An Unforgettable Birthday (2)

Alicia's POV

The next morning, the first thing that hit me was how heavy my eyelids felt.

I groaned as I came to, and it took me some time to force my eyes open. My mouth felt like there was cotton in it and I pushed myself to sit up.

I nearly cursed out loud. What happened?

‘Oh no,’ I thought, as my vision cleared up and I realized I wasn’t back at my apartment.

My legs felt sore, as did my back. As I swung my legs over the bed, I pressed my lips together, a whimper rising in my throat. I looked down at myself and realized I was naked.

I left the bed, shuffling away and still trying to piece together last night when I heard a noise behind me. My heart stopped. I turned around slowly to see a man on the bed.

No. Not just any man, but the man I had spent the night in the club talking to.

Acker Madden. I remembered his name. 

It was clear what happened between us by how naked we both were. A shiver rolled down my spine as I glanced at the toned musculature of the man covered partly by the sheets.

He was…impressive.

Memories rushed through my head, blurred and drunken. We had talked for a long time and I had ended up spilling a lot of my life story to him. I had embarrassed myself and yet…

I remembered the deep British burr of his voice that could only be classified as sexy.

Seeing him shift on the bed, I was startled.

‘Damn,’ I hissed to myself. A one night stand. That was all this was. I couldn't stay here. I had to get out. Now!

Shame filled my body but I still endeavored to move as quietly as possible. I began to pick up my clothes. The dress Daya had lent me was all shades of difficult to put on, but I didn’t have a choice.

“Just a one night stand. Nothing more.”  I whispered to myself, stopping short as I reached the door to look at his sleeping form one last time. 

“I'm sorry. Thank you for last night. Goodbye.”

Before Acker could ever wake up and see me, I rushed out of the hotel room, my heart pounding and mouth dry. It wasn't until I was in a taxi that I let myself relax.

My eyes closed. The drunken memories from last night filled my mind, hot and heavy and made my heart race. It would take a long time to forget him, that much was true. He had been the sole outlier to my safe ordinary days after all.

Last night was…unexpected. I wouldn't have believed that I was capable of going outside my comfort zone, but that would be an outlier, not the norm.

That charismatic, influential presence he bore in the club was magnetic at the moment, but it was also dangerous. People who looked like he did were also those with the worst capabilities. No matter how caught up I was in the moment, I knew better than to make myself known or seen.

Stay invisible. Stay safe. Stay protected. That was the key to my perfect life.

Resting against the car window I sighed, blissfully unaware of what the rest of the future held.

Just like I wouldn't be aware until later that for the entire time I had been awake, Acker Madden was fully conscious and had heard every single thing.

…

I stifled a yawn, drifting towards the clock before fixing my eyes on the remaining paperwork the manager tasked me with. Hours had passed since my escape— if it could be called that, and now I was at work. For some reason, I felt slightly more energetic than usual. It was 10am, yet I had already accomplished two tasks of the work day. It was enough to make me happier.

I was hoping to get a promotion that would give me a good enough raise to move out of my small apartment soon. That was the only big goal I had. If I sorted through these, I would be one step closer to it.

I reached for the next file when the soor opened.

“Where did you go last night?”

Daya’s loud voice  startled me as she said those words. She entered my tiny cubicle office without a preamble and sat on the only other chair inside it, fixing her brown eyes outlined in black eyeliner on me.

“I didn’t see you in the club yesterday. I forgot to call you when Jimmy and I left but…I suppose you took care of yourself.” she asked nonchalantly in my speechlessness but suddenly narrowed her eyes, “You didn’t do anything too out there, did you?” 

“I-I don’t know what you mean,” I said, looking away, “You were the one who left me behind.”

I felt disgruntled at her presence, yet another perk of us working together. Despite being in the same position and similar workloads, she acted like she had all the time in the world. She always had a habit of inserting herself into my office, even on the busiest of days to talk mostly about herself. No matter how I refused, she would constantly ignore it, demanding until I eventually got used to it.

Usually I would entertain her, but not this time. For some reason I didn't want her to know last night. It was better to speak vaguely and let her come to her own assumptions.

Maybe then she would get the drift and go back to actually working for once.

“Oh whatever. You probably went home early anyway. Guess not even that dress helped,” she snorted, a derisive look on her face that was gone before I could understand what she meant. “Anyway, I just stepped in because I’m going out for a shopping trip. I need a new dress to meet that agent, you know. Cover for me you know where my files are.”

I blinked in shock.

“Daya, wait—”

Before I could say something else, she was off, her heels clicking out of my cubicle of an office, leaving me alone.

I sighed. Another day and another instance of me picking up the slack on her behalf while she chased questionable dreams.

‘She’s your friend’, I reminded myself. 

I sighed and stood to head to the manager’s office to explain that Daya had another medical emergency and needed to head to the hospital.

By nighttime once I was done I would get to our apartment and eat the leftover pizza I'd refrigerated with an old neighbor's help two nights ago. Daya would likely arrive late, gushing about the opportunity or heading to a new club, all while I struggled to stay awake listening to it. It was a regular cycle. The rest of today was going to pass by uneventfully, and that was okay.

Yet as I went about my day, all I could think about were the stormy eyes and striking face I had met under the strobe lights and pounding music of the club.

 …