Chapter Nine
ARIA
I took a huge gulp of my wine as Zayden proceeded to the mini-stage that had been crafted in the middle of the room. It was a very interesting taste; bitter, but rich enough to make my whole mouth feel like velvet. I was already starting to get a bit buzzed from a few sips. I looked at Zayden adjusting the mic and took a deep breath. The plain black suit fit his lean body immaculately, and the dark blue shirt made his eyes pop. His skinny black tie was slightly loose, and I wondered how it would feel to undo it. And then his shirt. Aria, focus. I slapped my own forehead and frowned, trying hard to pay attention to the words now coming out of his mouth, rather than his mouth itself and just how succulent his lips looked.
“As many of you know, I lost my grandfather to cancer,” Zayden was saying. The room was utterly silent, every pair of eyes concentrating on him, as though he was reciting the next set of global constitution. What must it feel like, commanding any room you walk into? Someday, I would find out. I may never make it to Zayden’s status – I wasn’t born with the right set of luck in order to get there – but someday I would become successful enough to have a room full of people care about what I am saying.
“It was my complete honor to sponsor this gala, and I want to thank you all so much for your generous contributions to this truly wonderful cause.” It was obvious that this truly meant something to him, that he actually cared. There was a rumor around the office that he turned down an offer to speak at a local TED talk, so the fact that he was willing to come over here and take the time to address these people for the sake of cancer research was oddly heartwarming. He was definitely a much better person that he led himself and everyone else to believe. As he spoke with passion and intensity, I began to feel a very uncomfortable knot in my chest. It was a knot of feelings beginning to develop. I always thought he was attractive, but that’s simply an objective fact; he was attractive like the sky is blue, and I was also certainly very grateful for all that he did for me. But somehow, it was beginning to feel like there was more, like I appreciated him for who he was outside of who he was with me.
I was in trouble.
When he finished his speech there was applause that lasted for minutes. People were cheering him on and screaming his name.
“Now let me invite Ms. Cameron Elizabeth, the head organizer of tonight’s grand event, to begin the auction,” Zayden said and stepped aside to speak with an older blonde woman on the stage. I was surprised to feel a tap on my shoulder, since I didn’t really know anyone else at the party. I turned around to find Mr. Kirk smiling at me.
“That speech was quite something, huh?” He asked.
“Absolutely! Zayden is passionate and a wonderful speaker.”
“I’m sure you think so,” he shrugged in a way that made me uncomfortable. “How much is he paying you anyway?”
“Excuse me?” I felt a fit of rage begin to spread inside me.
“I’ll write you a blank check to fill in as you please for one night. But I have some very specific requests. Things not every girl is comfortable doing. Even though you’re a professional.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I was so angry I didn’t even care about my language or creating a scene. “I am not for sale.”
He laughed. “Oh, he’s taught you well. Come on. I have known the kid since he was 10 years old, you’re not going to convince me that he’s just taking out a lowly employee because he likes your personality.”
“Actually, that is exactly why I brought her here tonight,” I heard a different voice say. Zayden was standing in front of us and he looked like he was about to commit murder. “And why you should now exit this event. South National will no longer be dealing with your company.”
Kirk’s face turned to a deep shade of purple. “Come on, Zayden! Are you really going to side with a whore?”
“Watch your language, or I will have you thrown out of here in a manner that will make it impossible for you to ever show your face in public again. Aria is a beautiful young woman with a deeper intellect at her age than you have acquired in 60 years. I would rather spend the very little free time I have in the company of somebody like her, than do business with some sick bastard who has no respect for another human being. Call her a whore again and my lawyers will ruin you until you’re on the streets. Now, get the fuck out.”
People had begun watching and I wanted to draw a hole underneath me and disappear. This must have been embarrassing for him, yet he was fighting for my so-called honor, and I was completely paralyzed in shock. The truth was that he was, in fact, paying me, even if it wasn’t exactly for sex. But the fact that he was still supremely offended by Kirk’s behavior made a small part of me ridiculously happy. The rest of me kind of wanted to collapse and never see humanity again.
When we finally left the gala, every single person was apologizing to me for Kirk’s behavior, and I realized that not all rich people sucked, contrary to what I had convinced myself of. In fact, Zayden seemed to run around in circles of some truly nice people. All in all though, the evening ended on a nice note, and by the time we made it back to Zayden’s car, I was tipsy, tired, and in a much better mood than I had expected to be.
