Let Me Love You | A.G

XXVIII

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"I'm glad you called me," The brunette says, "Feels like I haven't seen you in forever."

"Yeah, it has been a while," I smile, watching as one of her own forms on her face, "What's new?"

"Just the usual," She breathes out, "Went to college, graduated, went to law school, and now I'm a lawyer."

"Holy shit Laur, that's great," My smile never leaves my face, "Damn, I really have missed a lot."

"I mean you went through a lot in the past five years," She leans back in her seat, intertwining her own fingers.

I let out a deep breath, "A part of me really wishes I could take those years back."

"You're saying you regret what happened?" Her brows furrow at my words.

"If I said yes, does that make me a horrible person?" I breathe out.

"Not at all," She reassures, "You wanna tell me what's going on?"

"It's just Ari," I pause, trying to collect my thoughts before continuing, "We got into this huge fight because she thought I was trying to say that I regret leaving Florida with her."

"So what part do you regret?" She sits up in her seat to give me her undivided attention.

"I just regret the way things happened. We shouldn't have gone through all of that just to reach this end result. I mean, I got released from prison and had to deal with more drama in the same year," I rub my hands over my face in frustration.

Again, it's not that I regretted the end result. I regretted all the shit that lead us to this moment.

"Well for starters, the drama that occurred after you were released really had nothing to do with you. You were just dragged into that situation," She tells me.

"But am I wrong for keeping tabs on Dalton?" I watched as the look on her face changed as if she was conflicted, "What is it Lauren?"

She sighs, "Listen, I'm not gonna tell you that you're wrong for wanting to be prepared, but why look for someone who's not coming after you anymore?"

"That's what I'm saying though!" I exclaimed, "How would I know I'm not in danger if I don't keep tabs on him?"

She takes both my hands in hers, "Jayce, you're valid for the reasoning but it's not good enough. Ariana wanted to take you away from all the drama by convincing you to come with her. In all honesty, she really did this to protect you."

"I can protect myself," I scoff, rolling my eyes at the thought.

"You can protect yourself from the things you can see but not what you can't," She says. I furrow my eyebrows.

"What are you talking about?" I questioned, genuinely confused as to what she was inferring.

"If someone were to attack you right now, you would know exactly what to do but... have you ever thought that maybe she asked you to leave with her because she was afraid that you would get involved with the gang again?" She rests her head on her palm of her hand, watching my reaction as I put the pieces together.

"I guess so," I sigh, realizing she was most likely right.

"Great!" She gives me a bright smile, "Call her right now and tell her you need to talk to her."

Listening to her words, I swiftly pulled out my phone from the front pocket of my jeans and pressed Ari's contact. Here goes nothing.

-

"I missed you," Ariana pulled me into a hug, closing the front door behind me before roughly pushing me off her, "Doesn't mean I'm still not upset though."

She turns to go up the stairs toward her old bedroom as I followed behind her like a lost puppy, "Do you always have to make a big deal out of nothing?"

"Do you always have to find a way to piss me off?" She questions, stopping in her tracks to face me.

"Baby, you know what I meant last night. I'm sorry it came out that way," I apologized, though I wasn't sure if I was still in the wrong anymore.

"Fuck your apology Jayce," She huffs, trying to close her bedroom door on me but I held it open with my foot.

"Stop being so difficult. Just hear me out," I told her, still struggling to keep the door open. Who knew midgets could be this strong...

"Come on," She sighs, finally allowing me to step inside the room with her as she softly closes the door behind us.

I sat on the edge of her bed while she stood in front of me, "Are you gonna listen to what I gotta say now?"

"Talk," Was all Ariana said, crossing her arms with a look I've never seen before. She was actually serious about this shit.

Letting out a small breath, I start talking, "Like I said before, I'm sorry. I never meant to make you feel like I didn't wanna leave with you, but that doesn't mean I still don't think we moved too fast with our decision."

"If you felt that way, why didn't you tell me?" I watched as she paced around the room.

"Well for starters, sit down because you're starting to make me dizzy," I pat the space next to me and wait for her to sit before continuing, "It was more of a heat of the moment type thing. I was still trying to process everything that happened."

"You could've at least asked me why I wanted to leave," She says softly.

Nodding my head in agreement, I go to speak before being cut off, "I know and I'm sorry. I spoke with Lauren and—"

"You spoke with Lauren?" I nod my head once more, "When, today?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk and catch up—" She cut me off again.

"And when were you gonna tell me about this?" She stands up, backing away from me with her arms crossed.

I huff, knowing she was gonna make a big deal out of this, "It's not a secret Ariana. You have my location."

"Could've at least left a note or sent me a text about it," She rolls her eyes.

"Dude, are you serious right now? You weren't talking to me," I chuckle, though I didn't find shit funny.

Ariana shakes her head, not wanting to hear what I had to say, "You know, maybe we should just take a break from each other. I can't seem to trust you anymore."

I'm taken aback by her words, "Have you recently been diagnosed with bullshit syndrome because it's starting to show. Real bad."

"I'm serious, Jayce. I can't do it with you right now. Not like this," She picks up her phone, scrolling through it for a second, "We can talk more about this later tonight, okay?"

"Tonight? We live in the same fucking house, Ariana," I say with clear frustration laced in my voice.

"I have somewhere to be. Just wait here until I get back," I watched in defeat as she gathered her things and walked out the door, leaving me to my thoughts.

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A/N: Okay... so I'm currently working on the other Ariana book. Would y'all want a sneak peak after the next chapter?