I chance looking up, and Mia’s red-rimmed eyes dart to me. “No.” She shakes her head in denial, turning to face only Ares like she’s blocking me out because she can’t see me. “She’s nothing, just a stupid, high-school girl.” I bristle. I know she’s hurting right now, but I won’t let her act like I don’t exist.
“Mia.” Ares’s tone is full of rebuff.
“Don’t you see? She’s not who you think. She’s just trying to worm her way in. I knew she was trouble the first time I saw her,” Mia’s voice raises, but she’s not shouting.
Ares looks over at me, his eyes scrunched up he shakes his head like he’s dumbfounded. “Mia, that’s not possible, she is exactly who I think she is. I know you aren’t one of us, can’t understand what it means, but I can promise you, Laura is ours.”
Mia’s face blanches, then goes red. “You’re going to say that to me, after all these years? Act like I’m some naïve girl who can’t possibly understand you? I’ve been by your side for years. I’ve watched you grow darker, seen the things you’ve done,” Mia bounces a hand off her chest, “and I’m the one still here. I followed you when you had to get away from your brothers. Stayed with you even when you scared me at times, and you’re going to act like I can’t understand what being with you is like?”
Mia’s eyes turn to me. “But you think she can?” Doubt and anger drip from her words. Dante comes back through the door, his hands empty. He moves behind me, his hands landing on my shoulders.
“For fuck’s sake, Mia, I never asked you to.” Ares's voice booms through the room. Dante’s hands tighten on my shoulders.
“You might not have asked, but you never turned me away, either, did you?” she seethes, her face splotchy with red spots.
“You knew from the beginning that this could happen, I made no promises to you about a future.” Some heat leaves Ares's voice, but he’s no less vehement.
Mia wipes a tear from her cheek with a quick swipe of her finger. “I can’t believe you would do this to me, and in front of her. Are you truly that heartless, Ares?” Mia shakes her head, her mouth opening and closing several times before she adds, “Don’t you know I love you?”
I reach up and wrap my hand around Dante’s wrist. My immediate thought is to get her away from Ares—she loves him. What if he loves her too? All the sympathy I had evaporates when I begin feeling threatened by her proclamation.
Pushing my feet against the floor I begin to rise from my seat, only Dante’s hands prevent me from standing. He bends his mouth close to my ear and he makes a noise that might come close to a hushing sound, but it sounds more like a low growl.
“I’m sorry, Mia; I should have never let that happen.” Ares’s large frame shrinks, taking the weight of the emotions. My back falls onto the chair behind me, he cares for her.
I already knew that, but this hits me harder because before it was an abstract notion. Now I can see it in the way his shoulders have fallen, the subtle way his eyes are watching his hands on the table before peeking up at her, like he’s afraid of what he’s going to find.
It’s hard to watch. Ares has been bigger than life from the first moment he ghosted into my world. Never one to back down or bite his tongue, he says what he wants, when he wants, and expects everyone to yield to him without exception. Seeing him in that chair looking unsure, maybe even a little regretful, causes something in my chest to tighten. I try to draw in a breath, but my lungs feel constricted.
“We could work, Ares. I can be what you need—I am what you need.” Mia’s voice grows steady as she speaks, conviction filling her tone. Ares looks back down at the table, shaking his head no. “Why not?” she demands.
Finally, meeting Mia’s stare, he tells her, “Because I don’t love you. I don’t want to hurt you Mia, but I don’t love you.”
Mia’s eyes well up with tears again, and with a shaking voice she asks, “What does she have that I don’t? I tried to be everything for you. I was never good enough, but I tried. I watched you with countless other women because you always came back to me. It may have taken a while, but in the end you always came back. So tell me, Ares, what does she have that will stop you from doing the same exact thing to her?” Mia’s arm points at me from across the table.
“A piece of my soul.” Ares turns to look at me then, some of his confidence returning as his eyes meet mine. “But it’s not just that.” His eyes still staring into mine, he adds, “I can’t see anyone but her, I feel her on my skin when she’s not with me. I smell her in the air, taste her on my tongue when I breathe. She is what I’ve been looking for my entire life. The feeling I get when we touch, it makes every moment I spent without her worth it. I love her.”
Chapter 9
I didn’t notice Mia leaving the table. Hell, the world could have been on fire, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed. Emotionally, I’m a wreck. I don’t know if I feel bad for Mia, or if I’m happy that Ares admitted how much I mean to him. Both, I suppose. Seeing how devastated she was and how hard it was on Ares isn’t something I’ll soon forget. I still have questions about their relationship, but I know now isn’t the right time to voice them.
Hesitantly, Ares reaches over for my hand. I lay my palm in his, wrapping my fingers around his thumb. Dante drops a kiss on the top of my head and leaves the room, giving Ares and me some time alone. “That was my fault.” Ares looks down, then back up at me. “I didn’t realize she would be that upset.”
My eyes go wide. “You really didn’t know she was in love with you?”
Ares’s shoulder rises, and he grimaces. “I know it makes me an asshole, but I had no idea.” He looks away again, staring over my shoulder. “I thought it was a relationship of convenience for both of us. We haven’t been together in almost a year.” I see him peek at me from the corner of his eye.
I swallow, taking in that information. Can I trust him, is he being truthful? “Why won’t you look at me then?” Slowly Ares turns his head, his eyes reluctantly meeting mine. My gaze roams over his face, looking for deception, but in truth I don’t know what that would look like on him.
“I should have known something like that.” Ares leans back in the seat, his eyes going unfocused, before he continues, “Should have seen the signs that something was up with her; she hasn’t been acting like herself since we came back here.”
“Why didn’t you tell her?” I ask the question that’s been bothering me for a while. Then rush out, “I mean what was the point of her not knowing who I was?”
His head swivels back in my direction. “Just a preventive measure, really. Several of my clients are in Infinities or will become one. I was trying to keep everyone in the dark.” Ares's free hand moves to his forehead, his thumb at one temple and his fingers on the other, he squeezes like he’s trying to rid himself of a headache. “I wasn’t thinking about anyone but us, to be truthful. I was protecting us,” he admits on a sigh after running his hand over his face.