Chapter 3

Aurora

The whole night, I served them drinks, it was mostly Nash who was doing the drinking, so it wasn’t exactly a big task but being in such close proximity with Michael wasn’t helping either. Now when I look at him, all the traces of the sweet teenager I knew are gone, in his place is this indifferent, cold, broken man. Not once had he glanced in my direction or tried to acknowledge my presence, it was like I did not even exist for him. It hurt, it hurt so bad to be invisible to the one person whom you care the most about, but I didn’t want him to know that. I didn’t want him to know, that he was still my weakness, that he still had so much power over me.

I kept my head held high and did what I came here for, ‘making money’, but it was freaking hard, with his cologne filling the air and the unrestrained masculinity that he emanated, I wonder how any woman could ever stay unaffected by him. When that thought crosses my mind, I chastise myself inwardly for even going there, but curiosity gets the best out of me and my gaze lingers on his ring finger, I heave a relieved breath when I see he isn’t married yet. Wait, I shouldn’t care what he does, I let him go nine years ago, if he moved on and found love… ‘oh god, no!’ the urge to breakdown and cry in front of all these men is so bad, I want to run back home and never leave.

By the time they’re done, it’s already past 12:45am and I am agitated to leave this place as soon as possible, luckily for me, the last table attendant cleaned up before he left and all I had to do was lock the liquor cabinets and wash the last few glasses. As soon as the men got up to leave, I expected Michael to finally acknowledge my presence and tell me how he remembers who I am, but all he does is take out his wallet from the back pocket of his pants and throws some cash on the table.

I stand there, stunned and wide eyed and at a loss of words. I knew it was presumptuous of me to think he would forgive me for my mistake, but I thought time would heal us, turns out I was wrong. Michael and the mystery man leave without a single word in my direction, Nash stumbles his way to the office and asks me to follow, I quickly pick up the tip they left because I earned that shit, and scurry behind Nash. With the amount of liquor that Nash consumed tonight, I wonder if he is in any shape to have a decent conversation? My doubt is answered rather quickly when Nash opens his office door and falls on his knees.

I quickly rush to help him straighten and wrap an arm around his waist, “Always ready to help, aren’t you Rory?” he said with a smile that I don’t quite understand, neither do I want to. Nash has always been nothing but a perfect gentleman to me, so the heat in his gaze comes as a surprise. A strong palm wraps around the back of my neck and my eyes widen, “what are you doing Nash?” I speak, horrified by his forwardness.

Before I can understand what is going on, his lips descend on mine and I am momentarily taken aback, what the actual hell?! He takes my surprise as an invitation to go on and slips his fingers into my hair, pulling them to the point that I’m afraid he might rip them off. His other hand lands on my butt and that is when I snap out of this horrific trance. I lift my palms up to his chest and push him with all my might, he stumbles backwards most likely because of the alcohol and scowls at me. “Why did you do that?” he growls and the need to cower hits me like cold ice but I jut my chin out and stare at him dead in the eye “because I don’t want you touching me, you scumbag” I yell and turn around to run out of the office.

“Not so soon Rory, you have no idea for how long I’ve been fantasizing about this moment, you think I’ll let you leave without taking what I want?” he slurs and grabs my wrist. His grip is so strong that I know tomorrow it is going to leave bruises, I cry out in pain when he slams my body into the wooden cabinet in his office and pins me there with his body. Unwanted tears spring out of my eyes and I want to slap myself for showing him weakness, “Nash, you are way too drunk tonight, let’s talk about this tomorrow” I soften my voice, trying to keep the panic at bay but it is becoming increasingly hard.

“You are probably going to regret this come morning Nash, don’t do this, please” I plead and tears stream down my cheeks, “Why would I regret something I’ve always wanted?” he says with a slur in his voice, he looks so menacing in that moment that I wonder if he ever was the gentleman I knew. One thing was clear, I would not let him do anything to my body, I would not give him the satisfaction of emotionally killing me forever. I hit him hard across his face with my palm and even though it did more damage to me than him, I revel in the fact that however little, I did some damage.

I didn’t stop at that, I trashed against him hitting and scratching at anything and everything. My energy was depleting, I was panting and it had only been a few minutes, if I didn’t do something soon, this night would end in a horrific nightmare.

“You ungrateful bitch” he growls at me and hits me hard across the cheek, my ears ring from the impact and I taste the distinct tang of blood in my mouth. My head swirls with lack of sleep and food and I think I might pass out and skip this horrible deed he will do to my body but my eyes snap open when he rips my flimsy shirt from the middle and the heft of my breast’s fall out with only my lace bra covering them.

“No!” I scream and try to push him with the last of my strength, “NO! NO! NO!” tears fall freely down my face and I yell even louder, “Don’t touch me! Please, no!” his moments become frantic as he places a hand over my jeans and unbuttons them. “You are going to regret this in the morning Nash, I’m going to press charges” if I thought this would scare him, I was sorely mistaken, because he laughs at me and spits out “and who do you think the judge is going to believe? You? A woman with stacks of bills on her name or me? A man with enough money to buy anything I might need?” he pulls down my jeans and pins my hands above my head.

“Please don’t do this Nash. You’re rapping me, please let me leave, I won’t tell anyone. Please! No!” I scream at the top of my lungs. When he doesn’t stop at my words, I feel hopeless and utterly useless about my existence. I’ve never felt more alone in my entire life than I feel right now.