The Incubus Under my Bed

Chapter 9

“How does she know your brother?” Stella asked as Aria and Ashley came back.

“You two look like you were fighting?” Aria asked narrowing her eyes at Henrí.

“It was nothing, he just thinks Rhianna is better than Jhene Aiko. I had to school your boy,” she smiled at Ashley. Aria and Henrí stared at each other while Stella and Ashley talked.

******

Henrí walked over to Aria who was reading in the quad. It was pretty cold out, but she was bundled up in a blanket with a cup of coffee. “Can we talk?” Henrí asked as Aria looked down in her book.

Aria was always painfully aware of Henrí’s presence. She also been experiencing power burst. “I’d rather be left alone,” she said sparing him a brief glance before returning to her reading. He made her feel out of control and with her powers where they are being anywhere near him meant something was going to go wrong.

“I need you to know something before someone else tells you,” he said sitting next to her. Henrí knew it was time to explain what was going on with her powers. That was a tidbit of information he did keep to himself. Mostly because her powers are out of control and he valued his life.

“What Henrí, what could be worst then you be”- Henrí cut her off with a kiss, pulling her into his body. He molded his hands to her frame never wanting to let her go. She needed to calm down. And that was the only way he could do it without using his empathetic powers.

“Stop,” she said finding the strength to pull away. “Ashley is nice, and I’m no one’s other woman.”

“And David?” he asked, anger marrying his voice.

“He’s married.” Honestly, she hadn’t thought about David in a while. All she could think about was Henrí and Ashley and how they were all over each other last night. She didn’t have the right to be jealous, but other than Tyrell, Henrí was the only guy she’d been intimate with and it hurt to watch him with someone else.

“But if he promised you, he’d leave his wife, and give up his job for you, would you go be with him? Would you ruin your reputation to be with him?” he asked. Henrí didn’t know where the question came from, but it was off his lips before he could process the words.

Aria swallowed, because that’s what she planned on doing when she broke up with Tyrell. She was going to lay all her cards on the table and be with David if that was his choice. If not she was going to hop on the first flight out to Boston and go to BU. But now Henrí was here, and he made her feel whole. Whole in a way she had never knew she was incomplete. “I don’t know,” she said.

The pure confusion in her answer gave him hope. He knew there was something between them, but sometimes Aria had a way of closing her feeling off even to herself and having a freakish amount of control over herself. “Don’t go to the lab tonight. You need to stay away from him,” he warned her. “Not because it’s wrong, but because you deserve so much better than him.”

Henrí had the nerve to fix his lips to give her an order. His need for control and her lack of control was driving Aria crazy. “Like you?” she asked feeling fury take her over. Henrí had no idea what was best for her, and he was an asshole for parading Ashley around like this was a pissing contest. “A guy that sleeps with someone, then starts dating someone else. A guy that’s too afraid to admit that he’s wrong. A guy that”-

“I just want to help you!” he yelled at her. He was tired of being persecuted for caring about her. He was tired of wanting to be with her and constantly being rejected. He was tired of being the bad guy. “I just want to help you Aria, because I want to be your friend. I want to have the type of relationship you have with Tyrell. I want to be your friend above anything else we are. I love you, Aria.”

Aria’s heart stopped. She didn’t know what was happening to her. She didn’t know why Henrí made her feel so many emotions at once. It was hard to know which once she felt more. Especially, when she kept thinking about David and if she really loved either of them, or even should. “I love you Aria,” he said kissing her. “But if you go too far with David, I don’t think I can.”