47 - DEATH SENTENCE

KYLE'S POV

*Then I’m happy for you

Of course, I wasn’t happy for her. Well, maybe I was but not in the way someone would expect me to. I was happy that maybe she was with someone better than me, she deserved someone better than me, someone who wouldn’t abandon her because he was a coward and he couldn’t stand up to his dad. With a sharp intake of her breath, she proceeded to withdraw from me but I just needed one more minute so I held her back, trapping her hand in mine. I held unto the softness of her palms, relishing the feel of her hands against my skin while she wiped my face.

I didn’t say anything, I didn’t want her to say anything either. I wanted to bask the silence that held our longing because words would ruin it. I would tell her I couldn’t be with her and she’ll turn away in scorn leaving me dejected. It was better this way – no words, just her hand in mine and my eyes fixed on hers, enthralled by her captivating eyes.
“I should get going” she said after a while and my chest tightened. I took her hands to my mouth and pressed my lips to them – I didn’t want her to go. But she did, out through the door like a wind and for some seconds it felt like I was dreaming the whole thing and she was never even here, but the bloody washcloth beside me said otherwise – the lingering scent of her perfume filling the air and the feeling of her hands on my face.

How did it end up so wrong?

*SOME DRUNKEN YEARS AGO

*KYLE’S POV

“Come with me” Aria’s icy cold hands slid in my mine pulling me away from the frenzy of the dancefloor in this very much overcrowded club. Beads of sweat lined her forehead so why are her hands so damn cold, turned out she had been playing ping pong in a corner but with icecubes instead of an actual ball. She dragged to a corner and pushed against the wall, pressing her body up on mine. We had been officially going out for over a year now since the whole incident after my dinner and we had fallen into a comfortable routine – clubs on a Friday night with alcohol coursing through our veins and we could stay cuddled up throughout Saturday while I traced my fingers through every curve on her body. It was a routine I could maintain when I realized how much I had fallen for her, how much I craved her presence and how much sanity she brought into the chaos that was my life.

“I’ve been missing you” she whispered in my ears amidst the loud music

“You decided to leave me to play ping pong with ice” I said to her and she placed her fingers on my lips, shushing me. I drew a sharp breath when her icy hands touched my lips and an even sharper one when she pressed her lips to mine. Her lips had a strawberry taste to them but they were surprisingly devoid of the taste of liquor, I licked her lips to savor the taste more.

“What have you been drinking?” I pulled her even close in the heat, her clammy skin connecting with mine and sending ripples of excitement down my pants

“Some strawberry drink the bartender offered me. You know, I’m designated driver tonight so I can’t drink”

“Look at you being all responsible, good thing I’m as drunk as anything at least my girlfriend finally gets to drive me home drunk from the club”

“I drive you all the time” she protested before she gave me a flinty look “Now I want you to drive me crazy”

My stomach heated up with excitement when her lips met mine again, the music began to sound distant and it felt like it was just the two tangled in each others arms. Her arms snaked around my neck as her tongue invaded my mouth robbing me of my senses. I grabbed her creamy thighs softly through her high slit dress while she pulled me into an atmosphere of longing and desire that I had craved for so long. The air was thick and the lights danced above us, and I felt the intoxication wash over me. I licked her lips and slowly grazed them with my teeth before moving to the succulent part of her neck and her soft moans trickled in the noisy air but I heard them loud and clear in my ears because they were made for me. she tugged on my hair pulling me closer to her. I grabbed her ass, my hands slowly reaching for the heat between her legs and she thrusted her hips towards to show she was burning for my touch. Her eyes searched mine in the darkness and I could see it tainted with passion.

“You’re so beautiful Aria” I whispered softly in her ears before nibbling on her ear lobe. My hands slid down her breast, gliding over her damp skin, memorizing every contour, every curve of her gorgeous frame. I wanted her, I wanted her every waking moment.

“Do you want us to get out of here?” I said to her as she shook her head but she didn’t pull away from me.

“I promised Sam we’ll have a sleepover so I’m just going to drop you at home” she said to me and I audibly groaned “We spend way too much time together, she’s neglected”

“I’m neglected right now” I try to pull the whiny card but she wasn’t having it.

“Ugh grow up Kyle”

Later on, Aria had driven me home and she parked just in front of the house I was now living in solo and without my dad since I moved out of his mansion. Aria turned off the ignition and she looked at me with sober eyes, she seemed pensive and I could sense that there was something bothering her.

“What’s wrong?”

She stayed quiet at first, looking at her fingers before she looked at me and said “There’s something I have to tell you”

“You can tell me anything babe, what’s wrong?”

“You know I never really told you about my dad, mostly because I wanted to run away from it and I was ashamed that my dad is in jail”

“You don’t have to – ”

“No just hear me out” she cut through “My dad is in jail but embezzlement, fraud, tax evasion and the likes and according him he was framed but I don’t know anything about that. All I’m trying to say is my dad is the sweetest man and he was the best dad to me before he got whisked away and I don’t want you to judge him without knowing him”

“I would never” I said to her, tipping her chin to look at me “Why should I judge your family when mine is a dysfunctional mess”

Then she smiled, taking my hands in hers “He’s coming out in a months time”
***
I stepped out of the car after kissing Aria good bye to find my father waiting outside my heart. It wasn’t a new thing for my dad to stay lurking outside my house instead of calling me when he needed something.
“This is creepy, you can just call me, you know that right?” I said to him when I reached him just standing outside my door and I wasn’t going to let him in, so I stood outside while he talked.

“I haven’t been here long” he said then he looked at the reversing car and turned back to me “Is that Aria?”

I gave him an odd look before nodding and he said “You have to stop seeing her”

That wasn’t possible but I was going to humor him by asking his reasons “Why?”

There was no dramatic pause or pensiveness from his side, he always went straight for the kill. “I put her father in jail for embezzlement and fraud, I framed him to hide my own dirty doings”

Now I was the one with the dramatic pause and my eyes widened “What!?”

“What the hell dad” I echoed again unbelievably “Why are you telling me this, I was okay not knowing that piece of information. What has this got to do with me?” There was a rising panic in my chest and I wasn’t sure where it was stemming from.

“It has everything to do with you becaue when he gets out of jail, you’d have to kill him”