Feather After // Chapter 44 // Questions And Honest Answers

Aria's POV 

I took a deep breath and looked at him, I looked at the guy who made my heart skip a beat. He was the same guy who made me cry endless times and made me question my self for letting him in. I sometimes asked myself why was he the way he was. He sat next to me and hummed. I never knew he was like this. After the little attention he had given to me, I had become more aware of myself. It was like he had lighted that part of me which I didn't know existed. He didn't move, and neither did I.

"Why do you do this to me?" I asked him, didn't know whether he would answer me or not. He stopped humming and pulled away. My head was not on his shoulder anymore.

"Why do you want to know that?" He looked in my eyes and I gulped. He was trying to be clever; he was trying to play it safe. Just like he always did, he put my heart into danger but I didn't know if he did it unknowingly or knowingly.

"I just do," I told him. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes shut. He opened them again.

"I don't know, I don't know," he ran his hand through his hair and bit on his lip, "I just feel like the guy after you-"

"You mean my fiancé?" I butted in.

"Will you stop saying it that way?" He raised his voice but not enough to scare me, not enough to stop me from getting what I wanted. I shrugged and he continued, "He is not a good guy-"

"And you're?" I butted again, I liked that. He was vulnerable and I was keeping him on the edge.

"You know what I mean," he pressed his lip shut.

"I do? How do you know me so well?" I smirked at him. Two could play the game. His eyes became dark. Oops, someone was angry.

"Stop fucking playing with me Aria-"

"Oh my god, are you hurt? So you keep doing whatever you want but-"

"What do you want me to do?" He looked at me. He took my hands in his and squeezed them. I didn't know why but whenever he looked at me or touched me I felt sparks run through my body. It felt great and even if I didn't want to, I did.

"I-I don't know," I whispered, not confident with myself.

"You're, I don't know what you want, I mean. I don't know if I can, I don't know-"

"See, I'll be very honest with you and I'll say this-" he tried to interrupt me but I put my hand up in the air and glared at me if he said another word I would walk out. He closed his mouth and I continued, "so as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted that, I'm not a threesome girl, either you choose me or lose me, but this Bermuda Triangle combo is not my thing. I want you," I pointed at him, "to choose Misty over me because neither I'm a second option, nor I'll ever be one."

"Well, you don't understand, she and I, we are not a thing."

"Oh, yeah? Then who were you shoving your tongue in that day?" I raised my eyebrow at him. He was being abnormally smart.

"I-"

"I'll tell you what. Be with her, I have no fucking problem. I will not do this," I pointed my finger at him and then at me.

"Are you jealous?" He said and lied down in the bed and popped his head on his elbow. He sprang his legs apart. Oh god, I closed my eyes, I couldn't lose this conversation by losing my god damn concentration. I did try my best to not get distracted by a trash case lying on the bed but what can I say, a girl has got some hormones.

I got up and ran my hand over the dress in hopes to straighten the wrinkles on it. They were not that evident but the dress didn't look the way it did before things happened. "You know what Aria, I'm a guy too. And I want you to fight for me like I'm fighting for you. That's all I want from you." He said and closed his eyes.

"What do you mean?" I turned around to look for my heels which Ignatius had thrown somewhere in the room. He shifted on the bed and the bed sheet ruffled. He cracked his knuckles.

"Well-"

"You have just one chance. Take it or leave it. If you take it, I stay. If you don't, I leave," I pointed at the door and walked towards the other end of the room to pick my heel of the left foot.

"You're such a demanding woman," he rubbed his forehead with his thumb pad. "You know, I just want you to fight with me. No one has ever done that for me. I want you to do that."

"So you're saying that you come with terms and conditions now? Are you even hearing yourself?" I argued back. I sat on one of the sofa seat directly opposite to him. I didn't trust myself with him and around him. I did things which I didn't know I could. I said things which I knew I would have never said even in my wildest dreams. He just bought the wrong side of me outside.

"Aria, okay. Just ask me whatever you want, and I'll answer truthfully." He finally gave up. I looked at him and smiled. He looked at me.

"And how do I know that you'll not be lying?" I crossed my legs and leaned on to the neck of the sofa seat. The seat was very soft, it felt really nice.

"I swear on your life-"

"Do you want me to die?" My eyes widened.

"Oh god, I swear on my mother's name that I won't lie," he raised his hand forward and looked at me. I nodded and he pulled his hand back.

"Okay? So what is this thing going on? Are you in love with Misty?"

"Hell no. Baby Jesus how did you get that idea?" He scrunched his face in disgust.

"Don't make that kind of face, she is my friend!" I told him.

"You're one hell of a woman Aria, and for your kind of information, we are not dating. We're not a thing. We have just hooked up a few times. That's it," he removed his coat that he was wearing. He was just left with his shirt and grey pants.

