“Baby, please calm down. I got you. I got you, baby.”, Aria heard him whisper in her ear as Will wrapped his hands around her and hugged her tightly. Aria’s shoulders slumped, as all the fight left her and she climbed into Will’s lap and started to cry.
“Just don’t let that man hurt me. Please don’t let him do it again.” she begged him quietly.
“What are you talking about, baby? What man?”
“Richard, y… your c... cousin. He is one of David’s friends.” Aria managed to stutter in Will’s ear and as soon as the words left her mouth felt him freeze beneath her.
“What’s going on?” Richard asked looking down totally bewildered.
“Why is your girlfriend acting like a lunatic?”
The room went eerily quiet for a second as Will looked at Aria like he had seen a ghost before he slowly sat her down on the couch and stood up.
“Are you absolutely sure, baby?” Will asked her, his face a stone mask and Aria gritted her teeth while looking at the ground and nodded.
“Aria, what is going on?” she heard Meg ask, looking confused and worried.
“Aria says that Richard hurt her a few years ago.” Will said quietly, but everyone managed to hear him.
“What!? That’s bullshit! Today is the first time I even met the girl! What are you talking about?” the man shouted enraged as his whole face contorted in an outraged expression.
The fear that Aria felt from the moment she saw him again was quickly replaced by a fit of burning anger. The memories of those awful years flashed through her mind, fueling it even more.
Those men had raped her, beat her, sliced her and insulted her time and time again. She was forced to be their slave, their little sex toy to do with it as they pleased, and Richard was the worst of them all, so Aria snapped.
“Shut up! You sadistic son of a bitch! You say you haven't met me before today!? Okay, then let me refresh your memory!” she screamed and took her shirt off. Her scars were then on full display for everyone to see, but Aria couldn’t care anymore as she pointed at the two long slashes across her chest. She saw the man pale slightly as recognition flashed in his eyes.
“Remember me now, ‘Ricky’? Remember how you used to pay your buddy David to do this to me; to slice me open and rape me afterward; because I do. I remember every single second of our little meetings. I remember screaming and begging for you to stop!” she was close to him now, her fists banging across the man’s chest, while Richard stood petrified.
“I remember you laughing at me and telling me that I was just a stupid little slut and that you could do anything you wanted with me!” Aria screamed at the top of her lungs, shaking in anger.
“Come on tough guy! Admit it! Let your cousins know what a despicable excuse for a human being you are!”
As soon as the words left Aria’s mouth, Richard growled and hit her across the face, making the girl fall to the ground.
“Who do you think you are, to talk to me this way, you disgusting little whore? You should have put a tighter leash on your bitch Will, because she barks too much.” he said with a sneer.
The next thing Aria knew, she was in Meg’s arms being pulled away, and the man was on the ground with Will straddling his thighs while his fists kept connecting with Richard’s jaw over and over again.
“You sick son of a bitch! I am going to kill you! No one touches my baby and lives to tell the story!” Will screamed and continued to punch Richard and kick him until the man was completely covered in blood and unconscious. Aria feared that Will was going to kill him so she tore out of Meg’s hands and threw herself on Will’s back.
“Will, stop! Please!” Aria begged him but her pleas fell on deaf ears as Will just kept going and acting as a man possessed.
“William!” Aria finally screamed and that finally got Will’s attention. He stopped and looked down at his cousin; the man’s face barely recognizable after the beating it endured before he stood up and shook his head, trying to calm down as his hands shook badly. Aria approached him slowly and hugged him, her hand rubbing across Will’s back while she whispered soothing words in the man’s ear.
“It’s okay, love, you are okay.”
She felt Will’s frame slowly start to relax after a few minutes. The man put his hands on her cheeks and raised Aria’s head. They stared into each other’s eyes for a long time until Will bent his head and kissed her softly, making Aria shudder from the contact.
“You are safe now, baby. I will not let anyone touch you ever again, I promise.”
That was all it took for the adrenaline to leave her and the sadness to replace it. Aria started to sob, her legs giving out on her, but Will was there to catch her before she fell.
Aria hugged him as tightly as she could and cried for everything that she went through; for every cut and bruise, every insult and every dream that she had had and that they had destroyed.
But most of all she cried for this beautiful man who knew every single bad thing about Aria’s past and still considered her his.
The Messenger
After crying for a long time, Aria finally fell asleep with her fists still clutching onto his shirt tightly. Will took her back to his place, after being assured by Meg that his brother would deal with what was
