by Anna T. Pope
“The offices in New York are almost finished, and they will be by the time we arrive tomorrow. Also, your sister called me, since your phone was off last night, to ask if you’ll be available for dinner tomorrow evening. What should I tell her?” Maria asked, her high heels click-clacking loudly as they walked together toward Will’s office.
“I’ll call her later; you just make sure that everything is settled before our flight tonight. Thank you, Maria.” he said as he walked into his soon-to-be ex-office and closed the door behind him with a sigh.
As of tomorrow, he would be leaving LA and moving to New York, and he couldn’t have been happier about it even if he tried.
He was tired of this town, of the people in it and of the painful memories it held within. He also really missed his sister, Megan, who lived on the other side of the country in New York. She had moved there to attend college and never came back, except for an occasional visit.
Megan had studied law at NYU and after years of working in an unjust system that only favored the rich, she finally gave up and quit and was now a proud owner of a club called ‘The Echo’.
It had been quite a career change and it certainly raised more than a few eyebrows but Megan never paid attention to other people’s opinions and William adored her for it.
After making sure that everything was packed and sent to New York, and after ending an excruciatingly long conference call with business partners from Japan, Will made his way to the airport where his private jet was waiting, along with the crew and Maria, of course.
He had offered her the opportunity to stay in LA and run the office there since it was her home and she, most certainly, deserved the promotion, but she just ended up laughing in his face and proceeded to ignore his attempts to persuade her.
“Everything has been taken care of Mr. Jones, so you can just relax, have a drink and your dinner will be served after the takeoff.” Maria said after they boarded the jet. Will thanked her and dismissed her since it was, by that time, 8 p.m. and she had been on her feet for 12 hours already.
After it was announced that they could move freely inside the plane, William ate the dinner and then retreated to his small bedroom, took off his clothes and was out the moment his head hit the pillow.
~
As soon as they landed Maria got the news that the new office was flooded, so they quickly made their way there to see the extent of the damage and were appalled by what welcomed them.
After hours of waiting and an inspection, it had been made quite clear that the contractor that was in charge of building the office thought that he could use cheaper materials while keeping the rest of the money for himself. Furthermore, they were now going to have to wait for another two weeks before they could continue with their work.
“That stupid son of a bitch! I want you to bankrupt him!” Will shouted into the phone at his solicitor before disconnecting the call.
“I need a cup of coffee or something stronger.” he muttered to himself and told the driver to stop at the next Starbucks after climbing into the car.
Twenty minutes later he had a warm cup of coffee in his hands and was walking back to the car while debating if he should just take the day off and go see Megan, when someone slammed into him, making him lose the hold of the cup, which quickly fell to the ground and spilled.
He looked down at the offender and glared, already preparing to pour all of his frustrations out on the person since he couldn’t do it with the one he was actually angry with.
“I am so sorry Sir, it was my fault, I wasn’t looking...” the petite girl started to apologize before he had the time to say a word, and then looked up making William almost join the coffee on the floor.
With big blue eyes, brown, soft-looking hair and full, pouty lips, the girl was a work of art.
William could honestly say that he had never seen someone that beautiful in his entire life and he had seen and had a lot of them.
A shiver ran down his back the moment her soft voice left those bitable lips and he barely managed not to groan out loud.
Coming to his senses, he quickly said, “It’s okay; it was an accident. No harm done, but just be careful in the future.” and then he smiled and winked.
The pretty girl quickly looked down to her feet and blushed furiously which just made her more attractive to Will and he barely managed to stop himself from raising his hand to touch the rosy cheek.
She quickly mumbled another apology that he hardly heard, and before he could ask the little beauty for her name or number, she turned away and ran, effectively getting lost in the sea of people.
The Brother
Aria shut the door of her locker with a frustrated sigh. It has been 4 days since she had run into that man and she was still thinking about him.
The way he looked, the smooth baritone of his voice, his beautiful green eyes, and the confident aura the man had exhumed had captured her attention and as much as she tried, she couldn’t get him out of her head.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt that kind of attraction to someone. Well, she could, and that was probably the reason why she was so angry at the moment because Aria had apparently learned nothing from her past mistakes.
Nobody…worthless…waste of space
Old taunts and insults flashed through her mind and she could almost feel the pain that they had inflicted as if it had all happened yesterday and not almost a year and a half ago.
“Ari, are you okay?” she heard someone ask and quickly turned around to see a very worried-looking Nura standing a few feet away from her.
She suddenly realized that she was shivering and slowly lowered herself on the bench next to the lockers.
