Unfinished (Chapter-28)

ABBY’S POV

Both Charlie and I were frozen, watching Cassy as she held her accusing eyes at us with her arms crossed in front of her chest and her hip popped out to the side. I knew right away that she has gotten the wrong idea.

Charlie and I see each other as close friends and nothing more. This is just a childish misunderstanding. I calmly look at Cassy. “Hey, Cassy. You came at the right time. Charlie here-” She cut me off before I could share the news that Charlie had just given me.

“Yeah. Real likely. I know you guys weren’t expecting me to see your warm embrace. I wonder what Arden would think of this?” She turns on her heels and flashes away, before we could hear Arden shout in surprise.

I knew he was in the shower so she most likely caught him getting out, or getting dressed. A small jolt of jealousy flew through me before I found myself standing up and limping as fast as I could to the stairs. I didn’t even take a moment to grab my crutch. Accidentally putting too much pressure on my bad leg, I was quick to tumble down to the floor with a small scream of surprise.

“Abby!” Charlie exclaims as he rushed to me. “Are you okay?” I nod. Trying to push myself up so I could dash up the stairs to explain what really happened to Arden. I didn’t want Cassy painting a picture to him that didn’t really happen, or at least in the wrong context.

However, Arden must have either read my mind or heard my scream because he came running down the stairs in nothing but a pair of pants that hung low on his hips. “Holy shit. Are you okay, Abby?” When he made it to the bottom of the steps he gently wraps his arms around me and helps me to a standing position.

“Yeah, I’m fine. What did Cassy tell you?” I immediately ask. I was curious and more than ready to explain how things really happened.

He shook his head but answered nonetheless. “Nothing. She came in right as I was about to get dressed, so I told her to get out and go away.” Not a moment longer, Cassy popped up beside us, arms still crossed.

“Yeah. I didn’t get to tell him how you and my brother were down here making out.” Arden tenses up automatically, as did I. Is she really lying right now?

“What? No! Arden that isn’t…” I started to say, right when Charlie also started to shake his head profusely. “No, man. We were not making out!” Cassy throws her head back in laughter.

“Please. As if he will believe you guys over me.” She looks expectantly over to Arden, and he was just looking between the three of us before he steps closer to me.

“Cass, what did I say? You need to accept that you chose this life. Don’t come in here spreading lies.” Arden’s gruff voice spoke out. I love when he takes control. I lean into him gently, and he squeezes my shoulder reassuringly.

Cassy rolls her eyes before trying again. “How blind must you be, Arden? Charlie clearly likes Abby and you are just going to be okay with them being around each other? Living in the same house, all alone together while you go to work.”

Charlie starts choking, eyes wide as he questions. “What? I-” He tries to protest but, again, Cassy cuts his sentence off. She’s on a roll with not letting anyone else speak tonight.

“Oh, hush Charlie. You can’t hide your feelings from me. Ask him, Arden, you know he can’t lie to you.” Arden has his brows furrowed before he turns to Charlie. Charlie is staring back at him with a look of horror on his face.

“Charlie… Do you like Abby?” Arden asks easily. Charlie licks his lips before answering.

“Of course, I like her, we are friends.” I shrug because that is a good enough answer for me but Arden’s brows lower.

“No. Do you like her, like her? Like would you kiss the shit out of her right now if I wasn’t in the picture?” Arden proceeds. Charlie gulps audibly but has a look of defeat on his face.

“I mean, yeah man. Abby’s a catch… But you have to know that I would never do something like that to

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you, Arden. You know that, right?” Charlie’s cheeks tint the slightest shade pink as he glances shyly at me before looking hopefully at Arden.

Arden’s gaze hardens before he lets out a deep breath. “Yeah, Charlie. I know that. And you’re right, Abby is a great fucking catch.” He looks down at me, giving me a small smile before turning back to Charlie. “That’s why Abby is moving in with me, this weekend.”

Shocked, my wide eyes looked nowhere but up at Arden. When he asked me, I told him that I had to think about it since things were moving quickly between us, and even then, I didn’t want to until everything with Cassy was over. But here he is now, announcing that I was moving in and this weekend no less.

It was silent for all of a moment when Cassy spoke up. “What?” Her disbelief was written all over her face. She steps closer to Arden, making him drag me further away from her while he stood in front of me to try to create some sort of barrier between her and me. “Ar-Are you serious? What about me, Arden? Did you ever even love me?”

The hurt in her eyes quickly transformed into a rage that burned bright. Arden, not willing to budge or even crack under her gaze, stood tall and looked at her firmly. “Cassy. You need to stop now. This is ridiculous.”

Charlie tried to speak up, to calm them before it could get out of hand, but no one listens. Cassy let out a strangled scream before her heated eyes glare into Arden’s warning stare. “NO! Arden. YOU need to stop. Either you love me or you never did. So, which is it?”

Arden’s eyes narrowed as a fire lit up in his expression. His next words were filled with venom as he spits them out with a yell. The anger and hurt in them, fill me with sadness and let me feel a portion of the pain he has endured. “You are the one that never fucking loved me, Cass! You wouldn’t have done what you did if you thought about how it would make me feel. Damn it! You were selfish in your decision and you are being a selfish little brat now! Give it up, and move the hell on, please! I don’t want you here anymore and I know Charlie doesn’t either! All you are doing with your presence is causing us more unnecessary drama.”

I yank on Arden’s arm, grabbing his attention and giving him an unbelievable look. I know he is trying to deal with everything and I know that Cassy hurt him with her actions and is still hurting him by being here. However, his words were uncalled for. No one, not even Cassy with all she has done, deserves to hear these words from the one they love.

“Arden, that is completely uncalled for,” I state. Arden gives me a look that was kind of like ’sorry not sorry’ but he looked almost guilty that I had to witness him explode. Cassy’s heated gaze quickly turned to me as the fire in her eyes exploded tenfold. The lights started flickering in the house as the objects in the hallway started to shake violently.

“YOU!” Is all she said before she was running at me again. Arden steps in from of me to block her but she vanished a step in front of him and appeared right in front of me. She grabs me by the shoulders roughly as I let out a gasp of surprise. Using that to her advantage, she looks maliciously at me, before muttering. “This is going to feel good.”

She steps forward, disappearing into my body. I was confused for a moment before I could feel nothing but heat erupt throughout my entire body. My body starts quivering and I could feel the sweat dripping from my forehead. My insides felt like they were melting and my head was pounding.

I let out an agonizing scream as I fell to the floor. Convulsing while holding my head to try to suppress the pain but to no use. I met Charlie’s horrified expression before my eyes found Arden. He was panicking and screaming something to Charlie as he bent down to grab ahold of my hand. I couldn’t hear. My vision started to blur but I managed to whisper out one last thing. “I love you, Arden.”

Then everything went black.