His Angel

Chapter 1

Pictured: Dominic Sherwood as Asher Williams

Five Years Ago

     "I'm sorry, Asher, but, your brother was..."

     I zone out. I already know what he's saying. My brother, Private Zachary Williams, has been killed over in Afghanistan. I am 12-years old and already alone in this world. Zach took custody of me whenever our parent's died in a tragic car accident when I was nine. It was us against the world...until Zach turned 18 and joined the U.S. Army. I keep replaying the day he left in my mind...
     ' "Don't worry, Ash," he smiled, "I'll be home soon enough." He hands me the watch our father gave to him on his deathbed. "Keep it safe," he commanded.
     I imitate a salute as best I can. "Sir yes, sir."
     "I love you, don't you ever forget that." He embraces me so tightly I can hardly breathe. Then, I watch him turn and walk towards the gate, only to look back, smile, and wave goodbye...'

     That was the last correspondence I had with my brother.

Present Day

The cold winter sets into New York City. The current temperature is 12°F. I walk out of the corner store near my apartment and a chill shoots down my spine.

     "Jesus Christ, it's fucking cold out here," my friend, Riley Carter, comments as he walks up to me, lighting a cigarette.

"Huh, you can say that again," I remark while zipping up Zach's leather jacket. The cold metal of his dog tags sting the back of my neck. A breeze coming off the Hudson blows my dirty blonde hair into my eyes. When I clear my vision, a beautiful girl with raven hair and fair skin catches my attention. She's taking boxes out of a 2003 Chevy Malibu. Riley notices me staring.

"That's Chief's daughter. Fucking beautiful, ain't she? She left her mom's ranch in Texas to finish high school here." Chief is what we around Brooklyn call Edward Vickers, the chief of the ever-so-loved NYPD. She goes inside as her father comes out and catches me staring at her.

"Don't even think about it, Williams. I got my eye on you too, Carter. Ariella won't ever be corrupted by the two of you."

"How the hell do you know so much about her?" I ask Ri as I reach into my back pocket and pull out my pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

"I was picked up last night on 'suspicious activity' and spent the night in a cell where I heard Chief yelling at his ex about her coming up to finish high school."

"If only I gave two flying shits about showing up to school," I laugh out, releasing the smoke from my last drag. Ariella comes back out and closes the trunk of her car. She catches me staring again.

     "The fuck you staring at, Ponyboy?" Ariella snaps at me. "Keep it in your pants."

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My bedroom window has an unobstructed view of Ariella's room. Her walls are a light lavender color. Her bed sheets are charcoal gray with a white comforter. She has small, white lanterns hanging above her bed. Above her desk is littered with pictures. Ariella is sitting in her bay window, reading a book. Her raven hair is tied back into a messy bun. Her face is relaxed as she reads her novel. She closes her book and pulls her knees into her chest. She stares out the window, longingly. Tears start to fall down her porcelain cheeks. Suddenly, she wipes the tears from her face and her dad opens the door. He says something then closes the door again. She leans her head against the wall and pans the view outside her window. She catches me admiring her. I look away quickly and put out my cigarette. My phone rings, scaring me. Of course, it was Riley.

"Who else would it be?" I mutter under my breath. "What do you want, Ri?"

"Hey, what are you doing tonight?" he asked.

"Nothing. Why?"

"I heard about a keg over on 1st. Want to hit it? It's supposed to be a good one."

"Nah, I'm good," I reply. "I'm kinda tired." I finish the statement while looking into Ariella's window. Her window is now vacant. Suddenly, there is a knock on my door. "I gotta go, Ri. Someone just knocked on my door. Call me if you need a ride home tonight. Okay?"

"Yes, dad," he jokes. Laughter is the last thing I hear as I hang up the phone. I walk across the cold floor to my front door. Opening the door, I see Ariella in front of me with tears in her brown eyes.

"My dad hates you, right?" she asks me as her voice shakes.

"With a burning passion," I answer her while pretending to be heartbroken.

"Then, he'll be furious and hurt if I fuck you?"

"Uhm...I guess."

"Good." With that, she crashes her lips on mine while pushing me back into my apartment. She tastes like vanilla and spice. Ariella takes her hands from around my neck and hooks her fingers around the waistband of my jeans. I force her jacket off of her and throw it to the floor. She shoves me to my couch and straddles my hips. I take my shirt off and move my hands to the button of her jeans. Ariella lets out a soft moan as I kiss down her neck. Whipping off her shirt, she looks into my eyes as if she was scared. Then, she begins to cry. Ariella slides off my hips and slumps onto the couch beside me. "I didn't want to leave...I never wanted to come here...I wanted to stay in San Antonio...I'm sorry..." she admits in between sobs.

"Sorry? For what?"

"For leading you on. I know how hard it is for a guy to get rid of...that," she nodded towards the bulge in my dark blue jeans.

"It's okay. I'll just go to my usual hooker, Candy," I say jokingly. Ariella gives me a weird look. "I'm kidding. Geez! You women take everything so seriously." She let out a sarcastic chuckle.

"Us women? What about you men? You get hard if a woman breathes." She gets up, puts her shirt back on, and grabs her jacket from the floor. "You know what, I don't even know why I came over here."

"I think it had something to do with how incredibly wet you got when you saw my sexiness and you couldn't control yourself anymore. You just had to have me."

"In your dreams, Ponyboy," she says as she slams my door shut. I run to the door and open it.

"In my dreams!?! No! In your dreams! You have no idea what you're missing out on! I have thousands of women practically begging me to fuck them!"

"Well, then, go fuck them! And, you can go fuck yourself while you're at it!" Ariella gives me the middle finger as she crosses the street back to her house. I let out a deep breath and slam the door shut.

I punch the wall beside my front door and a picture of Zach and I falls off the wall. I begin to panic as worry sets in that it might be cracked. Holding my breath, I pick up the picture and slowly turn it over. The glass of the frame is completely unscathed. Only the corner of the frame is damaged. I let out a sigh of relief. The picture is of Zach and I the day he left. He looks so much older than 18 in the picture.

"How's heaven, Z?" I say while clutching his dog tags. "Must be better than this."

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So, what did you think? And, let's be honest...who cried while reading the beginning? I have a sibling in the Army and one in the Navy so I DEFINITELY cried while writing it. It touches a soft spot in my heart.

A quick note on Riley: if you have ever watched or heard of the show Shameless U.S. (who hasn't?), think that Riley looks like Cameron Monaghan (Ian Gallagher in Shameless U.S. or the Joker in Gotham) (as you will see in chapter 3) but has the personality of Mickey Milkovich.

Until next time,

Bookworm11107