She Could Make Hell Feel Just Like Home

Aria let out a loud sigh and scrubbed her face as the house finally fell silent. She felt stretched thin and nervous, and wove her fingers together tight, feeling her heart hammering in her chest. She stayed like that for a few moments, breathing in and out, waiting for everything to fall back into place.
A soft knock came at the door, and Aria opened her eyes, staring into the living room in the direction of the door, trying to muster up the energy and courage to open the door. The knock came again, more persistent and loud. Aria slowly stood up, and made her way to the door, her bare feet thudding softly on the floor. She stood at the door, her heart hammering and her hands shaking as she grabbed the knob and yanked the door open.
A tall, black haired man stood there, his hand slightly raised, watching her. Aria moved to slam the door shut but he grabbed the knob, stopping her.
“Let go.” She managed, her voice shaking. “Why are you here?”
“I wanted to see you.” He said, sticking himself in front of the door, making it impossible for Aria to shut it.
“I don’t want to see you.” Aria said slowly. “I never want to see you again.”
“I wanted to apologize for everything. I ran into Larissa and she told me—”
“Larissa doesn’t know shit Jason. She hasn’t spoken to me since I left, and when I came back, she had nothing to say to me.” Aria felt anger bubbling inside of her, pushing the fear she felt away, replacing it with nothing but the rage and anger he had left her.
“She wanted to, but she never did. I just wanted to tell you that—”
“No! Save it for someone who cares. I don’t want to ever hear from you again.” Aria watched Vic’s truck pull into the driveway and felt a wave of relief pass over her. “Leave now.” She ordered, grabbing the door knob from under his hand and yanking on it. Jason stuck himself into the doorframe, blocking it from shutting.
“Not until you hear me out.” Jason said, his voice dropping into an angry tone, one Aria recognized so well.
“Hey!” Aria heard Vic shout as the door shut, and heard his feet crunching against the snow as he came over. “Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m Aria’s ex. I’m trying to talk to her.” Jason said, calmly. Any trace of anger and hate he had in his voice was gone, replaced by an eerily calm voice.
“Well she obviously doesn’t want to talk to you, so why don’t you leave?” Vic said, stepping in-between Aria and Jason. Aria placed a hand on Vic’s forearm.
“I just want to talk to her.” Jason repeated. Aria saw Tony, Mike and Jaime all pull in and come over, looking like a Mexican gang.
“What’s the problem here?” Mike asked, crossing his arms and glowering at Jason. “Do we need to take care of this fool?”
“He was just leaving.” Aria said. Mike and Tony stepped alittle closer, and Jaime connected one of his hands to a fist repeatedly in the background.
“That sounds like a great idea, because if he doesn’t get his miserable ass off of this porch I’m going to forcibly remove him.” Mike said.
“I don’t like his face, maybe we’ll feed that to the gang of wolves we got.” Tony said, glaring at Jason. Jason turned to look at Aria, who shrugged and grinned.
“They’ve all done time, so I would leave.” Vic said, pointing at Mike. “He wouldn’t hesitate.” Mike lurched at him and Jason flinched, then got off the porch.
“And don’t come back hermano! Or we’ll come find you!” Jaime shouted.
As his figure retreated, they all turned to stare at Aria, who pursed her lips, leaning against Vic.
“You guys make me feel so safe, really.” She said, tears pricking her eyes. “And I wouldn’t be crying but my hormones are out of control.” She said before falling into Vic’s arms. Mike rested a hand on her back.
“We’re always gonna have your back. As long as you stay with Vic, and probably even if you weren’t, we’re gonna have your back.” Mike told her.
“And if he shows up again, we will fuck him up, Mexican style.” Tony said.
“Is this what it’s like to be in a gang?” Aria asked, her tears drying and turning into laughter.
“I’d assume so.” Vic said, then tucked her into his side, leading her back in. “I’m just glad we got back when we did, that guy did not seem too happy.”
