Chapter 11: Confrontation

"Really," I threw my phone down on the bed and stalked off towards Eric's bathroom.

Dillon had called me three times last night and once early this morning. I wanted to laugh that my cousin had called me and yet my boyfriend hadn't. The least he could have done was made it look like he was concerned about me. At least he could have shoot me a text that he was thinking of me or to tell me goodnight.

I did my morning routine and was just about ready to go to work when I remembered what happened last night. Eric didn't text me but somebody did and that somebody was with Eric. She was probably still with him right now. I stared at the bed where I slept last night and broke down into tears, imaging Eric rolling around with someone under the sheets.

"Hello, Mrs. Rodriguez," I said into my phone.

"Hello Ana. Are you not coming in today?"

"I don't feel so good. I know this is last minute but I..."

"Don't say anything else," she replied. "My son woke up this morning feeling horribly hungover. He, Noah and Scott were all lying around my back yard patio. When I asked why you weren't there celebrating the last day of the semester he told me you weren't feeling well last night."

I laughed into the receiver. "Hec told me that they were going to take it easy. That knucklehead," I said as his mother laughed.

"I understand your classes were stressful. I know you've been working two jobs along with school and I have to say that I'm proud of you, Ana. Everyone is here today and we got two transfers, one of them our temporary supervisor and the other a temporary teller. We'll be okay."

"Again I'm really sorry about calling in."

"Ana, this is the first time. You've been here for a while and I've never had a complaint from you. Take the day to recover."

"Thank you Mrs. Rodriguez."

"I expect you over for dinner sometime next week," she said. "I want to make a cake for you and Hec finishing up your Fall semester."

"You don't need to."

"I want to," she replied. "My son is a hard worker. So are you. I'm glad he has friends like you. He," she paused and took a deep breath, "he needed someone like you to pull him out of his funk."

"He sort of helped me to keep things in perspective too."

"I'm glad. Well I'll see you on Tuesday. Have a nice vacation."

"Vacation," I repeated.

"Yes, aren't you and your boyfriend going to Candor for the weekend? Isn't that why you took off Monday?"

I had totally forgotten about the upcoming weekend. Did I still want to go with Eric when he had been with someone else last night? Maybe he wasn't with someone else. Maybe I was just letting my imagination run wild on me. He had said that this was me and him, not me, him and my ex. I had to stop thinking about comparing him to Cain. He wasn't Cain. He is Eric.

After getting off the phone with Mrs. Rodriguez, I ended up calling Eric's phone. I don't know if part of me was doing it to remind him that he had a girlfriend back at home whom he didn't call to wish goodnight or congratulate on finishing a semester. Maybe that was why I was doing it. But I didn't get a chance to think about anything else when the phone call went straight to voicemail. Eric's phone was off.

Either that or the chic just swiped the ignore call button. I shook my head, trying to distance those thoughts from my mind.

"That is not who Eric is," I told myself. "He likes me. He thinks I'm beautiful. He thinks I'm smart. He promised me honesty."

I kept trying to tell myself that as I crawled back into bed. I almost went downstairs to turn on the TV and watch a movie or something. But I couldn't find the strength to do so. I just laid there and cried. I hated this feeling. I hated the waiting. I hated the lying. I hated the heartbreak. I just wanted it all to end. I didn't know how much more of this I could take.

In the end I fell off to sleep, my face damp with tears.

I don't know how long I slept but I started to stir some hours later. I felt something nuzzling my cheek. Slowly with sleepy eyes, I turned slightly to see Eric hovering above me.

"Well, my girl is in my bed. I could certainly get used to coming home to this sight," he smiled and leaned down to kiss me.

I don't know why I let him but I did. He kissed me sweetly and I hated how affectionate he felt. Although I didn't respond when he tried to deepen it causing him to pull back and look at me. He seemed to search my face for a while and then offered a small smile before giving me a quick kiss on the cheek and pulling away.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up. I'm just a little shocked to see you in my bed."

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't ask if I could sleep here and..."

Eric placed a hand on my cheek as he sat on the edge and smiled at me. "Ana, when I gave you that key that meant that anything in my place is at your disposal. We've shared a bed before."

