Angelo's POV
"So Ms...?"
"Jasmine."
"Jasmine, you were the one with Aria at the club that night?"
She nodded. "And lemme guess, you were the one she said had whispered the world's cheesiest pickup line in her ear?"
"She actually said that? Damn, I was proud of that one."
Jasmine handed me a glass full of wine. "What are you trying to do when it comes to Aria?"
"Straight to the point, are we?"
She gave me an icy look. I put my hands up in surrender and crossed my arms on the granite of the kitchen counter.
"To be honest, I don't really know. But, I need to ask you something."
"Yea, go ahead."
"Why does she randomly start to look so sad? Like one minute she's laughing, but the next she looks like she's going to cry."
The blonde girl massaged her temples. "I would say it's not my place to tell you, but I think I should. So I'm just going to tell you."
I nodded, encouraging her to continue.
She looked heaven-ward before she spoke. "A week ago, on their one year anniversary, Aria found her boyfriend Dylan cheating on her. My guess is that whenever she's enjoying herself, she thinks back to when her and Dylan would do something similar to that and her heart breaks all over again."
"So she still loves him?" I asked Jasmine, trying to stay calm. In reality I was already planning several different ways to torture this Dylan guy. How could he not see that Aria was the best thing that ever happened to him?
"Angelo, it's not just about love. It also destroyed a lot of her self esteem when she found out her boyfriend didn't think she was good enough. To be honest, I don't think she was actually in love, but what she had with Dylan was the closest thing she experienced to it."
I just stirred my drink, trying to absorb everything Jasmine had just told me.
"I'm not going to ask you to stop going after her, I'm just asking you to give her time. She is still recovering, but I think you being with her will help build back her confidence."
I smiled at the thought of helping Aria recover. Even Jasmine said she needed me.
"But just remember, Angelo, I will not hesitate to chop your balls off if she cries even once because of you."
I gave her a horrified look. "I would never hurt Aria. But, I still want to ask you some stuff about her."
"Anything, shoot."
"Favorite food?"
"She has some weird ass addiction to lasagna."
I started taking notes on my phone. "Favorite dessert?"
"Definitely chocolate cake. With chocolate frosting."
"Color?"
"Pink, red, or black. She can never decide."
"Ideal pet?"
"Loves huskies. She has always wanted one, but never had the time to go out and get it."
"Phone number?"
Jasmine rolled her eyes and gave me Aria'a number.
"That's pretty much all I need to know. Thanks, Jasmine. I'll see you around."
She smiled and waved to me. "Bye, Angelo."
I waved back, grabbed my jacket and tie, and left Aria's house.
------------------------------------------
2 days later
Aria's POV
I heard knocking on the front door and groaned. I reached for my phone and ended up knocking over a bunch of photo frames instead.
The knocking became louder.
I checked the time. 8:00.
Who the heck gets up at 8:00 on a Saturday?
The knocking was more like banging now.
I groaned and rolled out of bed, and ended up on the floor. I crawled out of my room and slid down the stairs and ape-walked to the door.
I yawned and opened it to reveal the receptionist from downstairs. "What do you want?"
"Sorry to disturb you Miss Aria," Yea, right."but someone dropped a package off for you this morning and insisted you receive it immediately."
I looked down at the black gift bag with pink and red tissue paper and grabbed it from her. Then I shut the door in her face and ape walked back upstairs to my room. I threw the bag on the floor by my bed and climbed on top of the sheets.
And I lay there.
For 30 fucking minutes.
And still couldn't fall asleep.
The damn contents of the bag were too tempting. I jumped out of bed and threw all of the tissue paper over my shoulder to reveal a bunch of clothes. One by one, I pulled out a white colored babydoll dress along with a pair of cork wedges, a nude clutch, a few bracelets, and a nude bra and panties from Victoria's Secret. What the hell? Then I saw a black envelope and pulled it out of the bag and read what it said.
Hey, baby. Ready for our second date? Get dressed, I'll pick you up around 12.
-Tesoro
As cute as all this was, it was still hella creepy that he knew my exact bra size. And that he knew my shoe size as well.
But I had to say, the cuteness overpowered the creepiness. And suddenly I couldn't wait for 12:00.
I went downstairs and made myself a bowl of cereal, and thought about what Angelo had in mind. I checked the time.
8:45
Perfect. I'll start getting ready now.
By 9:00 I was showered and shaved. For my makeup, I decided to stick with a natural look, to compliment the light colors of the dress. By 9:54 I had achieved the perfect look. At around 10:30 I was all dressed and made up.
And Angelo wouldn't be here for another hour and a half.
I sat down on the sofa and started watching T.V.
A little while later someone knocked at the door. I jumped up, excited to see my date. But when I saw who was really at the door, my jaw dropped.
"D-dylan?" I was frozen. I couldn't even move. And it didn't help that my jaw was on the floor.
"Aria, can we talk?"
I tried shutting the door in his face, but he stuck his foot in at the last second. he managed to pry the door open even though I was trying to close it. He let himself in and looked me in the eye.
"We need to talk Aria. Avoiding me all week isn't healthy for our relationship."
"Not healthy for our relationship?! Let me tell you what's not healthy for our relationship! The fact that you fucking cheated on me! We don't even have a relationship anymore, Dylan! You threw the damn thing away!" I vented out all my anger that had built up this past week, hatred and pain dripping off of every word.
