3
2007 Words
ASTRID
My eyelids fluttered open slowly, only to snap shut immediately as a sharp pain shot up the side of my head. After a few seconds of collecting myself, I tried to sit up, but a dull throbbing between my legs had a small wince escaping my lips before it finally dawned on me.
My eyes widened in shock, and a much louder gasp escaped my lips as my eyes landed on the strange man fast asleep in bed with me. His dark, curly hair fell across his face in gentle waves, but before I could take in the entirety of his features, his eyes peeled open, too. Just like that, I was being pulled into a deep, rich swirl of blue, and I had no idea I'd been gawking at him until he finally cleared his throat.
I flew out of bed immediately, hands reflexively balling into fists in front of my body as I glared at him, “Who the hell are you!?” I demanded, scandalized by his complete lack of a reaction as he leisurely rolled out of bed and stretched his limbs like a spoilt house cat, the rays of the morning sun hitting his golden skin in almost cinematic perfection.
“You might wanna….” When he finally spoke, it was with an amused smirk on his face as he gestures at my body and I looked down at myself in complete horror to find that I'd been standing stark naked before him.
I reached for the duvet with a disbelieving gasp, heat crawling up my entire body as I took the time to wrap myself up, as if that would wipe the image of my nakedness from his mind. He watched with barely concealed amusement, eyes darting from my eyes to where my fingers gripped the duvet around my shoulders like my life depended on it.
“Who the hell are you, and what am I doing here?” I repeated, my heart beating wildly in panic as I awaited the confirmation to something I already knew but didn't want to believe.
I just woke up naked in bed with a stranger. Many would argue that that could only mean one thing.
“You don’t remember?” He leaned forward, still looking painfully unaffected as he raised his hand enough for the morning sun to catch a glint on his finger as he wiggled them around, clearly enjoying every second of this.
My ring!
Suddenly, the memories of the night before hit me like a f*****g boulder to the face. So hard that I felt the breath get knocked out of my lungs.
I remembered walking into Logan’s office, giddy and excited, only to be met with the shock of my life. I remembered walking out in tears, distraught and heartbroken until a misunderstanding had me proposing to a stranger instead, - this stranger. I remember slipping the ring on his finger, asking about a bar which he drove me to, and then…..
And then I'd stripped out of my pants and asked him to f**k me right on top of a table in an empty bar.
My entire fist was damn near down my throat as I struggled to keep a scandalized scream at bay. I couldn't believe I'd been so shameless. So crude and out of control. Shame and embarrassment brewed violently within me as I found pieces of my clothes and his strewn across the room, like the bar wasn't enough and they'd been taken off carelessly as we stumbled into this room in a bid for more.
“Oh God.” I swallowed, feeling a full blown panic attack brewing as I scampered around the room to pick my things, “Oh my God, what was I thinking.” I cried, completely missing his movements until he was suddenly standing in front of me, his frame towering over mine as he gripped the fabric in my hands as if to take it away.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He asked as he pulled slightly but I held on tight, full on glaring at him as I tried to wrestle my pants out of his grip.
“Excuse me?” I challenged but he didn't back down.
“You heard me, you can’t leave just yet.”
“I can’t leave?” I questioned, feeling my face heat up with anger, “Do you even hear yourself, you asshat! You took advantage of a drunk, vulnerable woman, and now you're trying to keep me hostage too?”
“For the record, we were both drunk, and you came unto me. Now, I can't just let you leave because we're engaged now. You don't just walk out of that.” He shrugged, flashing the stupid ring in front of my face again and I wanted to strangle something, prefarrably him.
“Is this a f*****g joke?” I deadpanned, not even slightly amused, “I don't care about that stupid ring, and you can shove it up your ass for all I care! Whatever happened last night was a mistake, you just said yourself that we were both drunk, and I really just need to get out of here before I loose my s**t, so, let go.” I punctuated with a tug on the fabric, but he wasn't letting up.
“You weren't drunk when you proposed.” He refuted a little too seriously for it to be a poor attempt at humor this time, “You don’t just propose to someone and take it back in the morning. If you didn’t mean it then you shouldn’t have done it in the first place.”
Something about his sharp blue eyes and cold demeanor as he said that had me faltering for a bit. It was like a flash of recognition shot across my mind,but it disappeared as quickly as it came.
