Chapter 13

Shattered

Vincent allowed Arrianna to pull him along, back down the garden path. It was ironic really. He had followed her in an attempt to make her feel better and yet she was the one comforting him. Again. He smiled to himself when she would unconsciously squeeze his hand in hers. The foreign contact was beginning to feel most welcome. At one time he would not have given a second thought to anyone else's feelings but his own. He had spoken the truth to her though. He couldn't stand to see her mad or upset with him now.

In the last month he had been locked in the tower in the dark wrestling with his own thoughts. The loss of his father was something that he didn't know if he could come to terms with. Some days he was angry and others he was hurt. And always guilty. It plagued him to think of the things he had said before. The things that he would never be able to take back now. It made him feel weaker now, than when he had first began to recover from his attack.

Arrianna seemed to help with distancing the pain. Whenever he was around her it was almost as if she was a buffer and made the pain lessen. However, Vincent decided that this would be his penance. To suffer alone. So he had pushed her away. He watched every day as the circles under her eyes grew darker. She had snapped at him more often and seemed to stay angry. He added this to his unending list of things to feel bad for. It wasn't her fault. He wondered how she could be so easy to forgive.

Soon they reached the house. She dropped his hand and he couldn't help but feel a sense of loss at it. Maybe she was right. Maybe he should be willing to let someone in and not suffer alone. They entered through the front door to find Percy putting on his coat.

"Good, there you two are. I'm running into town to pick a couple of things up. Do either of you need anything?" he asked. Vincent shook his head.

"Luna needs cat food if you don't mind," Arrie said. Vincent snorted while Percy nodded.

"What?" she asked, turning on him, a single eye brow raised.

"That thing is getting huge, you need to quit feeding her so much. I thought she was going to pull the curtains down last night, rod and all." He told her. Percy nodded to them both before disappearing out the front door.

"Luna is not getting fat. She's growing. She is supposed to get bigger." Arrie argued.

"If you say so." Vincent replied heading off towards the tower, leaning on his cane.

"Do you want me to bring you lunch in your room in a bit?" She called after him.

"If you want, I guess. Will you bring coffee if you do though? Throat's getting sore." He said, turning to look back down at her. She smiled and nodded at him before slipping into the kitchen.

He continued on to the tower, not really sure what to do with himself. He didn't really want to continue to just sit there and think. He had had enough of that. He felt lighter than he had in a month, and didn't want to spoil the good feeling.

He decided to make his own bed in an effort to help Arrie. This was a first for him. He never usually took initiative to help do anything. The task was made difficult by the fact that the kitten had gotten back into his room and was attempting to play hide and seek with the covers. At first it was exasperating and then it started to get funny. Every time an air bubble settled Vincent would fluff the sheet again and the kitten would pounce anew. Perhaps the little fur ball wasn't all that bad. She was very clumsy and constantly misjudged a distance. At one point she leapt to pounce an air bubble near the edge of the bed and missed, falling off completely.

Finally tiring of the game he finished making the bed clumsily and then settled into his arm chair and pulled his laptop to him. Once it had hummed to life he logged onto his email. Checking the inbox, he saw an email from his mother. She had taken to once a week emailing him to check up on him since his father's death. He clicked it and then began to read.

She didn't really have anything much to say, but then again, Vincent figured this was a step up from not contacting him at all. He could tell she was depressed. Natalie was a selfish woman, and a terrible mother, but Vincent couldn't deny that she hadn't ever loved his father. If she had one redeeming quality, it was this. He replied to her and let her know he was fine, as was the house and Percy, Ginny and Arrie. She had taken an odd interest in Arrie that confused Vincent. She would constantly question him about her.

Vincent had just finished browsing his inbox when an icon popped up on the screen for a live video chat. He stared at the sender incredulously before clicking to open it, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Vincent, sweetie, how are you?" Afton's primped and polished visage suddenly appeared on his screen. He noticed her flinch when she saw him.

"Fine. This is unexpected." he said, eyeing her warily.

"Oh, I'm just checking up on you. I haven't heard from you in a few weeks." Vincent laughed.

"I wasn't aware we were in any type of relationship that constituted that. " He told her. Afton's glossed lips pointed down in a pout.

