A Broken Fate (The Beautiful Fate Series book 2) (18 page)

I told Ari about the night I went in my dream to cut No. 6’s thread and saw the shoes and felt the fading presence of someone who had been with him in the room.

I took a deep breath and went on to tell him what I had learned that night from Maya, in Athens.

“I have been researching No. 7 and the Kakos’ cohorts for months. I have become completely obsessed with finding a clue, but I have nothing really; just a few bits and pieces to go on. I don’t know who it is or how to find him. All I can do is sit here and wait for the day to come when No. 7 decides he wants to kill me.”

I looked Ari in the eye.

“So there it is, all of it. I’m sorry, Ari. I should have told you sooner. I thought I was protecting you, keeping you safe. Turns out, I was only hurting you; I can see that now. I promise I won’t ever keep things from you again. I am sorry for the way I have been acting. You don’t deserve that kind of behavior. I don’t deserve you, but I will spend the rest of my life trying to, if you will still have me.”

Ari turned to me. He had not spoken a word since I started my story. He brushed a stray hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear, and then he kissed me. His touch was electric and my lips began to tingle. He held me tight to him for a while then he put my face in his hands. His eyes were red and swollen.

“Christ, Ava, that is so much worse than I ever imagined.”

“I
’m fine now, Ari. As long as I have you I am fine.”

“We are going to do this together.”

“We are,” I said nodding my head.

Chapter 16

Inconsolable

When I opened my eyes on Thanksgiving morning, Ari was already awake. He was holding me tight, running his fingers softly down my arm.

“Hey,” he whispered, “Good morning, Baby. How did you sleep?”

I blinked my eyes open.

“Morning. Do you want the truth?”

“Always.”

“I slept really great. I am so sorry that I kept so much from you. I am glad that I was finally able tell you everything that has happened.”

“I’m glad, too.”

“What time do we need to be at your parent
’s house today?” I stretched.

“An hour ago,” he said, smiling.

“Oh, my! What time is it?”

“Ten thirty.”

“I’m so sorry! You could have gotten me up.”

“It
’s fine, Ava, relax. I texted my mom this morning to let her know we would come over later today.”

“What did she say?”

Ari leaned over the side of the bed, picked his glasses and cell off the bedside table and read the text.

  “Thank you for letting me know. Have a nice morning with your beautiful girl. I love you both so much. We will see you this afternoon!”

“Wow, that’s…so nice.”

“Of course it was nice, Ava. She
’s my mom; what did you expect?”

“I saw you two talking last night, Ari. I heard what she said. She looked so angry with me… She should be angry with me, you all should be.”

Ari ran his fingers softly down my face.

“She is not angry with you, Baby. None of us are. We are worried about you.”

“Mmm…” I wrapped my body tighter around Ari. I felt so safe there in his arms.

****

We arrived at Andy and Aggie’s in the early afternoon. The house was already packed with family and close friends busily decorating for the holidays and getting ready for the evening’s Thanksgiving feast. Ari and I walked in through the back door, hand in hand, and when he wrapped his free arm around his mother and wished her a happy Thanksgiving, she smiled and kissed his cheeks. He let her go and I stepped in to take his place.

“Aggie, I am so sorry for everything I have put you through. Ari and I talked last night and….”

Aggie patted my cheek.

“I am just happy to see you smile, Ava. You don
’t need to explain anything to me.”

Ari gave my hand a gentle squeeze.

Ari and I cuddled on the couch for the rest of the afternoon and laughed with friends and family. The dinner table was even more crowded than usual. The Alexanders had gained a few more celebrants over the past year. Lauren’s boyfriend, Luke, lived in Washington, so he accepted Aggie’s invitation to join them over break, and August and Collin joined us, too.

They were officially an item and Collin had even moved into our pool house to be with August. Ari and I didn
’t mind. I was super happy to see August happy. He and Collin were such an odd couple that I loved to watch them interact with each other. August was sweet to Collin, getting up to refill Collin’s drink or nudging him on the shoulder, and they laughed together at little inside jokes like an old married couple. Collin never spoke with me, and at first I thought he was just shy, he would warm up to me and everything would be great. But the more I was around him, the less he even looked at me. He and Ari, and the rest of the family got along just great. With Collin around, I was reminded of
who
I am and how uncomfortable I make some people.