“Just…. throw the stupid ring away, it was a mistake, okay.” I sighed, resigned, “I'm sorry about whatever happened, but I wasn't exactly in the right state of mind and I'd really, really like to forget everything about last night.” I told him honestly and after a brief second of silence where he scanned my face as if searching for something, he finally let go and I rushed into the bathroom to get dressed.
When I stepped out, dressed and a little more put together, he was nowhere to be found. The bed was made, and there was no trace of him, his clothes, or even the ring, so I assumed he’d come to his senses and walked away.
I was thankful for that, and also for the fact that he took the ring with him. The last thing I wanted was to be hung up on Logan and crying my eyes out while staring at the ring and thinking of a future that could never be.
I exited the hotel room quietly, my mind running a mile a minute. I got a cab back to the apartment I had rented for what should have been a holiday that was supposed to end with an engagement, but was now a graveyard of years of a one-sided relationship.
“Good Morning Miss and Merry Christmas!” Someone greeted cheerily and I looked up to find the butler standing in front of my door with a wide smile on his face.
“It’s Christmas, you don’t have to work today.” I said to him as I pulled out my keys.
“I am not working, I came over when I noticed the gifts outside your door. I thought you were home and didn’t know you had stepped outside.”
“Gifts?”
He pointed at the ground and my eyes fell on the piles of gift boxes sitting outside my door, I had not even noticed them.
Who would send me gifts? I had no one in this place except for Logan, and I was certain he was not sending me gifts on Christmas morning, not after everything I saw and heard just a few hours ago.
“This card came with it.” The butler said as he handed a Christmas card to me. I took it from him and tore it open.
-Thanks for the ring, it was the best Christmas gift I have ever received.
And at the bottom, it was signed with a simple ‘T.’
I didn't have to think far to know this was from that weirdo from the bar. And how did he even get my address to send this before I even arrived? Seriously, what have I gotten myself into.
After everything, it was way too early to be getting tangled up with another man, especially one who sucked this badly at taking hints.
I tore up the card immediately and had the butler take the gifts with him. I could see the shock in his eyes as I told him to take them, I didn't care if he kept them or disposed of them, they weren't any of my business.
What I needed right now was a shower to get my head in place, and then to pack my bags and get on the first flight out of this place once the weather clears up.
It didn't look like I'd be leaving anytime soon though, because right now on the news, it was just announced that the weather, if anything, was getting worse. I couldn't believe how bad of a Christmas I was having. My heart still felt heavy, but atleast my body didn't feel so cold and sore anymore after that shower.
I spent days locked in my rented apartment, waiting; for the snow to clear up so I could go home. For any sign that Logan regretted what he did. For the thoughts of that strange man at the bar to disappear from my mind, but none of those things were happening.
Today, I was watching the news again, nursing a cup of hot chocolate when something caught my eyes. I quickly grabbed the remote and turned up the volume. It was the man from the bar! He was standing in front of a newly commissioned building and there was someone standing behind him, an awfully familiar face.
Why the hell was Logan with him?
“The CEO, in person of Tristan Draco is here today to…”
The words of the overly enthusiastic reporter trialed off as soon as I heard the word ‘CEO’. I completely paled as everything clicked into place in my head.
This man had walked out of Logan’s office building the other day! He'd gotten the bartender to serve us without a single word at the bar too, and the Christmas card….. God, it was T for f*****g Tristan!.
Tristan Draco! Logan’s boss!
I immediately turned off the T.V as if that would make it any less real.
Really, there was no need to panic. Things were clearly over with Logan. So I had s*x with a random man that turned out to be his boss, so what? Most importantly though, I had to get the f**k out of here because it started to feel like the walls were closing in on me.
Thankfully, the snow cleared by the next morning and I arrived home just as soon. After a quick rest, I had dinner with my father because he'd insisted. Something about having important news for me, but he just sat stiffly even after the plates were cleared, not saying anything.
“I'm going to turn in for the night Dad, I had a long trip, and-”
“You're getting married.” He suddenly blurted out and the world screeched to a stuttering halt around me. “It's been decided already, but I just thought you should know beforehand so you can come to terms with it.”
I huffed out an incredulous smile as I turned the words over in my head. This had to be a f*****g joke.
- Writer
