by Claire Adams
“Just because I don’t actually need the money, Aria,” I prodded after her lack of response. “Does not mean it is okay for people to run off with what is mine, no matter the circumstances. I don’t care how rich I am or how much money I have, I am not okay with any business I run facing any sort of a loss. It’s part of being a businessman. If I didn’t learn to care about every single penny that flowed towards me where my businesses are concerned, I wouldn’t be as successful as I am today. So you have two options from here on. You can take this personally, get really offended, and start another fight, which you know how that is going to end. We have already been through that motion. You’ll get angry, show me a lot of attitude and haughtily walk out of here only to return in a couple of weeks when your mom’s hospital bills are due because you realize in the last minute that you need me more than you care to admit. Or, we could go for the simpler option, which is you take this in stride – just like one business-oriented person to another – and agree to pay me back and we move on, picking up where we left off. So, which option will it be then?”
Instead of speaking, she allowed the tears to fall freely. This made me even angrier. It was easier to be a stern asshole when she was snapping back with all her might. Her tears just made me feel guilty, which was not something I deserved or needed to feel in the current situation.
“Aria, say something,” I said in what I thought was a much gentler tone.
She, however, continued to stare at me with tears covering her entire face, making me wish I could punch a hole through the wall.
Chapter Six
Aria
I couldn’t believe what Zayden had been saying and wished I could stop the damn tears from pouring all over my face. The last thing I needed was to show weakness in this situation, yet I felt completely lost in terms of words to produce from my mouth. Scammed. He had said he felt scammed. That I had, somehow, unintentionally scammed him!
My gut felt like it was falling low on a downward spiral of a dangerous roller coaster when I had heard him use that word. How could he? In the time we had gotten to know each other, he had most certainly gotten some idea of the kind of person that I was. If not, then this whole relationship itself was a scam. After how much I had insisted that he add the clause about me paying him back to the contract, how dare he question my character.
He had overheard the whole conversation between me and Mom, which meant that he knew very damn well that I was completely clueless about this and intended on telling him everything. He found out as soon as I found out.
It was not good enough, though! None of it was apparently good enough for him. He had decided what I was doing was my fault even when it wasn’t, and demanded payment – literal and figurative – even though he knew the insinuations would hurt me. It wasn’t that I minded the idea of paying his bank the money my dad owed it. After all, if things all went as planned, I was going to be successful in a couple of years, and it would only make me feel good to know that I cleared up the mess my dad left behind. This was regardless of whether I had ever found out South National Bank’s involvement. No, the money was not what hurt me so much. It was the fact that he sat there, looking me straight in the eyes, and asked me to pay him that money, as though I had personally stolen it from him.
The fact that he could make me feel so low made me furious!
To think I was coming to believe our relationship had been making progress. Maybe it had. To Zayden’s credit, he had gone out of his way to make me feel like our relationship was, at last, real, even going so far as to asking to meet my mom. Obviously, when he had asked for that he wasn’t expecting all these revelations and neither was I. It wasn’t some trick or an effort to make me feel as shitty as I was feeling right now. He was genuinely interested in my life and getting to know my mom.
I tried imagining myself in his place when he overheard the conversation, from the point of view of a guy who had just gone against all his reservations and jumped into a serious relationship with me. After all that he had been doing for me these past few months, a part of me understood why hearing about my dad must have completely ticked him off. His running off last night was completely justified. I would have run out of there myself if I could have, given what I had heard.
I couldn’t run every time things didn’t go the way I wanted to. Perhaps it would take more time to earn Zayden’s complete respect, and if I wanted to keep this relationship, I was going to have to be okay with that. As angry as I was, I was not willing to give up what we had built over the past few months. It would be much easier and more respectful to just agree to pay him the money that my dad owed.
“Option two,” I spoke after what felt like an eternity, wiping off my tears. “One business-oriented person to another, I will pay you every single penny back. Happy?”
“Far from,” he snapped, somehow looking even angrier for getting what he had wanted. He had expected me to put up a fight, or argue in some way, or most likely of all, walk away. I had thrown him off with my response, undoubtedly, and it felt oddly like the ball was in my court all of a sudden.
“But well, good,” he said, standing up from his chair. “That’s settled then. Is that all you wanted?”
“Are you kicking me out?” I looked at him quizzically, now beginning to feel amused.
“I don’t know, last time I checked, it was still my office.”
“So, you are kicking me out?” I pressed, trying not to laugh out loud.
“I have a bank to run, Aria, so if there isn’t anything else you need from me today—”
“My paper,” I cut him off. “Remember the paper I was telling you about? That you so nicely volunteered to help work me on? Well, the deadline for that is coming up, so I was wondering if you were up to helping me out?”
“I seem to be making a career out of helping you out.” He snarled at me trying to look menacing, but simply appeared comical to me.
“I mean, you don’t have to help me. I was just reminding you because you volunteered.”
He sat back down and played with his stress ball for a bit before speaking. “We will do it tonight,” he eventually said. “Now for the rest of the day, please just let me be, okay?”