Yes but it was never your bed, I wanted to retort. Eric stood up and walked over to his closet to fish out a duffle bag instead of the small luggage that he used on his business trip. Business trip, I rolled my eyes. I wondered if I asked if he would come up with some grand scheme of a lie to sway my thoughts or if he would argue like Cain did - saying that it was none of my concern or that I wouldn't understand about the type of work he was doing.

"How was your trip," I asked quietly as I pulled the blankets back.

I felt dirty and used. My feet touched the floor and admired the wood finish against my toes. I looked around the room to take in something that I had never seen until now. I wondered if Eric brought any of the girls he slept with up here. I wondered if he was ever going to bring me up here. Why would he give me a key if he was having something on the side? Why couldn't he just tell me that he didn't like me instead of spouting lies? Why...

I jumped when I felt a hand touch my shoulder and looked up to see a concerned looking Eric. "I just told you that I had been trying to call you last night."

Yeah sure, give me that excuse, I wanted to say but kept my mouth shut. Let's just see how much of a hole he'll put himself in.

"You didn't answer so I thought you probably went to sleep early. Were you not feeling well? I know you had your final day of classes. Did you and Hec go and celebrate," he asked with a small smile.

Why should he be entitled to know what I did when he was out sleeping somewhere else? I shook my head and looked down. "I was tired. I came here and slept," I muttered.

"Ana, what's wrong? If you're not feeling well, we don't need to go on the trip. We can stay back."

"You'd like to cancel our trip wouldn't you," I stood up from the bed and walked towards his bathroom.

He grabbed onto my arm and pulled me back. "Ana," he looked genuinely confused.

"Seriously Eric," I pulled my hand away. "Look, just be honest with me okay. What did you do last night?"

Eric titled his head, still looking uncertain. He glanced at the bed and then back at me as if trying to calculate something in his mind, some excuse probably. "I just told you earlier that it was a bad meeting."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did. But you were spacing and looking at the floor."

"Enlighten me then," I folded my arms across my chest. "You claim you went to Erudite for business. I want to know exactly what sort of 'business'," I air quoted, "you were doing."

"Okay," he said slowly looking a bit frustrated. "I wasn't going to tell you everything because of how bad things were but here it is. The owners are first class assholes. Nothing about last night, our meeting with them, their treatment of the workers there or even dinner was professional or productive. They were lewd and half way through the dinner one of them got drunk, harassed our waitress and ended up getting kicked out of the restaurant. It was that bad. Their workers have complaints against them for unfair treatment, payment decreases, unwarranted suspensions and sexual harassment. My boss already told me that on Tuesday when I get back to the office we're going to talk about buying them out, them and their small investment operations."

"Small investment operations," I questioned, wondering how far he would go with this farce.

"Other stores or companies that they opened with their financial income," Eric explained. "It's like Sam Walton with Walmart and Sam's Club," he continued. "The owner of the electric company also owns a pharmacy company and believe it or not a few farms out there. We only went there for the electric company but my boss said that we should take everything and after last night I agree. I already have Dillon looking back into their books for the past year. They let a few workers go about ten months ago and everything has been downhill from there."

"Wait, Dillon," I asked.

"Yes, Dillon."

"No, I meant he was there?"

"It was a work related trip so almost everyone in the office was required to go."

"But," I glanced over at where my phone sat remembering that Dillon had called me.

Eric's eyes followed my line of sight. "Yeah, you didn't answer your phone."

I looked back at Eric. I had never felt so foolish in my life. He walked over to the duffle bag he had pulled out and chuckled.

"Yup, it's right here," he held up his phone charger. "I must have been really excited for our trip that I packed my charger away in my duffle instead of my work luggage. My phone died after the meeting. I still wanted to call you and see if you got into the apartment alright. So I asked Dillon to borrow his phone. We actually roomed together. He, Taylor and Adam are not that bad."

"You slept with my cousin," my voice trembled and I felt the tears starting to form.

"Well not with him," Eric shook his head and then laughed heartily. "But we were all in the same room. Part of the perks was that the company we met with paid for a suite."

"They mustn't have been that horrible if that paid to put you up in a suite."

"They also paid for us to go to a strip club but after what we saw none of us was willing to go."

"They offered to take you all to a strip club?"

"Yeah, some company owners do that to get on our good side but Dillon and I didn't want to go. I didn't want to disrespect you like that and I found out your cousin had a girlfriend too so he declined the invitation. And well, like I said they weren't exactly the type of people I would trust so Taylor and Adam, those two monkeys," he shook his head, "they decided to stay back too."

