Harder Than You Know

As the two of them entered the car, Aria saw a man with short black hair and aviators in the driver's seat. Like Zacky, he had two full sleeves of tattoos, but unlike him, he looked pretty scary.

"Alright, Matt. Let's go back. Sorry it took longer than I thought it would. Thanks for coming with me, too." Zacky said.

"Mhm. No problem. So who's the young lady? She looks like a quiet little thing."

"She is. Her name's Aria and you wouldn't believe how much the other guys around here wanted to buy her."

Aria shuddered. She was grateful-- so fucking grateful-- that it was Zacky who had bought her. He was right, there were several other people bidding at the time and they were all sleazy, old men rolling in money who could never get enough sex.

She was also exhausted and Zacky noticed. She barely had any sleep the last two weeks. The cells were cold and uncomfortable with rats and bugs creeping about at night.

"You can sleep, you know." Zacky told her softly. "It's a long ride back home."

Home.

Aria missed home, even though it wasn't a very nice home in the first place. It was better than being tired and scared 24/7, and the sudden home-sick feelings caused tears to well up in her eyes.

With a small smile, Zacky wiped her tears away and gently placed her on his lap.

"Go to sleep." he whispered, kissing the top of her head. "You need rest."

Sniffling, Aria rested her head on his shoulder, enjoying the warmth his body provided her. The tiredness soon washed over her, sending her off to a deep sleep.

From the front, Matt smiled to himself.

It had been a while since he saw Zacky happy like this. The girl, Aria, he decided, would be good for him. It was about time he found a special someone instead of letting his other relationship bring him down.

Quietly, as to not wake Aria, Matt stated, "You actually found her pretty quickly."

"Oh, really?" Zacky replied. "I guess it felt longer for me because I was watching her the whole time, waiting for her turn."

"How old is she?"

Zacky noticed the tag on Aria's wrist for the first time and frowned at it, taking it off. He didn't like that she was treated like some item in a store, but then again.. He bought her, didn't he?

Checking the tag, he told Matt, "Damn, she's only 19."

"She's not too young. You can still mark her."

"Yeah and I want to do it tonight."

"Tonight? That's a bit early, don't you think? She seems pretty shaken already.."

Zacky sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know and I don't want to have to force her to but the damn party's tomorrow and I don't want to risk anything."

"Oh, yeah.." Matt muttered. "Totally forgot about that."

The rest of the ride was spent in silence and, after they arrived at the manor, Zacky carried Aria up the stairs to his room and asked Matt to tell the others they wouldn't be able to meet her until she woke up and calmed down a bit.

In his room, Zacky took the coat from Aria and changed her from her dress to one of his shirts. He looked at the dress in disgust and threw it away.

After making sure Aria was still asleep, he left his room to go downstairs where his friends were talking amongst themselves.

"How was the auction?" Johnny, another friend, asked. He, too, bought his fiancée, Lacey, at an auction many years ago.

"All right, I guess." Zacky shrugged, taking a seat next to Brian who gave him a beer.

"Matt told us you wanted to mark her tonight." Val said, who was seated on Matt's lap. They had known each other since they were young and, ironically, when they met Brian a few years ago, he fell for her twin sister, Michelle.

"Yeah.." he muttered in reply, already finishing his beer. "Where's Jimmy?"

"Leanna wanted a new dress for tomorrow and took him with her." Michelle said.

Zacky laughed. "Poor guy. He won't be back until midnight."

The group chatted for a couple more minutes before Zacky went back upstairs to check on Aria with clothes he got from Michelle and some food.

He opened his bedroom door to see her sitting up, looking around. When she heard him come home, she jumped and cowered to the corner of the bed.

"Hey," he whispered, walking towards her, setting the food on the bedside table. "I won't hurt you. You don't have to worry."

Zacky took a seat next to her and smiled. "My friends want to meet you but you can see them tomorrow if you want. We can just talk for now."

Aria nodded once and he suggested, "Why don't you take a shower first? You can eat afterwards." He handed her the clothes and said, "The bathroom's right there. Take as long as you want. I'll be out here waiting, okay?"

So after a 15 minute shower, Aria carefully stepped out of the bathroom, hair still wet. Like he said, Zacky was still waiting for her, flipping through a book.

"Winter's coming and you'll catch a cold. Come here and bring the smaller towel."

Aria did as she was told quickly and quietly and sat down next to Zacky on his bed who moved so that she was between his legs. He gently dried her hair with the towel for several minutes until most of her hair was dry. He took a comb from the bathroom and quickly ran it through her light brown hair before saying, "There. That's much better."

