Deal • REWRITE • BOOK 1

18; Good for You

"Well by the looks of things, it seems that Aria is the reason you're experiencing a lot of firsts,"

L U C I E N

"So you're telling me that two guys broke into your home, tried to kill you but couldn't because you were fast enough to kill them both?" I asked Aaron, my body leaning against my office desk as he sat in the chair opposite, his panicked eyes struggling to keep eye contact from the way I was staring him down with zero expression on my face.

It had been a total of ten minutes since he had appeared at my door looking worse for wear, the sudden stress of the situation along with what Aria was hiding only leaving me in a conflicted state of feeling nothing and everything all at once...something that wasn't good for anyone.

"They said that they were after Aria," Aaron breathed out quickly, his words making a sudden blanket of overwhelming heat to pass through my body, the split second anger that it turned into blooming in my chest uncomfortably whilst it boiled my blood and awakened the monster inside of me.

"What the fück do you mean that they said they were after Aria?" I snapped, my tone blunt and doing nothing to hide my sudden irritability when I white knuckled the edge of my desk and glared at Aaron. "Who the fück were they?"

"I-" he swallowed harshly, looking between Aria and I as she stood at the door of the office with squinted eyes, her expression mocking my own except for the fact that it was aimed at me and not Aaron.

"You're scaring him, Lucien," she mumbled as she walked towards me, her words only kick starting my forceful instincts as I pushed my body away from the desk to get all necessary information out of Aaron. It was a result of my impatience getting the better of me when I actually contemplated threatening him until Aria stopped me, her hand pressing hard to my stomach as she pushed her weight into me to stop me from walking any further.

I hated the fücking way I relaxed under her touch, the feeling of her body soft and against mine only making me exhale a sharp breath through my nose as Aria spoke up and looked at Aaron.

"He won't do anything to you," she promised, the scoff that left my lips joined by the roll of my eyes.

"I fücking doubt-"

Aria's glare made me shut my mouth, the irritation I had inside me making me run my tongue over my teeth as I stepped back to my desk and distracted myself with the blunt force of my fingers digging into my palms. It was hard to focus when all I could see was red at the threat that was centered on Aria, my intolerance at the way I was blindsided in this situation only tripling when I remembered that I still had no idea what the fück she was hiding.

For fück sake.

"I think...uh..." Aaron swallowed again when I glared at him, my temper flaring inside my body and waiting to burst wildly like a shaken coke bottle. "I think Joe might've tracked me from when I helped you in Sicily."

"You've got to be fücking kidding me..."

"Lucien!" Aria snapped as she turned to me sharply, my body already having a mind of its own as it retraced the steps I made towards Aaron.

"You seriously fücking believe-"

Again, my words were cut off when her arm outstretched and her hand was back to pushing me back, the notion a lot harder to do since I was stronger than her until I hissed at the way she dug her nails into my bicep. "For God's sake, let him talk."

I scowled at the dull pain in my arm before I glared at Aaron again and turned to the pull of Aria, my frustration over the entire situation becoming something that wasn't easy to keep under wraps considering I'd had the bad habit of being impatient since I could remember.