August caught me staring at
he and Collin during dinner and threw a dinner roll right at my head. He didn’t anticipate Ari’s quick reflexes. Ari caught the roll right in front of my face and whipped it back in one fluid motion, hitting August square on the forehead. Aggie started shouting that there would be no more throwing food and Ari threw his own roll at her, causing her to blink in surprise. She put on an angry face while trying to hide her laughter from everyone else.

In the middle of the laughter, Nick
’s cell phone rang from his pocket. There had always been a strict ‘no phones at the dinner table’ rule at the Alexander’s home. Nick pulled the phone out of his pocket. He scooted his chair back from the table and took the call while he walked towards the living room. Gianna pursed her lips. Thais took his napkin off his lap and began to scoot his chair back.

Nick could be seen just beyond the dining room and his voice carried in to us all seated at the table. He was clearly panicked.

“Is she ok?” He asked his question three times to the person on the other end of the line before he came to pieces and dropped to his knees on to the hardwood floor. He held his cell phone in his hand, cried and shook with fierce emotion. The family all looked at one another, confused and worried at Nick’s obvious grief. I saw Ari make eye contact with Collin just across the table. Collin eyes grew large with shock and Ari put his head in his hands.

Thais went to Nick
’s side to see what had had his son so upset. Nick pushed him off and shouted angrily at his father.

Ari stood up,
fished his car keys out of his pocket and went to Nick’s side. He took Nick’s cell phone out of his hand and began to talk to whoever was still on the other end of the line. Ari talked quickly and then ended the call. He brought Nick to his feet. “C’mon. Let’s go for a ride.”

Collin whispered something to August and then stood up and went along with them.

“Ava, I’ll call you.” Ari said to me before he closed the door behind them.

The crowd that was gathered at the table looked from Ari to me.

“What is going on?” Thais demanded.

I swallowed. “I honestly do not
really know what just happened,” I answered. Although, in my heart I knew the phone call and Nick’s breakdown somehow involved Misha.

“Rory? Do you know what is going on with Nick?”

Rory, wide eyed, shook his head from side to side. “No. I really haven’t seen much of Nick lately until tonight.”

Julia, Gianna, Lauren and I helped Aggie pack up leftovers, wash dishes and wipe down counter tops. Everyone was quiet as we worked.

We all sat in the living room and waited for a phone call. August had tried Collin’s cell phone a few times but he didn’t answer. Thais tried to call Nick but his phone went straight to voicemail.

“Ava, phone Ari, please. Find out what is going on with my son.” Thais asked with his head in his hands.

“Sure.” I agreed and called Ari’s cell. He picked up on the first ring.

“Ava, Baby, I will call you in a minute.” He hung up the line without saying another word.

I shook my head no at the group.

A minute turned in to an hour. The group had grown restless. My phone rang and various family members let out gasps, and relieved breaths.

“Are you alone?” Ari asked as soon as I answered my cell.

I looked around at all the faces staring at me. “No. I am with your family.”

“Go home. We will talk there,
I am pulling in the drive as we speak.”

“Ari, they want to know what’s going on.”

“I just dropped Nick off at his parents
’ house. He wants to be the first to talk with them about some things. Tell Gianna and Thais that Nick is home and then come out the back door; I will meet you outside. I am walking your way now.”

“Ok…” Ari hung up.  “Umm…” I stared back at the solemn and worried faces of my family members. “Nick is home. He wants to talk with you there, Gianna and Thais. I still don
’t know what happened; Nick wants to be the one to talk with you.”

People stood up and began to talk in hushed tones. They speculated and stretched their legs.

Without saying goodbye, I walked out the back sliding glass door.

Ari waited for me at the bottom of the steps on the sandy beach. He wrapped his arms tightly around me in a hug.

“Let’s go home.”

“Tell me what happened first, Ari.”

“I will tell you everything, I promise. But first I just want to get you safely home.”

Ari scooped me in his arms and carried me down the sandy path. He walked up the wooden deck steps, passed our pool and went through our sun porch. Ari walked through the house and finally ended in our bedroom where he set me down in our bed. He sat down next to me.

“Misha died tonight of a drug overdose.”

I gasped.

