The C.E.O. Alpha's Fated Invitation

Chapter 3: The Morning After

Chapter 3: The Morning After

POV: Isla Taylor

The scent of sandalwood and cocoa wakes me up. I need to get up, but my bed is way too warm to do so. Is it just me, or is my bed more comfortable than it normally is? Oh, how I could just stay here forever. Peace…

That peacefulness ends with the loud sound of my phone ringing. My head pounds in pain from the sound. ‘Why,’ I whine to myself. My eyes open only to close tightly from the bright sunbeams in the room. I hiss from the pain.

I take a deep breath with one goal in mind, shut my phone up from making that horrible sound. My eyes open to see I’m not in my bedroom. ‘Where the hell am I?’

The room is bright and modern. It’s quite the opposite of homey. The room feels like something you’d see in a magazine. It’s beautiful, but where is the mixed-matched furniture, the old quilt, or afghan your grandmother made you, the personal touches like photos and figurines?

Two wall-to-ceiling windows seem to be the only source of light in the room. The windows might be the one selling point of the room for me. This room screams rich and boring.

My bare feet hit the cold, white marble floor as I stand up. The room begins to spin, my stomach churns, and I look around the room desperately for a trash can. I see one by the dresser and make a beeline for it.

In the midst of hurling out the poison I drank last night, someone suddenly grabs my hair and gently rubs my back in a comforting way. I’m not sure who is behind me, but their touch is oddly soothing.

After I’ve finished puking my guts out, I slowly turn to see who is in the room with me. I’m met with a man with gorgeous blue eyes and tousled dark brown hair. He is somehow familiar to me, not because of last night, but something else I can’t quite put my finger on.

“How are you feeling?” Aiden asks. His face is contorted with so much concern, but why? He can’t possibly be this worried about me; we just met. I groan in response, “Gosh, is what hungover is supposed to feel like?”

Aiden slightly smiles, “I’m afraid so.” I was afraid of that. “I am never drinking again,” I swear to myself. This is the worst feeling in the world. Why do people do this to themselves?

Just then, my phone begins to ring again. I cover my ears, wanting any noise to just go away. “Ugh, where is it?” I frustratingly get up off the floor to search for my phone.

I’m stopped by Aiden when he picks me up and sets me back on the bed, and opens the nightstand drawer that holds my phone hostage. “Shh, you need to rest.” Aiden kisses the top of my head.

His gentle kiss leaves me in shock. What happened between us last night? Did we…

My phone’s insistent ringing pulls me to its attention. On the screen of my phone shows my dad calling. I should have known, of course, he’s worried about me; I didn’t make it home last night.

I put the questions about last night to the side and answered the phone, “Hello.”

“Isla Blair Taylor, where are you? I called you eight times this morning. Hazel called you three times.” I knew my dad would be upset; he always is when I don’t answer after the second call.

My head throbs from his yelling. “Dad, please… I am fine, I stayed the night at Sienna’s place last night.” I am not telling my dad I spent the night with a man I’ve never met before.

“Oh, thank goodness. You had me so worried when you didn’t answer the phone. I thought that maybe…” Dad pauses for a moment. “You’re safe, that’s all that matters. Did you have fun last night?”

He’s always been overprotective of me. He’s a great dad despite his mistakes. “Yeah, I guess. It was…Oh my Gah…” I’m talking to my dad when Aiden hands me a glass of water. I take the water, and that’s when I see it.

I don’t remember everything that happened last night, but I definitely don’t remember getting a tattoo. When did I do that? On my left wrist is a heart with the letter A written in the center.

“Isla! What’s wrong? Are you ok? Did something happen?” My dad shoots off quickly with panic in his voice. “Uh, no, I mean not really. I just did something really dumb.” I tell my dad to ease him but that doesn’t help.

“Isla, are you in trouble? Did you get arrested?” Are you kidding me? He really thinks I would be that dumb and get arrested? “What? No, Dad, I did not get arrested.” My face turns ten shades of red seeing Aiden trying not to laugh.

“It’s not funny,” I tell Aiden, half annoyed and half angry. My hands find their natural nesting spot on my hips as I’m getting angry. My eyes glare at Aiden as his laughter couldn’t be held in any longer, which only makes me angrier.

