Taint Me More ☑️

Chapter Ten

"Aria, wait." Brian called after me as I got to the entrance of the museum. "I had to come look for you, I didn't want you to bail on me again. You invited me here, didn't you?"

I stopped mid stride and turned to look at him, "I'm sorry I left like that Brian, I just needed air. Plus you seemed pretty occupied with those women."

"If I remember clearly, you were dancing with your boss," he pointed and I sighed. Too exhausted to argue with him.

"Please, I don't wanna do this Brian. I'm sorry if I ruined your evening" I looked down with a frown.

I was genuinely sorry, Brian didn't deserve all of this. He was too nice to me, I didn't deserve him. I was just a silly girl, who made out with her boss's fiancé at every time she got. It wasn't right, none of this was right.

"I'm sorry" I shook my head as I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. "I'm sorry" I repeated.

"Hey hey, baby. Don't be too hard on yourself," he said coming up to me and taking my hand in his, "you didn't ruin my night" he clarified and looked down at the screen of his phone, "if anything, the night is still young and we can still make the best of it. If you're down." He tilted his head at me and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

I smirked, "what do you have in mind?" I asked and he tapped the screen of his phone as he typed a text message.

"You'll see."

A few minutes later, the limo was parked up front and we got in.

"How would you feel if I brought you to the exact place the very first scene in Love and Charges was shot," Brian asked as the limo slowed. I looked outside the tinted window as we made our way to the entrance of the city fair. The bright lights flashed from afar as we approached.

I turned to Brian, surprise and excitement rushing through me. "No way."

"Have you ever been to a funfair park?" He asked.

"No, but I've always wanted to." I breathed out my reply as I turned to stare out the window.

"Great then, come on let me show you a fun evening," he said and got out of the limo.

I totally lost track of time the moment we stepped into that park. I took in the smell of hot dogs and chips and just everything the fair smelled like.

Once when I was little, my dad promised to take Oriana and me to an amusement park in Italy. He was always busy so we saw his promises as long shots, he worked in an oil and gas industry, his job took him away for really long periods and we wouldn't see him for weeks at times and when he did finally come home, he'd either be working in the city or planning our next move to a different city, or country. He never got to take us to the fair like he'd promised.

And my mom on the other hand never even looked our way, she was too busy criticising our ways of living and how hard it was for us to settle in one place. She worked different jobs till she finally decided to become a cop after we moved to the US.

So when I thought about how my night with Brian happened to be my first night in a place as simple and normal as the fair, I felt the child in my creep out and I grabbed the chance and made the best of it.

"Keep the giraffe." Brian said as the limo slowed and came to a stop in front of my apartment.

I smiled as I stared down at the blue stuffed giraffe he won at a balloon and dart game.

"I totally sucked at all the games I attempted." I said with a throaty laugh and he chuckled.

"Nah. You were fine, I was just better than you in all the games." He smirked at me and I smacked his arm.