The Accidental Slave (Aya's story Part 1) (4 page)

“My fault,” he murmured back slow enough for her
to understand and without releasing his grip on her.
Damn, he’s
strong.

There was something about this man that seemed
familiar and yet Aya couldn’t remember ever meeting him before.
“Have we met?” she asked and tried to remember.

He didn’t answer her but kept staring into her
eyes.

“Are you Italian?” It was one of those
situations where her mouth had spoken without a filter; she was
referring to his light skin color. She smiled, fully aware that she
should pull away from him; but her body refused, and they were
still standing close with his arms around her lower back and her
hands resting on his upper arms.

“No I’m not Italian,” he said.

Step away from him
, her mind shouted but
like a curious child exploring, her hands moved on their own to
touch his shoulders.

He didn’t move but she felt his muscles stiffen
and saw his eyes narrow slightly while his mouth curved up in a
small smile. “What are you doing?” he asked in a low voice and
tightened his grip around her waist, making electric impulses shoot
through her body.

Aya spread her lips to speak and saw his eyes
fall to her mouth. “I don’t know,” she whispered truthfully, and
held her breath when his head moved slightly closer to hers.

“Aya, are you alright?” Aston asked and pulled
her away from the handsome stranger, who didn’t move or take his
eyes off her.

Aya turned her head and looked at Aston. “Yes,
I’m fine.” But she didn’t feel fine. She felt out of breath, and
energized at the same time.

She returned her attention to the stranger.
“Thank you,” she said with a small smile and reached her hand out
to the man. It was like her body was a magnet seeking physical
contact with him. Yet it was completely out of character for her to
act this way. He shook her hand and stroked his thumb on top of
Aya’s hand before Aston put his arm around her shoulder and pulled
her with him.

Looking back at the stranger, Aya saw him
looking after her with a hint of a smile on his face, and then
people were blocking her vision so she couldn’t see him any
longer.

Aston and Aya continued their browsing in the
marketplace, and Aya found herself scouting discreetly for the
young man. Why did he seem so familiar and why had she felt such a
physical pull towards him?

“Don’t even think about it, Aya.” Aston said
casually.

“What?”

“Getting involved with a local.”

Aya shook her head in dismissal. “What are you
talking about?”

“I can see your eyes searching the marketplace
for him, but you are looking in the wrong direction. He’s behind
you to the left.” Aya spun around and saw the man looking at her
from the direction Aston had described. He was leaning against a
car with his arms crossed, not even trying to hide the fact that he
was observing her, and now that she could see him in full scale she
estimated him to be in his mid or late twenties. Their eyes locked
and she felt her heart pound faster again. God, this guy was really
something. Nothing like she had ever been attracted to. He was too
ungroomed for her taste with his unruly hair, his stubble, and torn
t-shirt and yet her whole body reacted to him. His eyes expressed
sadness, danger, and curiosity, and not even all the warning
signals flaring in the back of her mind could suppress the
unexplainable pull she felt towards him.

Aston stepped in front of her, forcing her to
look away from the man. He cupped her face with both his hands and
kissed her.

“Hey, what was that for?” She asked
confused.

“I was doing you a favor. Don’t ever get
involved with a local, Aya. It’s dangerous and always ends
badly.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t even know him.”
Aya forced a chuckle, wondering if that statement was meant for her
or Aston.

“Well, at least now he thinks you’re with me,”
Aston looked happy with himself. “You know, if you’re truly
desperate I could be persuaded to that threesome. After all, I’m
the security officer and if a roll in the hay is what it takes to
keep you safe from alluring locals, then I would be forced to offer
my services, wouldn’t I?” Aston grinned, took Aya’s hand, and
pulled her with him again.

“Thank you, Aston. But I think I better avoid
getting entangled in the crazy love circus that you and Tara have
going.”

“What a shame,” Aston teased.

