I woke up with overwhelming guilt and underwhelming anger. When not under the influence of alcohol, it was a lot easier to remember that I had slept with my boss yet fucking again, and at this rate I just needed to hide my ass in Timbuctoo or I would never be able to see myself in the mirror. Sure, Aiden had brought me to bed while I was too fucking drunk or tired or sleepy or a dangerous combination of three, but someone had to set some boundaries between us, and it sure as hell didn't feel like he was going to be the one doing it.
Especially when the bare skin of my elbows made contact with his front, realization dawning on me that he was had taken his shirt off at some point, and his skin was in contact with my body. Even if I was fully clothed, this was strange, and the creep of a woman in me wanted to turn around and cuddle into the scent of him.
Get a grip, Thea.
Like yesterday, I could continue to sleep and let Aiden figure out the rest of it. This time, even if the doorbell rang, I would not get up and answer. I'd let Aiden do it. The room was still dark, and I realized my body clock had just fucked me over by waking me in the middle of the night and I would spend the rest of tomorrow feeling absolutely miserable. Closing my eyes, I tried to get comfortable again, hoping sleep would pull me under soon enough. And it did, which should have been nice. Instead, my sleep pulled me into a dream that made me regret every single life decision that led me to this point.
The dream picked up right from where my eyes had closed, only I was seeing this from a different point of view. I had sights on the two people in the sheets, cuddled up together from a corner in the room. Their proximity scared me, especially when I knew that the woman was me. Too close. Her boss. Everything is messed up.
Get away! I wanted to tell her, but my mortified eyes watched her turn over in her sleep, now facing a heavily sleeping Aiden. Her arm went over the soft skin of his chest, settling over his shoulder, nose burying in his neck. Dream Thea was feeling warm and intimately safe. I could see it in the way her body was relaxed and she was comfortable enough to hook a leg over his. He shuffled in his sleep too, and with some movement ended up putting one hand over her waist, pulling her closer than what anyone would deem appropriate.
Wake the fuck up, Thea.
Wake up now. This is a nightmare.
The real nightmare began then.
Dream Thea woke from her sleep, eyes opening to see Aiden's chest pressed to her cheek. Raising herself up on the bed, she made no attempt to get away from him, no panic rose in her chest. A light ghost of a smile came on, and she carefully moved her palm to rest on his cheek. Even from the distance, I was in, I could see the adoration she held for him, and that terrified me in a way I could not explain.
Wake up.
His face looked softer in the night, always. The streaks of honey in his hair looked silvery and pale in the moonlight, the stubble that he'd been sporting was prickly under her palm, but she liked the rough feeling. It felt nice when he'd kiss her-
Woman, wake up now.
Dream Thea then bent over to kiss the asleep man's forehead, before settling in again, keeping her movements light to not wake up her man.
Her man?!
It seemed as though Aiden was rousing as well because there was some restlessness on his features before he opened his eyes, looking straight at Thea's wide brown eyes. "Can't sleep?" Panties would drop and wars would be fought for that sleepy, groggy and unreasonably hot voice. Paired with those lovely light eyes and the gorgeous chiselled face? Yes, the world would kill for another man like him. And he was all hers. Only hers. Thea shook her head, raising her head off the pillows as he extended his hand out for her to lay her head on.
I noticed Thea shiver slightly as Aiden's hand travelled up her body, palm cupping her chin, thumb swiping across her lower lip. Dream Thea was on fucking cloud nine. Her eyes fluttered as Aiden inched closer to her, unmistakable devotion in his eyes, pressing a kiss to her cheek, then running his lips across the skin till he reached her lips. He hovered, teasing, not quite in Thea's reach, making a groan of frustration pass through her mouth. Dream Thea was confident in her approach, it appeared. She wove her fingers through his hair and closed the distance between them, pressed against him entirely- from nose to lips to chest to hips to legs. And what a beautiful sight it was. If this was a scene in a movie, I would have cooed at the adorable couple.
But I didn't want to find this couple adorable.
I didn't want to think of this as hot or possibly arousing.
This was me and my fucking boss. And from the looks of it, we were about to do a lot more than just share a fucking bed and I was going to freak out.
Shut up shut up shut up.
My brain spared me the rest of the details of the sordid affair, and the world was switched into darkness again.
Thank God.
