldn't do it," JJ whispered. "I can't take him anymore! I was gonna kill him. I just wanna do the right thing." JJ sobbed. Aria felt tears stream down her face, she couldn't help him.
Aria didn't know what to do. She slowly started walking back when she heard Pope climb into the hot tub too. She wanted to comfort JJ but knew that Kie could do a better job, because how could she help someone when she can't even help herself?
She sat up against the side of John B's house, her boyfriend was less than a hundred meters away and she couldn't help him. She started to cry so she put her fist over her mouth to silence the sobs.
After about half an hour, Aria brought her knees up to her face as her hands went to grip her hair. She heard suffering and assumed that Kie, JJ, and Pope were going back inside.
Kie had heard little whimpers escape Aria's mouth before she walked into the chateau. "Hey do you guys hear that?" Kie questioned. Pope looked confused but JJ seemed to hear it.
Aria was out of earshot from the group so she didn't hear them. JJ went to walk over to the sound but Kie lightly stopped him. "Go and get some sleep I will figure it out."
"No, but what if it's a person?" JJ croaked out.
"Look it might just be John B or Sarah or Aria it's fine." Pope tried to convince.
JJ snapped at her name, he was too wrapped up in himself to think about her and he felt guilty. He quickly ran around to the side of the house looking at the girl he loved silently cry to herself.
Kie came after him and then Pope. Aria heard the footsteps and saw them all, she tried to not look at JJ in case of breaking down again.
"Kie?" She started but her voice cracks so she quickly tried to clear her voice. "Um, can I, uh, talk to you?"
"Ari, baby." JJ ran up to her but she stepped back not wanting to talk to him.
"Kie?" Aria spoke again. JJ felt his heartbreak when he saw how broken she looked and how she couldn't talk to him.
"Uh, yeah, yeah sure." Kie sounded confused. "JJ, go inside."
"No. I'm not leaving." JJ retorted stepping up to Aria again but she stepped back.
"JJ, please. You need sleep." Kie informed.
"No! Kie!" Aria flinched when he yelled and they all saw it.
"No, look it's-it's fine. I will just come back, uh goodnight." Aria rambled she didn't wait for a response before she started walking away.
"Aria?!" JJ followed after her. "Aria, baby, listen to me." JJ stood in front of her and light grabbed her hands, she sighed and left them there. "Talk to me, what happened?"
"You were right. I am the poison." Aria whispered.
"No, no, baby. I wasn't there is nothing wrong with you, okay you are perfec-" JJ cupped her face but she broke away from him.
"Don't lie! Just stop with the lying!" She yelled.
"Baby, I didn't mean what I said back then, okay. Please I love-"
"Stop! Just stop." JJ stood there watching the girl he loved, break down in front of him. She brought her hands over her face trying to hide her cries. "Don't lie to me anymore."
JJ felt a pang through his heart at her words. He hesitantly stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist bringing her body to his for support.
"He told me the truth, JJ," Aria whispered. "The whole truth."
"Aria, I have loved you since I met you, I need you to know that. I messed up but I need you and you need me. Tell me what happened."
"I'm sorry JJ, I know you were lying, but I can-can't. I can't."
"Yes, you can. Baby, it's me, please," She sighed as she wrapped her own arms around JJ's neck. She was clinging onto him like he was going to disappear.
JJ picked Aria up and slowly brought her back to the Chateau. Heyward's car was gone so he thought that Kie and Pope had both left to be back home.
JJ placed Aria on his lap as he sat down on the pullout couch. Aria sighed as she slowly started to repeat the words her father had spoken to her not four hours ago.
JJ felt his heart stop beating at what she was saying. There was no way. There couldn't be. Aria had no resemblance of a bad person in her. She wouldn't look at him as she was telling the story.
Aria had thought about her birth father, he raped her mother. She was born from sexual assault, how was she supposed to take the news. She felt disgusted by herself.
The only two fathers she had in the world were both dangerous assholes, except one was just an asshole and one was a rapist. Imagine how many people he could have hurt.
"I promise, baby. You are nothing like him." JJ tried to convince her but all she did was fake a smile and say she knows. JJ eventually thought it would be better to talk about it tomorrow so he laid down and set her on top of him.
"I'm sorry, we have been so interested in myself that I haven't been able to help you." Aria hummed.
"I'm okay, Ari," JJ responded.
"I love you," Aria said as she lightly kissed one of the bruises on his chest. JJ tensed as he felt it let her continued.
"Only you." Aria went to another bruise. She went around and kissed every bruise on his body lightly, not with lust but with love. They drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.
Author's note.
Okay, so this chapter had a bit of a mind of its own. I legit started crying while I was writing it. Again I wanted to remind you that I am not writing about these topics because they get reads but I wanted to enforce the idea that these can be people's lives. I'm not trying to sound like a rip-off of Harry Styles or anything but you never know what's happening in someone's life no matter how well you may love them. Please just make sure people you care about can talk to you and my DM's are all ways open if you wanted to talk xx.
Also sorry for the long-ass chapter I didn't know where to end it.