by Anna T. Pope
He had heard a lot of nice things about her from Meg over the course of the previous year, and he had been looking forward to meeting her, the fact that Aria was so beautiful only serving to expand that desire.
When William finally managed to squeeze himself through the crowd, he turned around in search of her and spied her a little to the left where she was talking with the same guy from before.
He thought that Aria was looking rather uncomfortable, so he quickened his pace to get to her. When he was close enough, he saw her looking at her feet with her hands squeezed into fists tightly.
“I am sorry, Mark, but I don’t want to dance.”, Will heard her say through clenched teeth, the pink hue on her pale cheeks and the way her body was starting to shake, all telling him that she was pretty close to losing her patience.
“Come on Aria, I can show you what you are missing. You have been working here for a year and I have been patient with you, but now I am done waiting. You have no idea the things I want to do to you, how I imagine hearing you scream every night when in my bed. I could take you so high; you’ll think you’re flying.” the guy said in a voice that Will suspected he thought was seductive, his fingers running up and down Aria’s arm and making her shiver and draw even more into herself. She tried moving away, once more, but it proved pointless since the guy had her caged against the bar.
“I think that the girl has said no. And if you value your health you will remove yourself from her presence immediately. Unless you want me to call my brother, Meg, the owner of this club, and you could explain to him why you were bothering his employee?”
William stepped behind him and said through clenched teeth, barely managing to hold in his anger.
The guy immediately turned around, glaring angrily at him and it was obvious to Will that he wanted to argue, but he thankfully changed his mind and turned around and left before things had the time to escalate.
Will made sure that the guy was gone for good, while making a mental note to ask his brother about the prick and the reason he had been allowed in the club in the first place before he turned back to check if Aria was alright. The words, however, died in his throat, because the moment he turned around Aria jumped into his arms and hugged him.
In his arms
Aria wasn’t sure what came over her. In one moment, she was being harassed, yet again, by Mark and in the next she was squeezing the daylights out of Meg’s brother.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she had hugged someone other than Meg or Nura, and she had to admit that it felt surprisingly nice.
She could feel Will’s strong arms wrapped tightly around her body, and instead of being uncomfortable by the contact like she would usually be, all Aria felt at that moment was safe.
She became aware that the usual tight grip she had over her emotions was starting to slip and she tried to keep a hold on it, but it felt impossible, so in the end she let go.
She started weeping like a baby, in the middle of the club, her body shaking with loud sobs as she gripped the soft shirt beneath her hands tightly and buried her face into the strong chest.
In the next moment, she was swept off her feet and found herself in William’s arms being carried away.
The thought of protesting went through her mind but she quickly discarded it, too tired to do anything except throw her arms around Will’s neck and squeeze him tightly.
After a couple of minutes, she heard the door being open and then shut, blocking the sounds from the club, and felt William sit down with her still in his arms.
She gave a feeble attempt to move away but he just hugged her tighter as a large hand began rubbing circles across Aria’s back while a soft, deep voice kept shushing her and telling her that everything was going to be alright. The motion helped calm Aria down, and she soon found herself dozing off.
~
Aria woke up, feeling disoriented. Her head was pounding, her eyes were puffy and swollen and she felt unable to move.
Scared out of her mind, she sucked up the courage to open her eyes just enough to see where she was, but the moment she saw Will, everything came back to her in a rush of hazy memories.
Her cheeks flushed brightly when she remembered jumping William and then crying all over him, feeling completely embarrassed for having the man witness her emotional meltdown.
She looked up and saw that he was fast asleep with his head thrown back against the couch. His arms were still wrapped around Aria, and the petite girl felt afraid to move because she didn’t know what to do or say if William woke up.
Glancing around, she realized that they were in Meg’s office and, making sure that Will was still asleep, took the chance to study him.
The older man looked peaceful with his face relaxed and a small smile on his lips, making a small spike of jealousy appear in her chest. After everything she had been through the ability to fall asleep without the threat of being woken up by your own screaming was her biggest dream and she envied the others for that.
She bit her lip and let her eyes sweep over him, realizing that her first assessment was more than correct.
William was a handsome man, with a strong jaw, high cheekbones, full lips and those sinful eyes that were now hidden under his eyelids. Not even the fact that he was more than a decade her senior could make a difference. After all, older men had always been her biggest weakness.
She suddenly felt an immense desire to touch him, which confused her.
What was it about the man that made her feel so intensely?
“See something you like?” she heard a deep voice say, making her jump up from his lap and almost fall on her ass in the process. She soon heard William chuckle softly, which made her whole body flush bright red.
