One Foot In & One Foot Out

Chapter 25

"You know what you need? You need to go out. It's New Year's Eve, girl. You need to get your grind on with a random ass guy and to drink some good drinks. You'll have your friends by your side, and we can just have a good time. Kostas has even promised to leave the hag at home," Lucia says to Jael while sitting on her couch attempting to cheer her up a bit.

It had been a few days since she had broken things off with Davin and told Lucia about it. Lucia of course told Byron and Jael told Kostas about it the day before. He immediately came over to console her and she cried her eyes out on his shoulder.

As much as she hated it, she still thought about Davin every hour, and went through the photos in her phone of the two of them and thought about the fun they had together. It also didn't help that she still had to see him at work two days after Christmas. He of course tried to speak to her, but she refused to speak to him except to ask him about what he told Damien.

"I didn't tell Damien. There's no way I'm telling him about this."

"Oh really? I thought you reported everything to him like the little snitch bitch you are."

Ok, so maybe she shouldn't have said that to him and maybe Jael knew she was being harsh, but her love and anger for him blinded her reason.

"I deserve that and more, but I truly want to help you Jael. I can't let my brother dictate my life anymore. If you really have the intentions of trying to take him down, then I want to help. I will warn you now that it won't be easy. I didn't tell him that we broke up, so he still is under the impression that we're together. If he sees us together, we'll have to keep up with appearances."

"So now that it cost you, you want to stop your brother. But beforehand when it wasn't costing you anything you were just fine sending me off. If you hadn't finally burst from guilt, would you have even told me what was happening? Boy, do I know how to pick men. I'm not trying to be seen with you so there will be no "appearances" to be kept up."

"I promise I would've told you. You may not believe that though. And I wasn't "sending you off". I'm not that cruel. I was just afraid of the man I call brother. But I would rather give my own life for you if it means keeping you safe from him."

"I'm sure you think that sounds noble and "white knight", but what good will you be dead? Or rather, deader than you already are. How will you "protect" me if you're gone and he's still here? People always say that shit, but what good is it gonna be? The person who is torturing the other will still be there and you won't. It makes no sense.

But here's the thing Davin, according to you, I am more powerful than the two of you realize. Heck, I'm more powerful than I myself even realize. That's why Damien wants me, because he has seen the power I hold within me and knows about the power my ancestors held and wants it for himself. He wants the control and is afraid of me. It's why he had you to keep an eye on me and why he never told me about them and why he made the contract with me in the first place. I was stupid to trust you so quickly. I was stupid to ignore what my brain was trying to tell me. But trust me, I won't be so stupid again."

"Jael, you aren't stupid. And you're right, my brother is afraid of you. The power of your ancestors is within you and he was afraid of you finding that out and using it against him if you ever found out about him lying to you and causing your sibling's accident, and yes, he was the one who caused you to have that dream you had when you died. He also set you up in Miami to awaken your abilities so he could see them for himself."

"I knew it! Huh, your brother is just full of surprises and so are you. The reasonable part of my brain is screaming at me and trying to convince me that it knows you had no intention of hurting me. That there are probably other things you aren't telling me for my own protection, that you really do love me, and that you really are afraid of Damien. It's telling me to forgive you, but I can't do that right now. Maybe I can in the future, but for now, no.