Chapter 1 First bite
"This is a fucking nightmare," a woman muttered at her desk. She bit her thumbnail in frustration as she leaned against the back of the chair. She had to find twelve welders for the various jobs for six different contracts before the end of the week. She hadn't been able to see her friends for the past week since her boss announced the contracts.
She would just shower and pass out every night, waking up to her alarm breaking her only solace. She is so close to closing in on the last deal of the welders, and then they would just need to sort them out. Her job is just to find the talent, not place them, thank fuck.
The janitor stopped by her desk, an elderly woman who always gave her words of encouragement. "It's past time for you to leave, sweetheart," she told her. Her pale skin looked worse under the light, and she could only imagine she looked the same.
"Oh," she looked at her phone, and she had been here an additional hour and some change. "Right," she pushed away from her desk after signing out for the night. "See you tomorrow, Abigale."
"Take care of yourself, dear," Abigale said as she continued with her nightly tasks.
The woman rode the elevator down, and when it opened up, she hurriedly made her way to the subways to catch the earliest train back home. The subway was unusually sparse, all things considered, but she got on the subway just in time with a man she didn't see around slipped in after her.
She stood in front of him. She looked down at her phone, trying to catch up with texts and messages from her friends when his eyes captured hers. She paused and felt her feet move before she realized it.
If tall, dark, and handsome needed a picture next to it, his would do just fine. His suit is extremely well-tailored to show broad and strong shoulders. His long dark hair hung straight past his shoulders, his eyes were captivating and dark pools of liquid, and his facial hair was both dark and well kept.
She didn't remember what she had said to him. She didn't remember what he said to her. The next thing she knew was pure oblivion. She couldn't compare her drinking or other drugs. Everything melted into this feeling she couldn't quite place.
All of her problems disappeared into the darkness she could never place. She vaguely remembered him helping her off the train and then after that. She woke up in her bed in the same clothes as before. She gasped and scrambled to find her phone, thankfully finding it in her person and her apartment keys and other belongings.
She wanted to collapse on her back, but she stopped to check its time. It's just 2:13 AM, which alarmed her to think, where did eight hours of her life go? She sighed and realized how relaxed and how good she felt.
She looked at her body and inspected it as thoroughly as she could anyway and didn't see anything wrong with her body. She hopped in the shower to get a quick one done before she went back to sleep. She practically jumped into bed, happier than she had felt. Well, at least since her manager dropped these contracts on her.
But tomorrow, she'll be done and will be back to her regular tasks as usual. Thankfully the rest of her team had her back, and she really knew that they were there the entire time. Her mind had been so foggy since she plowed into finding welders for the jobs. That… That…
What did that man do to her? She vaguely remembered him but didn't remember what… he did to her. She stared up at the ceiling couldn't quite put her finger on it. She didn't even remember making it to her apartment, only walking off the train with his arm securely around her shoulders, holding her close.
Her heart thudded in her chest as it started to pick up rate, remembering how handsome he was, clearly. She couldn't remember anything else, but how he looked and made her feel caused her body to flush with heat.
"Stop it," she scolded herself. "You have to go to sleep and get into work tomorrow so you can confirm that last guy and go on with your life." She took a deep breath in and let it out. "Just rest up, Arietta, and then it's all done."
She rolled to her side forced her eyes shut to go to sleep.
When her alarm pierced her sleep, it didn't feel jarring or painful to wake up. She didn't want to jinx it, so she got out of bed and ready for her day. Before she knew she was back on the train on the way to work, sitting down scrolling through her newsfeed. She wanted to grab breakfast on the way to work since she really didn't like to waste time at home eating breakfast.
She pleasantly hummed as she walked into the office with her breakfast. She sat at her desk and saw all of the confirmation. It pleased her until she got to the last email when someone had rejected her offer because of the rate. Honestly, her mind felt so clear, and it was as if she had taken a week off of work.
She immediately IM'ed her supervisor what they should do about it. She gave her authorization to up the rate by a dollar and fifty cents. She messaged the temp agency back with the new offer rate, and they would just have to wait for the reply. The rest of the welders were already being processed by their temp agencies to start work next week, with only one lagging behind. They were well ahead of their schedule, and now she had the chance to dig into her other duties.
Around lunchtime, the temp got back with her, stating that this last welder accepted the new offer. She sent the information to other department members. She got up and stretched long and carefree now that the most significant part of her job was done. She leaned down and locked her screen before heading out to get lunch.
"Good job Arietta," her supervisor said from her office as Arietta was walking past it. She knew that Arietta had gone headlong into figuring out where to get the welders and how soon she could get them in.
"Thanks!" Arietta said. "I'm going to head out to get lunch, and I'll be right back."
"Alright, see you in a bit," supervisor said with a nod.
The next couple of days, she had felt great with Arietta being able to catch up on her other duties, and the job seemed to be doing well at least. Today, she got groceries to make her lunch for next week. This Sunday, she planned on prepping for it.
Arietta huffed and shifted large back on her shoulder as the smaller one slipped to the floor.
"Let me help," a deep rumbling voice commanded. She jumped and looked up… at him. Same dark smothering eyes bore into her as she stared at him. It didn't bother him as he just took the large bag on her shoulder and just as easy as if it weighed nothing.
She looked away from him. Remembers nothing about him. Despite his exquisite looks, she remembered him and in the same breath…
"You," she started as she dared to look up at him. He stood up, using the bar to brace himself, but she had a feeling that he didn't need assistance with remaining balanced.
"Yes," he said, but it's an encouragement to continue.
"You don't need to help me," she told him.
"I insist," he said, and they remained quiet from the rest of the train ride to her stop, and he followed behind her with not much crowd between them. When they got to her apartment, she stopped and placed her hand on his chest.
"I don't think I feel comfortable with a man I don't know knowing my exact apartment," she held firm.
"You will let me bring your things upstairs," he said, and her knees almost gave out entirely, and her mind clouded. Of course, she will let him help bring her things upstairs. Her legs numbly led the way to the elevator, and once they were off of it. He led the rest of her way to her room, and she didn't even question it until the fog started to clear just a moment later. "Let's get these things put away before they go bad." He said, and that same feeling clouded her mind hit her in full force. She obediently obeyed him again, showing him where everything went, and he helped her put things in the fridge.
When she finished putting the last bit of it away, she folded out from the sturdy reusable grocery bags and put them in the same spot she always stored them. All while the man sat at her small kitchen table, when she stood up he was suddenly right behind her.
"I tried to stay away from you. Normally never feed on the same kine twice, but you have something exquisite. I'm sorry," he said.
Then, this time she can finally pinpoint how orgasmic this feeling overcame her. It is the best high, the best drink, and the best numbing agent anyone could ever ask for. It relaxed her from all of the pain in her body, all of the worries in her mind disappeared, and the high is the highest peak of highs that could never be overshadowed.
A/N: I had decided to open an A03 account and you can find this on there under ALoverofMany, I won't be transferring all of my fanfics from here to there. But I will be transferring some of them over there.