by Lauren Wood
Chapter 5
Aria
I’d been home a couple of days now and I still hadn’t decided that I had to have made before I went back to base. I’d already been asked by the commander if I was going to re-enlist because he needed to know. They were holding a spot for me in a special force that I’d been wanting to join for a while. I think in a way it was incentive for me to do the right thing or what he thought was the right thing. But I still wasn’t sure that it was the right thing for me to do.
My brother was a hard man to get ahold of and he stayed busy. I don’t know how long he was on leave for because I hadn’t talked to him much when he was sober. When he had been drinking a bit too much, it was hard to imagine that his information was going to be any good. I knew that I was going to have to track him down again, mom never knowing where we were when we were younger and certainly not now. Once we were out of the house, all hold that she had on the two of us had been long gone. Just because we were in town, didn’t mean that any of that freedom had changed. Which meant that Marshall could be anywhere.
“I just want to know where your going to be at or at least how long you’re going to be gone?”
She just wanted to be nosy.
“I won’t be gone too long. I told you I would be back for dinner, so I will at least be back by seven.”
She was already pissed off that I wasn’t staying with her and it looked like my little reminder of that and my tone wasn’t helping things. I wanted to remind her badly about the fact that I was grown, had been for years now and she didn’t have her to worry about me like that anymore. I was grown now, even if she didn’t want to see it.
“Fine, I just wanted to show you some of the pictures I got developed. You sent all those negatives to me and I’ve developed all of them and made a book for you. I was hoping that we could, you know, have some wine and look them over. I want you to give me some explanations to some of the pictures. I just thought it would be a nice time for us to bond.”
I shook my head to myself and tried not to let her words bother me. I don’t know why, but my mom had used the guilt trip my whole life and it always worked. I would be angry at her for her tactics, but I could never argue with the outcome. She always got what she wanted because I was a softy when it came to that.
“I will try to come back early. I just need to go track down your son and ask him a few things. He’s been really busy lately, so I need to talk to him before I go back to base.”
“So, you are going back to base?”
“Well I live there at the moment and all of my stuff is there, so yeah I have to go back at some point.”
She cut her eyes at me because we both knew that she wasn’t talking about that. She was talking about if I was going back for longer or if I was going to get out. My father thought it was a good idea because he thought there was no better track then to retire in twenty years of service. He had then started a business with loans that he was able to get.
Mom on the other hand only saw danger and didn’t like that Marshall was still enlisted. She’d waited out his first four years and hoped that he was going to leave. The only thing that kept her from staying on him constantly was the fact that he’d given her two grandkids so far. I’d done neither, so I was confronted again about not settling down and the reminder that I wasn’t getting any younger.
“Look mom, if you want me to get back in time to go down memory lane with you, I can’t do this right now. You will have all the time in the world when I get back to tell me how much I suck.”
“Aria, you know that it’s not that way.”
I agreed, but damn if it didn’t feel that way sometimes. Sometimes I think that she doesn’t care if I’m happy and content with my life now. She wanted more for me, so it was assumed that I did as well. It was impossible to tell her that maybe I didn’t want all the things I was supposed to want.
Life was good. It wasn’t perfect, and I didn’t think my relationship was going anywhere quick, but there was still a part of me that thought life was good and I wasn’t ready to change it. I was too focused on my career and my future to worry about a man right now. Women of my mom’s age didn’t seem to understand that and trying to explain was going to give us both a headache. Things were different now and a man was not a required part of the package. Settling was just a slow death as far as I was concerned.
“I will see you when you get back. Be careful. You know that they have that roadblock on 6th tonight. I know that you have a bit of a lead foot and they are cracking down on that.”
“I’ll steer clear of that area all together.”
I wasn’t planning on doing anything wrong, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t good to have a heads up. Most likely it was a dig, but I wasn’t going to let it bother me. Most mothers would be happy their children were serving their country. With me, she was more upset that I hadn’t produced a child for her yet. It was all she was focused on.
Leaving with a bad taste in my mouth, I was about to get in the car when I got a call. It took a minute to find my phone in my purse and when I answered I was surprised to hear David’s voice. He was the last person I’d expected to hear from, but I felt the edges of my lips upturning on their own. I don’t know what it was about him, but I found him charming in some weird way.
“Hey baby.”
Then it was ruined.
“Hey David, what’s up?”
“Well I was calling to see if you wanted to come over for a party tonight. My sister has a big one raging at the house and I was hoping to see you. I’m still trying to find a way to pay you back and I figured it was a good way to start.”
I was supposed to be finding my brother, figuring out my future, all pretty big things to handle, but there was a bigger part of me that didn’t want to worry about it. A party sounded fun and I wanted to see David again. It sounded good and I could always just go for a little while.
