GRANITE

034

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
ERASED

𖥸┈┈┈𖥸┈┈┈𖥸┈┈┈𖥸

"REMEMBER, STAY CALM."

James' shouting could be heard from the driveway as they pulled up to the house. Freya's eyes widened for a moment, alarmed by her dad's volume and tone. She takes a deep breath as they make their way in from James' back porch.

James enters first, trailed by an irritated Aron and then an exhausted Camren. Aron moves to make his way up the stairs and into his room like a grounded teenager when James grabs the back of his shirt and tugs him back down. "No, get back down here. This isn't something we can just go 'oops' about and act like it didn't fucking happen."

Aron lunges at James, throwing him back into the front door with his hands wrapped around James' collar and his face mere inches away. Freya screams, her feet immediately pushing her forward to protect her dad. Camren blinks over to Freya, wrapping his arms around her waist to keep her planted in her place; while Liam mimics her movements and plants himself next to James and Aron.

"Touch me again and I'll give you the play by play of what I would've done to that bitch." James is unphased by Aron's aggression, which surges Freya into even more panic. The whites of Aron's eyes blur to black as the two men stare each other down.

"Yeah cause that will bring Eve back to your sorry ass just fuckin perfectly, wouldn't it?" James spits. Aron bares his teeth as they shift to his fangs.

"That's quite enough, Aron." Liam says, placing a hand on Aron's chest. Aron releases James throwing Liam's hand off of him with a glare.

"I do you the decency of giving you a fuckin family, and a place to stay while you fight with Desmond like some pathetic school boy over a girl and this is how you repay me?" James stalks after Aron. "You break into my place of work, attack one of my friends, you put my daughter in danger and into the sights of hunters and have the actual audacity to attack me in my own home?

"Give me one good reason not to sell you out right fucking now and hand you over to them myself." Aron smirks, running his tongue over his teeth as he turns around to face James.

"Do it. I'd love to see you try."

"Aron, this isn't you, mate. This is your family." Liam says, keeping himself as close to the fight as possible.

"You, Camren and Desmond are my family. Or guess I should say were.' He scoffs, his eyes still locked on James. He wouldn't look away, wouldn't throw James even the tiniest bone of dominance in this situation.

Aron had grown to look at James as a father figure in his life, especially after connecting with and spending more time alongside Freya. But all of those feelings seemed to vanish the second James not only challenged him, but threw his loss of Eve into his face. In this moment, he saw James in the same light as Desmond and he loathed standing in his presence.

"Not sure anyone understands the meaning of that anymore. If everyone else is playing by their own rules, why should I?"

"You know there's only one person for you to be mad at right now and he's not here. You're smarter than this and I know when you come back to your senses, you'll regret this." Camren says, keeping his grip tight around Freya as she shakes in his arms.

"Ah, another incoming monologe from the all knowing Camren. Centuries of being the most boring fucking person on this planet. You couldn't even get the balls to go for the girl you wanted. Just let your best mate slide in on her and pathetically watch from the side longingly. Jerks his own fucking meat to his wet dreams of her, hm?"