The (not so) Good Girls Bad Boys: The Good, The Bad and The Abandoned

32- Good Hearts

I hesitated for a moment, trying to think about where to start. I could go as far back as the first grade if I wanted to. I combed my fingers through Kings fur as I thought, enjoying the warmth he seemed to radiate. Eventually, I decided to give him a little information on my family first to start off.

"You remember when I talked about my family at Naomi's, right?" I began, "when her parents asked about them at dinner?"

Declan nodded.

I thought back to the time myself and went over exactly what I had told him in my mind.

"Well, everything I told you then was true... for the most part, at least. My dad was a police officer here in Dartwell and my mom was a surgeon at the Tamaroa Medical Center. We all lived in Tamaroa, where my brothers and I attended school... Peter..."

His name sounded weird on my tongue. It seemed like I hadn't uttered it in ages. The name left my heart full of longing and regret, but I cleared my throat and continued my story nonetheless.

"Peter was eight years younger then me," I ignored how Declan tensed when I said "was" and continued, "and we were practically best friends for as long as I could remember," I recalled, smiling softly, "I mean, sure, we would pester each other like siblings would do, but... nothing serious..." my voice faded as Asher came to mind.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and my eyes narrowed slightly.

"Asher was different," I spewed out his name with the venom clear in my tone. "He was five years older than me. We never got along. From the moment I was born he hated me. Like any other only-child suddenly receiving a sibling, he didn't like the attention I got. At the time, no one really thought much of it. Behavior like that was practically expected from him. But..." I paused as my jaw clenched and my narrowed gaze rested on the wall on the other side of the room.

"That behavior never went away," I worked my jaw and let out a long breath. "As we got older, he never let go of this delusion that I was the only loved child. In his mind, I stole mom and dad from him, and no one cared about him anymore. I tried so many times to make peace with him, but he never accepted me. He just pushed us all away... and if he wasn't pushing me away, he was making sure I knew how much he hated me... sometimes in more than just words."

I side glanced at Declan to see him staring at me intently, his hands wrapping into fists at my words. I cleared my throat and continued.

"But, I'll talk more about him in a second. Before that, you should know about Axel-"

"Axel?" He cut me off, saying the name as if with familiarity.

My eyes widened. "What? Do you know him?" I asked, embarrassingly hopeful.

Declan blinked away the surprise and shook his head. "No, but... last night that's the name you called me. You thought I was that Axel guy and took me here."

I blinked in surprise and looked closely at Declan's features, trying to find any resemblance to Axel that I may have seen. My lips twisted in thought before turning down into a frown.

Shaking my head, I leaned back against the wall, saying, "Weird... you don't even look anything like him."

I closed my eyes and groaned as a wave of nausea rolled over me. My face twisted in pain and I raised a hand to my aching head. I let out a long sigh as I thought of the previous night.

"I must have been so wasted..." I frowned in disappointment before burying my head into my hands. King whimpered at my mood and nuzzled his head between my arms, forcing me to take my hands away from my face.