The second time I woke up, I was feeling the world light up behind us but my body felt like crap. I still had my back pressed to Aiden's chest, lying between him and the wall. The dream state came back to me in quick flashes and I realized that Dream Thea and Aiden had gone a lot fucking farther than just kissing. I had vivid images flash in front of my eyes of clothes coming off, a gasp, a moan, a particularly sharp thrust of hips. Screaming, nails scratching, toes curling. Small kisses, mumbling and kisses, warmth, cuddling, contentment.
My thoughts were relentless and I jumped out of bed, finding no courage to turn and look at the sleeping form I left behind me. I had to get the filth of my thoughts off me. Dream Thea was hence nicknamed Dora because she clearly had no fucking functional brain. Nope, this had to stop. Aiden wouldn't be allowed to come over anymore, and I would not stay over at his no matter what the circumstance.
Not wanting to wake Aiden up with my shower singing ritual, I took a bath in the guest bedroom, washing my hair and letting them airdry. It was always a bit of a gamble letting wavy hair dry on its own, but I'd curled them around my fingers when they were wet, which should ideally create some structure for them. I hoped it worked. I prepared sandwiches for my lunch and set the coffee maker in motion, cleaning the dishes we'd left out last night. That was it. I'd run out of things to do. I had to go in the room and get dressed for the day, and I had no way of delaying it further without getting late to work. I doubted Aiden would have anything to say about it, but Ridgely was on my ass all the time without me offending him somehow.
I couldn't imagine how he'd react to me being late. He looked like a serial killer, so I wouldn't put it past him to find me here and skin me alive.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Aiden walked out of the passageway still rubbing his eyes, looking half adorable and half sexy as hell. He was still wearing his dress pants from last night, the zipper done but the button left hanging. His shirt was bunched up in his hands still. Good Lord have mercy on my poor soul. Do you know how the universe maintains its balance of good and bad luck? This... Watching him like this and knowing how out of reach he was... was where my bad luck had accumulated. Dora would have kissed them. Thea needed to slap herself and then get dressed for the day. Maybe look into the mirror and ask herself if she'd sold away all her shame in the farmer's market.
"You have somewhere to be?" I asked, realizing the stupidity of my question as soon as I said it. My brain hadn't quite caught up with my wakeful state. "I mean, you're the CEO. You can practically come in whenever you please."
"You'll get late if I'm late." He said, "Meet me in the parking lot in half an hour. We'll be cutting it close but I think you'll be fine."
My heart warmed, but before I could build castles in the air, I pulled my feet to the ground and solidly planted myself there. This was my boss. That was a stupid dream. A dream that I would never see again.
Aiden crossed the hallway and disappeared into his apartment, so I did my best to get ready as quickly as I could. White dress, white flats, red lip and soft bits of mascara were all I needed to appear presentable, and I was rushing the elevators as I glanced anxiously at the time on my phone. Luckily my waves had some sort of a definition, but I carried extra hair ties with me anyway so I could tie them later in the day when they decided to lose all shape.
I would most definitely be late to work. From here to the coffee shop was twenty minutes, and then I took another ten minutes to walk from the shop to Steele Park.
Aiden had already pulled his car to the front, and I rushed in, glad that his sporty scent was back. "I'm definitely late. I'll just send a mail to Ridgely."
"Don't." Aiden slapped my phone from my hands, dropping the device in my lap. His touch made me tremble, and I almost hid my disgust at myself too well. "We'll get there in time. And if we don't, you can use my name to get out of it today. It is my fault you got drunk last night."
I shrugged, watching the city pass. I couldn't spend one more day watching him manoeuvre the car and not be fascinated by him. The world outside seemed nicer, more forgiving than any thoughts I was having of him. The beauty of this mess of buildings was that you could be anyone on the streets and nothing mattered at all. You were just another face, just someone occupying space. I thought of how every single one of them had a story to tell. How many were nursing a broken heart?
How many were stupidly falling for someone they couldn't have?
Aiden drove straight past the coffee shop, flooring the accelerator before I could find any sound to voice my question.
"People are going to talk anyway. Might as well reach on time." He answered the unspoken thought. Despite my fears not dying down completely, I let him drive us through the gates of Steele Park.
I don't know man, these two are so cute I love them.
Btw, Bittersweet completed one year on Wattpad yesterday [whoop whoop!] and I did a small Q&A on my Instagram to answer some questions about the story and the characters. It was so much fun! If we schedule something like this for Devil's in the Details, would you guys join me on IG? I can do something around the time I update Chapter 17 on Monday if you guys will be around?