Unraveling Soren by Marisa Maichel (books under 200 pages txt) 📕

I said, ignoring Louis. “Remember, she drove the other girls to do some weird shit. She’s a dark one. She even drove the other girls to attack Sarah, including her best friend.”

“I know, but…oh, geez, I’m so pathetic.”

“You’re not pathetic. You’re confused. We’ve all been in your shoes. I used to love both Evan and Sarah. Louis has made a career out of loving multiple people at once.”

“Hey!”

I looked at my father and uncle. “Anything to add?”

“Dangerous women are addictive,” Father said. “So are dangerous men.”

“Not for me,” Uncle Soren said. “Unlike the rest of you, I know what I want.”

“Soren, you are the last person who should give the boy advice.”

“I know more about loving women than you do, Mordecai.”

“Oh, sure, you’re many failed relationships are proof of that,” Father said sarcastically.

“If you want to talk about failed relationships, there’s proof right here.” Uncle Soren gestured to me.

“Hey, I know about failed relationships,” Mason interrupted. “My parents are divorced, remember? I know my relationship with Scarlett is over. I loved her, but she turned out to be the world’s biggest bitch. Elsa is a good girl, but she’s too good. She won’t even try cigarettes!”

“Smoking isn’t good for you, son,” Father said.

Mason ignored him. “I want to have sex, but she’s still a virgin and wants to wait for marriage. I lost mine when I was fifteen!”

“Sex is sacred to some, not to others,” I said, glancing at Louis.

“Are you referring to me, cousin?”

“Do you guys bicker like this all the time?” Mason asked. “It’s giving me a headache.”

“Hey, try being his brother for two thousand years,” Uncle Soren said, pointing at Father. “And this knucklehead-” he grabbed Louis around the neck, “-is both the greatest love of my life, and the bane of my existence. Surely you’ve fought with Krauvas.”

Mason frowned. “Yeah, we had a big fight last night. He was mad at me because I let the lily petals stew too long, and he blew up. Called me irresponsible and worthless, said I was no good at being a warlock. He even said he’d mace me if I did it again.”

“Like pepper spray?” I asked.

“Like the ball on a handle with the spikes, Reese. The one that hurts when it goes into your brain.”

“He threatened to kill you?”

“Basically, yes. I’m lost, guys. I know he’s angry right now. He’s angry at himself for not seeing this coming, he’s angry at himself for breaking up with my mom, he’s angry at my mom for wanting full custody of me, and he’s angry at me because I keep screwing up.”

“Mostly, he’s angry at himself,” Father said. “Trust me, Mason. When my son screws up, I blame myself.”

“Hey!”

He ignored me and continued. “I know it may not seem like it, but he loves you. He’d die if anything were to happen to you. A good father is only as happy as his child.”

“That is not true,” I argued. “I’ve been depressed, and you were fine. When you were depressed, I was fine.”

“Reese thinks he knows everything,” Father told my friend. “Sadly, he’s mistaken on that count. What I said is true. A good parent is only as happy as their least happiest child.”

“What about parents who suffer from natural depression, but their kids don’t?”

“I’m not talking about mental illness, mouth.”

I cringed as he leaned forward and pinched my ear.

“See what he does?” I said to Mason. “He either tweaks my nose or pinches my ear when I defend a point.”

“It’s not defending a point, it’s back-talking,” Father corrected me. “Sass.”

Mason smiled, but his dark eyes filled with tears.

“I love both Scarlett and Elsa,” he said. “I know I can’t have them both, they’d never go for that, but there should be a balance.”

“When it comes to girls like Scarlett, there is no balance,” Louis said. I looked at him in shock; Father and Uncle Soren were also surprised by his insight. He typed something in his phone, then looked up and around at us. “Why is everybody looking at me?”

“He’s right, for once,” Uncle Soren said.

“What’s that supposed to mean? That I’m never right?”

“You have to decide if you want a healthy relationship, or constant pain,” Father said. “I had to make a similar decision fifty years ago. I finally just let Faolan go, because I decided I wanted to be healthy.”

“That was Faolan?” I asked.

“Did I say Faolan? I mean John Smith,” Father rapidly corrected.

“Don’t listen to him, Reese,” Uncle Soren said. “When he and Faolan first met, they became head over heels, but Faolan was a problematic choice. Soon our father took Mordecai aside and said ‘Mordecai, do you want to keep your family, or do you want constant pain?’”

“It was the biggest mistake of my life. I should have never let him go.” Father sighed. “But I also knew and loved Marina at the time, and before long, your mother became my new obsession.”

I suddenly had an idea.

“Mason, you like Sarah, yes?”

“Of course. She’s always been nice to me, even if I haven’t been nice to her.”

“I wonder what she would say.”

Mason turned bright red. “Reese, please don’t tell her!”

“Be nice, Reese,” Father warned.

I continued, anyway. “I wonder what she would think about you, her new friend, consorting with her nemesis.”

“I couldn’t! I love Sarah!”

We both paused, and then he went as white as a ghost.

“So you love three chicks?” Louis chuckled. “That’s hardcore, man.”

