Lies for Truth

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Ariana felt like the world’s biggest fool. Against her better judgment she had fallen for Jax knowing it was wrong and now it had blown up in her face. He was a freaking werewolf! This felt like one big nightmare. She went over it again and again in her head and couldn’t deny the facts no matter how insane it sounded.

One part of her was furious over the lies and deceit and the other part of her didn’t want to care, didn’t want to lose the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Charlie sat on the bed with his head hung low in his hands. “Whoa.” He had said that word several times in the last hour.

“Yeah.” Jax didn’t know how to be sympathetic; he didn’t know how to share this with someone else. For so long it had just been him and the things his father had warned him about. He was a loner and for a long time he had liked it like that and then came Ariana, now his heart didn’t how right from left.

“So I don’t have to take anymore pills?” Charlie asked, turning his brown eyes toward his mentor. In the last hour it was as if all the bad blood between them had been washed away. There was too much happening to focus on the little things like past dislike.

“No, like I said you were misdiagnosed. The pills were dulling your senses from the different heights the gene caused and then the bite brought them on even more. You’re going to have to learn how to control your impulsions without drugs. If you would normally feel something at one level it’s going to be triple that now.”

Charlie didn’t look thrilled about anything he had learned that night. “So I probably got this from my dad? This is fucking great he’s screwing me even now. You’re telling me basically I need to keep a tighter lid on my anger, if you’ve lived a day in my house you’d see why this is a problem.”

“You have to figure out, no one can know about you or me, that any of this exists.”

“You’ve mentioned that but you haven’t told me why it’s such a big deal.”

Jax knew he couldn’t hold anything back and for Charlie to fully grasp this he’d have to tell him everything even the ugly details. “There are people out there that know about our existence and they want us dead, no questions asked. Everyone, even Julie, believes our mom died from cancer.” He felt the small grasp of light inside his soul retreat to the darkness he had grown painfully used to.

Charlie picked up on the intensity in the air, he was careful with his next question. “What really happened to her?”

“There was a hunter watching us and one night he made his move. He threw something in the window and next thing I knew everything was on fire. We were rushing to get free when he cornered me. She killed him but not before she was poisoned with silver. She lasted two months before finally dying.” He could remember it like it was yesterday rather than five years ago; all the pain she had been in and the cries for relief.

“I’m sorry.” They sat in silence for a moment before Charlie spoke again. “You told me the first shift happens with you when you turn sixteen, doesn’t that mean the same thing for your sister? What does it all mean for Ariana and her mom?”

“Julie doesn’t know the truth, not yet anyway. After everything that happened with my mom it was better to keep her in the dark and let her have this time to be normal. My dad feels he can keep Mary in the dark.” His mood fell even lower into the dumps as he thought back to Ariana and how they left things.

“And you and Ariana? Are you going to keep her in the dark?”

Jax eyed the other boy and could see why Ariana had become friends with him and wanted to help, the real Charlie wasn’t an asshole. “She was there when I grabbed you; she saw your eyes and started piecing it together. I told her the truth and she ran out of here.”

“That sucks.”

“Yup.”

“But she’s madly in love with you so I don’t think you have to worry about this being the end.”

Jax wanted hope; he wanted it so badly he was willing to hold on to it from any source. “How do you know that?” he felt his heart swell back to life at the thought of Ariana loving him as he loved her.

“She’s pretty transparent when she talks about you.”

“You’ve talked about her and me?” this was far past the realm of normal and now even past weird.

“Yeah, I know you’ve been seeing each other in secret. Ironic, right?” he chuckled weakly. “She knows how to keep a secret so you’re safe there. Your biggest problem now is winning back her trust. If you tell her what you told me about your past and fears you’ll be ok. Not to sound gay or anything but that was some pretty deep shit, I almost hugged you.”

Jax laughed and right now he was grateful to Charlie for the distraction of all the heavy crap in his chest. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Yeah me too. So now what? I just go home and pretend everything is the same screwed up way it was before?” Charlie didn’t like the sound of that.

“You can’t let your family know the truth.”

Ariana couldn’t sleep that night, which who could after the night she had. It was some point after midnight when she gave up and turned on the lamp back on. It was a good thing there wasn’t any school for the next week and a half. It’d probably take just about that long for her to wrap her mind around everything she learned enough to get some decent sleep.

As much as she was trying to ignore any thoughts of him she wondered if Jax was home and how it went with Charlie. There were other questions, hundreds of them, she wanted to ask.

She glanced at the clock again. He should really be home by now and if not then something must’ve went wrong. Had he come home and she just hadn’t heard it? What if he was still with Charlie? Had something gone wrong or not?

Ariana groaned and decided to put herself out of the misery.

Careful like a tiny mouse she made it downstairs to the kitchen. She opened the door to the basement and quickly moved though it.

At Jax’s door she took a moment to think, should she knock? He was a freaking werewolf, he could hear a tiny knock but if he wasn’t home she was just risking getting caught for nothing. With a mental groan she shook some of her thoughts away and reached for the door knob.

Jax was home, seated on his bed waiting, as if he knew she might show up eventually.