Chapter 2 Two

“Come on, Damnit!” Aurora fumed, thumbing the elevator buttons repeatedly. If humans could breathe fire, smoke would have been spilling from her nostrils right at that moment. She was so pissed that her fist balled rigidly, making her knuckles turn white.

She didn’t care about the stares she was getting from the people moving up and down the brightly lit hallway.

“Calm down and try it again.” She muttered to herself, trying to calm her nerves that were raging on the edge.

Then she closed her eyes and opened them slowly, biting her bottom lips to keep in the sobs that were finally making their way out.

For the first time in eons, she cussed the universe. If things hadn’t been so damn tough for them, she wouldn’t have been out here job haunting and letting some loser try to take advantage of her.

Did he think she was some loose girl? Was the desperation in her pale blue eyes glaring?

She thought back to the way his eyes had assessed her like she was a toy shipped to be one of his possessions. As at then, Aurora had assumed he was assessing her, trying to figure out her persona or something, but when he drew closer and rubbed his hands against her knee, she knew it wasn’t an interview anymore.

Bastard! She cursed him in her head over and again. The door opened and she stepped in absentmindedly, her breathing still raged and chest heaving. “Watch out! Fuck!” A voice barked at her as she stepped into the glass elevator, her gaze locked on the ground below.

She jumped and shifted back, hitting her elbow on the glass. “Oh my!”

But the deed had already been done. The man’s shirt was stained with coffee and he was sizing her up.

She rubbed her elbow and tried to look away from his stoic face, but there was something in his gaze that dared her to glance away. She didn’t.

“I’m so sorry… I… I had no idea I’d be seeing anyone here.” She said, keeping her voice remorseful.

A disapproving frown wrinkles on his face. He was visibly pissed. “For fuck sake this is a public place and you can’t tell me you expected no one in a fucking elevator!”

Aurora bites her lower lips. The scene earlier at the man’s office was forgotten. She wished she had been calmer. It'd have saved her from running into the man in the elevator. Now, she would have to deal with her bruised ego and an angry man that wanted to tear her apart with his dark glare.

“Not that….I…I…”

“You what? You own the building?” His eyes assessed her. A mocking smirk tipped the edge of his lips, but it didn’t erase the anger in his gaze. Aurora ignored the jab, her lip parted in shock when he threw the coffee cup on the floor. The remaining liquid splashed on her feet. She looked down, then raised her head slowly to gauge his expression. He wanted her to react.

Aurora sighed and shifted to the other end, five feet away from him and the spilled coffee.

“Nice to see that you don’t like being drenched in coffee.” He sneered

Drenched? Her eyes widened a fraction, but then she swallowed and looked away, praying for the elevator to get to the lobby fast. Why the hell was it so slow?

Aurora ignored his baits and pinned her glance on the blinking light. Maybe she should have used the stairwell. Pull off her heels and stroke on barefoot.

There was nothing to be ashamed about. It was obvious she wasn’t going to work here, so there’d be no need to want to protect her dignity.

She scoffed at the thought, palming her mouth when the man’s glare turned even darker.

“You know, I think you might just have to get me a new shirt.” He said like he was talking to a child and not a twenty five year old woman with a head on her neck.

Aurora closed her eyes for half a second. She wanted to tell him to go fuck himself. Looking at it now, the stain wasn’t that big of a deal.

She lifted her head and made to speak, but he raised his right hand, silencing her. Aurora’s eyes spotted the gold Rolex on his wrist. He had on a wrist band too, one that matches the watch.

He was apparently rich, so why was he so hung up on her about spilling coffee on him ‘by mistake’ when he can afford more than a dozen new shirts?

“You are not some child running around in a hallway.” His gaze drifted to her breast. The blouse had caused her perky tits to appear fuller. “You are a grown ass woman for fuck sake”

Aurora stifled a groan when he raised his voice. The morning episode with the loan shark flashed through her mind. She closed her eyes as tears threatened to fall. Her hands shook and she just wanted to crouch down on the floor and bury her face between her knees. She had shed tears throughout the years. There were nights she had cried herself to sleep. The night she had wished she wasn’t born, nights she contemplated suicide and then there was a day she had tried running away from hom, leaving behind the cumbersome responsibilities that were endless.

However, the past few weeks, the days after she got the mail that she was shortlisted. Her hope had soared and for the first time since the death of her father two years ago, she had danced around the house. She had dared to dream again and even went as far as making a list of things to do once she got her first salary.

Now the hope was pushed down a cliff and she was left with nothing but a crushed ego and a man that was threatening to make her life miserable because of some damn coffee.

“….that should teach you some manners!” He spat, tucking his hands into his pants pocket. He was tall, 6.7ft perhaps and his tanned skin oozed healthy living.

Aurora’s mind began spinning. “I’m sorry… I know I should have been more careful but I wasn’t myself.” She brushed a strand of curly blonde hair behind her ear, then intertwined her fingers, “I can’t afford a new shirt right now” she glanced up, and her eyes shifted to his dark curls. Well-trimmed and slicked back. “Maybe you could give me some time…. like a month?”

She sniffed and looked away when his gaze was unbending.

Aurora already had so much piled up for the month, and with the new job… okay, almost new job gone, she had to go back to waitressing and saving up to pay off the loan, the bills, and Bryan’s fees.

He snorted. “That’s funny.” He regarded her slowly. “You were blabbing about not expecting to see another being in an elevator, I thought you were some rich woman that wouldn’t mind losing some change.”

Her jaw twitched. “If I recall correctly, I didn’t give you that impression. I was polite and…”

“You calling me a liar now?” he shook his head. “I see you have no manners… none at all.”

That ticked her off, but Aurora held her ground and refused to be pushed into a corner. She just wanted to go home, shower, and read a book before her Friday night shift at the bar.

He went on, “I can’t give you a week even. A day, yes, but nothing more.”

Heavens. He was serious.

“I can’t… please.” Aurora looked down and muttered a mantra she had conceived over the years. “Don’t fret. Stay strong.”

She looked up and smiled wearily, tuning out his scoff. “I work three jobs… three. I have bills to pay, I have two siblings to take care of… a mom that is aging by the day, and… and… hell, I can’t add buying a shirt to the mix… I can’t…. please.”

She let a teardrop and made no attempt to brush it off. She was so tired. So damn tired.

He drew himself up straighter. As he made to speak, the elevator started juddering. Aurora swallowed a scream and pulled her eyes tightly shut.

With her eyes tightly shut, Aurora thought about her mother and her siblings. She remembered the surging hope in her mother’s voice that morning when she was trying to pacify the loan shark.

“God, I can’t die… not today…”

Her heart sank and with each shaky breath, her strength dwindled.

The man was uttering silent. She didn’t open her eyes to see what he was doing as the elevator was shaking faster and faster.

She wondered if the people below had noticed what was happening.

“God….please..!”

Someone laughed and another voice called out to some lady. Life was still going on but Aurora was stuck in an elevator with some stranger.

You’re going to die. Fear screamed in her head.

She shook off the thought and searched her mind for some distraction. Come on! Her heart kicked into high gear. There was nothing to hold onto to at least steady her feet.

Images of her body laid stiff in her own blood with broken glasses sticking out from her skin speared through her mind. Tears welled in her eyes.

“No.” She whispered repeatedly, forcing her mind to think of something to hold her afloat in the deep waters that her body was being pulled under.

You’re going to die.