“I’m sorry about Kirk again, Aria,” Zayden said once we sat in the car again. “I have known him all my life, but he’s never acted so sleazy before. I wouldn’t have introduced him to you if I knew he was going to act that way.”
I gently put my hand over his and he started to move his fingers against mine, causing an internal volcano to begin popping in my system.
“You don’t have to apologize. I feel terrible about creating a scene. I am sure you didn’t come in here today thinking ‘Hey, guess what would be fun? If I had to insult one of my business partners on behalf of my date and cause a whole dramatic production.’” I laughed.
He lifted both our hands and put his arm around me. “I have never in my life used this word to describe a girl before, but Aria Roberts, you are really amazing.”
He must have thought calling me amazing was somehow amusing since that’s what I had called him.
I giggled. “How long have you been practicing to say that?”
“Since I read your paper. It was… amazing.”
“Amazing. You’re…amazing too.” We were both gazing into each other’s eyes at this point and I barely knew what I was even saying. “Very, very amazing.”
He removed his hand from mine and lightly brushed his index finger against my cheek, the effects of which I felt across my whole body. He was leaning in, and I gazed at his perfect mouth and wondered if he would taste like whiskey. As soon as our lips slightly touched, however, I jerked away. A few seconds later I got the courage to look at him.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry, Zayden. I can’t. I just…”
“It’s okay,” he said and looked away from me, without any hint of disappointment in his voice. “I know you don’t want to and I shouldn’t have-”
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” I blurted before I could stop myself. It was too late to take it back now. “Whenever I am around you, it’s difficult to breathe. And all I want in the whole world is to let you win and feel the taste of your mouth and to touch you and let you do whatever you want to me.”
He didn’t speak for almost a few minutes. Then he said, “The screen isn’t soundproof, Ned can hear you.”
“No I can’t,” I heard Ned say, and then I felt absolutely mortified.
“The point that I have been trying to make – sorry Ned – is that it’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I can’t. And I’m sorry.”
Zayden sighed like he didn’t care. “Don’t be. It’s your stop. I’ll see you on Monday. Sleep well, Aria. Thanks again for coming out with me tonight.”
I couldn’t bring myself to get out of the car for the longest time. I finally forced myself to say, “No, thank you, for everything.” Then I ran out of there as fast as I could.
I didn’t sleep well that night. I didn’t sleep at all.
---
On Monday morning I was woken up by a phone call from my mom.
“It’s 5 a.m. Mom,” I mumbled on to the phone. “Can I call you back?”
“I’m sorry for waking you up, sweetheart, I just wanted thank you for the 10,000 dollars that you paid to the hospital on my behalf. I’m glad your loan went through.”
Wait, what was she talking about? My loan never – oh. I sat upright, suddenly understanding.
“It was paid?” I asked stupidly.
“Of course, from your name.”
“I know, I meant to ask if it went through alright. I’ll call you later okay, mom? Don’t worry about it too much, I got you. Love you!”
I dialed Zayden’s office number and immediately hung up, remembering what time it was. It would just have to wait until I got to work. I couldn’t believe what he had done. I felt a sense of warmth and affection throughout my whole body.
The contract was real.
I tried going back to sleep, but spent the next few hours thinking of him and just how underrated he was as a person. I had expected him to be upset with me, given the rejection from Saturday night. He hadn’t tried to get in contact with me all of Sunday and I assumed he was miffed. Instead, he had decided to go on and make the first payment early. And the way he had fought for me at the gala. Perhaps I had judged him unfairly, but I would never think he would jump to defend me against his own kind. His business and reputation, I assumed, were way more important than some girl he was trying to seduce, yet I was wrong, as I seemed to be on many accounts when it came to Zayden. I would have to find something nice to do for him, soon. For the first time in a long time, I could not wait to get out of bed and get to work.
Which is why I was very disappointed when I got to work and Zayden was not in his office. He usually got there before everyone else, and I was convinced that he slept in his office most days. I wondered if everything was okay. I thought about writing him an email and drafted something:
Hi,
I wanted to thank you in person, but you seem to be out today. I hope everything is okay. My mom called me about the hospital payment and I wanted to thank you for going ahead with that way earlier than our contract demanded. And for sticking up for me in front of Mr. Kirk the other day. It meant more to me than you ever imagined.
So I was thinking, about that pizza, beer, and Netflix thing, do you want to come over some day this week?