“Sounds like a good idea. Why don’t you give me your address and I’ll pop by?”
I didn’t want to sound anxious, but I was. Why did I get this way when I was around him? When we were at the bar together, I hadn’t been able to contain myself. Every time he’d lean in to tell me something in my ear, I would shiver and when I’d felt far too much of him taking off his boots a little while later, I’d gotten as wet as he’d been hard. The advances he’d made were feeble and waved off, but it didn’t mean that I hadn’t wanted something more. He wasn’t in the right state of mind and it hadn’t happened. But I was always going to remember the kiss that he’d taken when I’d lied him back on the bed. My lips still tingled when I thought about it. It left me with complicated feelings of David.
He gave me the address of the party and it was the same one from the other night and I had to wonder how much David had changed from when I’d known him not so well. I made my way there with butterflies in my stomach and a need to stop at a deserted stop sign and just breathe a couple of times. I wasn’t supposed to be this nervous. He was just one of my brother’s friends. Nothing was going to happen. I was just going to have a few drinks and that was it. Not only was David a player, but he used to be one of my brother’s best friend, something that couldn’t be changed. It would just be too weird.
Chapter 6
Aria
“Your name miss?”
I told the woman at the door my name and she scanned a couple of pages before she got to me alphabetically. This was going to be a very big party and I was still trying to take in the house. He said that his sister lived here, a sister I didn’t even know he had. He was adopted. Now he was living in a mansion. It didn’t make sense and I was half-expecting to not be on that list. This wasn’t the sort of place that I would really blend in all that well. It was the sort of place that I was going to stick out.
I pushed the pleats down on my uniform. It was a rule that I had to wear it at certain occasions while I was on leave. I didn’t really understand it, but now I was certainly going to stand out. All the othe
r women were dressed up with their hair down. I still looked like I was on duty. I was going to need that drink a lot quicker than I thought I was going to. I figured that since there were so many people, I wasn’t likely going to see the host till later, if at all. He wanted me to stop by, but David was going to be busy with all his guest. I didn’t want to intrude. I just wanted to make sure that I was able to say I was here and get a drink in me to settle down my nerves.
The bar wasn’t hard to find thankfully, and I was waiting on a drink that I ordered when David popped up beside me. “I was looking for you. I had the hostess tell me when you arrived. It’s good to see you.”
“Thanks. I should have rethought the party. My outfit is inappropriate.”
“Well it makes you look how and you’re standing out in the sea of Bettys.”
I wasn’t sure what that meant, but there was a big part of me that didn’t care. I melted a little in his presence and all I wanted to do was smile at him. My brain was turning to mush. This was not becoming of a soldier and I had to pull it together.
“Wouldn’t want to blend in.”
He snickered and took my arm after I picked up my drink. “Shall I show you around? Maybe we can find a quiet place to talk where we don’t have to yell.”
David had a way of saying it that made me pause. I don’t know why, but it sounded like he’d said that time and time again to other girls. David was far too smooth for his own good and certainly for my own good.
“How many girls have you shown around this place David?”
That had him stop and his smile faltered for just a moment. I don’t know why I found that so satisfying at the moment, but I did.
“Not too many.”
“I bet. Things have changed for you. What happened? That is, if you don’t mind me asking. I mean what did you do to get here?”
He chuckled and told me that I was the first person to actually ask him about it. “No one else cares how I got the money, just that I have it and how can they get their hands on some of it.”
I could see that it bothered him, and I waited for the answer. Something had happened, and I wanted to know what. Maybe I had taken the wrong career path altogether and should have done something else. I was never going to get rich in the military. That much was clear.
“I found out who my real parents were. They were rich, and both died a while back. My dad left this place and all his factories and holdings to me and my sister to split. You’ll meet her, I’m sure. She’s around here somewhere. This is her party and there is a lot of work people here.”
I shook my head and told him that it was quite a story. It sounded rehearsed and since no one asked how he got rich, I wonder how long he’d spent thinking about his answer when they did. Was I the first to give him an opportunity to do just that?
“I know, who would have thought that life would turn out like this?”
I had to agree. It was dumb luck in a way that everything had turned out so perfectly for him, but there was still questions about it all. I didn’t get it, but he wasn’t too enthused to say more. It was a sensitive subject for him and I wondered how many friends he’d lost because of it.
“Does Marshall know?”
“He knows that I inherited a bunch, but he never came over. I hadn’t seen your brother in years when he rang me up.”
“Did you think that he was here because of this?”
I waved my hand around at the opulent place we were, with all of the shiny things that he’d been trying to impress me with. “I guess it would be hard not to if he just showed up out of the blue like he tends to do.”
David didn’t want to answer me; the look was clear in his face. “In a way, I have to be that way with everyone. You don’t know how many people have tried to get close to me for that reason alone. It brings up skeletons from way back.”
