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.
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!