“Yeah, I’m fine, just didn’t catch too much sleep last night.” she said the first thing that popped into her mind and prayed that Nura wouldn’t press the matter further since she didn’t have the strength to lie.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” she replied while forcing a smile on her face, even though the last thing she wanted at that moment was to smile.
“So, Nate’s back?” she quickly asked in an attempt to change the subject, which proved successful.
“Yes! Finally! I’ve missed him so much.” Nura said, and then proceeded to tell her all about Nate’s trip. Aria barely listened, just kept saying an occasional ‘yes’ or ‘omg’, which was good enough for the brunette who, Aria was sure, could talk any politician into the ground when on a roll.
It was a Friday night, which meant that the club was even more crowded than usual.
Aria had been working there as a bartender for the last year since she didn’t like mixing with the crowd as opposed to Nura who now worked as a waitress and loved it.
The club was quite big. It consisted of two levels; the main floor, which was open for everyone, with two bars and a DJ booth, and the second level, where Aria worked, which was more of a lounge, with soft background music and an assortment of gourmet food and vine for exclusive club members.
She took her position behind the bar and let her mind drift off as she lost herself in work.
It was a busy night, the club was full to the brim and she watched the people mingling; some dancing at the small platform, while others talked and ate.
She saw Amir, a short, cute guy that used to work there and his husband Chad at one of the tables, having a romantic dinner.
They were sitting close to each other, one of Chad’s arms spread over Amir’s chair, his fingers softly caressing the back of his neck.
Amir was smiling shyly at the bigger man, giggling every few seconds as Chad kept whispering into his ear in between soft kisses to his temple.
She averted her eyes after a while, the lovely scene leaving her feeling sad and empty in its wake.
She used to be angry; at Him, at the world and most of all at herself for allowing him to break her, but now, Aria just felt sad.
Because as much as she tried to convince herself that she was fine
on her own, she was still a hopeless romantic at heart. She was in desperate need of someone to love her and care for her, and she was afraid that that was never going to happen.
She was brought out her thoughts by the sound of a familiar voice.
“Hi, Aria.” Megan, the owner of the club and one of a handful of people Aria dared to call a friend, said, a goofy smile on her beautiful face.
Megan was a very tall, gorgeous woman, whose presence commanded respect even though she was younger than most of the regulars there, a woman and pretty much the most relaxed person around. And Aria did, she respected her and loved her for everything that Megan had done for her.
They’ve met a little over a year ago when Aria was still living on the streets. It was a cold, winter night, a snowstorm was fast approaching and Aria was sure that she was going to freeze to death before morning.
She was curled up in an alley behind what ended up being Megan’s building, wrapped up in a torn, old blanket that she was ashamed to admit that she had stolen from another homeless guy.
When Megan came out to toss the garbage and saw Aria there, she had approached her to check if she was alright.
Once she saw the state that Aria was in, she had immediately offered her a place to stay for the night.
To this day Aria wasn’t sure what had compelled her to accept since Megan was a complete stranger and she knew better than to trust someone she had just met, but she did, and she will forever thank her lucky stars for making that decision.
By the time the morning had come, she had already poured out her whole life story to the woman and from that day forward Megan had been like an older sister that Aria had never had.
She had given her a job, helped her find a place to live and even paid for a part of her tuition despite Aria’s furious protests.
Nothing she did will ever be enough to express the immense gratitude she felt toward that woman.
“Hi, Meg.” she said while wiping the bar with a moist rag.
“Is everything alright? No one has been bothering you?” Megan asked, trying to make sure that Aria was comfortable as she always did. She smiled softly and nodded.
“Everything is fine, Meg. Thank you for asking. Would you like something to drink?”
“Have to check. Not at the moment, thank you. I am trying to find my brother. We came here together, but he got lost in the crowd. He is probably seducing some poor girl if I know him well, and I do.” Megan said with a silly smirk making her giggle.
Aria had, of course, heard a lot about her brother and she knew that the man had recently moved into town to Megan’s great pleasure, but she hasn’t had the opportunity to meet him yet, something she was looking forward to since William was the most important person in Megan’s life.
“Ah, there you are!” she heard Megan exclaim and turned around quickly.
The glass that she had been holding slipped out of her loose grip and smashed against the floor, breaking into tiny pieces in the process, but Aria couldn’t even make herself care, as her eyes fell on the person standing on the other side of the bar.
The Savior
Will heard, rather than saw, the glass breaking because his eyes were glued to the girl standing on the other side of the bar.
He couldn’t believe his eyes, the urge to raise his hands and wipe them as they did in cartoons, overwhelming in its intensity.
He was sure that that was the same girl from a few days ago since she was looking just as gob smacked as Will felt.
Ever since that day, the girl had been on his mind and he felt both relieved and disappointed that she had run away.
