Page 72 of Furious
“What do you know? I think it did. I guess today you can watch me sleep and you get away with it.”
His smile widens, reaching his eyes. “Careful, I might come up with all sorts of outlandish requests.”
I play his game. “Like what?”
He thinks about it, pulling the sheet down by another inch. “Like eating my favorite sushi off your naked body.”
I scrunch up my nose. “Is that what you want for dinner?”
“Yes, why? My favorite place delivers, so it doesn’t matter if we don’t want to go out.”
I debate keeping my mouth shut, but he knows I’m mulling over something.
“Princess? What’s going on? Did something I said gross you out?”
“No, I just didn’t know you like sushi.” I say.
He lifts his hot mouth from my back to look me in the eye. “Why? You don’t like it?”
“It’s not my favorite. Raw fish really isn’t my thing. But today is your birthday, so you should get to have your favorite. Hopefully, they have types that are cooked.”
“They have a lot of other non sushi dishes, princess. They make delicious noodles or fried rice and you don’t have to orderanything with fish if you don’t like it. We can get a few different things to try. But I’ll order a few pieces of sushi for myself. If I want to eat some of my dinner off your body, I don’t want to give you a burn.”
I laugh. “Ok. So you get to eat your favorite sushi off my body, you got to watch me sleep. What else does the birthday boy want?”
“To have a real shot with you.” He says, suddenly serious.
“Ares,” I say, surprised by the intensity in his tone. “You do have a real shot with me. Or do you think I just hop into bed with any hot guy who asks?”
He doesn’t even have to think about the answer. “I know you don’t. But I just… I get jealous, I’m sorry. You get to be Lev’s official girlfriend and I know I’m an asshole for even feeling this way. Without Lev’s help, we would have had to answer a ton of questions about our plans. Dad might be working today so he doesn’t have to acknowledge that my birthday is a reminder of what we all lost, but he would have had a problem with you spending today with me. And Lev was the one who came up with the idea of covering for us. What if…” he cuts himself off, shaking his head.
“What if what? Talk to me, Ares.”
He sighs. “What if you choose Lev because with him you don’t have to hide? Have you seen how pleased our parents were when they learned that you two were dating? With me or Chance, you’re going to have to deal with the disapproval, the judgment. And then there’s all the baggage. Chance has some, but Atlas was my twin, Zara. I took you to a grave for breakfast, for fuck’s sake.”
I roll on my side, pulling him up to take his face between my hands. “Who doesn’t have baggage, Ares? I have daddy issues and a fragile relationship with my mom. Lev feels like an afterthought for his parents. They barely even acknowledge hisexistence. They treat him like an asset. They throw money at him but they don’t see that Lev would rather have some quality time with them. I know because my dad has been the same with me since he and Mom split up. He even missed my graduation.”
Ares is drop dead gorgeous and has that bad boy outer shell I’ve always found attractive. But what made me fall for him is the way he’s always looked at me. Ares sees me. The real me, past physical appearance, past the mask of confidence I show the world.
He sees all the broken parts of me and he’s not afraid to cut himself with the jagged little pieces.
“I’ve always admired your dad, Zara. Growing up, John Fields was my hero. No one has won more MotoGP championships than him. But if he’s missing out on knowing what an amazing woman you are, he’s an idiot. I’m not afraid of your baggage if you’re not afraid of mine.”
“I’ll never be afraid of you, Ares.” I whisper, brushing my lips against his.
He immediately deepens the kiss, and it’s what we both need. The physical proof that these deep, scary feelings between us are real.
I could never be afraid of Ares. The only thing that really scares me is what could happen if I can’t choose. What’s even more terrifying is how he might react when I tell him that I was on that racetrack the day Atlas died. That I was the person racing on the black Ducati. What if he blames me for what happened? What if he can never forgive me?
A part of me wants to keep this secret forever. But Ares opened his heart to me and I owe him the truth.
A secret of this magnitude could fester and poison our relationship before it even had a chance to become our forever. I love Ares too much to let that happen, so I need to tell him now.
I love him.
The realization takes me by surprise. I thought I was falling for him, but my feelings were way deeper than that.
I love Ares and I love Lev. And when I think about Chance… I feel the same way, too.
