Hearts We Mend To Break (Book I)

.57.

💫GISELLE💫

❗️WARNING: Explicit ❗️

LATER THAT NIGHT, I received a call from Zack.

"How's everything going so far? Your family's in town yet?"

"Yes. My house is packed. I'm sure you can hear how loud my background is." He responded, turning slowly as he showed off his many guests behind him.

"Sheesh. Good luck with that. Lucky for me, no one will be showing up until about noon tomorrow. The only people here are caterers and party planners."

"Party planners? Your parents really go all out, eh?"

'Yeah, for their colleagues. My nana and papa are in Paris and they're not coming this year. It would've been nice to see them."

"So, this is Bizgiving for you then?" He joked.

Zack and I talked for about thirty minutes before he got the bright idea to do a group call with V, Sevyn, and Max. With all five of us on the line, it was pure entertainment. If my house wasn't so large and the rooms weren't so separated, I'm sure my parents would have been banging on my door for me to "keep it down". Instead, I had an entire floor to myself and could make all the noise I wanted.

"Oh my God and when we ran through the house butt naked. Did you see the video? It's hilarious." I could tell Max was in a superb mood but missed us all together. She kept bringing up our best memories together.

"Yes, I saw it at Loki's before our Friendsgiving dinner." Sevyn confirmed, shifting a bit too much to clearly hear her.

"Speaking of Friendsgiving, how's Angel doing?" V asked the group of us.

"Everyone seemed to have an answer, which made me feel amazing, knowing they all cared to keep in touch. Especially after his breakdown at Friendsgiving. Especially knowing he was the only one who didn't attempt to go home for the holidays.

After an hour of their craziness, I found myself dozing off. It was getting closer and closer to midnight and the full day of surfing, shopping, and spending as much time alone as possible was catching up to me.

"I have to go." I yawned.

Once I was off the phone, I buried myself in the thick, pink comforter and tossed and turned for a while. Trying to settle my thoughts and relax, I found myself thinking about my conversation with my mother. How could such a gracious woman be tormented to the point of tearful aches and pains? What was eating away at her so badly that, not only was she leaving my father, but she had the best advice to give about loving another man? My mind raced as I complied up more scenarios of what could be going on within my family. What kind of secrets were being kept from me? What was so bad that everyone felt it best to keep it away from me?

Sleep.

Dozing off into a whirlpool of emotional turmoil, I tossed and turned throughout the night. My dreams went from love making with Angel to fist fights with Aaron. I was being haunted by a triangle of sentiments, throwing me from one corner to the next as I tried to find my way through a maze of madness. It wasn't until my phone went off that I was saved from the torture of my subconscious, reading the name "Angel" as it flashed upon the screen.

Talking on the phone with Angel, I could tell he was slightly intoxicated. His background was dark, and his voice was even deeper than usual. I'd hoped he wouldn't succumb to drugs or alcohol to mask the pain he felt inside during this time of year. I'd hoped he would find solace in Loki's company, but I guess I was wrong.