"Don't be like that. You know I still care about you." She told him.

"Is that so? Tell me, what do you care so much about?" He asked. Afton batted her eye lashes before answering.

"You know we always had a connection. I understand you Vincent, and you at one time understood me." She said in a low and sultry voice.

"No I'm pretty sure that 'Connection' you are thinking of was when your claws were cemented to my wallet." He said, leaning back and crossing his arms.

Afton continued to pout.

"It was never like that, Vincent." She whined.

"Oh, really? Please, by all means, do explain." He snorted.

"If I recall, I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one not keeping my hands where they should be." Afton sniffed in disdain. Vincent chuckled.

"You were easy. What can I say?"

"I thought you said you loved me."

"Maybe once upon a time. Not anymore." He told her.

"Are you sure? I still feel that way about you. I want us to be that way again." She continued.

"You have nothing that I want." He said.

"I don't believe that. I know you still like parts of me." She said in a low and sultry voice.

Vincent watched in shock as her hands slipped up to the top button of her blouse and she unhooked it. She really got to the point of things, he thought warily.

"Let me refresh your memory." She went on.

"Afton, knock it off." He said, trying to not stare.

"Tell me you don't want us to be together. I can see it on your face you want me to go on." She purred.

Vincent tried to school his features into a blank mask. This was not happening.

"Afton, stop. I do not love you anymore, and I do not ever want to be with you again. Do you understand?" He stared above the screen in an effort to stop watching her.

"Liar. I know you want this too." She whispered.

"No, let's get this straight. You care about my money. Now what do you really want? I won't ask again." he told her. Afton stopped undoing her buttons and fixed him with a pouty glare that made her bottom lip stick out even further.

"That's not fair, Vincent." She said. He continued to watch her and didn't say anything.

"It's been so long, and I miss you. Why won't you believe me?" She said with a sniff that wasn't at all believable.

"You're kidding, right?" Vincent asked.

"You need to come up with a more convincing lie." He watched her trying to figure out what game she was playing. His eye caught sight of the date and it all suddenly made sense. Valentine's Day. Of course. He grinned. She would be that shallow.

"Tell me, Afton. Are you alone right now? You're not seeing anyone else?" He asked. Afton grinned. She thought she had him.

"No. I haven't been seeing anyone. I told you, what we had is special. I want to fix it." She purred.

"So this has nothing to do with the fact that it's Valentine's day and you don't have a date?" He asked smugly. He watched satisfied as her mouth fell open in shock.

"No of course not." She snapped, her sickly sweet and not to mention fake demeanor had all but dropped now.

"You can't find a date for Valentine's Day can you? And you honestly think I would be desperate enough to ask you?" He asked in wonder, laughter evident in his voice. Anger flickered across Afton's face more pronounced than the first time.

"I am a Sterling. How dare you. I could have anyone I wanted. I just want to be with you. I want to work things out."

"Uh, huh. Well you can take that Sterling silver spoon and shove it up your ass." He told her, disdain coating his tone.

"Vincent! You're not being fair." She whined again.

"Yeah, well life isn't fair. I know that better than anyone now." He said in a scathing tone.

"Is this about that girl? What was her name again? Ashley? Annie?" Afton asked.

"Arrianna." Vincent said, irritably. This game was getting old. He was ready to close the screen.

"Whatever." Afton replied, looking down her nose and inspecting her nails.

"No, this is about me saying no to you. I don't like you and I damn sure don't want you."

"So it is about her. I figured as much." Afton said. Vincent continued to watch her image on the screen in morbid fascination.

"She is nothing, Vincent. She won't ever be able to offer you anything." Afton said finally looking up from inspecting her manicured nails.

"Who said I ever wanted anything from her? She is my maid. Not that it matters." Vincent snarled.

"Really? I think you're lying, Vincent." He frowned at her. A smirk was teasing up the corners of her mouth. Anger bubbled up inside of him.

"I'm not. She is just a maid. Helps around the house. She doesn't mean anything to me. I shouldn't have to justify anything to you." Vincent said.

