His Other Half

Forty-two

Ahsha

I pressed my face closer to my pillow only to freeze when I heard a rhythmic beating. I opened my eyes realizing I was laying on Ares. Last night came to my mind and I looked up seeing Ares reading a book as he caressed my waist. I sat up and our eyes met. We stared at each other for a moment before I spoke.

"You let Malik come back," I said. "I did." He said never breaking eye contact. "Why?" I asked. "Because I want you to know I'm not a monster—at least not with you. I told you I would give you the world." He said. I stared at him. "Ahsha I love, and I want this to work." He said reaching out to caress my cheek. "And Pablo?" I questioned. He halted his movements. "You let me spend the night with Malik why can't I do the same with Pablo?" I asked.

"No." He said. "Ares—" He grabbed my jaw forcing me to look at him. "I said no." He spoke coldly as he stared into my eyes. I nodded my head. "Okay," I whispered.

--

It had been a month of playing nice with Ares and as the days past hating him was getting harder and harder. He was back to being affectionate, caring, and gentle with me. He had even made it a weekly occurrence to allow me time to be with Malik. Even with all this Ares refused to let me see Pablo or have anything to do with him. After I brought it up that night, he made it clear to never bring Pablo up again.

I was at a loss as to why he was comfortable allowing Malik and me to spend time together but doing the same with Pablo gave him such a visceral reaction. No matter how much wiggle room I got with Malik, Ares made it known that would never be the case. I went outside to the garden. I looked around at the flowers and trees taking a deep breath as the cool breeze whipped around me. I stared at the pond thinking about the choices I've made that led me here.

"You're falling for him again." I looked to my right seeing Oshun. "I—." I paused shaking my head. "I wish I could just hate him so that this could be easier. But then he goes and does something that makes remember the good times between us." I spoke. I sighed as I looked at her. "I understand that his past has really fucked with how deals with people. I understand that he doesn't think he's good enough, so all of this has been his way of overcompensating for his shortcomings. I get it, I really do, and I think that what he's done is absolutely disgusting and yet—" I paused.

"What?" She asked. "I can't help but wonder how Malik and Ares never noticed he was hurting. They shared a body for years. His own mother tried to warn me that he was bad. The people closest to him all had mostly bad things to say about him. How can the people closest to him not see what was going on with him?" I shook my head at my own question. "Even when I was shown their past, I rarely saw him when he wasn't 'working' as he likes to put it," I said.

"Are you having second thoughts about this?" Oshun asked. "I don't know. I guess I just want to understand things better. Maybe if he had someone in his corner things wouldn't have turned out this way. But then I have to question why do I want to fix this so much? Do I want to fix this because I truly care? Is it because I have a habit of taking on a motherly role? Or is it because they're my mates and that bond won't let me rest until this is resolved?" I asked looking at Louis as he rested his head on the bench next to me.

"Do you want to be with them—all of them?" Oshun asked turning my chin to look at her. "I-I do," I said. "I love them—all three of them and I know there is a reason I was paired with the three of them and I think I'm beginning to understand why," I said. Oshun smiled grabbing my hand.

"You've grown so much from when we first met," Oshun said. I looked over at her. "I know what I have to do," I said seeing her smile grow. "I knew you'd figure it out sooner or later." She said. "Well, it's not like you or my grandmas were going to just tell me," I said. "Of course, not that would've been too easy." She said laughter laced in her words as we looked at the water. Soon her reflections began to disappear leaving me alone on my bench.