Ares entered the house, pulling his hood off as he closed the door behind him.
"Ares that you?" He heard from the kitchen, stopping in his tracks. As he stood there contemplating going in or simply going up to his room to clean himself up and lay the fuck down, Assiana called out to him again and he sighed. Against the wishes of his aching body, he listened, making a U turn and bending the corner to enter the kitchen.
Assiana stood by the stove, switching one of the burners off before turning to him, the small smile she had dropping as soon as she saw his condition.
"Ares what the hell happened to you??" She asked, looking at his bloodied face.
Pity she didn't know it wasn't his blood.
"You called me for what Si?" Ares ignored her previous question, wanting nothing more than to take a shower and clean up whatever small injuries he might've incurred.
"...... I.." she wanted badly to push him to answer her. But as she thought about what she'd seen after following him months prior, she knew she'd answered her own question. "I made dinner. Was wondering if you'd eat with me?" She mumbled, expecting a no given the mood Ares displayed.
However, despite even that, Ares softened slightly after hearing her request. It had been quite a while since they sat and ate together, and the familiarity appealed heavily to him. He would never admit how much he missed the things he'd ruined between them.
Licking his lips, he nodded to Assiana's surprise and she smiled.
As she turned to share their plates, he sat down, taking his gun and knives out of his waist band as it was poking him uncomfortably. Placing them on the table, he fixed his hoodie.
"Your mom home yet?" He asked her, wanting to know if he should hide his weapons properly.
"Nah, she out with her friends or suhm. I realize she been doing that a lot lately. I wonder if she met someone." Assiana answered, speaking mostly to herself at the end. "Do your jobs always go till so late?" She asked, knowing it was well after 12.
Ares sighed, holding back a sarcastic reply, knowing his irritation wasn't with Assiana and as such she didn't deserve his bad attitude.
"I got school so yah most days it's later in the day or night. Sometimes I do day but I still be up late making up for the school work I missed. So it makes sense I do shit at night. I also prefer people not seeing me. So the dark works" he answered her. Assiana hummed in response, turning around with the plates and setting them down, only seeing the items he'd placed on the table when she sat down.
Her movements slowed as she looked at them and Ares looked up at her as he chewed on the spoonful he'd put in his mouth.
She cleared her throat before looking at him and giving a small smile as she focused on her plate.
"When we're done I'll help clean you up... if you want" she offered, scooping up some of the food off her plate and eating it.
Ares swallowed what was already in his mouth before clearing his throat.
"Would appreciate it sure." He answered her.
They continue to eat in silence and her eyes flicker from her plate to his gun, something that didn't go unnoticed to him but he simply watched for awhile. It was when he finished eating, that he finally spoke up.
"It's nuhn to be afraid of you know. It ain gone go off for no dam reason" he told her, picking his stuff up and placing them securely in his waist band and pockets, avoiding hurting himself.
Assiana shook her head.
"That's not it I...... kinda wanted to touch it. But it's fine I really shouldn't" she said in reply, playing around with her food. She was having quite the hard time eating. Her mind kept telling her it was way too late to be eating especially dinner. So despite her hunger, she picked around her plate.
Ares looked at her, surprised she'd want to do that. Without hesitation he pulled it back out of his waist band, and held it out to her after spinning it on his finger so he held the nozzle and the handle faced her.
She looked at it then him and he motioned for her to take it. After a while she did, surprised at how heavy it was as it weighed down her hand.
Her eyes widened. "Didn't expect that" she muttered, to which Ares lets out a small chuckle.
She looks at it closely them from a far, not too sure what else to do and not wanting to make a mistake and pull the trigger. Realising this, Ares shook his head, an amused smile grazing his lips as he stood up, walking over to her before stopping behind her seat. His head dips beside hers and against her own will, her breath hitched.
"This how you hold it. Be firm but not forceful, this the dot sight. And I got my silencer right here." He said to her, pulling a long black tube looking thing from his shoes. Attaching it, he showed her how to look through the sight and pin point where to shoot.
