Lies for Truth

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

That morning Ariana left a note in Charlie’s locker to meet her outside the library during their free period. She was nervous, her body shook and her hand held on tight to the pepper spray she bought in her pocket. If he tried anything funny she was going to mace him until he was blind.

“This is a pleasant surprise.” He said, his tone cocky as he walked lazily toward her even as his face showed signs of the fight with Jax, his eye was black and there was a cut going across his cheek.

“Spare me the creepiness.” She refused to let him see her scared. Talking helped keep her body grounded. “I want you to drop the charges against Jax.” he was the only reason she wasn’t running away.

“And why would I do that?”

“Because I have something you want.” She squared her shoulders and looked into his eyes. “I’ve been giving this a lot of thought and I figured out why you’ve been trying to get me to go out with you, even after you knew I’d never agree to it. If there’s one thing you hate it’s to lose. You made a bet involving me and you want to cash in.” she believed Jax when he called her beautiful, she didn’t believe Charlie liked her. No, he had ulterior motive written all over him.  “What was it?”

He was busted and knew it. Charlie ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “A month to get you to go on a date with me.” he was quick on his feet and wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to get his way. “Do it and I’ll drop the charges.”

She had already guessed he’d say something like that. “How do I know you won’t back out after you get what you want?” the last thing she wanted was to have to spend time with Charlie, but she owed Jax. He’d do it for her.

“I’ll drop them today and you go out with me Saturday, that’s more then enough time for you to verify I’m not lying about it and more then enough time to pass that I can’t change my mind.”

It was what she wanted, she knew last night after writing the note for him to meet her she’d have to agree to something. This was it and she had to see it through. “Fine, you have a deal.”

He smiled brightly revealing all his teeth. He would’ve been handsome if he wasn’t such a jerk. “I’m going to make you fall in love with me Ariana Ellis.”

“Fat chance.” She muttered as he walked away.  She turned in her sneakers and continued into the library and vowed to go on with her day like she hadn’t made a deal with the devil.

~*~

Jax lounged in his seat and watched Charlie Lowell hangout with his buddies that lunch period. He indulged in the fantasy of pounding into him some more and making even more blood pour from his body. It was wrong to hate someone as deeply as he hated that prick but that didn’t change the fact he did and would gladly wipe the floor with him. 

He turned his head and saw Ariana. She brought on the complete opposite of what he felt toward Charlie. One look at her and all the hate was gone and replaced by a forbidden desire. She sat with her two girlfriends and tried to seem ok, he knew different. He saw the stress along her hazel eyes and wondered what the cause was. They had agree to talk to their parents about Charlie today after school, could that be it? Or was it something new and he was out of the loop?

He could never regret their kiss but he did regret the change it caused in their relationship. He wanted to be closer to her, not farther apart.

His body begged for him to move forward and go to her. To take her in his arms and never let go. He scoffed and mentally thanked his father for marrying the mother of the one girl he was falling for.

Except that was a double edged sword. He wasn’t sure if he would know Ariana the way he did if they didn’t live under the same roof. He closed people out and probably would’ve never looked at her during school. It was the quiet hours at home she wiggled herself into his heart.

When he got down to it the ‘what ifs’ of the past didn’t matter. He was concerned with what the future held and he was positive he needed her in it. The nagging question remained the same; could he handle only having her as a friend?

~*~

Ariana wanted to tell Jax the good news; Charlie was dropping the charges and they didn’t have to tell their parents what happened. But the good came with a big dose of bad news; she had to go out on a date with Charlie. Maybe she just wouldn’t tell him everything. She did agree they would be honest but this was asking him to accept way too much. He would never agree to let her go out with Charlie after what he did in the hallway and if she didn’t then he’d have to face a trial. The date was nothing to endure compared to that.

Her legs grew heavy as she neared his car. She had to tell him something. She quickly went over the pros and cons again and then laid out what she hoped was a fool proof plan to deal with all the surrounding pieces of the puzzle.

She waited until they were driving away from the school to say anything. “We don’t have to tell our parents about Charlie, he’s going to drop the charges and there’s no reason to worry them anymore.” She wasn’t big on keeping secrets from her mother but this was something she knew she wouldn’t handle well and now there was no reason for her to have to face it.

Jax nodded and kept driving for a few minutes more until pulling into an empty parking lot. “What did you do? I know he didn’t drop it out of the goodness of his heart.”

She kept her eyes forward, she couldn’t handle facing his intense blue gaze and lie at the same time. “Maybe he did, I don’t know. We had third period free and he told me he was dropping the whole thing. Going to court isn’t easy on anyone involved and he probably realized that or his parents told him to drop it.” she wished one of those things could’ve been true. “Mom’s having some of the neighbors over and needs helping cooking a big dinner.”

Jax continued driving. “I thought we agreed no more secrets.”

Her chest tightened. If he only knew how much she hated this. “There isn’t any.”