Warning: Strong Language and Sexual References!
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"Ary."
At the feel of something brushing her cheek, Ary's eyes fluttered open. She had been in a deep sleep and was startled. She had a momentary sense of panic, but quickly relaxed when she saw that Rave was laying beside her, his hand gently stroking her cheek. She smiled and he returned it.
"I feel like I'm dreaming," he said, his eyes searching her face, his smile disappearing.
"I'm fine, Rave. Really," she assured him, sitting up in the bed. She yawned and stretched out her arms.
Rave's gaze immediately went to her knuckles that were bruised and scabbed over, then to the red rope burns around her wrist from where she struggled against her restraints. His eyes darkened with anger.
"Rave, it's not as bad as it looks," she quickly told him, fearing he might let his anger get the better of him.
"What happened?" he demanded.
"It's a long story," Ary shrugged. She felt awkward explaining things to him. She was embarrassed about her mother's involvement in the whole mess.
"I have time," he told her, giving her a hard look.
Ary thought about arguing with him more. She really didn't want to talk about what happened to her, but she knew she had to tell Rave. Even though nothing bad had actually happened to her, Rave didn't know that and he was probably still worked up about her being kidnapped.
"Well..." Ary began.
"That sounds unbelievable," Rave said, after Ary had finished telling him everything that had happened to her while she was gone. Well, everything except for her involvement with the cops. He didn't need to know about that just yet.
"I know," Ary agreed on a sigh. "But honestly, it is something my mom would do. I know of at least two different men she's cheated on my dad with and she's done way worse things than having me kidnapped," Ary admitted.
"Why hasn't your mother been committed yet?" Rave asked, in shock. He had come across a lot of crazy people in his life, but he was starting to think that Ary's mother was the craziest.
"She's a very high functioning psychopath and she has everyone wrapped around her finger. And as far as middle age women with three kids go, my mom is pretty hot. Even guys my age fall at her feet," Ary stated.
There was one particular incident in high school where Ary had had some friends over and her mom had come out of the shower, only wrapped in a skimpy towel. She had feigned embarrassment, but for some reason she didn't immediately run into the bedroom and instead stayed out in the hallway for two or three minutes before Ary dragged her friends downstairs. Juliana craved attention and her husband mostly ignored her so she had to get her fix some other way. Like by enticing sex craved teenage boys.
"No wonder you and your sisters are all screwed up when it comes to men," Rave said, shaking his head.
"While I agree with you there, might I also mention that you just royally insulted yourself too," Ary pointed out.
"I'm a former gang leader that used to torture and murder people on a daily basis. You choosing to be with me says more about you than it does about me," Rave countered.
Ary glared at him. He wasn't wrong. He had killed people. People that didn't deserve to die. He had probably done a lot worse things than what he'd ever told her about, not that he ever told her a lot. He was pretty secretive about all that and she never really cared too much before, but now she was starting to. He was different now, but just how different is he?
"Can I ask you something and have you promise you'll tell me the truth?" she asked, looking over at him and giving him a serious look.
He shifted in bed so that he was facing more towards her. "What is it?" he asked.
"I know things aren't all black and white and sometimes people have to do bad things to get by in the world and realistically you were raised in the gang life and-"
"Ary," Rave silenced her rambling. "Just ask me the question," he told her.
Ary took a deep breath. "You never killed kids, did you? Like when you offed someone you didn't do it in front of their kids and then kill the kids for no witnesses, right?" Ary hated that she felt the need to ask him this question, but she had to to put herself at ease.
To her relief, Rave laughed. That had to be a good sign, right?
"Ary, I'm not a mobster. I don't take people's families out," he told her.
"I know, but-" she faltered. She didn't want to ask again. She felt ridiculous having asked the question in the first place.
"Ary," Rave reached out and stroked her cheek. She glanced over at him. "I have never killed anyone under the age of seventeen, but that doesn't excuse anything. I am still a murderer, and of people who didn't deserve to die."
"Are you trying to convince me that you're a bad person?" she asked him, frowning. He'd done this before. He listed off all the crimes he had committed, trying to put some sort of moral separation between them.
"I don't want you to forget about my past. I'm not a good guy. There is no amount of good I can do that can make up for the bad that I've done. I may have grown to realize just how wrong those things are, but I'm still a bad guy. I'm still violent, I still hurt people," he told her.