An angry rattle of what sounded like dishes came from behind him. He turned to find Arrie standing at his desk a tray with what looked like his lunch in her hands. She dropped it haphazardly onto the surface. A mug fell from the tray to the floor where its lip chipped. She paused for a moment and looked from the cup up to him and their eyes met. Her blue eyes were like ice shards, cold and sharp.

"Well, Well. Look at that. I think she thought differently too." Came Afton's voice smugly. Vincent felt his stomach twist unpleasantly.

"Arrie, wait." He said.

Vincent watched in helplessness as Arrie turned on her heal and headed out the door, not looking back when he called her name again. He slammed the laptop shut on Afton's smirking face before hurrying after her. The last look he had seen of Afton, she had been smiling like the Cheshire cat who had a whole bowl of milk to itself. She had known Arrie was in the room, he realized. He felt like a complete and utter fool. He had allowed her to play him like the absolute moron he was.

Vincent all but ran to catch up with Arrianna. She was halfway down the stairs as he hurried after her.

"Please, wait. Let me explain!" he called.

"NO. I think you have explained quite enough. I'm done here. I'm not going to allow you to make a fool out of me." She shouted back at him, not bothering to turn around.

Vincent flinched at the anger in her voice but continued to follow her.

"Arrie!" Panic was starting to well up in his chest and the pounding of his heart made him ache. She had stopped to grab her coat out of the closet and was putting it on while simultaneously reaching for the front door.

How utterly stupid he had been, to allow Afton to get to him. He had seen the bait and he had risen to it. He had walked right into her trap, and now he was getting ready to pay for it.

"Arrianna, listen to me." He said again, desperation leaking into his voice. He reached out and grabbed her wrist. She tried to pull away.

"Let me go." She demanded.

"Not until you listen." He told her. She tried to pull her arm out of his grasp again. She winced.

"You're hurting me." She snapped. He released his grip, but realized too late it had been a ruse as she tried to push past him again. He tried to grab her again and then losing his balance brought them both tumbling to the floor. They struggled for a moment until he finally was able to pin her down with his own body.

"Dammit, Vincent! Get off me! I don't want to talk to you." She said. They continued to struggle in vain.

"Listen to me." He demanded again.

"Just leave me alone." She sobbed. He stopped trying to pin her down and pushed himself up on one elbow to look at her. He saw tears were indeed welling up in her eyes as she finally stopped struggling. They slipped slowly down her cheek. They stared at one another for a moment before she looked away from him.

"You lied to me." She whispered. Vincent hung his head in shame.

"No, I promise. I never meant to hurt you," he mumbled.

"I don't know what game you are playing, and I don't care. I am out. I'm done. I won't be a part of this anymore." She said after a moment in a shaky breath. He could feel her beneath him, breathing heavily.

"Arrianna, I didn't mean what I said." He told her after a moment, already knowing that she wouldn't believe him.

"Then why did you say it?" she asked. He saw another tear slip down. He watched its progress before answering, trying to think of a good excuse.

"I don't know." He said honestly.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" She snapped looking back at him. Vincent sighed heavily.

"I don't know. Afton is just, manipulative. She manages to turn everything around and make it someone else's fault." He said after another moment's deliberation. Arrie glared at him.

"Tell me the truth." She demanded.

"The truth is, I was trying not to play her game and I ended up falling for it anyway. It was her way of getting revenge for the fact that I won't give her unlimited access to my wallet." He said.

"NOT that. I want to hear from you, how you feel about me. I want the truth." They stared at one another. The shards of her blue eyes made him feel as if she could pierce his very soul. Vincent could see in her eyes how utterly shattered she was, broken. In truth he recognized the look she now wore as one that he often felt. Torn apart and wasted, useless to all.

"Arrianna, the truth is," he dropped his gaze as he spoke, unable to look at her and see her reaction. He took a deep breath before going on.

"The truth is you absolutely drive me insane. You make me crazy." He felt her tense up beneath him.

"Then why are you doing this?" she asked angrily.

"Because, you forced me to look at myself and see past the scars. I didn't think I could do it and I wondered how I managed to until I realized it was you. You were standing next to me, being as stubborn as an ass, always helping me to see past all of this. Not giving me a choice to give up." He told her, gesturing at himself.