Staring intently to the ground as she was, she was surprised by the feeling of soft fingers under her chin, urging her to look up. With those green eyes pointed at her once again, Aria couldn’t tear her gaze away even if she wanted to, which she didn’t.
“Are you okay?”, Will asked her while his fingers caressed her cheek and sent shivers through Aria’s body with each soft stroke.
She felt a need starting to steer in her lower abdomen, which took her by complete surprise. It had been too long since she felt that way, and she honestly thought that she never would again.
But before she even had the time to think about that, the feeling of arousal was quickly followed by one of shame.
William had been nothing but kind to her; he helped her and was trying to make sure that she was okay, and there Aria was, lusting after him like a slut.
She took a few steps back, letting William’s fingers slip from her face, her eyes burning with tears, that she was desperate not to let fall since one public crying was entirely too much for her, let alone two, so she pulled herself together as quickly as she could and looked up.
“I feel fine, thank you. I am sorry for ruining your night, I am sure you had more important things to do than be my shoulder to cry on. But thank you for helping me, I really appreciate it.” Aria said as quickly as she could without the risk of sounding incoherent, and then turned away and all but ran out of the office.
She could hear Will calling her name, but she just kept on going without bothering to turn around.
Stepping out of the club, into the cold autumn evening, she hugged herself tightly and quickened her pace, not even considering going for her jacket that was hanging in the locker, back at the club.
Once in her apartment, she took all of her clothes off, shimmied into the bed and pulled the covers over her head. Then, after curling into a fetus position and hugging her knees, she finally allowed herself to break down as the whispers of the past became ever louder.
~
The stupid ringtone that Nura had set on Aria’s phone was screaming in her ear, waking her up from a restless sleep.
She took the phone from the bedside table and glared at the hideous contraption as if she could make it disappear with sheer willpower.
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When she was sure that it was going to keep on ringing if she let it be, Aria sighed and answered.
“What!?”
“Well, hello to you too, sunshine! Aren’t we all perky today!” she heard Nura’s accented voice from the other side of the line and groaned.
“I am sorry Nura, I had a long night and didn’t catch a lot of sleep.”
“I bet you that I can fix that! We, my dear friend, are going shopping today!” Nura exclaimed happily as Aria let out a long groan. Shopping with Nura was not what she would ever call a fun experience.
“Nah ah, I don’t want to hear it! We are going. I’ve got Nate’s black card and an okay to go crazy, and you don’t want to know what I did last night to accomplish that, so you are going to get out of that bed, take a shower and be ready in half an hour!”
Before she could disagree, the call was already disconnected, the only sound coming from the other side of the line the annoying beep. With a huff of frustration and feeling more than a little disgusted, Aria got up and went to get ready.
After three hours of mindless wandering from one shop to the other, her feet were killing her, but she had to admit that she was having a lot of fun.
Nura and her brother, who was just a younger version of her, kept cracking disgusting jokes, and Aria was ashamed to admit that she found most of them funny. So, after a while, she gave up the pretense and laughed, and for the first time in weeks, she relaxed.
They were at the movie theater at the moment, watching some new horror flick, Nura’s friend, Jonah, kept raving about. It was crap in Aria’s opinion, but Nura and Ahmet seemed to like it so she kept her mouth shut and her giggles to the bare minimum.
Her eyes drifted from the silver screen where the main characters were currently killing another batch of zombies with seemingly endless ammunition to the two idiots sitting beside her, and looking at their elated faces she felt her heart flutter.
So, what if she never found someone to be with. All Aria needed was right there; her best friend who loved her just as she was, scars and baggage in tow, and her slightly weird, but still loveable younger brother.
And that was enough for Aria, or, at least it will have to be.
Barbeque
Will was finally in his new office, working hard to catch up since he was three weeks behind.
Dealing with paperwork, which he loathed, and having angry clients call him constantly, it was safe to say that he was not in a great mood.
He had pressed charges against Mr. Norman, the contractor who had robbed him, the same day that he had run into Aria, but the police were yet to find him.
As far as Will knew, the man could be across the world right now, enjoying the money he had stolen.
He was brought out of his musings when his phone started to ring.
“Hello.”
“Hi bro! What’s up? Don’t tell me you are still at work?” Meg said making Will roll his eyes at the question.
“Then I won’t tell you I am still at work.”
“William! It’s 8 pm on a Friday, for God’s sake! Go home.”
“Did Maria ask you to call me?” Will asked, even though he was sure of it since the woman had been pestering him about the same thing until a couple of minutes ago when he finally threatened to fire her and she relented and left in a huff.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. But seriously, go home big brother.”