“Gladly.” I smiled and walked out of his office.
---
Later that night, I told the whole story to Nick and Stacey, who for some reason found it hilarious and burst into a chorus of laughter.
“Oh, my supportive best friends,” I said sarcastically. “It wouldn’t be so funny if you were in my place, would it?”
“No,” Nick said, trying to straighten up his face. “It wouldn’t at all. And it’s not funny that this is happening to you, Aria. Not at all!”
“That’s not the impression one would get based on your uncontrollable laughter,” I snapped.
“It’s just that,” Stacey, who had finally managed to catch a breath, spoke. “What are the odds, you know? Very, very low. But then, you’re not going to believe,” she started laughing again. “I can’t, Nick, you tell her.”
“Well, after you and Zayden had gotten over your last set of – uh – complications, Stacey and I were talking about it – we were glad!” he added immediately upon seeing the expression on my face, which wasn’t exactly that of glee. “We are always happy to see you happy, Aria, you know this. But Stacey and I were talking about how, well, theatrical this whole thing between you and him has been. So full of twists and turns and popcorn-worthy. He’s a handsome billionaire and your boss. How often does stuff like this happen in real life?”
“I don’t understand why any of it is funny yet,” I said, still annoyed. “Enlighten me?”
“Okay, okay.” Nick sighed. “So Stacey and I were talking about it and she jokingly said, ‘What’s next, we find out that Aria’s dad banked with South National before he went bankrupt?’ and we just laughed about it.”
“That is eerie,” I said with my mouth hanging open, and then burst out laughing myself. If this hadn’t been
so utterly bizarre, perhaps I would have been really pissed. “My goodness, Stacey, you should become a fortune teller!”
“No,” she gasped. “It’s not like I was predicting this or would ever wish for something like this to happen to you. The reason I had even said it was because it seemed so absurdly far-fetched to be true.”
“It is. Too absurdly far-fetched to be true. And yet it’s true. If this wasn’t all happening to me, I wouldn’t believe it could happen to anyone in real life.”
“Are you okay though, Aria?” Stacey now looked serious, as though only just registering the full implications of what I had told them. “What are you going to do?”
“I am going to pay him back.” I shrugged. “Eventually.”
“Oh God, Aria. This is ridiculous! You shouldn’t have to. You’re not the one that lost him all that money!”
“He knows that. He is just angry right now and you can’t exactly blame him. I did for a bit, but then I put myself in his shoes and it kind of makes sense why he is so frustrated, with the money he is paying for my mom and everything.”
“You are so mature about this, Aria,” Stacey said in amazement and looked at Nick. “If you ever made me pay you 500,000 dollars for something I didn’t do, I would dump your ass.”
“That is never going to be a problem, since I doubt either one of us will have that kind of money anytime soon. And if we do in the far, far future, it won’t matter, cause it will be both our money since we’ll be marri—” he immediately stopped talking. His cheeks flushed hard. I turned to look at Stacey, who seemed to be about ready to pass out.
“So, you guys ready for when I invite Zayden over for pizza?” I asked brightly, trying to change the subject and making a mental note to ask Nick if a proposal was coming up. It was essential that I helped him pick out a ring that Stacey would like, or else she would never forgive me for not fulfilling my best friend duties.
Neither of them answered for a while, but Nick finally broke the silence. “I actually really am. Let’s see what the big deal about the dude is anyway!”
“You will soon enough.” I sighed, relieved that the awkward moment had passed. “For now, I have to go to his house. He is helping me with my paper after much cajoling. He thinks he has made a career out of helping me out.” I rolled my eyes and walked towards my bedroom to gather my stuff. I was glad to be able to leave the two of them alone.
Chapter Seven
Zayden
I was informed that Aria was waiting in my living room when I was still speaking to my mother on the phone, exasperated.
“Yes, I am fine,” I said for the thousandth time. “Of course I was hurt by what happened with Gina, Mom, but I’m trying hard to move on. If you keep calling me every day to remind me of this, I won’t get past it.”
“I’m sorry, Zay. I don’t mean to upset you further. I just, I worry about you sometimes,” she said, sounding dismayed. “And quite honestly, I am always just looking for an excuse to talk to you.”
I swore silently and clutched my palms tight. How long was this going to go on? When it was over, I also had Aria to deal with. While I was looking forward to seeing her – certain parts of her, especially so – the last time we had been in each other’s company had not exactly been pleasant. I wasn’t very keen on picking up from there.
A sentimental speech from my mother was the worst possible preamble to the evening. It went on for another 10 minutes before I could excuse myself, claiming an essential business contact was waiting for me outside. I did not dare mention Aria. My mother was not ready to hear that I had managed to fall for a young employee just yet. Not that she could complain at this point, since she was convinced she had ruined the last woman in my life. Grinning at that thought, I finally stepped outside to find Aria sitting alone, cross-legged, on the sofa, wearing a bright blue and extremely low-cut dress and reading a magazine. The effect on me was instantaneous, and I wondered why I hadn’t chosen to wear more comfortable pants knowing Aria would be showing up. There wouldn’t be enough room for all of me that got excited upon seeing her shimmering legs. I swallowed, ignoring the odd yet now familiar desire to lift up her skirt and devour her with my mouth. I simply coughed lightly to announce my presence.