"So if you shootin at that vase, zero in on it, make sure from the sight you can see the barrel directed at it. Then you'd shoot" he told her. She had a smile on her face as he talked, his hand resting on her left shoulder while the other was wrapped around her hand that held the gun, his face almost resting on her right shoulder as he stayed low to show her the different parts.
He looked over at her, admiring the way she looked and the smile that grazed her lips as he showed her how to use the weapon. And he got an idea.
"What you doin tomorrow?" He asked her. She turned to him, biting her lip as she realized how close they were before clearing her throat.
"It ain no holiday so school Ares. Coming home after." She told him. He rolled his eyes.
"Let's do something then. Ima take you to the range." He told her, wanting her to accept his offer although he wasn't trying to leave any room for disagreement.
Assiana thought about it. Realistically she had no other plans. And she didn't think there was anything wrong with spending abit of time with Ares. And surprisingly she hasn't been hating being around him or hanging out. It seemed although the dynamic had changed slightly, it must've been for the better. They could finally be just friends now that she was losing her feelings after finding out what they had was nothing but sexual. They could now put that behind them and move on.
"I..... you know what. I think I'd actually wanna do that. Would it just be us or Nika n Felix n'em coming?" She asked and Ares straightened, stretching slightly.
"Nah just us. I think they busy planning shit for my birthday Saturday" he said and her eyes lit up.
"Oh Dam I honestly almost forgot. You dead ass bout to be 17. How you feelin?" She asked as she turned to him. Grabbing the plates she stood to take them to the sink.
"No different. Kinda feel like my age ain movin with the man that I am you know" he said. She scoffed.
"Wow Ares. You serious rii now?" She was amused at his words. She threw the food on her plate out and washed the dishes before turning around, immediately bumping into Ares. She hadn't noticed he was right behind her and he looked down at her with a slight smirk.
"Am serious ma. But now that I'm thinking bout it, maybe I am feeling a lil different. Think I've gotten taller" he says smugly and Assiana looks up at him, hating that he was right.
Ares had grown Atleast a few inches since the first time she saw him and she couldn't believe how much he towered over her now.
"Well, you are still young so it's expected" she told him, trying to pass but he doesn't let her. Before she could even register what happened, he stepped forward, pressing her into the counter before dipping down so his lips were level with her ear. She gulped.
"I think you know better than anyone...... that young isn't the best way to describe me Si" he teased. She didn't dare move, not even wanting to blink. Not even she knew what she was afraid of.
Possibly being pulled back into having feelings for this boy again.
"And Si.... I'm waking you up bright n early for breakfast. Can't have you out here not eating mama." He told her, letting her know he did in fact see that she hadn't eaten. Something she always wondered about. He always saw what no one else did when it came to her.
___________________________________
Assiana watched as Ares put his guns and knives in his drawer, before going into the bathroom. By the time she had followed him in there he had already began pulling off his hoodie. And was finally seeing what was hidden beneath.
To say she was surprised was an understatement and without her control a gasp fell from her lips.
"Ares...." She managed to say as she looked at his blood painted white crew neck. She wasn't sure what else was hidden as he wore black jeans, but as she looked at him, she grew worried.
And when Ares finally got his hoodie off and looked at her, he could see that. Shaking his head, he went over to her and paused in front of her.
Taking her hand, he used it to lift his shirt and show her that he had only a few grazed and bruises. Majority of the blood wasn't his.
Pulling the button of his jeans, he pulled them slightly down to show her there was no blood below his belt. Only a small scratch near his V- line, where one of his knives were at one point, unsheathed.
He allowed her to trace his abdomen where she wanted, to lessen her worry and simply looked at her.
"Am fine Si. It ain even always like this. Sometimes it's easy. I just grab what I'm spose to and leave. Sometimes they get difficult and I sort that shit. Sometimes Issa war. But one thing it never is, is nothin to worry bout. Ima be fine yeh." He told her, trying to soothe her nerves. He picked her hand up and brought it to his lips, kissing it and Assiana's cheeks warmed at the gesture. Ares didn't care about what he truly believed. And what he truly knew. Which was despite his tenacity and his luck and strength, shit happens in his world. And everybody has their time. All he had to keep doing was extending his, till he would eventually be in a safer position.
