Chapter 9: Aftershock

Layla opened her eyes the next morning and shot up from her pillow with a gasp. She scanned the room. Thankfully there were no uninvited guests sulking in the corners.

The morning sun shone brightly through her window and had effectively scared off the shadows of the night. She looked at the clock and realized that she had slept in until ten. Her first class was in thirty minutes and at that moment, Layla knew that she wasn't going to make it on time.

With a groan, Layla crawled to the foot of the bed and reached down to grab her cell phone out of her pants pocket from the night before. Phone in hand, Layla crawled back under the covers and unlocked her phone.

Of course, there was a text from Mia, wondering how her night with Ryan had gone. To her disappointment, there was no text from Ryan, which gave Layla a pang of guilt.

Layla opened a text message to Mia.

Layla: I need an emergency latte :P I'm going to take the day off.

Mia: Uh-oh… what happened?

Layla: I'll tell you when you get here…

Mia: K.. talk soon. <3

With that, Layla stood and grabbed her robe from the chair by the bed, and slipped it on. She went into the kitchenette and grabbed a glass of orange juice before walking back toward the bed. Her eyes landed on the spot where she had imagined Atreus the night before and she stopped dead.

The image of Atreus crawling across the bed toward her like a predator flashed in her mind. The feeling of his hand in her hair and baring her neck to his mouth curled her stomach with twisted pleasure. She could have sworn on her life that it was real. But there was no way that he could have appeared and disappeared as he did. It had to be another dream.

Layla took a deep drink of her orange juice and sat on the edge of the bed. Then she thought of Ryan and the look on his face when she saw him last. With a sigh, Layla put her glass on her bedside table and opened her phone to send Ryan a text.

Layla: Ryan, I feel awful about last night. Can I make it up to you? Maybe I can take you out to lunch later… let me know.

She stared at the text for a moment before hitting send. With a sigh, Layla flopped back on the bed and closed her eyes.

Before she knew it, she woke from a light sleep to someone knocking on the door. Layla stood and walked to the door and looked through the peephole. When she saw Mia on the other side, she opened the door to let her friend in.

Mia gave her a questioning look while holding out a latte to her. "Special delivery," she said, walking inside and shutting the door behind her.

"You are a goddess, thank you," Layla said, walking back to her bed and curling her feet underneath herself before taking a long sip of the coffee.

Mia plopped down on the fluffy chair next to the bed and looked at Layla as she nursed her coffee.

"So, what happened?" Mia asked cautiously. "I know you, you would only miss class if the world was on fire."

Layla blew a raspberry in exasperation. "Dude, you are not going to believe what happened. Guess who crashed my date last night?"

Mia took a sip of her coffee. "Your mom."

Layla snorted. "That would have been better than the truth… it was Atreus, Mia. ATREUS."

Mia almost spits her coffee out as her eyes widened in shock. "Shut the f*ck up…" she said every syllable louder than the last. Layla nodded; her eyes wide in the re-shock of what she had just said.

"Like… the Adonis from Rome, Atreus? Like your future husband Atreus?" Mia asked.

"Like the guy that I met halfway across the globe and shows up out of nowhere, Atreus," Layla reaffirmed.

"Holy sh*t… what did he say? What did he do?" Mia asked, her eyes wide.

"He pretty much told me that I was his to claim and was wondering what I was doing out with Ryan," Layla said with a scowl. "Like what kind of lunatic does that?"

"Either a rich lunatic or a sociopathic lunatic," Mia said matter-of-factly. "Here's hoping he is prior."

"I don't care if he is rich or not!" Layla said exasperated. "Who the he*ll does he think he is? He bailed on me after our date and I never heard from him. I assumed I would never see him again! Then he shows up out of the blue and drops this crap?"

"Girl, this is like some telenovela sh*t," Mia said, still in awe. "It's kinda hot."

Layla threw her friend a dirty look. "It's weird, Mia. Like, freak me out and make me want to change my name kinda weird."

"Well, it's not hard to track people on social media nowadays. Maybe he found you online-"

"-and stalked me to the nightclub with another man?" Layla interrupted. "Still not ok."

"Yeah, totally. Do you want to come and stay at my place for a while?" Mia asked seriously. "I would totally understand if you didn't want to stay here alone."

Layla sighed loudly before taking a drink of her own coffee. "I don't know, maybe… first I gotta make it up to Ryan. God, last night was so embarrassing!"

"How did he take it?" Mia asked curiously.

"He was crushed," Layla groaned. "He thought that I was involved with Atreus and most likely feels betrayed."

"Layla, don't do that to yourself," Mia said sternly. "You're not in a relationship with Ryan and you don't owe him any explanation. Ryan might be seeing other women for all we know."

"I guess," Layla said with a sigh.

"So, what are you going to do?" Mia asked.

"I've got to make it up to Ryan," Layla said with a sigh.

Layla took that moment to check her phone to see if Ryan responded back. To her surprise, there was a text from him waiting for her.

Ryan: Sure… I'm out of class in about an hour. I'll call you.

Layla: Ok, sounds good.

"Well, I've got a lunch date with Ryan," Layla said.

"I wonder if Atreus will show up," Mia said teasingly.

Layla threw Mia a dirty look before letting out a sigh and flopping back onto the bed.

"What are you going to do about Atreus?" Mia asked.

"I really don't know," Layla said with a long sigh. "I told him to back off last night. Who knows if I'll ever see him again."

***

Layla was sitting at a local sandwich shop down the street from campus waiting for Ryan to arrive. She sat across from the deli counter and watched mindlessly as people chose the ingredients for their sandwiches. There was a comforting scent of baking bread in the air and the sound of people chatting echoed through the room.

She followed the designs of the wooden table she was seated at as her mind reeled over yesterday. She still couldn't believe that Atreus had found her here. And the weird dream she had of him in her apartment that felt so real… what the h*ll was going on?

Just then Ryan slipped into the chair in front of her and gave her a sheepish grin.

"Hey you," he said.

"Hi," Layla said with a smile. "How was class?"

Ryan let out a long sigh. "It was all right. How about yours?"

"I skipped today," Layla said with a shrug. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"I see," Ryan said, watching her for a moment.

A moment of awkward silence passed between them.

"Listen… about last night-" Layla was cut off by Ryan holding up his hand.

"Layla, you don't need to apologize again," he said with a kind smile. "I mean, it was definitely weird. But it wasn't your fault."

"Thanks," Layla said sheepishly. "It was weird. I couldn't believe it was happening."

Ryan nodded and tapped his fingers on the table. "So, that guy, he seemed… aggressive."

Layla pictured the murderous look on Atreus' face and couldn't argue with Ryan's assessment.

"I've never seen him like that," Layla muttered, feeling embarrassed about the situation all over again. "But I can see what you mean."

"No offense, but I'm worried about you," Ryan said genuinely. Layla looked at Ryan's face which was filled with concern. "I know it's none of my business… but I don't want to see you get hurt."

As much as Layla was freaked out by Atreus' sudden arrival, she never felt physically scared of him. But it wasn't like she knew him all that much anyway. She could understand Ryan's concern.

"Thank you, Ryan," she said giving him a comforting smile. "I promise that nothing like that is going to happen. I don't think I'll be seeing him again anyway."

But a part of Layla doubted the truth in her words.