"What do you want from me?"

"What we did five minutes ago. Some of that obviously but I'm okay with whatever you want."

"So why did you ask me to marry you? Is it a game?"

"Honestly, I did it because wanted to, I mean I like you. That's why I'm here. Otherwise, I wouldn't have given two fucks about you."

"Will you go back to Misty?" I shifted and pulled my legs together. The gown was beautiful but it was uncomfortable. And with Ignatius talking about the thing that we did, it wasn't making anything earlier.

"Well, do you want me to?" He raised his eyebrow at me.

"Let me tell you something, this is question answer thing where I ask you a question and you answer my question with an answer, not a question."

"Well, at the moment I don't think I want her."

"Ignatius-"

"I'm answering your question as honestly, I can." He raised his arms.

"We should head back," I got up picked up my other heel. I sat down on the bed and pulled on my heels. Ignatius came from behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I froze. I closed my eye and prayed to God or any power above me. Please, I wanted God to save me.

"Leave me," I pushed him and left the room. In no time he was behind me, with his hand in the coat pocket and the other hand right in his pocket. He looked gorgeous. He made my knees weak and I wanted to bang my head in the wall. How the hell could I so care less?

"These paintings are beautiful," I titled to look at them again.

"I know, that's the only reason this place is so beautiful. One of the paintings is painted by my great grandfather but I'm not sure which one it is."

"Well, each one of these is beautiful," I looked at him.

"Well we Hudson's have always been good with our Hands," he smirked. I guess; I kind of knew what he meant there. He was not talking about the hand and the canvas, he was talking about his hand and my vj, as Zachariah always called them.

"Leave me and my private part to myself," I put my hands on my cheek and he laughed. His eyes twinkled with mischief and he looked really happy for once. It made my heart swell. When he was not cold, fierce and hot-headed, he was a very nice little thing, and honestly speaking this side of him was fall-able.

"Well they are not so private anymore if I might add that," he laughed a giant seeing my expression and I just squirmed.

"Don't pretend you didn't enjoy it," I butted in; there was no way I was the only one getting embarrassed in the whole situation.

"I never said I didn't enjoy, seeing you like that under me," he looked at me and smirked, "it was not another level baby, I could do that thing again all you have got to do is tell me," he wiggled his eyebrow at me suggestively.

I started walking fast. No matter what I did I always fell in my own trap. I shouldn't have bought it up, now he'll say more mortifying things and oh god. I wanted one of the paintings to swallow me.

"Aria, tell me something," he said and looked at me. He was serious again. Oh god.

"What?" I asked him. We were very near the hall, the ball hall. I could hear the faint music playing and the thing was going good. Hopefully, nobody had noticed me slipping from there.

"What do you do to the butter on the bread?"

"You spread-oh God!" My cheeks grew red again; this was never going to stop. I tried to hit him but he ran into the hall, "see you later baby, don't forget to spread the butter in the bread." He winked at me and left.

I followed him making sure that I kept my distance from him. When I entered the hall, some people were dancing; others were sitting and drinking their asses off.

"Where were you?" Zachariah walked towards me when his eyes landed on mine. He had a glass of champagne in his hand and I think his stomach was full then.

"Oh, I went to the washroom and then I kind of lost my way," I told him. He nodded and stood by me.

"I'll have to ask this old lady to dance. Oh god, my mom will be the death of me. What if the lady smells? I'm not really fond of these old people. They think that just because their ass is old, they are wise," He said and left me. Zachariah will be Zachariah. Bubbly and happy.

"Ma'am may I have this dance," I turned and saw Ignatius standing there. Spread butter on the bread right? He also had a glass of champagne in his hand. I don't know how they got those drinks.

"I need some alcohol in my system," I took the glass from his hand and gulped the whole content at once. He smiled at me and shook his head. I put my hand in his and he pulled me towards the dance floor.

"I love the lyrics of this song, come on," he pulled me closed to him and signed. I put my head on his chest and we moved. He mumbled and sang along softly in my ear.

"I'll tell the world, I'll sing a song

It's a better place since you came along

Since you came along

Your touch is sunlight through the trees

Your kisses are the ocean breeze

Everything's alright when you're with me

And I hold my favorite thing

I hold the love that you bring

But it feels like I've opened my eyes again

And the colors are golden and bright again

There's a song in my heart, I feel like I belong

It's a better place since you came along

It's a better place since you came along

I see the whole world in your eyes

It's like I've known you all my life

We just feel so right

So I pour my heart into your hands

It's like you really understand

You love the way I am."

And for once I felt happy.

I was thinking of changing the name of the book to some other name. Let me know if you have some suggestions. I was thinking was Feather After. MTTBB reached 400k + reads! That's crazy.