One word, ouch.
The moment I opened my eyes the first thing I noticed was the back of my head was throbbing, the second was that I wasn't alone.
"Are you alright?" He asked, his deep voice sending shivers down my spine.
The guy from the locker room was crouched down in front of me and looking down at me with intense eyes as he stared directly into mine, a stoic expression on his face.
I didn't know what to say, so I nodded my head and pushed my hands against the sand to sit up, my head painfully throbbing in the process.
"You shouldn't move, you hit your head pretty hard on that bottle." He man said, just as I felt his large hand touch my shoulder.
His touch felt electric, and hot, making me shift away from him as I stared at his hand as he moved it back, it was so foreign and weird, but I didn't hate it.
I was pretty sure I had a concussion, because there was no way I really got electrocuted by his touch.
"M-My friends-" I turned to look around to see that police had shown up and were questioning Auster and Aaron.
"They're fine." The man's voice came off as rough, as he stood up to his full height, making me look back at him.
I don't know why but suddenly I felt like I had just annoyed him, but I have no idea how.
I was starting to feel a bit better, so I got to my feet and held the back of my head with my hand, luckily, I wasn't bleeding, it just looks like I hit my head and passed out.
Cool, I passed out from a bottle, and not in a cool drunk way either.
"Thanks for um... looking after me." I say to him, smiling awkwardly, as his eyes never left mine.
I only now just noticed that he was shirtless and still in swim trunks, his hair was damp at the ends and his friends were waiting nearby where the cars were next to the beach.
It felt awkward being next to him, he was clearly out of my league, even if I was interested in his mysterious vibes he was giving off, there was no way he'd be interested in me, practically a kid compared to the women he was with.
"I should get back to my friends, and so should you." I say to him, bending down to pick up my shoes and my bag.
The moment I stood back up I felt dizzy, and two warm hands touch me, helping me stand up, suddenly his face is inches from mine as he stares into my eyes, I could feel my face suddenly get hot.
"Let me take you to the hospital, you might have a concussion."
Well... no shit, I wanted to say, but stopped myself as I bit the inside of my cheek.
"Thank you but-"
"Aelia?" A worried voice calls out as I turn around and see that it's Aaron, with Auster.
"I'm so sorry, are you okay?" He asked, putting his hand on my shoulder, as he shifted to look at the back of my head.
"Is she okay?" Auster asked the man, who I still didn't know the name of, or who he was.
"She needs to get checked out at a hospital." His deep voice says, not missing the way his eyes hardened at Aaron's hand on my shoulder.
"He offered to take me." I pitched in, cringing from the pain.
"What?" Auster frowned.
"Yeah, but I'm just going to catch a cab." I said before turning to the dark eyed man. "Thank you for the offer."
He simply nodded his head before his eyes went to the group he arrived with, then he sighed out and looked back to me before walking past me, holding is shirt gripped tightly in his hand as he walked back to his friends.
"Who was that?" Auster asks.
"Forget who he was, I'm so sorry Aelia, I never meant for you to get hurt." Aaron said, genuine guilt on his face.
"It's fine, seriously, but that guy was right, I need to go get this checked out." I smiled and pointed to my head.
Aaron and Auster's faces fell as they nodded their heads, they walked me off the beach and to the car park as Aaron called me a cab on his phone as Auster had kept his arm around my waist the whole time to make sure I didn't fall.
I instantly noticed the mysterious good-looking man with his friends as he climbed into a red pickup truck while the rest of his group went into a different car, and for some reason, I couldn't help but wonder why he came over to help me.
I watched him drive off past me and I felt his eyes looking at me as he drove by, and the oddest feeling overcame me, I couldn't explain it, but I didn't want him to go.
My head must be really messed up if I'm thinking such weird things about somebody, I don't even know the name to.
Luckily, the taxi arrived, both brothers got into the car with me and demanded that they come with me, to make sure I get home alright afterwards, which I didn't argue with, it felt nice to have someone look out for you.
The next day I woke up in my bed feeling incredibly fresh, considering the night I had.