"It was a mistake Aria. Calm down. We need to talk this out."
I was seething at this point. He had pushed me so far and wasn't even accepting that he messed up for real.
So I did the most logical thing.
I slapped him.
Hard.
So hard that it left a mark on his cheek.
And it made me proud.
He grabbed my hips and slammed me against the wall. Pain shot through my back and I bit the inside of my cheek.
"Dylan, let go of me! Now!"
"Oh, baby. You have always been to feisty for you own good." The way he called me baby used to send a fuzzy feeling through me, but now made me want to throw up. He started kissing me. Hard.
I turned my head to the side, not letting him have access to my mouth. "Dylan, stop it! Are you insane? You're hurting me!"
"Oh, Aria." he clicked his tongue. "Did you think that we could be together for a year and you wouldn't have to give yourself up to me? Always so naive." Dylan shook his head.
I put my hands on his shoulders and tried to shove him away. He just grabbed my wrists and pulled them above my head like I was nothing. I felt tears roll down my face. "Dylan, please don't do this! Can't you see you are hurting me?" I cried.
He laughed. "Oh, baby. Can't you see that I don't care?" He lifted up the hem of my dress and shoved a finger inside of me. My eyes flew shut and I screamed in pain. "Dylan! Stop! You're violating me!" I begged.
"I'll get what I want baby. And I want you." He held both of my wrists in one hand and unzipped his pants with the other one.
I was panicking now. Then it came to me. Angelo was going to be here soon. I just had to stall-
Dylan shoved a finger inside me again and I sobbed. "Angelo!" I just needed him to be here, he would protect me, he wouldn't let anyone hurt me. "Angelo.." I whimpered. Dylan laughed an ugly laugh. "Your knight in shining armor isn't here, is he, baby?" I felt him position himself at my entrance and I gave up. Tears rolled down my cheeks and onto my dress. "Angelo..." I closed my eyes.
Just as he was about to shove himself inside of me, I felt his presence vanish. Surprised, I opened my eyes to see Dylan on the floor, clutching his body, while Angelo kicked him repeatedly in the chest. I'm pretty sure I heard some bones crack. I slid to the floor, trying to catch my breath and coughing repeatedly. Then, Angelo grabbed Dylan by the collar and slammed him against the wall and began punching him in the face.
I knew I had to do something before Angelo killed him. Not because Dylan would be dead, that definitely wouldn't be a problem, but because Angelo would probably get into trouble.
"Ang" I said, my voice a hoarse whisper. "Ang, listen to me!" I yelled, trying to catch his attention. He stopped mid-punch and turned to look at me. "Ang, let him go. He's not worth it." He took one last look at Dylan, opened the door to the apartment, and flung him outside as if he were a rag doll.
I leaned my head against the wall and closed my eyes. I tried to regulate my breathing and my heart was still beating a mile a minute. I felt myself being scooped up, bridal style, and carried upstairs. I leaned into Angelo's chest and inhaled his manly scent. I felt safe. I knew he wouldn't let anyone touch me.
"I hate him Ang. He was going to rape me." I croaked into his firm chest.
"I hate him too, baby. I'm here now, though, and I'll keep you safe."
He lay me down gently on the bed and took my shoes off. I instantly missed the presence of his body against mine. He whipped his shirt off and climbed into bed to lay beside me. I let my eyes appreciate his hard and muscular body for a few seconds before looking away. Angelo grabbed my waist gently, pulled me against him, and pressed his lips to my forehead. I started tracing patterns on his smooth bicep.
"I'm sorry, baby."
"For what?" I propped myself up on my elbow and looked at him.
"For not being there sooner."
"You're crazy, tesoro." I wrapped my arms around his neck and he tucked my head under his chin and rubbed my thigh. "By the way, I loved the outfit."
"Yeah? It looks stunning on you. You know, baby, my dreams do you no justice."
"You're such a flirt. How did you know my sizes? Actually, on second thought, don't answer that."
Angelo laughed, and I felt his chest vibrate. Suddenly, he stopped, gently took my small hand in his, and brought it up to his face so he could inspect it. I saw his mesmerizing eyes fill with pure hatred and anger as he inspected the bruises already forming on my wrist. "I can't believe he would do this to you." he growled. I gave him a weak smile, and he just kissed my hand and held it against his chest. My body flooded with warmth and gratitude. Nobody has ever treated me so gently, except maybe my parents, but they don't really count.
"Tesero?"
"Hmmm?"
"What were we going to do on the date?"
He smilled his adorable smile at me. "Still wanna go?"
I nodded, excited.
"Perfect."
Before I knew it, I was in his arms, bridal style again, and my shoes and his shirt were in his hands as he carried me downstairs, into the elevator, and across the lobby. I'm pretty sure Ms.Morris from downstairs almost fainted at the sight of us. The poor, old lady was so conservative, and here was Angelo parading around, shirtless. He strolled outside to his car, whose top was rolled down. He gently dropped me onto the tan, leather seats without even opening the door. I watched his perfect form jog around the front of the car and slide into the drivers seat. As he started the car, the engine roared, and we pulled onto the streets of Santa Monica with Rihanna playing through the speakers.
--------------------------------------
A/N
I really like this chapter. Angelo is so cute omg. I'm not sure what they should do for the date, so if you have any suggestions lemme knowwwwwww.
Love y'all
Maryum
The man-candy that is Zac Efron (aka Dylan)-->