“She has been battling with a prescription drug problem for a long time.” Ari’s voice was sad and hoarse. “She and Nick were going through a lot. He told her he would introduce her to his family as his girlfriend as soon as she sought help for her addiction. She agreed to clean up her act but had a hard time following through with the treatment. Misha found out that she was pregnant a month ago.”

Tears filled up in my eyes.

“Nick was very worried about the baby and so he checked Misha in to the rehab center again about a week ago. She stayed for a few days and then checked herself back out, she went on a drug binge and came to our house. Nick got really angry with her for that. He left her at their apartment to come home for the weekend – to get some space and clear his head. He had not heard from Misha until Nigel called him tonight. Misha had called Rachel earlier in the day. Rachel said she didn’t sound right, that something was wrong so she and Nigel left to check up on her. Rachel and Nigel found Misha unresponsive in her and Nick’s apartment. She was already dead when they arrived.”

“The baby…” I whispered.

Ari slowly shook his head no.

“Oh, Ari! That
’s so sad.” I cried.

“Yes, it is absolutely horrible- what happened. I still can’t believe it myself.”

We hugged and sat quietly for a bit.

“When is the funeral? Does Nick want us to help him with anything?”

“He called Misha’s parents, they are driving down from Etna now. They told Nick to stay away. They don’t want to see him or anyone in his family. They asked Collin to pack her belongings from Nick’s apartment so they can take it all home with her when they burry her.”

My heart sunk. “I could have helped her! She came here for help and I was too consumed with my own shit to do anything for her.”

“No! No, Ava. This has nothing to do with you. You got stuck in this mess by pure accident. If Emily hadn’t asked about Nick’s relationship status that day, you would have never known anything about Misha and him. You have nothing to do with what happened to her.”

“Ari!” I whined.

“Ava, stop. This situation with Misha and Nick - it’s awful. She was a very sweet and loving person. She really was. And if she had been well, she would have been a great mother to their baby. I know that Nick was upset over the idea of her pregnancy at first because she was so unwell. But the baby began to put things in prospective for Misha. She started to change – she agreed to rehab. Nick was getting excited about the baby, about Misha and him announcing their relationship.  He was ready to start a family with her. He just wanted her to get well first. She couldn’t do that and there wasn’t anything we could have done for her.”

“What do we do now?”

Ari let out a breath from between his cheeks. “Nick is telling his parents everything now. Tomorrow he is going to talk to Rory and Julia and then he is going to tell my mom and dad. I don’t know what he wants to do for Misha. He isn’t invited to her services her family made that perfectly clear.

“It wasn
’t right for Nick to keep this secret from his family but we cannot judge him for that because we are keeping a dark secret of our own.”

“Seven.” I said.

“Yeah… No. 7. They have to know, Ava. I don’t do the deception thing. I won’t keep this secret from the people I love.”

“You
’re right. I’ll tell them.”

“We will… I will tell them with you. We are a team remember?”

I nodded and smiled a small, weak smile at Ari. He returned the look. His eyes were sad.

“How was Nick holding up?”

“He is a man who has lost his heart, Ava. He was…. inconsolable.” Ari shook his head slowly at the thought.

Ari took my chin in his hand; he lifted my head up so my lips would meet his. He kissed me sweetly at first then moved closer to me and wrapped his arms around my body, closing the gap. A spark ignited between us. The heaviness of the evening came crashing down upon us and we were desperately in need of one another. I kissed him back and pushed myself up against him. Ari moved his hands up my body and cupped my chest. I moaned and my cheeks turned hot with the sound.  He stood up and pulled me to my feet. He removed my shirt and then his own. He unbuttoned his pants and removed them. He did the same to mine. He peeled my pants slowly down my hips. His fingers traced delicately back up my inner thigh.

Ari’s lips met mine again, he gripped my behind pulling me up to meet him. Ari flexed his hips. His fingers began to tug at my underwear.

Ari
’s phone rang. He hesitated for a moment and it rang again. He bent down, picked his discarded pants up off the floor and dug his cell phone out of his pocket. He fumbled around with it for a moment and finally hit the answer button. He walked away to talk. The moment between us was gone. The heavy feeling of what had happened to Misha crept back in to my mind. I donned on my usual sleeping clothes, Ari’s boxers and soft, white cotton tee. I was tired. It was well past midnight.