"So you stayed with my cousin back in the suite?"

Eric looked confused. "Yes," he slowly answered.

"Did you want to go to the strip club?"

"I told you I didn't want to disrespect you."

"You still could have gone and I wouldn't have found out," I looked down.

Eric placed his hand under my chin and tilted my head up. "I wouldn't do that to you Ana. My mom told me after my father passed that one of the things that she missed the most about him was that he never looked at another woman. He said that a lot of men, good men would lose the battle of faithfulness by just looking. They would think that nothing was wrong with looking. But once you look, your heart is enticed and you start to doubt what you have. He never wanted to put my mother through that and he assured her of it every day. I plan to do the same."

His thumb brushed a tear away and he leaned forward to kiss my forehead.

"There were no girls with you then?"

"That girl from the office was there and..."

"Jane," I questioned thinking about the receptionist.

"Is that her name? I guess you would know since you have to pass her to sneak into my office," he laughed and came to hold my face in his hands. "They made a pass at her a couple times too."

"Is she okay?"

"Taylor and Adam made sure that she was. Thinking about how she was treated and how those owners manhandled our waitress, I knew I had to call you last night. I was already planning to call you about the apartment but with everything that happened, I really wanted to make sure you were alright."

I shook my head and pulled away, going to sit down on the bed. I let the tears fall down and wrapped my arms around myself. "I feel like such a fool."

"Is it because I mentioned the strip club? I thought I be honest and tell you, instead of hiding the fact that we had been invited to go."

"That just makes me feel even more idiotic than I already am."

"I'm afraid I'm not following," he came to sit by me.

I grabbed my phone, unlocked it and pulled up the text. "I got this last night after I was done with my classes."

Eric warily took the phone from me. His eyes widened at the text and then looked over at me, partially angry and partially hurt. "When did you get this?"

"Last night, while you were on your trip," I answered.

"Is that why you were asking me what I was doing," he questioned. I looked away and that was all the confirmation that he needed. "Well, I don't know what this text is talking about, Ana. But I swear to you I was with Dillon the entire time. Taylor and Adam were only gone for an hour maybe a little bit more until they brought Jane to our room because she was scared. Other than that, I didn't sleep in anyone else's bed or with anyone else for that matter. Ana, this..."

"I know," I put my hand over his.

"Do you really? Because I can call Dillon and the guys and they can confirm that we were all sickened last night by the behavior of the owners that we couldn't wait to get back home."

"There's no need," I waved it off.

"Do you want me to call Jane? Because she wouldn't hesitate to throw me under the bus if that were the case," desperation was in his eyes. "Ana, I was on a business trip. This is," he looked back at the phone, "fuck," he shouted. "This is bogus, Ana." He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "What happened last night after you got this text? Did you think to call me?"

"I did but at the same time I didn't want to look like some nagging girlfriend who was demanding to know where you were every second of every moment. I know I just was doing that now but I, I don't know I guess I wanted to see if you'd slip up. It was wrong of me and..."

"Ana I haven't done anything for you to question my honesty."

"I know and that's why I just feel so stupid!"

Eric was frustrated at the situation you could tell and I was just feeling - for lack of better word - stupid. I should have known, should have listened to Hec. Instead I just sat in the bed and cried. I was so upset that I called into work. And then I tried to confront Eric only to have it blow up in my face.

"Okay," Eric sighed after a moment, relaxing his body. "Let's just both calm down and talk this out, Ana. Last night..." he prompted me to tell him.

"It's just that I was so happy last night after classes. I wasn't going to go out to celebrate. I had finished packing earlier and was just going to come here. Hec kept telling me how big of a deal it was that I got a key to your place and I believed him. I kept thinking that I finally had an honest, decent guy in my life that I could trust. I had work today and figured that I would just go from here. In the afternoon, I'd make you dinner and we'd relax until we'd have to leave. I was glad classes were over, glad that I was going to be with you this weekend. And then the text came and," I shook my head. "I felt broken."

"I can only imagine," he muttered, pulling me into his lap.

"My ex would say he had to work late or go somewhere for work. I found out that those were just excuses. And I thought..."

Eric kissed my forehead and rubbed his hand on my back comfortingly. "Don't think it anymore Ana."

