Zay's POV

I leave the café with tears streaming down my face in anger and disappointment.

Though I don't know why.

I should have saw this coming from a mile away but I was so caught up in what I wanted him to be, I completely missed what he was trying to tell me the whole time.

I am not what he wants.

He doesn't want to be with me.

Soulmates are just a joke to him.

And none of these realizations make me feel any fucking better as I stand outside and pull out my phone. I dial the number of the person I know will be there no matter what, and sure enough, ten minutes later he's pulling into the parking lot with a frown on his face and hands tense on the wheel.

I was hoping that Elliot would come after me.

I don't know why I keep wishing for things that I know isn't an option with him. It never was. It was only a pipe dream that he let me entertain and that's the shit that kills me.

I walk away from the place that was supposed to move us forward in whatever relationship we decided on, and walk to the car before pulling open the door and sliding into the passenger seat. I pull on my seatbelt and we sit there for a moment as he turns to look at me, my body facing forward in an attempt to hold off the conversation I know I will need to have.

"I have three in my trunk." Ares tells me, voice terse as he refers to his bat collection that seems to grow only to disappear until he needs them.

"Let's just go." I tell him and I see him thinking about going against my wishes, but like the sweet man he is, he attends to me first, throwing the car in drive before pulling off and making our way from the coffee shop and towards his apartment.

I look out the window as we drive, the memories that we've shared these past few days turning bitter in my mind and on my tongue.

Ares doesn't try to say anything else as we make our way towards his side of town, and I'm thankful, knowing that I don't need to have any sort of conversation right now when the hurt and indirect rejection are so fresh in my mind.

I've always been the more chill and nicest person I've could be, especially growing up with the parents I have, but I find myself with anger coursing through me, an unfamiliar emotion that I've rarely felt before. I used to think that the level of difficulty some people have when it comes to their Soulmates was just over rated and complicated. But as time goes on, I'm beginning to realize that just because things are made for you, doesn't mean it'll hold its shape.

We finally pull into the familiar parking lot of the brothel and I get out of the car, following Ares as he makes his way inside, holding the door open for me.

We walk up the stairs as mind races until we get to the third floor and he unlocks the second door to his right before opening it and walking in. I follow behind him and close the door behind me, finding a worried looking Thomas behind the door.

"Zay what's wrong? Ares said you were upset." He says coming towards me and I see the new cat that he got nestled into the crook of his arm, it's pale eyes looking at me from his owners hold.

"It was the stupid ass boy of his." Ares says as he leans against the wall and I sigh in disappointment at myself. And so much fucking anger.

"Let's go sit down." Thomas says and I nod as he leads us to the living room where he sits on the love seat and I place myself in the chair. Ares remains standing and I know he's beyond irritated, especially with no action taking place in order to protect someone he cares for.

But I know that this isn't his problem to deal with.

"What happened?" Ares asks me gruffly and Thomas looks at him sternly but I don't complain, knowing what I was signing up for when I called him to come get me, not wanting to be by myself at the moment.

"Elliot and I went on a date today." I start, my words burning at the blatant lie in them. Because whatever that outing was supposed to be, that's not what it was.

"That's good though, right? I though that's what we wanted." Thomas says softly, obviously trying to figure out where the problem is and I sigh as I tell them where the the problem resides.

"That's exactly what we wanted. Until it all got fucked up." I grumble before continuing. "Everything was going great from the time he picked me up to when we sat down. He told me I looked nice and I even felt a sliver of arousal from him. And when we sat down, he sat my hand down on the table and begin to play with it." I say and I can feel anger rising in me again as I i'll my legs up onto the couch after kicking off my shoes and hugging my legs to my chest.

"And then?" Thomas says, trying to move along the story and I swallow the stupid lump in my throat and turn to Ares, knowing how protective he is over me. But he beats me to opening my mouth.

"I'm not leaving. And I'm making no promises not to fuck that human piece of shit up. Finish the story." He tells me and I sigh in resignation over the information.

"But once he saw some people he recognized, his while demeanor changed. He pulled away from me as if I was fucking fire. And when the boys came over he made any point he could to tell them that we barely knew each other and that we had nothing to do with each other. Like we had just met yesterday. And he watched as they flirted with me and basically poisoned me with their energy. I mean I know that he didn't know that part but.."

"But you told him the only energy you could consume was his. And he could have told them to back off instead of let you get surrounded by a bunch of males you don't know. How many?" Ares asks and when I look over at him I see him leaning against the wall, his arms crossed as his muscles strain in an attempt to hold himself in place.

I can't see his face because his head is hanging low, but I know that he has his jaw clenched and brows furrowed.

Knowing that avoiding the question would only make him angrier, I tell him the truth.

"It was four of them." I say quietly and he cusses to himself before pushing off of the wall and making his way back to the room and he and Thomas shares before I hear the door slam shut. I can tell that he's trying to make an effort of staying here instead of going out to find Elliot.

Thomas sighs as he strokes the tiny ears of Snow, looking off into the distance before turning to me.

"It sounds like he only wants to help you in private while maintaining whatever life he had before. Be careful with that, Zay. I don't want to see you hurt. You're like a little brother to the two of us, and if this fucker keeps messing around with your feelings and hurting you, I'm not going to stop Ares or his bat collection. And you know I have Mace and Q's number as well." He tells me with a stern look.

"I know." I sigh and of course, like the dumb ass I am, I still try to find some sort of excuse for him so that he doesn't turn out to be the asshole that I hoped and dreamed he wasn't. "Maybe he doesn't know.." But before he can continue, I'm cut off.

"You had two talks with him. Ares had one. And if he came to the conclusion that he did to help you, someone on his side had to had talk to him at least once. He knew. He knows. He's just acting oblivious because he doesn't want things to change. He's being selfish and a rude fuck who will get his knees bashed in. His life isn't the only one who got changed in a different direction than he hoped. He's selfish, Zay. And you don't need that shit."

Thomas is never one to scold or even tell someone about themselves, almost always Ares job, but I can tell that this is something he's passionate about as he warns me away from the man that I thought would take all my pain away.

And instead he adds more to it.

Suddenly, my brain feels like it's overloading and I know a crash in impending. And I also know that I don't want to spend the nights alone in my house where I know that I will cry and over think myself into a frenzy.

"Can I stay here tonight?" I ask Thomas and he gives me a soft smile before nodding.

"Of course. Go grab a shower and I'll bring you some clothes. The four of us will have a movie night." He says as he looks down at the tiny kitten that's yawning and snuggles deeper into his arms.

I nod my head as we get up together and try to ignore the way my heart still aches as I attempt to push away the painful thoughts from my mind.

~~~~~~~~~~
Elliot is an asshole, Zay deserves the world and the best dick. And of course my baby Ares is the best fucking person in this series hands down, sorry not sorry.

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