Weeping Angel: Malvada (Book 1 of the Weeping Angel Series)

Chapter XXV

I shut the door behind me and take a few steps closer and stop at the porch stairs. The night breeze twirls around my copper hair and grazes the exposed skin on my arm and neck, sending chills down my spine.

"It's because of Mason, isn't it? Or is it Penny?" I call out to him, and he freezes, his body growing rigid.

I step onto the concrete pavement, barefoot, and continue, "You act all tough around the world, but I can see you're hiding some pain. I just want to understand it."

And I genuinely do want to understand him. After what Mason told me last night, I knew there was more to the story, and it wasn't fair to judge either boy by listening to only one side of the situation.

I misjudged Josh when I first moved into this town, but now I know he's much more than what he shows the world: a stoic, guarded face, an impassive and calculative gaze, and aggression.

Josh only seemed to get mad when Mason got too personal with him or triggered him with his dark past. He wasn't a ticking time bomb around Gabby or Ethan except yesterday at the party, and that was because he blamed Gabby for what happened with Liam and Alexio.

I wanted to help create an understanding between the boys instead of having them hate each other without knowing how the other person feels. I wasn't going to let Mason and Josh be the same way as my parents.

Communication is important in a relationship, especially to me, since my parents lacked that. It was almost impossible for me to try to get them to be together because dad didn't like talking about it while mom didn't even want to look at me. They never bothered to try to talk things out; it was usually small conversations between them, but I knew they loved each other; they just struggled to show their real emotions.

Josh slowly turns around and looks at me with stormy eyes, but beneath the storm was some emotion he was trying his hardest to suppress. "Why?" He breathed, his voice raspy.

I wanted to comfort him, but I didn't know how, so I started rambling, "You and Mason think you know each other, but you don't. I don't know much about Penny, and I know it's hard to talk about, but I want to help you. I want all five of us to work together and end the statue."

Josh was breathing heavily at this point, his tense body visibly shaking, his face twisted into a painful expression that broke my heart. His blue eyes darkened into the shade of a thunderstorm as they flickered with waves of emotions, none of which I could understand. It looked like Josh was going through some internal battle.

Did I go too far with my words?

Just as I'm about to apologize, Josh speaks up, "You deserve to know, Rose. About everything. You're just as involved in this as we are, but I can't tell you because I don't trust you yet. I'm sorry." His voice was soft, and light like it would break any moment. The expression in his eyes was sad yet hopeful as if he desperately wanted me to understand.

I nod my head, letting him see the understanding in my green eyes. "It's okay, I get it." Josh nods back, the expression in his eyes light and heavy at the same time.

"This doesn't mean I hate you, Rose. I could never," Josh adds quickly.

"Oh, I know, considering the fact you went ballistic on my sister and left your phone number," I joke while smirking.

Josh rolls his eyes at me, but his perfect lips stretch into a gorgeous smile. Not a smirk or a frown, but a real, genuine smile that knocked all air out of my lungs.

"It's so you can tell me whenever the statue decides to attack. You know, for safety," Josh says jokingly; his smile was so contagious, I felt myself smile from ear-to-ear.

I raise an amused eyebrow at him. "Gabby was right. Is someone blackmailing you into doing this?"

Josh rolls his eyes, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. "I read 'How to be Nice for Dummies' this summer. They taught me a few things, like checking on people who faint by moving stone."

I laugh loudly, and his smile widens, showing off his perfect white teeth. His eyes twinkled with adoration and something else that made my heart skip a beat.

"Right." I lean against the pole on our porch, enjoying the calmness of this starry night.

"It's getting late, I should go." I nod at him, and Josh takes slow steps backwards. "I'll see you later." He turns around to unlock his car and open the driver's side door.

Just as he's about to get in, he pauses and turns around to send me a small smile that stopped my heart completely before hopping in the car and driving off into the distance.

Josh Price will be the death of me.

I walked back inside the house and closed the door behind me, smiling to myself, feeling giddy about the progress we made.

Despite what I may have thought, he cares about me, and I care about him.

Whatever argument or fights that went down between us are in the past now, because we didn't mean it. Josh was hurting while I was defending myself, but today, I gave my plan to unite the two boys a shot, and it kind of worked.

I uncovered another layer of Josh tonight, a layer that would build the trust between us. I sigh happily, feeling grateful that I'm one step closer to understanding the mysterious Mr. Make-Me-Sin-Gorgeous.

I run up the staircase and walk into my room only to find Gabby taking up the entire bed and munching on all the food I gathered from the kitchen.

As if she sensed me, Gabby turns her head to grin at me. I roll my eyes at her as I sit on the bed, and she makes room for me, looking at me like a little girl on Christmas morning.

"So, what happened? You were talking with Josh for a pretty long time," Gabby asks, brushing her hands on her leggings.

I briefly explain what Josh came to my house for, watching and laughing at Gabby's eyes that were almost going to bulge out of her sockets. I even tell her about my plan to unite the two boys by helping them understand each other, and Gabby smiles at me, telling me she's happy and proud of me for doing that. She tells me she'll support me through this and do whatever she has to do to make my plan work.

When I told Gabby that Josh genuinely smiled at me, her jaw broke my bedroom floor and dropped all the way down to the basement.

Did Josh ever smile in front of them, or am I the rare soul to witness the world's most beautiful thing?

Gabby assures me I'm not the only person who witnessed the mysterious creature known as Josh Price smile, but I sure am the first to see him smile so carefreely after two whole years.

That sends my brain into overdrive and has me grinning like a lunatic.

***

The rest of the evening goes by uneventfully. Gabby and I end up making pasta for ourselves and my parents around 6:30 pm. We leave some for Clarice when we carry the food to our room and finish half of our show's second season while my mom goes to the backyard to water our plants, and dad goes to the basement to do laundry.

Around 7:30 pm, my phone burps a text message, and when I check to see who it is, I read Clarice's name.

Feeling my heartbeat accelerate, I read the text out loud.

There is so much wrong with the statue. Be home in ten.