“He wasn’t, but I really don’t want to talk about it.” Aria answered, sitting on the chair as Tony ran into the kitchen to get her some water.
“Well then let’s talk about something else. Like, who gets to be the godfather.” Jaime said, sitting across from her.
“Let’s not be hasty here. We still need to have the baby first, right?” Vic said.
“That would be helpful.” Aria snickered, taking the cup of water Tony offered her and taking a sip.
“Are you guys moving back to Cali?” Mike asked. “I really miss being close to Vic, and you, Aria.” Mike said.
“We’re thinking about it.” Aria replied.
“Well, we just came back to drop off your car. Now, we’re going to do shopping for you two. You stay home and relax and do couple things.”
“What are couple things?” Vic asked, looking at Aria with a puzzled expression.
“I think it means we should build a fort.” Aria answered, grinning.
“That sounds like a good time. Have fun.” Jaime said as the three of them headed out the door.
As soon as the car left the driveway, Aria got up and went over to Vic, sitting down next to him, and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“Sometimes I want to fall asleep and sleep for a month.” She said with a sigh, her eyes fluttering shut.
“And what would I do without you?” Vic asked, his lips brushing her forehead. Aria opened her eyes then, looking up at him with a calculating gaze.
“You would sleep with me. And we would intertwine ourselves with each other and grip my hands in yours and we would be with each other in our dreams.”
“Well, someone thought this through.” Vic laughed. Aria shrugged and leaned back then, swiveling around and kicking her feet into his lap, letting her head fall back onto the armrest of the couch.
“It’s not possible though; Falling asleep for a month. You couldn’t survive. You would starve or dehydrate, or wake up and find yourself unable to sleep again. Unless there were people keeping you alive of course.”
Vic blinked slowly, gently rubbing her shin. He said nothing, letting her dwell in her own mind for a moment. She sat up, swinging her legs off of his lap.
“I’m going to go shower.” She said detachedly and walked off, swinging the door shut and locking it behind her. Vic listened as the water started, then flicked on the TV, knowing Aria was drowning out all the nerves that had built up in the past few hours. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes.
What felt like moments later, Vic felt water dripping on his face, and Aria’s hand sliding down to cup his face. He smiled lightly, feeling her lips descend on his in a slow kiss. He opened his eyes as she pulled back, her hair trailing on his skin.
“That was fast.” He said.
“Vic, you were sleeping. I’ve been out of the shower for the past ten minutes. I was in the kitchen for a bit, and I didn’t realize you were sleeping until you didn’t respond when I asked you if you wanted anything.” She responded, running her hands through his hair.
“I didn’t even realize.” He muttered, then looked at his phone. “Mike wants to know if we want anything. He’s buying us all takeout.”
“Whatever you want. I don’t have any cravings tonight, only water. God I’m thirsty.” She muttered, turning on her heels and walking back into the kitchen, coming back out with a water bottle and flopping on the couch next to him again.
“Feel a little better?”
“Yeah. The shower really helped. I don’t feel so strung out, I feel like everything is settling back into place.” She patted her thighs in a drumming way, bobbing her head.
“Well, good.” He said as Aria settled against him again, her eyes gazing into his. “When do I get to marry you?” Vic asked.
“Whenever we get around to it. After this year maybe.” She said, kissing his exposed arm. “I don’t want to be pregnant during the happiest moment of my life.”
“Aren’t women supposed to find pregnancy magical?” Vic asked.
“I sure as shit don’t. I just feel uncomfortable.” Aria answered with a yawn.
Mike suddenly came bursting in the front door, yelling for them to go in their room for ten minutes while they carried in the stuff they bought.
“Mike, is the yelling really necessary?” Aria sighed as they got up and walked past him. Mike simply nodded and hurried them along, slamming the door behind him. “Your brother is weird.” Aria laughed as Vic folded her into his arms and kissed her cheek.