I would love for you to join me…
No, not that word. I would “like.” I went ahead and scratched the whole email off. I had to tell him in person.
The day got more and more agonizing, as I kept my eyes straight on the door, waiting for him to walk in, with increasing disappointment. At 5, I made a final glance, at this point assuming there was no way he would show up at work, but I still couldn’t help but feel utterly disappointed. I didn’t work on Tuesdays, and waiting until Wednesday to see him would be too unbearable. I started packing up as slowly as I physically could, while everyone else began walking out of the office. What was I expecting? The day was over, he wasn’t coming. And maybe I had something to do with it. Maybe if I hadn’t pulled away the other day...ugh. I didn’t owe him anything physical.
But I wanted to so bad, so what was I even fighting for? Right now I couldn’t think of a single reason why I wasn’t in Zayden’s arms.
Trudging out of the office, I wondered if I could skip some classes to come to work tomorrow. As soon as I got to my car, however, I saw Zayden’s silver BMW pull in and my heart jumped. I stood there, feeling completely paralyzed, and when he got out of the car I could barely keep up with what I was doing.
I ran to him as fast as I could and planted a kiss squarely on his lips. He stepped back for a second looking completely startled, and as Ned started driving away, he pulled me towards him and kissed me. His hands were on my face and when his mouth began to part mine, I forgot everything about the world. His tongue entered my mouth and started exploring, and one of his hands was now on my back, almost lifting me up. I tried to kiss him back with everything I had, but it wasn’t enough, I wanted more, I wanted every bit of him. His hand was now inside the back of my dress, grabbing my ass firmly, and I felt like I could explode from that sensation alone. It felt like an eternity when we finally broke apart, gasping for air.
“It’s nice to see you too, Aria,” he grinned at me. I was still trying to remember how to breathe.
“I-” I tried to speak. I had never realized how difficult that process could be. My eyes were still on his mouth. “I wanted to thank you. About the payment. And about Kirk. And I wanted to-”
He cut me off with another electrifying kiss. He tasted like expensive scotch, just like I had imagined; a little smoky, and the faintest hint of sweet. When his mouth left mine and he proceeded to kiss the side of my neck, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Let’s take this inside,” I heard myself saying.
We were completely intertwined, yet somehow we made it inside his office. He shoved me against the glass door and continued exploring my neck with his warm tongue, making circles with kisses. I was about to pass out already when he lifted my skirt and lightly brushed his fingers against my pussy, and I let out a loud moan.
He broke apart. “Is everything okay?” There was concern in his face.
“Huh?” Keep going. Just do whatever you were doing, Zayden. Don’t stop. I wanted to convey that with my eyes. “Everything is… perfect,” were the only words I could manage.
“Listen, Aria,” he said sincerely. “As much as I want to rip apart that dress of yours and fuck you mindless, I have to ask; are you sure about this?”
“You know what it looks like when I don’t want it,” I said, boldly removing the top part of my dress, revealing a red lacy bra. “This is obviously not it.”
“I know,” he said, his eyes now fixated on my bra. “I know you want it right now. But you’re a fucking virgin and I don’t do virgins, normally. But I’m willing to taste your pussy.”
The way he said that made me want to jump on him and straddle him until he felt the inside of what he liked to call my pussy.
“I am not a virgin,” I told him. “I told you that to scare you off.”
Those words were exactly what he needed to hear, because he proceeded to then actually rip off the rest of my dress off my body and kiss me again, this time with full force, thrusting his tongue deep inside my mouth. Then, he picked me up and took me to the giant couch in office. Taking his shirt off without his eyes leaving mine, he said, “As much as I want to take you right now, you’ve made me wait too long, Aria Roberts. I am going to make every minute count and torment you until you’re begging for my cock.”
Those were the most thrilling words I had ever heard. I was already ready to beg and plead, but he didn’t need to know that. I wanted to feel the torment he was promising.
When he threw his shirt on the floor, I was surprised to find that his body was even more perfect than I had imagined. Not bulky, but lean and muscular, with a perfect six-pack that I longed to touch. I tried to reach out to do so when he grabbed my hand and shook his head. “Not so easy.”