"I'm sorry Eric," I gripped onto his shirt. "I'm sorry I thought that you would. I just," I stopped and began sobbing uncontrollably again.

Eric moved us further back onto the bed. He sat down with his back against the head of the bed and tucked me into his side, letting me cry it out. I had thought I was done and over with the crying, especially after last night. Apparently I was wrong. More tears came out. Some of them were happy and some of them were accusatory. Those were the worst because I realized just how much I had misjudged the situation and my relationship with Eric.

His phone had died. He couldn't charge it because he had already put it away in the duffle bag, the bag that he was taking on a weekend getaway with me. He was thinking about the trip with me more so than his business trip and that meant a lot. He was appalled by the other owners' behavior and the thought of going to look at another naked woman that he had stayed in a damn hotel room with my cousin.

My cousin, I thought as I continued to cry. Eric wanted to call me. There were four missed calls from Dillon's phone and I could only picture Eric worrying about me, asking my cousin repeatedly to use his phone to contact me only to have me not answer the phone. He shut down the opportunity to go to a strip club so that his eyes wouldn't wander, so that he would stay faithful to me. This wonderful man cared about me.

"I'm really sorry," I muttered, tasting my tears on my mouth.

"Ana you have nothing to be sorry for. I," he shook his head. "I'll admit I'm a little hurt by this."

"I know you are and that's why I'm sorry. I should have trusted you. I should have known. I just couldn't shake that feeling that," I paused. "Oh, I'm so stupid!"

"No you're not," he lifted my face. "This was just a cruel trick that someone played on you."

"And I fell for it. I believed them instead of believing you, instead of putting my trust in you." I sat up moving my body to face Eric. "You had told me that this was me and you. And I still bring silly accusations against you based on something that happened with my ex."

"Did you ever get a text with your ex?"

"No," I shook my head. "The girls he was with knew about me, though. They just never contacted me."

"Well I'm not with any other girl. It's only you. So analyzing this," he pulled me into his lap. "This isn't something that would have happened with your ex because no one would have texted you to let you know that he was being unfaithful."

I nodded, knowing a bit of where he was going with this. I couldn't compare every situation to something that happened with Cain because this was not the same thing. This relationship is different. "I understand."

"Call me, if this ever happens again," Eric stated. "I don't care if it's late in the night, if I'm at work, at a business trip, at the gym, out with friends or wherever I am. Call me Ana and tell me what's going on, okay?" I nodded. "Do you have any idea of someone who'd want to hurt you like this," he gestured to the phone.

"Besides my ex," I countered causing Eric to frown. I shook my head. "I can't think of anyone."

"It's someone who knows that we're dating, someone who knows that you're vulnerable or sensitive to such things."

"There are only a handful of people who know that we're dating now," I answered. "There's Hec, his mom, Myra and Edward," I named, "along with Dillon, his girlfriend and my parents."

"I've told my mother as well. There's George and Amar at the gym. Most recently I told Tobias and his girl," Eric noted. "Majority of the guys at work know after last night. But none of them have your phone number where they would call you and do something stupid like this."

"My number," I blurted out. "It's fairly new. Other than my family, I told my two jobs my phone number. But I can't think of anyone at either job who would know you or know that you were out of town," I paused and shook my head. "It can't be Elena."

"Who is Elena?"

"A teller that I work with, she's been sleeping with my ex."

"Wait, so you've been in contact with your ex since the breakup?"

I shook my head. "No. The only person I contacted was his sister and his friend, X. That was months ago though. Way before I got my new phone number, or before I moved into this apartment. So they wouldn't know where I work now or that I got a new number, where I live or that I started dating again."

"Then how do you know that your workmate is sleeping with your ex?"

"Because he walked into the bank one day to pick her up for lunch and a quickie," I rolled my eyes. "I hid in the back when he walked in so he doesn't know that I was there. And when my workmate came back she bragged about all the kinky stuff they did. She told me that she had a threesome with him and her sister," I shook my head and Eric looked furious. "She didn't know that I was his ex. Once she mentioned to Myra that he had an ex who was," I paused, "who wasn't that great. And that is sort of true. I hardly ever," I wiped my face feeling a tear fall down. "I wasn't really adventurous and..."

"You don't need to say anymore."

