• T W E N T Y • S I X •

"Sticks and stones cannot break my bones, but the knife will cut deep enough."

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William's POV

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I clear my throat and tear my eyes from Rage, knowing that I won't be able to get this out of I had to look at her. Rage has already seen so much darkness, that I know. I don't want to make things worse or scare her with my darkness, but telling her my history will tell me if she loves me by her reaction.

And I can only hope she loves me as much as I foolishly and hopelessly love her.

"I have always been an only child," I begin, speaking as if reading a book, as if I am telling someone else's story. "My parents loved me very much. But they hated each other with a burning passion.

"But I can't complain too much; that passion kept them together long enough to have me," I add drily before continuing, "Their relationship was unhealthy, to say the least. I remember hiding under my bed, in my closet, in the laundry room—anywhere I could think of to hide from the noise. I could never escape it, the shouts, the sounds of glasses and dishes shattering as they were thrown at each other.

"One night, I didn't get the chance to escape the living room so I darted behind the couch as soon as the yelling began," I tell her, my throat growing thick with emotion.

"You filthy slut!" He would yell at her. "I work every fucking day to come home to this shitty dump and you have the nerve to accuse me of cheating?!"

"You greedy asshole," Mom would hiss back. "I might not work at a damn office, but being your wife certainly isn't easy! One of these days, you're going to come home, eat the food that I make you every damn night, and die. I won't want to put up with your shut any longer. It would be so easy to poison you."

Then Dad would roar at her, "Don't you dare forget that I have a gun in my safe! I could off you in an instant and claim it was a robber!"

Without even noticing it, I begin to absentmindedly rub the long scar that runs down my forearm. I push back the memories, just enough so that I can tell the tale.

"I had my hands clamped against my ears, but I could still hear it all. After a few minutes of shouting back and forth, my mother's favorite vase was thrown against the wall—the wall that I was pressed up against while I was smooshed between the couch and wall," I recall.

I'm not telling Rage this anymore; it's more of me getting it out of my head. Kinda like a visit to a shrink.

"Shards rained down on me and one dragged down my forearm, an inch away from my head. I was covered in little cuts, but blood started dripping from the open gash on my forearm. I didn't scream until the blood started to fill the open cut and pool and drop down my arm, then I started screaming and crying," I admit. "I was six then."

Rage opens her mouth to speak, but I cut her off with my own words, wanting to finish before she started asking questions or freaking out or mocking me.

"That was when I realized just how serious it all was," I say softly. "I knew my parents didn't pay too much attention to me; they never noticed my powers of even suspected. I'm pretty sure it skipped a generation of something.

"I decided that night that I hated violence and would work for peace, for resolution in every situation, starting with my parents," I voice flatly. "I certainly failed. My parents threatened each other often, but, three months later, they finally made good on those threats. My mom poisoned my dad. His final act was to retrieve his gun and shoot her. His last words were, 'Die, you fucking bitch!'"

I lick my dry lips and do my best to keep my ears from hearing when I notice that Rage's autumn gold eyes followed the movement.

"Since then, I've lived with my grandparents. If it weren't for the others..." I trail off, lost in thought. "They've helped me out so much. Half of the time, they don't even realize it."

"It's not one way, you know," Rage murmurs, her ebony hair spilling over her shoulders as she leans forward. "You help them out too."

"And we will always help you," I promise her, leaning in so she can see the determination and honesty in my eyes.

Rage completely startles me, by leaning on even closer and pressing her smooth, plump lips against my own. Before I have the chance to return the kiss, though, she is pulling away.

"And I will always be here for you guys in return," Rage tells me seriously, making her own promise.

My heart is still beating erratically and I think I missed a bit of what she said, but I'm somewhat confident I caught the gist of it and grin at her.

"So my story helped you feel better?" I ask before furrowing my brow and asking, "Or did you just kiss me to get out of telling my your own story?"

Rage grins at me mischievously and sweetly replies, "Why can't it be both?"

A wave of relief washes over me so fully that I almost don t even care either way. Her smile, it's such a relief. Seeing her when she first came in... It was awful.

Speaking of which...

"How did you even get here?" I ask Rage curiously.

Her eyes bulge dramatically and she exclaims, "Oh, shit! They still think I'm in the bathroom!"

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Asher's POV

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The warm tear dripped down my cheek and I did nothing to stop it. No one was there to see it anyway.

Seraphina was in the living room trying to get comfortable and doing her best to ignore me as I banged on the door and begged Rage to at least let me know she was alright.

"She's probably just ignoring you and you're overreacting," Seraphina informed me from where she was lounging on the couch.

No, that wasn't it. I saw the look on her face. Plus, she's been in there far too long to be normal. The only reason why Rage wouldn't respond to my pleas is if she weren't there, couldn't hear them, or was unconscious. Rage isn't the petty type, the kind of person who would ignore someone's cries just because she wanted a little peace.

