Lies for Truth

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

After Ariana Jax got back together they decided to tell their family at dinner and tell Julie for the first time they were in a serious relationship. The younger girl was excited and would swear on a stake of bibles that she was the one that helped push them together and would meddle more often now.

Mitch knew the bond between Jax and Ariana was for life and rolled with the situation pretty easily. It was Mary who still wasn’t comfortable yet with all these big changes but she was working on it and right now it was all they could hope for. They both agreed as long as they could be together everything else they could figure out as time went on.

Jax continued to live with Marc and come home every morning to take Ariana to school and every afternoon for dinner with their family.

Ariana couldn’t think of a time she had been happier but there was one thing that left her uneasy as the days went on.

She couldn’t shake the worry she felt deep in her chest when Charlie missed school for the second day in a row that Wednesday and the fact Jax and Marc had been trying to contact him with no luck did nothing to ease her very real fears. Something was wrong and she couldn’t in good conscious deny it. That afternoon after school she borrowed her mother’s car and drove to the Lowell residence.

Thankfully it was his mother who opened the door. The older woman looked defeated; her eyes were puffy and dark from the lack of rest and whatever other ordeal she was suffering with. “Ariana, right?” she stepped aside and let her in.

“Yes, I came to bring Charlie his homework. Is he here?”

“He’s in his room, you can go on over.”

Ariana followed the path she remembered from her last visit and found Charlie’s room with ease. The door was closed, she knocked and waited. He didn’t answer, nothing indicating human life could be heard from the inside. “Charlie? It’s Ariana.” She tried the handle next and found it unlocked. Fueled with the need to make sure he was ok she stepped inside without invitation.  Charlie was sitting on the floor with his back against the railing of the bed. His head was hung low, his body sat there unmoving as if he wasn’t actually there. “Charlie?” she swallowed a lump of fear and kneeled in front of him.

It wasn’t until she touched her hand to his shoulder that he moved. Charlie looked up and revealed a black eye and a nasty looking cut across his chin that were fresh. “What are you doing here?” his voice was horse with dryness, how long had he been sitting there like that?

The look in his eyes made her want to cry, she had never seen such pain up close and personal before. “I….” she let out a long breath and tried to control the rumbling waves of emotions she wasn’t uncomfortable yet feeling. “I brought your homework.” He probably didn’t care about school work in his state but they were the only words she could form. The only ones she’d allow herself to admit. The truth was she was scared for Charlie and wanted to somehow help him. “What happened?”

His hand latched onto her wrist before she could touch him again. “Don’t. You’re not supposed to be here. You’re going to tell.” The confident jock he portrayed at school was nowhere to be seen. A scared little boy sat in front of her.

“Tell what?”

“I’m a liar.”

“I’ve never told anyone the things you confided in me, I would never do that. I know you’re scared---”

“Only pussies are scared, I’m not scared.” His hand tightened around her wrist.

“You’re hurting me.” she whispered, her eyes never leaving his. She couldn’t run away from his hurting, it’d be unfair and it’d make her a coward.