"You've never hurt me," she told him, softly.
"I could hurt you," he said and his voice sounded a little more harsh than before.
"I could hurt you, too," she pointed out, switching so that she was sitting on her knees. She hated whenever he implied that she was weak and harmless.
"You're not as violent as me," he said, ignoring her claim.
"Daniel isn't as violent as you, but that didn't stop him from beating the crap out of my sister. Maybe it is because I come from a screwed up family, but I think the fact that you haven't popped me in the mouth every time I disagree with you is a good quality in a man," she shrugged, throwing her hands in the air in defeat.
"Does your dad hit your mom?" Rave asked, raising an eyebrow in question. He was very curious as to why she was always on this subject.
"My mom is the violent one in my family. She'd hit my dad all the time. I'm sure he wanted to hit her back, and I think it'd totally be justified, but no, he just walked away," she said it as if it were normal everyday family dynamics.
Rave reached out towards her and pulled her against his chest, hugging her close. It caught her off guard. She wasn't used to sudden acts of kindness or comfort, especially from Rave. He wasn't the lovey-dovey type, which never really bothered her. She didn't usually like when people just hugged her out of the blue, but at the moment it felt very comforting.
"What is this for?" she asked. She didn't object to the close contact with his hard body, but she was confused by it.
"Because I hate the way you had to grow up," Rave answered, simply.
Ary started to laugh. It wasn't the reaction either of them were expecting, but she couldn't help it. She just had this urge to laugh. An almost hysterical urge.
"I'm sorry, but coming from someone who was raised in a gang-" She started to laugh again. "Man, my childhood had to be really screwed up," she sighed, getting depressed.
Now that she had had time to process everything she was starting to freak out a little bit more, which was contributing to her uncontrollable laughing. There was a possibility that Tom Harper wasn't her real dad. That Jack wasn't her real uncle. That Luke wasn't her real cousin. Three of her favorite family members might not even be her family. It was a lot to take in, even for someone like her who never really took life seriously.
"I have to go talk to my mom," she finally decided. With that in mind, she started to crawl out of bed.
"You're not leaving," Rave told her, stopping her from getting out of bed.
"Excuse me?" Ary gave him an incredulous look.
"You're not leaving the club today," he emphasized his words, and before she could even get the chance to argue, he got up and went into the bathroom.
"What the hell?" Ary said to herself.
He had just gone from sweet and loving boyfriend to overbearing ass in less than three seconds. She guess she should have expected this. It was in his nature to be overprotective and since he had just spent the last twenty-four hours believing her having been brutally raped and murdered she couldn't really blame him, but that didn't mean she was going to take it.
A few minutes later when he came out of the bathroom, showered and dressed, he completely ignored her and left the room.
Ary didn't take to kindly to being ignored. She got out of bed and followed him downstairs, resisting the urge to grab a knife or a gun on her way down. She found Rave down in the club, a group of his friends gathered around him.
"Hey, this isn't over. Rave, we've been over this. You can't keep me locked up in here," Ary told him, firmly, ignoring the weird looks that his friends were giving her.
She understood that he was concerned about her safety, but there was a fine line between protecting someone and holding them hostage. She had literally just been held hostage by someone that was claiming only to have her best interests at heart. It appalled her that no one could seem to find ways of protecting someone without locking them away.
"Ary, you're staying here, and that's final," he said. He was treating her like a child.
"Oh, so you're ordering me to stay here?" Ary scoffed at Rave.
"No, I'm asking you," he said, and to his credit he didn't raise his voice and go all He-Man on her. She could at least be thankful for that.
"And I'm saying no. I told you, you can't order me around. That's not how relationships work," she told him, firmly. She might not be a relationship expert, but she did know quite a bit about bad relationships and this was starting to look like one of those.
"That's how this one is working. Now, I'm sorry, but I have to go. Ty and Mason are staying here with you," Rave said.
Rave left with Jaden and two other guys whose names she didn't remember. They were former Bloodbaths, that's for sure. Rave didn't care about what she wanted. He just expected her to stay at home and play the role of a quiet, dutiful slave.