He finally glanced back up at her to see her reaction nervously. He watched her face for some sign of forgiveness as his heart pounded against his rib cage. He hoped that it wouldn't shatter if she rejected him.

"And that's the truth?" She asked him softly, her blue eyes searching his face.

"Every word of it."

He flinched when her hand came up and gently touched the scars on his cheek. He closed his eyes again. Her touch, though gentle, made the scars feel as if they were on fire again, burning to his very soul. He brought his own hand up to cover hers.

"Why do you want me here?" she whispered.

"I don't." He brought his gaze to meet hers and saw the anger in her eyes rekindled.

"I don't want you. I need you." He told her tangling his hands in her fiery curls. He saw the anger melt away to a blank expression. The hand that she had been trailing across his scars slipped into his hair and before either of them could react she pulled him to her and pressed her lips firmly to his. For a second he was too shocked to realize what had happened. He thought he had been lit on fire again. Every inch of his skin felt like it was burning, melting. He then felt her cold hands slip to his scar again where it lingered, shocking him back to reality. He didn't pull away.

He untangled his hand and trailed it from her cheek and then slowly down her neck. She was soft, her skin whole and smooth. Everything he couldn't be she was. When she broke the kiss, the fire that had gripped him dulled down into a simmer. He could feel her draw in a ragged breath beneath him. He met her eyes with his own. They were bluer than any ocean he had ever seen and blazed with an intensity he didn't recognize. He allowed his head to fall and meet hers, their lips barely a breath apart.

"Vincent," she whispered his name.

"Hmm?" he acknowledged.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

"I think I can forgive it," he said. He felt her struggle beneath him and this time allowed her to push him off. They both got slowly to their feet.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again." She told him. He watched her in confusion as she turned pink. He stepped closer to her and before she could stop him he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, forcing her to press up against him, her hands splayed flat against his chest in protest. He placed his fingers under her chin and forced her to look up him and meet his eyes.

"You heard what I said didn't you?" She blinked slowly at him again and didn't answer. He lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers urgently, as if that would help convey to her the meaning of his words. He felt her tense up against him before finally melting into the kiss. He felt her hands slide up his chest and wrap slowly around his neck. He held her tightly. He could smell her cucumber melon soap, and moaned quietly wanting more of her. He held the kiss for a few seconds longer until his lungs screaming for air, finally forced him to release her lips. He rested his forehead against hers as their ragged breath mingled. He could feel her pulse racing beneath her skin.

"I mean it. I need you." He said quietly, in contrast to his own wildly beating heart.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked him just as softly.

"Stay with me."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO

Danny sighed in relief as he forced the needle deeper into his skin, allowing the drug to enter his blood stream. He leaned back against the old sagging couch, waiting for the with drawl symptoms to subside. Once his shaking limbs had calmed he looked around the tiny shack blinking in the half light. He had just returned from following his useless little runaway daughter. He had finally found where she was hiding. Living with a scarred freak in a fancy house less than five miles away. He had been watching her for almost a month now and had been devising a plan to get even for being locked up, not to mention the knot that had been on his head for almost a month. Just this morning he had seen the two of them together in an abandoned garden on the property. He could tell by watching her how she felt about him. She wore her feelings on her sleeve, plain as day. She was in love with the monster.

He intended to exploit that. He may even get lucky and get a little extra money on the side. He didn't know exactly what he would do yet, but it had to be worthy of all of the trouble she had caused him. He would just bide his time, and see when an opportunity would arise for him to take action.

Danny drifted into a pleasing drug induced stupor, his last thought of her, left with nothing, just like him.

There you guys go! Sorry I'm so late in updating. Midterms got in the way.

What do you all think of the first kiss? Too much? To little? I need info! Also I saw where some of you were asking about Danny and what he is up to, so I decided to give you a little peak at what he is up to. Did you like that? And isn't Afton a real skank? I'd be ever so appreciative if you guys got me to over fifty reviews. Let me know what you think! It keeps me writing. The more you review the more I write. =]

I'm hoping to have the next chapter out by Thanksgiving!

-Muse of the Pen