Chapter 16

Alina

“... na... Al... Alina...”
I groaned as the pounding in my head increased. Who on Earth was calling me? Couldn’t they see that I was sleeping? What was this feeling... like something wet was hitting my face?
“Ugh!” I covered my eyes with my hands even though they were closed. Why was there so much light? Where was I?
“Alright, Cinderella, get up!” someone snapped near my ears, startling me into opening my eyes. I closed them again, a groan escaping my mouth.
It took me some time to adjust my eyes to the bright light in the room. When my vision cleared, I saw that I was back in Erick’s beach house in the same blue room. This time, thankfully, I still had my own clothes on, and it was still daytime. Erick sat on the same chair next to the bed as he did the first time he brought me here two days ago.
“Hmmm... I’m thinking Faintasia. No, that just sounds like Fantasia. Oh, I know! Faintista!”
“What?” I clutched my head in my hands. Why did it feel like Erick was screaming, and who on Earth was hammering the walls? Oh wait, that was my skull.
“You keep fainting on me all the time, so I just gave you a nickname!” Erick said with a flourish of his hand then began drinking from his champagne flute. “Gotta say, it’s pretty cool. Faintista.”
“Mind changing it to Erickophobia?” I glared at him, removing my hands from my head as the throbbing dulled a bit. “Since as far as I remember, you were the cause of it, both times! And why the hell do I stink of alcohol?”
“Not my fault you didn’t tell me you weren’t feeling well. I should’ve known you can’t handle all this charm,” Erick retorted. “Also, I didn’t have time to find any water, so I sprinkled some of my champagne on your face.” He held up the flute with an innocent smile. It only fuelled my anger.
“Oh, I can handle charm alright, just not from my psycho rapist!” I threw back the covers, turned to place my feet on the ground, and sat up facing him. “And what the hell, Erick! Next time you can’t find water, find a better substitute than champagne!”
“What? You want me to make you smell my socks?” He put down the flute on the bedside table with a bang and came to stand in front of me. “Don’t worry, Your Highness. I’ll gladly try that the next time you faint, Faintista! What was that again? You sure you can handle my charm?”
“I-I um...” Damn it! Why did I have to stutter at a time like this?
“Let’s test that, shall we?”
The next instant, I was lying on the bed with Erick on top of me, his lips entangled with mine. His hands held my face, and his legs were in between my own. My arms instinctively wrapped around his neck and his hair, pulling him closer to my body.
It didn’t take me long to get lost in his kiss and be intoxicated by his touch. His lips left mine, much to my displeasure, but he came back to kiss down my neck and suck on it. His fangs grazed my skin, causing a ripple of pleasure and pain to travel down my spine. That was when I was reminded of another kiss from another night.
Erick, stop! Please!
Why are you doing this? What’s gotten into you?
“No!” I pushed at his chest as hard as I could, breaking free. I gulped in huge gusts of air into my lungs as they burned with deprivation.
“No. No....” I shook my head, trying to get the kiss out of my mind, but it stayed there, along with the feeling of emptiness that took place as soon as Erick’s lips left mine. “Stop! Stop doing this to me!” I wrapped my arms around myself tightly. It felt so cold. Just like that night.
“Stop fighting it!” he snapped, grabbing my shoulders roughly and tugging up my chin to meet his eyes. “You’re my fiancée, for Hades’ sake! We’re getting married in fifteen days! Why are you still trying to avoid it?”
“Because every time I let you come close to me, I remember what you did four years ago, and I feel like I’m suffocating to death!”
The silence that followed was unexpected. Erick removed his hands from me like he had been burned. He got up from the bed and moved away from me as far as possible. I couldn’t read his face and for some reason, I really wanted to know what he felt right now. Was he in pain? Was he happy watching me suffer? Did he regret that night? All these emotions kept swelling up inside me until they were choking me.
“I-I...” I covered my face with my hands, not wanting to show him my tears. I didn’t want to be weak, but all the walls I built these past four years took him only a few days to crumble down. It left me vulnerable and helpless. “I c-can’t b-breathe. I-I can’t....”
My face was buried in my hands, and my whole body shook with the force of the sobs that racked through me.
“Alina! You need to calm down.” I felt the bed dip as he sat next to me, placing his hands on my shoulders again. I couldn’t calm down and on the verge of hyperventilating. I was struggling to get air into my lungs, and even his presence wasn’t enough to calm me down.
“Alina.” He took my face in his hands again. “Look at me, Alina. Alina!”
My vision cleared just enough that I could distinguish his face.
“Deep breaths, Alina. I’m right here. I won’t let anything happen to you. Breathe, just breathe.”
I didn’t know how he did it, but with each word he spoke, I felt my breathing ease. My lungs expanded and contracted, letting air pass through freely. My vision cleared enough to see the worry on Erick’s face before I collapsed onto his chest.
He didn’t say anything and simply wrapped me in his arms, holding me till my head was no longer spinning.
“Who’s Emiel?” I breathed out, my voice barely having any strength in it.
“No—” He stopped me when I made a sound of protest. “You’ve been through enough today. I’ll tell you tomorrow, I promise. Can you stand?” he added.
I nodded my head. I only felt a little dizzy. Apart from that, I felt alright… as alright as someone can feel after nearly being thrown off a cliff.
“Good. I’ll take you to the shower. I’ll leave some of my clothes inside, so clean up and change while I get dinner.”
Despite my protests, he took me into his arms and carried me to the huge en-suite bathroom. He placed me on the marble counter next to the sink. Then he got me a change of clothing and shut the door on his way out.
I hopped off, correcting my balance as I got a bit wobbly on my feet, and locked the door. Then I took off my alcohol smelling dress and put them in the laundry basket. Turning the shower on, I stood under the scalding hot water and let it run down my body, washing away all my worries with it. After the shower, I dried up and let my hair down to dry on its own. I then got dressed in the black sweatpants and green t-shirt Erick got me and came out of the bathroom.
It was the first time I noticed how beautiful Erick’s beach house was. It was spacious, modern, and private. Yet, it was close enough to the town that you didn’t have to drive an hour to get your groceries. Erick brought me dinner, some Harissa spicedcouscous and chicken stake. He didn’t eat but kept me company as I devoured my dinner.
Afterwards, he sat next to me on the bed, watching over me until I fell asleep.
A lot remained unsaid between us. Indeed, there were still a gazillion of things to clear out. For that, I would have to wait till tomorrow. I was sure I would need this night’s sleep very much if I was to survive the next day.