Aya couldn’t help looking toward the car that
the stranger had been leaning against, but he was gone now. The
feeling of disappointment surprised her, and she shook her head as
if she could physically shake off the feeling of having met someone
significant that she should recognize, but didn’t.

Kato watched the blond woman move away and
scowled. She had just looked at the car where she last saw him, but
he had moved, trying to get closer to her. He considered walking up
to her and asking her what she was doing here, but from the guy’s
uniform he already knew they were from Spread Life, so she was most
likely either a doctor or a nurse, and her name was Aya. At least
that was what the man had called her. Kato tried to understand what
had just happened and why he was so shaken by his encounter with
her.

At first when he bumped into her he had only
seen a swarm of blond hair but then she had lifted her pretty face
and looked at him with the clearest blue eyes he had ever seen.
They had been full of innocence and goodness, and he hadn’t been
able to stop looking at her while taking in her fresh scent and the
feeling of softness from her body. It had been like something from
a different lifetime, something so far from the darkness he was
surrounded by lately, and it had taken him back to better times of
peace and tranquility.

Kato was trying to guess the woman’s origin and
remembered her low melodious voice when she had asked him if he was
Italian. He guessed her to be Scandinavian of some kind and a few
years younger than him. Why had she touched his shoulders like
that? He could still recall the fascinated look in her eyes, so
full of wonder, and she had been in no rush to pull away from him.
He felt his blood pump faster at the thought of her closeness.

And the man. Who was he? Kato had seen him put
his arm around her and kiss her, so he concluded they were more
than colleagues – although he hadn’t seen any rings on their
fingers. Kato stared after Aya as she walked on with the other man
holding her hand.

It was unexplainable and irrational to Kato but
he felt a burning jealousy towards that man. He tried hard to stop
his own hypnotic stare at her, but he just couldn’t. The best he
could do was stay out of sight and not approach them. He wouldn’t
even know what to say to her anyway. He had nothing to offer
someone like her; she was a dream from a different life and he
would only be torturing himself by speaking to her.

As soon as the couple got in their car and left
the marketplace, Kato sighed and collected himself, and then he
remembered what he was here to do. At a quick pace he pressed
through the stream of people. He didn’t like places like these.
There were too many people and too many things happening at once
for him to have control of the situation. He needed to pick up some
supplies and head back to the Masi headquarters right away.

Aya

The rest of the day Aya thought about the man
from the marketplace. His amber eyes, his good looks and the
pulsating connection between them. Why had she reacted so strongly
towards him? Had he felt it too?

She hadn’t told Tara because really… there was
nothing to tell, and Tara was so restless that night and kept
pacing the floor between their beds.

“I wish Aston would admit his feelings to me,”
Tara complained.

“What do you mean?” Aya asked, suppressing the
need to say, “Here we go again.”

“I mean, we’ve been seeing each other for four
months and I’ve told him I love him, but he just won’t say the same
to me.”

“Are you sure he loves you then?”

“Of course he loves me. I mean he’s horny all
the time. He can’t get enough of me and I feel the same way about
him.”

“Okay… but love and lust aren’t always the same
thing… you know that, right?”

Tara snorted at her. “Don’t be stupid. I’m
twenty-four, not fourteen; of course I know the difference. But
Aston loves me all right, he just won’t admit it to himself.”

Aya waited for Tara to continue, knowing that
she soon would.

“I’m leaving in two weeks and I want him to come
home to England with me. God knows he’s been in the war for long
enough…”

“So what’s the problem?”

Tara rolled her eyes and with a high-pitched
voice she pointed out the obvious: “That he won’t go with me, of
course.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s scared.”

Aya frowned. Scared was not something she
connected with Aston. He was incredibly tough to look at with his
army hair, his muscled body, and his sharp intelligent eyes. There
wasn’t anything that signaled fear about him.

“Scared?” Aya repeated as an invitation for Tara
to elaborate.

“Yeah, he’s scared of loving me. I know he is.
But I’m going to ask him to marry me.”