Throughout the whole process, Aria stayed completely still, fearing that if she moved, he would suddenly get mad and punish her. Zacky noticed this tenseness but didn't do anything about it until he finished with her hair.

"You can relax, Ari. I said I wouldn't hurt you." he said softly, getting up to put the towel and comb away.

Ari.. She really like the sound of her shortened name. She relaxed, as she was told, but only a little bit.

The two talked, well Zacky did most of the talking because Ari was eating, until nightfall. Zacky knew that now was the time to tell her what she had to do.

"Ari," he started. Aria didn't like the sudden change of his tone. She wondered if he suddenly got mood swings at night or something like that.

"I need to mark you." he said slowly, stopping to see her reaction. Of course she had no idea what he was talking about so did not do anything.

"Or other people can take you away."

Aria gasped, panicked. "N-no.. D-don't let them do that.."

"Shh, I won't, I won't. But I need to mark you in order to do that."

"How?" she asked in a small voice.

"You need to sleep with me and I need to bite you afterwards."

His answer was curt. It stung her for some reason. It shocked her.

"I-I can't--"

Before she knew it, Zacky had her lying down and was straddling her. She didn't want this. Not now, it was too early. She knew she didn't have a choice, though, and tears began to pool her eyes.

"Don't cry, darling. Just try to relax. I know it's hard but I promise to go as slow as we need to." he whispered, pressing soft kisses on her face. One of his hands cupped her cheek while the other ran through her hair.

It's better him than anyone else, better him than anyone else..

"Relax, Ari, relax." Zacky mumbled against her soft skin.

Him calling her Ari strangely made her less tense. Immediately taking note of this, Zacky continued to talk.

"It'll be alright Ari. It's going to hurt at first but I won't rush anything and I promise to be gentle, okay, Ari?"

Clothes soon came off and Zacky, as promised, was loving and gentle, Ari found herself enjoying it... And hated herself for it.

-------------

Removing himself from her neck, Zacky said, "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Aria turned to her side to curl into a ball and suddenly started to sob. Zacky frowned but expected this from her and covered her shaking body with the blanket while sighing.

"Please don't cry." he whispered, sitting up and placing her on his lap. All she did, though, was bury her face in the blanket to somehow quiet her cries.

"Do you want to take a bath?" Zacky asked her, removing the blanket from her face. She looked up at him, cheeks stained with tears, and nodded.

"Alright, let me run the bath for you." he said, putting on a fresh pair of boxers and entering the bathroom.

Honestly, he felt horrible but knew that there wasn't anything he could do. People around here were dangerous.. And tomorrow's party would consist of ravenous men looking for a quick treat or a new slave. Marking Ari would let them know that they were, under no circumstances, allowed to touch her unless he gave the word to. If someone were to advance on her, the mark would let Zacky know and he would be there in an instant with every right to kill whoever the culprit was.

As the grandeur tub nearly filled up, Zacky shut off the water and grabbed a fresh towel and went back to his room. He wrapped the towel around Aria and quickly carried her back to the tub, seating her on the edge of it.

"No need to rush your bath. Take as long as you want, okay?"

Ari nodded and Zacky smiled, leaving the bathroom. It was late, and he figured the others were asleep. He went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

"Did she take it well?"

Zacky jumped slightly. "Oh, hey, Brian. What are you doing up?"

"Wanted to get some water, like you. So how's it with Aria?"

"I don't know. She was crying afterwards, but she's taking a bath right now. At least I know she's safe for tomorrow."

"I guess so." Brian shrugged, filling up a glass and taking a gulp of it. "So we're gonna meet her tomorrow?"

Zacky nodded. "Yeah. The girls need to get her hair and makeup done and find a dress.. And then we should buy her clothes this weekend."

"Sounds good."

The two of them talked for a bit more before going to their own rooms. By the time Zacky got back up, he saw that Aria had finished with her bath, and was sitting on the edge of the bed... Doing absolutely nothing. At least she had calmed down.. Right?

"Aren't you tired?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

"Um.. I don't know where to sleep.." she said softly.

"The.. bed?" he said, confused.

"I-I wasn't sure.. I thought you'd get mad.."

Zacky frowned, but when he saw Ari tense at that, he smiled instead. "I won't get mad at you. I know you're supposedly a 'slave' but we all consider you equal here."

"Oh.." Aria whispered. "Sorry.."

"Don't be." Zacky said. "Get some sleep now. You need it."

Aria nodded and got under the thick covers. It had been so long since she had slept on a proper bed and this felt so good. Her eyes fluttered shut and she slowly drifted off to sleep, too tired to care that Zacky was watching her every move. Today really was exhausting. Her relaxing bath had made her feel a lot better about everything and now all she wanted to do.. was.. relax...