She looked up at me innocently. “Hi,” she said and smiled brightly. “Thanks for agreeing to help me out with my paper. Especially under the given circumstances. Are you still feeling…unpleasant?”
I hardly caught on to what she was saying, as I was still mentally salivating at the thought of whatever was underneath her skirt.
“Zayden,” she whispered, looking at me pleased. “You’re ogling.”
“Am I, now?” I asked in a barely audible whisper. “Sorry,” I said, not feeling sorry at all, rather wishing that I could take her clothes off with my eyes. I didn’t see how any work was going to get done unless I took care of my raging erection first. I suspected Aria had a different order of events in mind. I blinked hard in order to shake off whatever was boiling inside me. I tried looking to the side of her and said, “Sorry, what were you saying?”
“I was asking if you were still…I don’t know… upset with me?”
“Aria, I was never upset with you, you understand that?” I sighed and sat as far away from her on the sofa as I could.
She snorted. “Right. You weren’t. And you sure as hell didn’t go completely batshit on me in your office earlier, either. Or scowl at me until I promised to give you 500,000 dollars. That was all my imagination.”
And there we were. No matter how hard I had hoped that we would just simply ignore what had happened earlier, I knew Aria far too well to even momentarily consider she would just give me an easy pass for offending her so deeply. How else was I supposed to react to what I had heard?
“I was upset. Wouldn’t you be if you had overheard the conversation and you were in my place?” I demanded.
“Of course I would’ve. Your reaction was natural at first. I didn’t even blame you for storming out like that, did I? The only difference is, I would have given you a chance to tell me and explain yourself had we switched places. But I understand that you work differently than I do, and that’s okay. It’s all okay, really Zayden. I am not upset with you and I will gladly pay you that money back. It’s good business practice, something I wish to employ myself going further in my career. So really, there was no reason to have been so hot-headed earlier and—”
“Can I fuck you?” I cut her off without thinking about what I was saying, unable to pay attention any longer. She stopped her sentence looking taken aback, opened her mouth and the closed it again. “Sorry.” I grinned, though I wasn’t sorry at all, and she wouldn’t be either after I was done with her. “It’s just that dress…it’s really bothering me…I just want to take it off over your head and fuck you right here.”
She blinked tightly as her cheeks flushed. Clearly, my words were having the right impact on her, and her whole body was screaming for me to take her. But when she opened her eyes a few minutes later and heaved a deep sigh, her words were not what I had expected them to be.
“As much as the thought of you coming over here and you know…I have a deadline, remember?”
“Do you think either of us are equipped to use our brains right now without the…you know?” I asked in a very low voice and winked. I walked slowly over to her and leaned next to her. I whispered across her ear, touching it slightly with my lower lip, “Do you really want to do homework right now?”
She swallowed hard and I could see the back of her neck shivering, as I casually ran my fingers over her dress around her mound, ignoring the throbbing in my own veins. Suddenly, she jerked upright, startling me into reality.
“Zayden!” She looked at me with her eyes twinkling. “My paper is due tomorrow! I came here because I need help.”
I grunted like someone had just taken away a piece of my favorite candy right when I was about to eat it. “What do I even get out of this?”
“I’ll m
ake you a deal,” she said and removed her dress from over her head, revealing matching black lace underwear. I began touching her, but she used her hand to gesture me to stop. “I need five major bullet points for advocating fair trade as an alternative to free trade in developing countries. I already have a few written down here,” she said, producing a notepad from her purse that was lying on the couch. “They are not all solid and need to be perfected. I need your help, particularly with researching live examples and case studies to back up every point. And we certainly need to add more main ideas, because not all of mine are strong enough, which is also where you come in.”
The way she was speaking with so much confidence, and well, command, made me momentarily forget about my sexual desires and look at her in complete awe. I had never gotten used to this aspect of being with Aria. She liked to take charge. I had never been one to take orders from anybody, let alone a 20-year-old girl. But when she got that spark in her eyes and decided how things were simply going to go her way, no questions asked, I was at once exasperated and convinced that there was no woman better suited for me in the whole world.
I perused her bullet points, which seemed to me to be solid. Instead of interrupting her passionate instructions, I chose to smile and nod along. It seemed to be an appropriate response, considering she looked pleased.
“Now, on to where your reward lies in all of this,” she said, putting a hand on her right hip and pointing another towards my general direction. “Here is the deal. Every bullet point leads you one step further to getting to have you-know-what with me.” She grinned, looking mightily pleased with herself. “This is how it will go. For the first bullet point perfected, I take off the rest of my clothes for your ogling pleasures.”
“I’m not sure that will help my, uh, situation.” I pointed towards my crotch. “Hurt it, rather, and make it harder for me to concentrate on your bullet point.”