Aya swallowed air. “Really? Do you think that’s
wise?”

Tara pouted. “Why not?”

“I just worry that…”

“That he’ll reject me?”

“Well.”

“I don’t think he will. I think he needs to see
my commitment and then he’ll allow himself to love me back.”

“But Tara, why would you want to marry someone
who isn’t crazy about you?”

Tara raised her voice. “Aston
is
crazy
about me. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

Aya wasn’t so sure, but she wished Tara good
luck when she left the tent.

Half an hour later Tara came storming back,
sobbing and cursing Aston to hell. Aston came storming after her
and Aya left the tent with big eyes. The level of drama between the
two really was extreme. Aya had nowhere to go and didn’t feel like
wandering around the camp at night. It wasn’t safe. She stayed
outside the tent and waited, trying to distract herself from the
heated discussion inside the tent, but their loud voices made it
impossible.

“I’m sorry Tara, it’s not you.”

“Right, the good old ‘It’s not you, it’s me’
phrase!”

“Honestly. I’ll never marry anyone. That’s just
the way it is.”

“Who made that stupid rule?”

“I did,” Aston said firmly.

“Why?” Tara demanded.

“Because I don’t want to marry.”

“So what do you want, Aston? What happens in two
weeks when I leave?” Tara was sniffling.

“I don’t know, Tara, but if you are looking for
a long-term relationship I’m not your guy.”

“Screw you, bastard. You love me!”

“Tara, I…”

“Say it!

“Say it!”

Aya could hear Tara break down crying and then
something was thrown around the tent.

“Stop it, Tara.” Aston’s voice was low and
commanding. It sounded like muffled rumbling.
Are they
fighting?

“Please, Aston. I need it.” Tara’s voice was low
and begging.

“Don’t! Tara, stop it, this is a bad idea. I
can’t give you what you need.”

“Yes, you can. You just don’t want to.”

“Tara, stop. Please stop… Oh, fuck… that’s not
fair.” Aya could hear a low growl from Aston, and from the sucking
sounds coming from the tent she had a good idea why Tara was
suddenly so silent.

Aya rolled her eyes.
Why can’t they do that
in his tent?

The soundtrack of a live porn performance inside
the tent made Aya’s thoughts go back to the guy from the
marketplace. She remembered his masculine fragrance and his calming
voice, but most of all his amber brown eyes connecting to hers so
electrifyingly. How many men had she met in her life? Thousands if
not tens of thousands, and yet this type of reaction was a
first-time experience for her. She had read about it in books and
seen it portrayed in films, but she never believed it was possible
in reality and had always sworn she needed to know a man well
before she could be intimate with him.

But her reaction to this guy was purely
physical. She didn’t know his name, his age, his preferences, his
beliefs, or anything else. Her attraction to him was raw and
animalistic, and she felt grateful she would never see him again. A
desire so primal was surely dangerous.

From what she could hear from the tent, Aston
had given up resisting Tara and was instead ordering her into
different positions, something that Tara had revealed he liked to
do. Another piece of information from Tara suddenly annoyed Aya
when she remembered Tara bragging that Aston could go on all
night.

It was late, Aya was tired, and she wanted to go
to bed and sleep. She considered going to Aston’s tent and crashing
in his bed, leaving the tent to him and Tara; and she considered
sneaking in and hoping they would be so captivated in their
lovemaking that they wouldn’t realize she was there, but eventually
she heard what sounded like a climax and five minutes later she
politely called: “Are you done now, can I go to bed?”

She heard giggling from Tara, and Aston’s deep
voice called her in.

Tara looked happy again and Aston had that glow
of sex around him.

“Sorry for keeping you out of bed,” Aston
apologized. “But to be fair, we did offer you to join us.”

Tara giggled again but Aya ignored them both and
snuggled into her bed. She just wanted to sleep and maybe dream of
amber brown eyes.