Until then, he would tell Assiana anything that she needed to hear.
Assiana bit her lip before nodding.
"So what happened tonight? Why were you so upset?" She asked, bringing her hand down just as Ares let it go.
Upon hearing her question, Ares' expression became dark. And he clenched his fists.
"Some times things don't go as planned. That's what happened tonight. In a certain area, I run shit. I have certain people in that circle I keep close that deal wit different jobs for me, lix and quay being some of them dudes although I almost see em as my partners. Just a different in business that we deal. Anyways, long story short, some other niggas within that circle was fuckin, well..... tryna fuck me over, stealing and blaming it on other people, then when I found out, they tried to take me out before I set shit up to deal wit em." Ares scoffs "fucking idiots. Now I lost runners and fuckin money. It's a hole in the ranks that needs be filled and them niggas I offed pulled a fuckin disappearing act with 200 grand of my fucking money."
Assiana looked at him, letting out a sigh.
"I'd have an attitude too. 200k? How they do that?" She asked.
"They were the ones collecting money from the block sellers, they was pocketing shit and apparently hid what they took after I was catching on to em. But ain no worries. Dante got people working on it. End of the day am good forreal. Not Hurtin' over the loss but it's the fuckin principle. Thought they could play with me and why?? Cuz they'on respect me. Well fuck em. Ain't gotta respect shit now that they dead" He said, taunting literal dead people. Not to mention dead people he sent into the afterlife in the first place.
Assiana folded her lips inwards, trying to hide her reaction to his audacity.
After a while, she moves him over to the bathroom counter and begins cleaning him up. He lets out a couple hissed here and there but was fine overall. And Assiana began to see that it really wasn't his blood she had been seeing.
"So..... how much money you be having that 200 k ain hurting you Ares?" She asked him. Ares let out a small chuckle.
"I got quite abit princess. I ain pressed cuz I can make that back in a couple days and it all depends on the jobs. As I said, it was the principle that had me,... tssssss fuck....." he hissed as she cleaned a big cut that went across his bicep. " dam.... As I said, just the principle. Ion think I got money issues. Hell I'm much better than when I first started and I was living from job to job off that money, spending hard as fuck. Now I got a lot saved up. A lot easier to save when I ain got an addiction to feed ya know? Putting allat towards my future, whether I wanna just build a business, go back to school, whatever. Wanna be in a position one day, where I can walk away without hesitation. Knowing I got what I need to make a good life for myself." He finished, just as Assiana also finished cleaning him up.
She hummed, giving him a small smile after throwing out the bloody cotton balls she'd used.
"I'm really glad for that then Ares. This ain all life has in store for you. So I can't wait to see you pass this. And doing good things for yourself, being in a safer place and being comfortable." She told him. Ares gave a smile back.
"Thanks Si" he told her, pushing up off the bathroom counter.
She nodded, looking down at her hands before deciding it was about time she left. But just before she could do so, Ares stopped her, turning her around and uses his hand to tilt her head so she looked up at him.
Her heart beat sped up and she stood frozen, not knowing what to do and honestly, not sure if she wanted to.
Her feelings confused her so much.
Have you no self respect!? He literally already told you what y'all did meant nothing! She thought.
But her common sense was being thrown out the window, and being replaced by the thumping of her heart as she waiting for whatever was incoming.
Ares looked down at the girl, wanting nothing more than to have all his way with her. She was so sweet and perfect. And he refused to let it be that this girl was anything less than his.
And his head dipped down slowly, ready to claim her soft lips in a passionate kiss. But instead, he placed a chaste kiss on her forehead, his grip on her neck tightening slightly as he held himself back. Because he knew, a kiss right now, would not end at just the kiss. And Ares wanted nothing more, than for this girl to crave him as much as he did, her.