My alarm went off as usual, so did what I always did, I got ready for work after my morning shower, and after my breakfast I headed out and started the fifteen-minute walk towards work.
I was cleared by the doctors on call last night and was just told to avoid landing on any more bottles as the concussion wasn't that bad and I only had a bump on the back of my head.
Even so, apart from a small bump and little pain, I felt fine, I was just happy that it wasn't too bad, and I got to go home to sleep in my own bed, and not pay a hefty hospital bill.
Exactly fifteen minutes later I got to work and greeted the girl at the front desk before I made my way to the locker room to drop my bag off before we opened.
I was teaching a summer class for children learning to swim today, so I didn't want to take the day off and make someone fill in for me, and there was the fact I loved working with kids and seeing them happily enjoy themselves in the water.
Reaching the locker room, I opened the door and to my surprise, someone was already here, somebody I recognized.
"Oh." What was he doing here?
"Good morning." He said, turning to face me before closing his locker.
Was I daydreaming or was he actually here? "Uh, good morning." What do I say?
Does he work here? I wanted to ask but I felt so awkward and shy around him for some reason, and just simply looking at him made me confused.
I could feel him still staring at me when I opened my locker. "How's your head?"
"Oh, fine, thank you." I cleared my throat. "The doctor said I was lucky it wasn't that bad, just a bump on my head." I said, grabbing my work swimsuit from my locker before turning to face him.
He hummed out, crossing his arms as he stared at me.
"So... do you uh, work here?" I tried to ask casually, but it just came out as weird. "I've never seen you here before."
"Yes, just for the next few weeks." He said, his deep voice low and soothing.
"Oh." I swallowed hard and nodded my head.
I needed to get changed, but I also wanted to know his name, I couldn't see it from the ID around his neck, so casually- trying not to make a bigger fool of myself, I held my hand out.
"I'm Aelia Madison, I look forward to working with you." I said, proud of myself for not stuttering and keeping eye contact.
The corner of his lip twitched as he held out his hand and clasped his larger one in my smaller one.
The same electric spark from last night from when he touched me happened again as his hand held mine, making me flinch at how sudden it came and then vanished.
His dark eyes were on mine, holding me in place as he smiled at me.
"Damien Wilder."
My mouth was so dry and if not for someone opening the door to the locker room, I think I would've embarrassed myself by holding onto his hand a second longer.
"Oh, good morning."
Auster, his time couldn't be more perfect.
"You're from last night." Auster said, looking at Damien, coming further into the room to reach his locker.
"Are you new?" He asked, as Damien pulled his eyes from mine and focused on Auster.
"No, I'm only here for a few weeks." He simply said, with a stoic face.
"OH." Auster clicked his fingers. "You're with the guys at pool 1?"
Pool 1? I didn't know that was being used today.
I also didn't mean to be nosy, but I listened as I walked towards the women's changing rooms, once around the corner I stayed and listened out of curiously, just pure innocent curiosity.
"That's so cool man, I think it' awesome what you guys are doing, especially when you're all everyday heroes." Auster said, awe in his voice.
"Do you think I could get in a class sometime? I'm a bit of a junkie for adrenaline myself."
What was he talking about? I had never heard of Auster do anything remotely dangerous, so why was he lying?
"We're full, maybe next time." Damien said roughly, before I heard footsteps and then the locker room door closing.
Yikes, I don't know what Auster said but whatever it was clearly pissed this guy off.
Or maybe he just didn't like Auster? Either way, I felt sorry for Auster, and guilty for listening in, knowing that if he knew I was listening, he'd be embarrassed.
I move from the wall and go to get changed in the women's changing rooms, when I'm ready the locker room is empty and nobody is there so once I put my stuff away, I leave through the doors and head for pool 2.
Before turning to head to pool 2, I peeked through the doors of pool 1 and looked at what was going on inside, and when I saw what was happening, it all came together.
It all made sense now, Damien was an on-call firefighter.
That's why Auster sounded so excited and brought up the whole 'everyday hero' comment, he was here to train with his group... and that's why he was here.
I walked away from the window and ignored the pounding in my chest as I headed towards my pool, wishing I had never looked in that damn window.