“I see.” I could imagine that it would be hard to trust that way. I never really saw money as a burden until now. “Well don’t take them here. That would be your first best bet if you’re worried about someone with those motives.”
“I don’t unless I meet them here. I’m glad you haven’t heard the rumors.”
His comment made me wonder what rumors he was talking about and I wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“What sort of rumors?”
David shrugged. “You know how much people like to gossip.”
I did, but that didn’t answer my question. I would have imagined that it would have to do with his playboy ways. He may have enough money and stature that a quick online search would tell me what I wanted to know. If not, maybe I should ask some questions around town. It was easy to think of all those things, but it didn’t matter. We were just hanging out and I was leaving soon, so none of this really mattered. His secrets could stay his secrets because I wasn’t that involved.
“I do. You have a beautiful place here. I don’t want to keep you from your party and your guests.”
“There is nowhere else I would rather be right now.”
“I see. You’re good at this. Did you get that from my brother?”
He chuckled, but there was something else there. “What do you mean?”
“I remember more than you think. You used to be the shy one when it came to girls. I see that that’s changed as well.”
“It’s a lot easier when they all want you.”
“Indeed.” I wonder if they probably wanted him for the wrong reasons, but I wasn’t going to mention that. I was sure that he was rather clear of it on his own.
“You think that I’m different now?”
“I do. You seem different. That’s not always a bad thing. Who would want to be the same as we were back then?”
David didn’t say much for a time. I had a feeling that he didn’t get told no that much or have anybody around to bust his chops. He had changed from back then. I remembered a lot because I was always looking up to my brother and that meant some of his friends as well. I had a crush on several of them, but not David. David wasn’t like he is now, and I wasn’t going to ever say that it was a bad thing. I just couldn’t see it that way. It was hard to. He was a fine male specimen now and whatever it was that had done it, he had a confidence that was exuding out of him that was far more attractive than his hard body.
“Do I seem different to you David?”
I could feel his eyes on me. It wasn’t the first time of course, but it was the first time that I’d agreed to it in such a way. It was the first time that I told him to look and I wished then that I had on something a little nicer than a dress uniform. I wanted something just then to show off my chest and legs, parts of me that I knew would attract him. Whatever I’d agreed to with myself was over and I wanted him to really see me far more than I was supposed to.
Chapter 7
David
Aria was unlike anyone that I’d ever met. She certainly didn’t look like any girl that I’d ever been with. Uniforms weren’t my thing, but she wore it with grace and it was hard not to see what could not be hidden. She wasn’t going to be able to hide how good she looked. I wanted to see her with that uniform off and her hair down, but I was hesitant for several reasons.
“Very much so Aria. Very much so.”
She giggled, and I loved the tinkling sound of it as it filled the abandoned hallway. The place was so big that there was always a nook or cranny to find complete alone time. I wanted that now with her and I had unwittingly brought her to one of those quiet places where we had the chance to do just that. There was over one hundred people here in various rooms but save for a light music that traveled through the house, there were none of the people around to speak of or sounds of them. It felt like it was just the two of us in this house.
“Well I am going to take that as a good thing by the way you’re looking at me. My brother would kill you, you know. If he seen the way you were looking at me right now.”
The reminder had my smile not as big as seconds before. I’d forgotten about Marshall, bu
t it had been so long that it was hard to get upset about it. He wouldn’t be mad. I mean she was grown and I was who I was. Why would he be angry about it?
Then I remembered something else. I was not good with women and I would most likely bang her once, tonight, right now and then I would unlikely never see her again. That’s how it always worked, my choice of course and I don’t think that the scenario that I usually played would work out well with Aria. Not to mention the fact that I don’t think Aria would be very approving of it either.
“Well it’s a good thing your brother isn’t here then, huh?”
She waved me off like I was speaking gibberish, but she was already thinking about it and that was all that mattered to me. I don’t really think that I was thinking at all now. She was standing there, just a few inches shorter than me and she had this grin on her face that was hard to look at. She had the devil’s look in her eyes and she liked my answer. I was starting to see a little rebellious streak in the woman and I can’t say that I disliked it all that much.
“You are naughty, Aria. Aren’t you?”
Aria agreed, but there was something else in her eyes. I could see that she was thinking about something more, but the question was how far was she going to go with it?
“I am.”
“So, is this the moment when you’re going to show me your bedroom and we are going to fall into bed and make hot passionate sex to each other until we both pass out?”
Her description of basically exactly what I had in mind was hard to hear and it did what I knew it would do to me. All I wanted was to be with her in that moment, but she was just playing me. As I moved a little closer and started to lean down and kiss her, sealing the deal in my previous experience, she stepped back, and that grin was wider.