The Mission

Chapter 4

That night, after dinner and some whiskey, everyone made their way back to their rooms and got ready for bed. Tomorrow you would all start planning the first smuggle.

Ari opened the door to the hut and you followed closely by, nearly tripping over your feet.

"Whoopsie," you hiccupped out, perhaps a bit tipsy from those shots of whiskey you were doing with Jake.

Ari laughed, straightening you up and you opened the curtain to your room. Unfortunately there was no door attached between the two bedrooms, but there was at least a curtain so you could change in privacy. You pulled your clothes off your warm body and dug through your drawers. Knowing it would be very hot here, you only packed loose and comfortably pajamas. Slipping the t-shirt over your head was easy, but when it came to your shorts, you were having a bit of a problem. After getting your right leg through the leg hole, you started to trip and just as you got your left leg through the opposite hole of the shorts, you fell down onto your butt.

"Hey, are you alright in there?" Ari asked but all you could respond with was laughter. You heard the curtain open as you forced your eyes open from laughing to hard. There, you saw Ari standing in the doorway with just a pair of shorts hanging low on his hips; no shirt. His physique alone shut you up, your mouth going dry as you took in just how buff he truly was. His biceps were a lot bigger than you thought they were, and so were his thighs as you could see from his shorter shorts. Your eyes roamed up and down his body, landing on his toned stomach. All you wanted to do was run your hands through his dark chest hair; you had to clench your legs to stop the throbbing.

"Fuck," you whispered so quietly, you hoped he wouldn't hear you.

In the blink of an eye, Ari was crouched down in front of you. "Are you hurt?" the concern evident in his voice and in his eyes.

"I'm-I'm fine Ari. Really. Just slipped on the tile while getting dressed is all." He held out his hand, helping you stand up but with more force than you were expecting. Your hands landed on his chest, stopping you from tumbling forward and into him. "Sorry," you muttered, taking your hands off of him much to your dismay. His chest was hard and felt amazing under your hands.

"It's ok Y/N. I don't mind," there was a slight tease to his voice and you whipped our head up, meeting his eyes with yours. He winked before speaking, "You must be a lightweight when it comes to drinking."

Nodding, you agreed. "I am. I don't drink that often and tonight I'm going to blame Jake since he's the one that brought out the whiskey."

Ari laughed, agreeing with you. He placed his arms around you, giving you a hug and you could have sworn in your tipsy state that you felt his lips brush up against the tip of your head. "Goodnight Y/N."

"Night Ari."

Dropping down onto your bed, you let out a deep sigh. Well, one thing was for sure; Ari was definitely a flirt but you didn't mind one bit. Thinking back, it had been so long since you being with a man. In fact, it was in Tonga where met your ex-boyfriend. He was also a volunteer with the Peace Corps and you fell in love with his warm and kind heart. But once you moved back home, you broke it off with him as you didn't want to deal with a long distance relationship and you couldn't mentally or emotionally handle a relationship at the moment. But now, you lay there at night, all alone and what you wouldn't give to have someone next to you to cuddle with.

Exhaustion took over and you closed your eyes, finally happy to get some sleep; but again, your happiness didn't last long. It had been months since the nightmares stopped, but tonight, they came on full force.

"Y/N!" you heard someone calling your name, hands on your body shaking you awake. "Y/N, wake up!"

Your eyes opened and you jolted upright, startled. With your eyes darting around the room, you began to panic as your heart raced inside your chest. Placing a hand on your chest and your head on your knees, you tried to take deep breaths, but it wasn't working.

"Hey, sshhh, it's alright," Ari softly spoke as he placed a hand at your back. "Just breathe." His calming voice and soothing hand helped you regulate your breathing. Finally being able to breathe regularly, you took a deep breath through your nose as you lay back in bed. Placing your hands over your face in mortification of having Ari see you like this, you cursed, "Fuck!"

Months, it had been months! Ever since you moved into your apartment in Jerusalem, that's when the nightmares had stopped. You were finally in your own place, surrounded by your own belongings to help comfort you. But now, you were somewhere you had never been, surrounded by people you had just met.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ari asked as he placed a on your wrist, trying to pry your hands from your face.

"I can't. Not right now," came your muffled reply. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn't keep your tears at bay. You lay there crying as Ari did what he could to comfort you; rubbing his hand up and down your arm. It was comforting you, just him being there with you in that moment.

When your tears subsided, you felt the bed jostle and you pulled your hands from your face to see Ari walking back to his room.

"Wait," you cried out as you shot up in bed, not wanting him to leave. "Will you stay with me tonight?" You completely understood if he wouldn't; hell, you had just met the man a little over a week ago and today was the first day you had actually spent any time with him. But there was a comforting quality to him that you were pulled to and you felt as if you would sleep better with him by your side.

He paused in the doorway, not turning around to face you. Your heart slowly began to beat faster with each breath as you waited. Ari marched forward, walking into his room and you dropped back down onto the bed, feeling defeated that you wouldn't get any sleep that night.

Only mere seconds passed as Ari came back into your room; his own pillow in his hand. Moving over on the bed to give him room, he lifted the covers and lay down next to you.

"Thank you," you whispered softly, sniffling back from the few stray tears that dropped from your eyes.

Ari's arm outstretched and went behind your back, pulling you closer to him. Rolling onto your side, you snuggled into his warmth. He grasped your hand and placed it on his chest; your body finally beginning to relax.

"You don't need to thank me Y/N. We leave no one behind. And not just physically. If someone on my crew is having a hard time, I'm going to see what I can do what I can to fix that."

You didn't trust your voice to speak so you only nodded your head before relaxing it on his chest. Closing your eyes, you let the steady beating of his heart lull you back to sleep.