“Dad, I have to go. I will see you when I get home.” I don’t wait for my dad’s reply before I hang the phone up. “And you,” I point at Aiden, having forgotten my hangover. Aiden stops laughing and looks intrigued as his eyebrow arches challengingly.

“You think this is funny? I have no idea where I am, my dad worries about me obsessively to the point it is embarrassing, I don’t know who you are or why I’m not at home. And all you can do is watch me with those pretty eyes of yours and laugh at me. Robin already laughs at me behind my back. I don’t need another one of Sienna’s friends to play the bully.” I vent out to Aiden.

I know I’m probably being a little harsh. He’s only laughing at the conversation between my dad and me. The moment I was done talking, I regretted it. He doesn’t deserve this. I’m just on edge a bit.

His expression changes from shock to concern and ends in anger. His face is hard. If I’m being honest, it scares me. His body language is rigid and hard. Aiden oozes with power and dominance.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you.” I quickly apologize, afraid he might do something. I’ve already been through one angry boyfriend; I don’t need that again.

No, wait, Aiden’s not my boyfriend. Why would I compare him to that? Ugh, Drake messed me up last night.

Aiden relaxes and looks guilty. Why is he guilty? “No, I’m sorry. Are you ok?” He asks. I nod my head, not wanting to talk due to the headache now returning.

“Look, let’s start over. My name is Aiden, and you are?” He holds his hand out to me. I giggle and take his hand. “Isla.”

“Well, Isla, you are in my bedroom.” So this is his bedroom. It really says a lot about him. “Wow, it’s uh, nice.” I’m not really sure what else to say besides, what the hell am I doing in his bedroom? Did something happen last night?

“You can stop panicking. Nothing happened. I slept in the room across the hall.” Aiden eases my mind as if he could read it. Why wouldn’t he just put me in the room across the hall then? “Oh, you didn’t have to give up your room,” I tell him.

Aiden scratches the back of his head awkwardly and quickly changes the subject, “Would you like breakfast?” Why is he acting so weird now?

My stomach churns at the sound of any kind of food, “No.” I can’t eat anything right now. “Ok, maybe just some water and a painkiller?” Aiden offers. I nod my head eagerly, “That would be perfect.”

Aiden grabs the glass of water and the bottle of pain pills I had not seen sitting on the nightstand before. He put those out for me? That is actually so sweet of him.

I gratefully take the water and pills from him. “I’ll leave you for a bit. The bathroom is behind that door,” Aiden points at a door to my right. “I had my sister bring some clothes for you. They’re on the bathroom counter. When you’re ready I will take you home. You can find me downstairs.” He gives me directions to where I can find him. “Ok, thank you.” I oddly feel sad that this will likely be our last encounter.

I wish he would just ask me out on a date or something. Wait was breakfast his was of doing that. “Wait!” I stop him before he can leave. He turns to face me. His face morphs into one of concern, “Is something wrong?”

“Uh no, well yes, I-I mean no.” I stutter nervously. I don’t want this to be the last time I see him. I can’t explain why but I feel as though I might die if I don’t.

Just looking at him I feel so drawn to him. There is something about Aiden that I can resist. I want to, no, I need to know him.

“Isla relax. What is it?” He asks. “When you asked me to breakfast, you weren’t asking me out, were you?” I ask. I think he got the wrong idea because he suddenly looks disappointed.

“I mean it’s ok if you were.” I say quickly. His expression turns to one of hope then morphs into a daring smirk, “Now, Isla you wouldn’t be the one trying to ask me out on a date would you?”

My face heats up, turning ten shades of red. I’m not one to make the first move. I wouldn’t even go on a date with Drake at first. Eventually, after he had made so much of an effort, I finally said yes. How dumb was I?

Turns out, my saying yes was just another notch in his belt. His ego certainly got bigger when he was with me.

“Maybe,” my voice becomes quiet and timid. What if he says no? I’ve never done something like this. “Adorable.” I hear him whisper under his breath.

He walks over to the small desk in the room and grabs a card. “Here, call me anytime. I would love to go out with you. I can’t wait to see what you plan.”

I’m supposed to plan a date. How do I do that? I need to talk to Sienna asap.