My throat feels thick and it is hard to swallow as my panic grows. I know she won't kill herself, but if you saw the way she looked...

I grind my palms into my eyes and try to push the hysteria back. I'm overreacting, and I know it.

Damn it, if Rage is in there and messing with me, messing with my heart...

I hear a slight bang and a stream of muttered curses from the bathroom, and instantly, I whirl around and start banging on the door again.

The door opens to reveal a startled Rage and I, in my emotional state, do something I know she will regret.

I rush towards her, colliding into her and snaking my arms around her waist to catch her before she fell. I kiss her on the lips in a sloppy, desperate way that makes me feel almost as if I am cheating her of a real kiss. Her hands are in my curly hair and she pulls me even closer as she deepens the kiss.

"Well, you two really are dating, I guess," Seraphina says from the doorway, startling us both.

Rage quickly backs up from me and fixed her shirt and hair. My ears and cheeks are burning bright red as I fix my own shirt.

"Yeah," Rage says, wincing at Seraphina's words.

My heart clenched at that. This is the second time she's winced while talking about the lie of us dating. Do I really repulse her that much that she would wince at the mere thought of dating me? No, that can't be true since she kissed me back. Right?

"I'm heading to bed now," I mutter and push past the two. "I'm glad you're alright, Rage."

Like I said, I knew kissing Rage would be something she would regret.

I clutch the dog tags that hang around my neck as I close the door behind me. Through the door, I can hear Rage and Seraphina's muffled voices as they talk about who knows what.

As I sit on the floor and stare at the cracked walls, I can't help but feel pathetic. At least I got a kiss out of this whole ordeal, right?

We—Gage, Kolton, Nekoda, Darkon, William, Boaz, and I—briefly discussed the idea of sharing her. It happens all the time these days, really. First, though, we need to figure out how she feels about us. We all figured that everything was in our favor when she kissed Boaz. The six of us were so happy that we might have a chance with her—so much so that we didn't even mind the fact that she kissed him first.

But now... I hope I'm wrong. I need to be wrong.

Damn, I feel like a girl, overthinking and overanalyzing this...

I sit there, lost in thought and staring off into space.

It doesn't take much longer before Rage is quietly entering her bedroom.

"I'm sorry," We blurt out at the same time.

My cheeks blaze again, but Rage merely tosses her head back and laughs.

"We really are a fucked up bunch, aren't we?" Rage snorts, surprising me.

"Well, yeah, but what makes you say that?" I ask, confused about what she's talking about.

Rage smiles tightly, cunning and strength glistening in her bright eyes.

"Nothing, really," Rage says. "Now what were you apologizing for?"

I open my mouth to speak, but am promptly cut off by Rage saying, "Oh, yeah, you were trying to apologize to me for that kiss. Don't you dare fucking nod your head at me. If anyone should apologize, it's me. I didn't mean to freak you out and kiss you back. I know you were just kissing me because of your emotional state. I know you well enough to know that, Asher."

"No! That's not it!" I burst out. "Yeah, I kissed you while I was emotional, but I don't regret it at all and I've wanted to kiss those damned perfect lips for a long time now."

"Keep talking like that and I'll be forced to kiss you again," Rage declares nonchalantly.

My eyes grow wide as I fall speechless.

"Huh?"

Rage smirks and replies, "You think you're the only one with feelings? Maybe I wanted to kiss you and was just waiting for you to make the first move."

My heart leaps with cheesy and cliche joy before I fix her with a glare.

"Well, why the hell didn't you say something sooner?" I demand, with no real anger.

Rage laughs again, filling me with a sense of content.

"You scared me, Rage," I whisper.

She cringes and looks away.

I mean forward to grab her chin and force her to look at me. Normally, I would never do this, but this is serious.

"You can't shut down like that. You can't hide like that," I tell her sternly. "I was so scared, so worried for you. You can't play with my mind and heart like that, Rage."

Her eyes dart to me and I am once again stunned by her beautiful eyes.

"You were scared for me? Not of me?" Rage says slowly.

"Yeah," I whisper, scooting back.

Rage smiles, her pink lips slowly curling upward. A real, whole, dazzling smile. And I can't help but smile back at her.

I stop smiling, though, when she suddenly clenched her fists and groans.

"Are you okay?" I ask, concerned.

"Sure," Rage hisses out. "I just gotta go and use my powers. Let them out. They're screaming to be used."

I nod in understanding. Since Rage has multiple powers, it must be even more painful than usual to go without using her powers.

"As soon as Seraphina falls asleep, I'll slip out," She informs me.

Nodding again, I urge, "Just be careful, alright? It's dangerous to use your powers too much, especially if you're close to or in the city."

Rage flashes me a dangerous smile like that of a shark and replies smugly, "Danger is my middle name."

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Q: Sneakers, heels, or sandals?

A: Well, I am almost always barefoot but when I must wear shoes, I prefer heels. Anything to be taller. ಥ_ಥ