There was just something about her that instantly drew Will in, and all he wanted was to snatch her up and never let her go. And the fact that he didn’t even know the girl’s name let alone anything else and he still felt that way was not only ludicrous but it also scared the hell out of him.
William knew that feeling well since he had felt it once before and acted on it, and his heart still hadn’t recovered from the consequences that followed those actions.
“Aria, are you okay?” he heard Megan ask and shook his head in an attempt to clear it.
“Y… yes, I... I am okay.” the girl stuttered while bending down and trying to collect the broken glass quickly. At the sight of her nicely shaped behind up in the air, it took William only three seconds and his pants were already tighter than before which just made him feel confused and ashamed.
What was happening to him?
The girl made him feel like a teenager!
William made himself look away as not to risk doing something stupid, like jumping the girl and ravishing her in front of everybody and making a complete fool out of himself.
Once she was done with the cleaning, she stood up and looked down, fumbling with her hands as if not knowing what do with them.
“I am so sorry, Meg; I will pay for that.”
“Don’t worry about that, it was an accident, I am not mad.” his sister said while pulling her into a side hug. The girl smiled softly as she looked at her adoringly and William felt disappointment spreading through him at the sight.
Of course, she already had a partner, who wouldn’t want someone so beautiful, and not just any partner, but his own little sister.
“I want to introduce you to my brother Will.” Meg said and William quickly schooled his face, wanting to hide the jealousy that he suddenly found himself full of.
“We already met.” he said with a practiced smirk and watched with a guilty glee as the girl blushed furiously.
God, she was gorgeous.
“You did?”
“I accidentally ran into Will a few days ago on my way home from school.” Aria whispered, still looking at the ground and smoothing out non-existent wrinkles out of her shirt.
“But she ran away before I got the chance to introduce myself.”, William said as Meg chuckled.
Aria excused herself when a man came to the other side of the bar and got back to work to Will’s great regret.
He and Megan went back to their table, although he kept glancing toward the bar where he knew Aria was working.
The girl was just too perfect; beautiful and damn sexy in her black leather pants and a tight black shirt that William just couldn’t help himself.
He could feel himself getting excited, once again, and quickly averted his eyes just in time to see Megan smirking at him with a knowing glint in her eyes.
“Beautiful, isn’t she?” she asked and William forced himself to act indifferent. The last thing he needed was to have his sister angry with him for drooling after her girl, even though he was still confused about that fact since as far as Will knew, Megan didn’t do relationships in general.
“Yes, she is. You’ve picked a good one.”
“What are you talking about?” Meg asked, looking as confused as Will felt.
“Aria, your girlfriend. You two look very much in love. I am happy for you.”, he said to which Meg started laughing like a lunatic.
“She is not my girlfriend! Oh my God, William, that was so funny. I’ve got to tell her that later.” she managed to say while still chuckling lightly.
Will felt relieved with his newfound knowledge for a second before something else crossed his mind.
“Then who is her partner? Because a girl like that sure as hell has one.” he asked and Meg immediately stopped laughing as her face took on a grim expression.
“Aria doesn’t have a man, and she doesn’t want one.”
The happiness that William felt upon hearing that she was single, even if he would never admit it, was quickly replaced with dejection even though he told himself that he shouldn’t feel anything in regards to the girl.
“Why wouldn’t she want a boyfriend?" William asked with a frown. Megan looked sad for a moment and a little bit angry before she shook herself.
“That’s Aria’s story to tell, not mine. All you need to know is that she is very fragile and under my protection. So, y
ou are not to bother her, William, because I could see how you looked at her and I know how you are when someone grabs your attention. But she is not like the girls you are used to and I will not let you use her. She has been through enough.” Megan said, all the previous banter now missing from her voice.
“Okay, okay Mom. I get it, the girl is off-limits.” Will threw his arms in surrender and rolled his eyes.
After a while, Meg got up and left with some blond, leaving Will alone with his thoughts.
He knew that he had promised his sister not to bother Aria, and he was going to keep that promise, but he still couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to the beautiful girl to make her not want to be with someone. It must have been something serious to stop a young woman like her from pursuing a relationship of any kind.
William suddenly felt a surge of anger coursing through his veins by the thoughts running through his mind, which surprised him since he usually didn’t care about anyone except his family.
He quickly got up and in a spur of the moment decision, decided to go and check on her. He felt a strong urge to protect her, even if from a distance and even though it confused him, he wasn’t ready to question it. If the girl didn’t want a relationship that was fine and Will most certainly wouldn’t force her. Besides, he was not a relationship type of guy; not anymore, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t at least be Aria’s friend.