Ary glared at the door, even after Rave had left with his stupid flunkies. After she had calmed herself down enough not to scream out in rage, she turned back towards the bar, where Ty and Mason were pretending to hold an intelligent conversation while still glancing over at her every once in a while in a guilty manner.
"Hey!" Ary growled, stomping over to the two men. They were really pretending not to pay attention to her now. "Where the hell does your stupid friend run off to all the time!?" she demanded of Ty. She knew he was less afraid of Rave than Mason was.
"Ary-" Mason started to speak, but Ty held up his hand to silence him.
"Rave is trying to track down other Bloodbaths, ones that are still loyal to Christian," Ty explained to her. Well, at least someone told her the truth.
"Why?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"Because they're looking for revenge for what you did to their boss," Mason answered.
"Revenge? Against me?" she asked, frowning. Things had been quiet all summer. Why were they getting defensive about it nearly four months after the fact?
"You damaged their pride. They want to destroy you. Rave is trying to stop that. He's protecting you," Ty told her, gently.
Ary knew that Ty was trying to make it seem like Rave was being some big hero by doing this for her, but it wasn't working. She had been in pretty deep shit before and had managed to get herself out, with minimal damage. She wasn't some damsel in distress that needed to be protected by a big, strong man. It was about time the men in her life started to realize that.
"Thanks for telling me. I'm still not staying here," she concluded, before turning around and walking away.
Ary stormed outside to her Jeep, with Ty in hot pursuit. Mason stayed inside. He was still recovering from his concussion and didn't feel like getting into another shouting match with someone.
"Ary, just wait!" Ty slammed his hand against the driver's side door of the Jeep, stopping her from opening it. "You're freaking out over nothing."
"Can you not understand that I just found out that the man who raised me might not be my real dad and that my mom has been lying to me for over twenty years? Can you please try to see how upsetting that is for me?" Ary begged Ty.
"Yes, it's devastating I'm sure, but confronting your mom about it when you're pissed off isn't going to make things better," Ty explained to her.
"I'm not trying to make things better. I just want the truth!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in defeat. Why did nobody understand that she couldn't stand not knowing the truth? About anything! That's why she was such a nosy person.
Ty sighed. He was getting frustrated with her. "Just come back inside. Give Raven some time to cool down," Ty urged her. "Running off now would only get him more worked up."
"I. Don't. Care." Ary stated, emphasizing each word. "I don't take orders from Rave."
"He's not trying to order you around. He's just worried about your well being. Even from behind bars, Christian is a dangerous man," Ty said, trying to reason with her.
"I get that. I'm not an idiot," Ary snapped.
"I know you're not. Trust me, kid, I know how smart and strong and resourceful you are, but right now you're acting recklessly," he said. He glanced back at the door, silently urging her to go back inside.
"Recklessly? I'm not running into battle! I'm going home!" she shouted in defense.
"And it's not safe out there on your own," Ty replied, calmly. The upside to having small children was having the patience of a saint.
"It's not safe here either!" she countered, waving her hands in the direction of the club. "Or are you forgetting about what happened to Mason and I?"
"That's different," Ty tried to argue.
Ary just stared at him. She was tired of arguing with everyone. It was clear to her that nothing was going to change Ty's mind about the matter. There was only one thing she could do if she wanted to get away from the older man, and she wasn't too pleased about it.
"I really like you, Ty, so I'm really sorry about this," Ary told the older man, giving him an apologetic look.
Before Ty could even ask her what the hell she was talking about, Ary jerked the door to the Jeep all the way open, smashing is against Ty's face. He shouted out a whole slew of colorful words and covered his face with both of his hands as blood started to gush out of his nose.
Ary jumped into the Jeep, pulled the door shut, and quickly started the engine, and threw the vehicle into reverse, speeding out of the parking lot. Ty was still too preoccupied with his bloody nose to realize what was happening. Ary felt a twinge of guilt for hurting him. She liked the guy, really she did, but when people tried to force her to do things she didn't want to do she tended to overreact a bit and someone always ended up getting hurt. Usually the other person. Maybe someday people will learn that trying to control her probably wasn't the best thing to do.
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Sorry for another late update! My schedule should be clearing up soon and hopefully I'll have more time to write. Thanks for putting up with me. Please vote and let me know what ya think about the story so far!