His eyes were burning with desire as he leaned down and began working on my neck again. This time his hands were cupping my breasts over my bra, and I was glad when I felt him unhook it and throw it over my head. He then gently squeezed my bare nipple, and I felt a storm bubble up inside me. His other hand was playing with my panties, not quite touching the clit, but teasing me with flicks and brushes. Slowly, his kisses started progressing downwards, and before I knew it, his mouth was on my breast, licking it softly with his tongue. The pressure increased ever so slowly, and it felt like forever before he was fully sucking it, leading me to moan his name at the top of my lungs.
“You fucking like that, huh?” he breathed, breaking off and looking at me with stern eyes. “How about this, then?”
He moved his mouth down my bare torso and stopped right outside my panties. “Has anyone ever tasted your sweet pussy?”
I shook my head no. Was he about to? Oh my God.
With one swift motion, my panties were down to my ankles, revealing a part of me that no man had ever directly seen before. I was glad I had gotten into the habit of shaving it off at a young age, momentarily embarrassed about how it would look if I hadn’t.
I couldn’t control my crazy thoughts.
He licked his lips as he parted me, and rubbed his thumb against my clit. I felt like a volcano ready to erupt again, and when his mouth made contact, it was a burst of pleasure like I had never felt before. I tried to focus on my breathing but it got increasingly difficult as he sucked on my clit while licking the rest. When I felt his tongue enter, I lost all control. A shiver ran through my whole body and I felt myself contracting into a single bubble of pleasure that seemed to last forever. “Zayden,” I managed to moan, but he didn’t stop sucking and licking until I started shaking uncontrollably.
When he finally looked at me, I was barely lucid. “Sweet. Just like I imagined.”
“Fuck me.” I could barely speak two words, so those had to be it. “Please,” I managed to add.
I never thought I would have to beg a guy.
That was all the encouragement he needed. He tugged down his pants, revealing a huge penis that was pointing firmly in my direction. I trembled with excitement over the thought of being filled up by him completely. He approached me, and parted the lips of my pussy. At first, he just rubbed the tip of his penis over my clit, tormenting me with longing. He took his free hand’s index finger and proceeded to wipe it between my pussy lips. Then he licked each finger entirely. Looking straight into my eyes, he said, “You are so fucking wet. How bad do you want this huge cock to fuck you?”
“Bad,” I spoke in barely a whisper, flames erupting on my face.
“Say it, say you want me to fuck you with my huge cock.”
Jesus.
“I want you to… fuck me… with your huge cock.” Right now I would sign my own death warrant if he asked me to.
With both his hands over my breasts, he thrust inside me with such force that I let out a tiny moan of pain. After a few motions, the pain was almost entirely gone and replaced by the sensation of his cock filling me up, faster and harder with every passing second. My body was transformed into a volcano once again, that in time would be ready to erupt. I found myself matching his rhythm and fucked him back.
He let one of my breasts go and licked the tips of his fingers before reaching down to my aching clitoris. His fingers fiercely massaged it in circles, causing my back to arch off the couch. I closed my eyes, looking away from his face that was twisted in a grimace of craving. His one hand tightened around my one breast.
“Watch me fuck you,” he groaned deeply.
I forced my eyes open and let my back fall flat against the couch. I raised up on my elbows and watched him stroking my clit and thrusting inside my aching core. His cock disappeared inside of me over and over. My breathing picked up, and when my eyes flickered up I noticed his wasn’t any different. His taut chest and abs were pulled tight. With a body like this he had to spend many hours in the gym every day.
He moved each hand to a different hip, but thumbed my clitoris. As he pumped his cock inside at the fastest pace yet, I arched my back once more to allow earth-shattering lightning to shoot through my body.
“Ahh!” I moaned.
I pulled my knees together, not wanting to let go of the feeling. That restricted his cock, so he pressed my knees apart ferociously, completely opening me up to him. He bent over, supporting himself on his elbows. He grabbed a fist of my red hair and tugged my head back while biting my lower lip. I took hold of his muscular ass and could feel it flex under my fingertips with every thrust.
With one final hard thrust, he pulled out of me and stroked himself. He grunted louder and louder as his warm fluid sprayed my belly. Then he collapsed on top of me, saying, “Oh God, Aria. Fuck.”
I gently slid my hands up his back, mentally echoing his sentiments, but unable to voice anything at all. My breathing was rapid as I pulled him tighter to my naked body. It was like I had just survived an earthquake. The best earthquake there ever was.
We stayed plastered together, and I couldn’t help but hope that he would still fulfill the rest of the contract after giving into him.