Fate

23

Chapter 23

I opened my eyes in the darkness and looked around the room. I could only see the dresser that sat on the wall. As there wasn't much to the room, there wasn't much to look at.

I was still tired and exhausted but something was bothering me. Something had woken me up and it wasn't any noise or intruder in the apartment.

I glanced at Aryan, sound asleep beside me. He looked so content and peaceful.

I hated to wake him. But I needed him.

Aryan was sleeping on his side, facing me, with one shoulder sticking up in the air. I put both hands on it and shook him. His body rocked back and forth from the movement.

"Aryan, wake up." I whispered.

He opened one eye and looked at me. "Why are you waking me up?"

"I think my wings are coming in."

He nodded and rolled onto his stomach, hiding his face in the pillow.

I groaned. "Aryan, come on. This is important."

"It can wait until tomorrow."

"No, it can't. And you were the one that helped me the first time."

"Let Lucy help you this time."

"If you don't wake up, I'm going to call Andreas and tell him exactly where to find me."

He sat up on his elbows and looked at me, both his eyes opened. "Don't joke about that, Julia."

"Now that I have your attention..." I said, smiling.

"That wasn't funny." He sat up and ran a hand through his hair.

"But it worked."

He sighed. "Don't ever do it again. I mean it."

I kissed him just as another push on my back hit. I groaned and pressed my forehead against his chest.

Aryan rubbed my back and kissed the top of my head. "You can do this."

"I was excited until I remembered how much it hurt."

"It'll be over soon."

I tried my hardest to stay silent and keep Lucy of Kellan or Holden from walking into the room and making a fuss. I really needed time to understand it all for myself. Only months before I was just a girl living in a mental hospital. Over the course of those months so much had happened. I'd changed in so many ways and it was intimidating to cope with. Everything I knew told me this wasn't normal and angels didn't exist. But here I was, wings growing out of my back.

Aryan stayed silent for the several hours it went on. Having him hold me and stay close helped more than I thought it would.

Three hours later, large, blood-covered wings hung from my back, covering the blankets around us.

"Will you stay with me?" I asked Aryan after suggesting I needed to clean my wings.

He kissed me lightly, just a simple brush of his lips over mine. "Of course."

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Aryan sat on the floor outside the tub, his chin rested on the edge of the tub, watching me.

"You worry too much." I said out of the blue, after several minutes of silence. I put a soapy finger on his nose and drug it down to his chin, dragging soap with it.

"Why do you think that is?" He asked, a smile playing at his lips. He grabbed my hand and threaded his fingers with mine.

I smiled. "You're so funny."

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier. About not being able to protect you. I didn't want you to think that I wouldn't."

"I've never thought that. I know you'd do everything. I mean, you saved me from Andreas and that's huge."

He shrugged and the smile fell from his face. "I had to work with them-"

I took his face in my soapy hands and held it in front of my own. "Stop it, Aryan. You are enough. Do you understand?"

He stared into my eyes but said nothing.

"I love you and that's all that matters. Nothing else." I kissed him and I hated myself for having to get the damn bath that separated us. I wanted to be as close to him as possible. I wanted him to know that he was the only thing on my mind.

He pulled my hands away and I thought he was going to back away. But he didn't. He deepened the kiss, raising to his knees and hovering over the water.

I'd never been with anyone else the way I'd been with Aryan. Brayden and I were just kids in love but things were different with Aryan and I. He was mature and I was... attempting to be. My stomach was full of butterflies every time I saw him and the more I was with him, the more I fell in love with him.

He pulled back gasping for air and put his forehead against mine. "I love you, Julia."

I stared at his shirt for several seconds before I started lifting it off him. Momentarily, I was frozen in place. I'd forgotten how muscular he was due to all the training he did. His abs were very pronounced and his biceps were huge. He was...

Someone knocked at the door and I pulled myself away. Aryan shoved his shirt on and jumped up onto the toilet seat.

"Come in." He said, trying to control his breathing.

Lucy stuck her head in and raised her eyebrows at Aryan. "Get dressed in the dark this morning?"

He looked down and his face turned a bright red. His shirt was on backward, two wing holes on his chest. His wings were bunched up in the back, which should have been his first hint that his clothes weren't on right.

Lucy shrugged it off but I knew she was aware of what almost happened. She turned her attention to me and smiled. "I see Holden is wrong. Partially anyway. I'll go tell him. Congrats on getting your wings back."

She left, shutting the door behind her, and I wanted to slip completely in the water from embarrassment.