“Sarah had some problems recently with her friend Britt and Britt’s boyfriend Elliot,” I said. “Elliot was with Britt, but he made no secret of his love for Sarah. He hurt both girls in the process, and wound up with neither of them. I also warned him to stay away from Sarah, or I’d rip his throat out. I’ve had multiple rivals vying for my girlfriend’s attention. Some have been harassing her for years. I’ve threatened to kill all of them at least twice. But I don’t want to threaten you, because you’re one of my best friends. Don’t make me hurt you, Mason. Besides, she’s said over and over again that she only has eyes for me. That should be enough.”

“Reese, calm down,” Father said, sounding concerned.

“I-I should g-go,” Mason stuttered.

“Do.”

He stood up, paused to scratch Remy’s ears, and went out the front door.

“That was classic,” Louis giggled.

Uncle Soren glared at him. “It’s not funny. If Reese can’t get his possessiveness and jealousy under control, he could snap at any time. Mates are sacred, especially soulmates, something you know nothing about.”

Louis stuck his tongue out at him, and Uncle Soren grabbed it and twisted it, causing Louis to cry out in pain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah and I were walking through the park on a rainy Sunday, both of us quiet for once and unsure. Sarah looked amazing. She wore her black studded boots, black ripped jeans with fishnets underneath, and a Ghost concert shirt that I’d given her.

She wasn’t wearing any makeup, and her normally tanned skin was paler than usual. Although her hair was braided in a fishtail braid, it was clearly dirty. She had wanted to bring Spunk, but he refused to step outside for fear of getting wet.

She wore a black Harley-Davidson jacket, which she kept zipped up with the hood over her head to keep the rain off. We reached a tornado shelter and sat at one of the tables. I killed a spider on the seat beside me, and Sarah studied her fingernails for a few minutes.

Finally, the rain let up, and we could speak.

“Did you hear from your mom?” she asked.

I blinked. “I spoke to her just a few minutes ago. She wanted every detail of my life that is currently in procession.”

“No, I mean…” She bit her lip. “I can’t say it, she wants to tell you herself. Ah, well. Alexander bought a yacht.”

“Of course he did.”

“He bought it in case we ever need to escape the mainland and go somewhere else,” she joked dryly. “I think he bought it just to show off.”

“He bought a Bugatti for his and my mom’s wedding,” I said. “Does he still have that?”

“Yes, but he’s made us promise not to touch it, or, I quote ‘your fingers will get meet their doom.’ He’s always been one for the dramatic, hasn’t he? I mean, he tried to kidnap me to get to you.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” I growled. “Can we talk about something else? How’s Sabine?”

She frowned. “Let’s not talk about Sabine. She hates me right now. She thinks you’re responsible for James’ death and she thinks Mom and Alexander prefer me over her. Plus, she still doesn’t know the truth about how our mother died.”

I winced. Her mother had been killed by my mother in an act of revenge for the girls. Sarah had already forgiven my mother, but it still stung her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, taking her small, soft manicured hand in my large ones. “You’ve been Gloomy Gabby for days.”

“Let’s see: my sister hates me, both my parents are dead, my mom was an alcoholic, my grandparents, the human ones, now want nothing to do with me or Sabine, I just found out I’m part fairy, Coffee has a hernia on her tummy, I’m losing my friends due to graduation and the fact that half of them are in love with me, I lost Caden Cartwright as a friend, I was raped, you have been distant, and my friends attacked me, and my mother left me and my sister in debt, and I had to rely on your family to bail us out. Need I say more?”

She burst into tears and buried her head in her arms on the table.

I didn’t know what to say.

“How have I been distant?” I asked, coming up with the first thing that stuck to me. “And when did you find out Coffee has a hernia? Will she need surgery?”

“I’m being a bitch,” Sarah whined, wiping a tear away from her eye.

“You’re not a bitch,” I said. “You’re a sweet, lovable, trusting girl who has been abused and mistreated her whole life, and you’re sick of it. I don’t claim to understand most of it, but I know the feeling of being without your mother your whole life.”

“Your mother had no choice,” Sarah said. “Mine had a choice. And yours came back, didn’t she?”

“She did, she did.”

“You’ve been distant ever since you found out that Evan died.”

“I’m sorry if I’ve upset you, Sarah. But Evan was my other soulmate, and I didn’t exactly treat him well.”

“But you treated me well.”

“I hope I have.”

“It doesn’t make sense.”

“Soulmates are complicated. A person or being has two potential soulmates, but only one true soulmate. That’s how it was explained to me, at least. Some beings can have more than two potential soulmates, but it’s rare. Some people are married several times without ever meeting their true soulmate, or mistreating and thereby losing them forever. I blame myself for Evan’s death. He will always be a part of me, but he’s in the past, and you are the present and the future, a gift from the gods.”

“He hated me.”

“No, he didn’t, sweetheart. I promise he didn’t. He was jealous for a time, but he got over it.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.”

I went around the table and sat beside her. I hugged her.

“I love you, Sarah. Nothing can change that.”

She buried her face in my jacket and wept. I held her and rocked her a little, hissing at a bird who came too close. I may have also frightened a human couple walking their pit bull.

“I apologize if I’ve upset you, Sarah. I didn’t mean to. I would never hurt you on purpose, I swear.”

She giggled, despite her tears. “This sounds cliché, but I love it when you call me baby or sweetheart or lover.”

“Well, that’s because you’re mine. Mine and no one else’s.”

“I know I’ve told you this before, but my dad used to call me Belle. His French Belle.”

“You are a belle. You’re beautiful and smart, and you love books and music as much as I do. I