“Did you actually want something, Meg, apart from harassing me? Because I am about to hang up.”
“Fine, fine, you grumpy! I wanted to tell you that I am hosting a barbeque tomorrow afternoon at my house. Everybody from the club will be there. So, you should come, meet some people, eat some food. You know like a normal person. So, what do you say?”
Will’s mind immediately started buzzing at the possibility of seeing Aria again, as soon as the word ‘club’ came out of his sister’s mouth.
The little brunette has been on his mind ever since that night and he had tried to talk to her afterward at the ‘Echo, but she always managed to find some reason to avoid him.
After a couple of rebuffs, William had decided to just let it go since the girl screamed trouble. So, he went to the club, had his fun with a few willing girls, but his eyes still always found their way back to Aria. And even though he tried to keep his distance, Will still caught the girl looking at him on more than one occasion which told him that she wasn’t as indifferent to him as she wanted him to think.
Will kept remembering the feeling of her curvy, little body wrapped up in his hands; her pale skin, so smooth and soft and just begging for him to touch it. And, God, those lips!
He had to see her again.
“What time should I be there?”
~
Meg’s house was about two hour's drive from Will’s new apartment and by the time he arrived, he was baffled about the reason his sister would buy a house so far away from everything.
Of course, Meg would say that it was because of peace and quiet that this neighborhood provided, but that was not how Will operated.
He loved the noise, the crowds and the feeling of the city that never slept; he thrived on it. But to each their own, as their father used to say.
Pulling up to the driveway, he turned off the radio and got out of the car where he could already hear the laughter and music drifting from the backyard, making him smile.
Since Will had moved to New York only a few weeks before, the only person he really knew was his sister, so he was actually looking forward to meeting some new people with the same interests as him and maybe even making a new friend in the process.
He never had a lot of friends, not even back in LA, and in recent years, even that small number had dropped to a handful.
He used to have a best friend, the person who he had shared everything with and for whom he would have done just about anything, but that particular story did not end well. So, for a long time, Will was satisfied with casual acquaintances and nothing more, but lately, he felt the urge to move on and heal which was one of the reasons why he had moved to New York.
Looking around as he made his way around the house, he had to admit that Meg had a point; the place was beautiful. He could see the appeal, but still not enough to convert, of course.
Stepping into the backyard, he saw around twenty people mingling around while eating and drinking while the rest were already in the pool, playing around and laughing.
He finally spotted Meg tending the grill with a tough-looking guy by her side while drinking beer and talking, but as he looked around, he couldn’t find the one person he so desperately wanted to see.
Maybe Aria was late; he tried to console himself as he made his way through the lawn.
“Hey sis. Nice house.” he said once he was in Meg’s earshot making his sister smiled widely as soon as she saw him.
“Hey! You are here, where there are people and conversations. I am proud of you, big bro!” Meg said and immediately ducked down when Will went to hit her at the back of her head.
“Oh, shut up, you menace, and introduce me to your friend. Hi, I am Will, this idiot’s older brother.” he said, shaking the tattooed guy’s hand.
“Nice to finally meet you, Will. My name is Nate. I am the idiot’s best friend and the silent partner in the Club.” the guy said and smiled.
Will suddenly remembered Meg talking about her best friend, the brilliant trauma surgeon, a few times and he barely managed to hide his surprise. The tattooed, pierced man in front of him was not how he had envisioned him at all.
“Oh, so you are the trauma surgeon?”
“Yup.”
“Are you a part of our little eternal bachelors Club, or do you have a partner?” Will asked him after Meg gave him a beer, and watched as Nate shook his head.
“I have, her name is Nura, and we recently started living together. She is one crazy little thing, but that’s why I love her.” Nate said and winked and they all laughed.
&n
bsp; “Did you bring her with you? I want to meet this little spitfire you two talk so fondly about.”
“Sure, um, there she is, the brunette currently screaming in the pool.” Nate snorted and pointed with his finger toward the girl in question.
Will turned around and once he saw her, he realized that Nate was right; the girl was a piece of work. She was screaming and jumping around while laughing like a lunatic. From where Will was standing it looked like Nura was trying to convince someone to join her and that’s when he saw Aria.
She was sitting on a beanbag near the pool, partially hidden from view by a few rose bushes, in black shorts and a white t-shirt that showed off her toned little body and made Will almost moan out loud.
He saw Nura telling her something while she nodded a few times and then started making her way over to the bar.
This is my chance, he thought as he quickly excused himself and hurried in the same direction. He stopped when he was behind her, with only a few inches separating them and felt the girl freeze, obviously sensing him. He then leaned forward and whispered in her ear,