"No I do," I assured him. "When I was with my ex, I didn't feel sexy enough to do things that he wanted to. Some things I felt uncomfortable with. So I'm just letting you know now that there might not be that much excitement with me in the sheets. I don't like doing a lot of positions," I said the word slowly and Eric cupped my face to bring our eyes back together. "I won't do a threesome, Eric. That's not me. I hated it when he wanted to park somewhere secluded and do it in the backseat like we were hiding. I don't do exciting stuff!"

"There was something quite exciting that happened on your couch the other week," he smiled.

"That's just it. That's not me. I'm not going to be so forward with any of that. And..."

Eric kissed me gently and then pulled me back into his lap. "Ana, I told you that I would change your outlook on sex and relationships. Not everything is about being in a certain position. Some things need passion, affection, tenderness," he kissed my cheek and then my nuzzled the side of my face. "We need to form a deep connection for things to work. Whatever your ex made you feel, you need to let that all go."

"That's the same thing that Hec told me when I was unsure about me and you starting a relationship."

He pulled back and chuckled softly. "As happy as I am that you have friends like Hec to encourage you and defend me when I'm not around, I don't take too kindly to another man's name being said or spoken of so fondly while we're in bed." I knew it wasn't really a threat because Eric was smiling but I could understand the implication. "But about what he said," Eric held my face close to his. "He's right. There's so much to being a good lover in bed and I can't wait to show you."

"What if I'm not good at..."

"Ana judging from the way I feel when we kiss or how excited I get by your touch, I can tell that you already are," he tenderly kissed my face.

We decided to order in Chinese food and watched Princess Bridethat night. We were leaving early in the morning tomorrow and after everything that happened, Eric didn't want to leave my side. It wasn't overbearing in any way. It was reassuring and comforting. He would brush my hair out of my face and tell me how much he missed me last night or how much he was thinking about me. I knew he wasn't lying.

The only thing that bothered me was that I may have come up with Elena's name but I didn't think it was her. Eric and I were still sitting on his couch watching the television now that the movie was done. I was tucked into his side and he had one arm lazily wrapped around me, his fingers tickling my side when it finally hit me.

"Elsa," I murmured.

"Who?"

"My supervisor from the Bank, Elsa Hoskins," I answered. "You see it can't be Elena. She doesn't know your name. She doesn't know that I'm dating. She wouldn't have known to text me while you were out of town. Therefore, I think that it's Elsa. She got suspended and of course they didn't tell us why. But she has my phone number and she also knows that we are dating. She also knows your name because," I paused and pulled away to sit up straight and look at him. "Did you ever sleep with Elsa?"

There was a moment of silence and I wondered if he was going to tell me.

"I don't want to tell you because I don't want it to change anything between us. I don't want it to set us back. But I also don't want to lie to you and hide things. You don't deserve that," Eric sighed and sat up.

He cleared his throat and looked over at me.

"Elsa and I never dated. I took her to the Bank's holiday party because she asked me to. She had been asking to go out on a date for the past two years. We went to the holiday party and regretfully I went back to her place. It wasn't one of my finest moments, I can tell you that much. To own the truth I felt that I got what I wanted from her and then I left. I even forgot her name. To me she was just a willing body."

I looked away, not liking where this was going.

"I didn't care for her Ana. I didn't care at all," he shrugged. "The only reason why I found out her name was because you were working there. I know it sounds stupid and I behaved like any other male out there. But it was something I did before I met you, something that I promise won't happen ever again with her or with any other girl. I am with you and only you."

His hand reached out and took a hold of mine. Our eyes met. He stared into mine hoping to see that I got what he was saying. "I understand Eric. I guess I just," I let out a breath. "I just needed to know. Thank you for being honest. I don't want to be blindsided should she bring it up." Although she somewhat already did.

"Has she mentioned anything?"

Was he reading my mind? I shook my head to answer 'no'.

"Truly Ana," he questioned.

"She has," I sighed. "For example, when you had first started calling for me," I explained. "And the first time I had received the flowers from you and," I closed my eyes, "the day she got suspended, which was probably the worst. She told me that no man would want a chubby dorky girlfriend, especially Eric Coulter. She knows that we're dating or that something is going on between us," I faced him. "She has my number. I'm pretty sure that she's the one who sent the text, especially now that I know you two had a history."

"We don't have a history."

My eyes narrowed at him. "She seems to think so." Eric sighed and nodded, as if knowing relenting to my assumption that Elsa would do something like this. She did after all threaten my job if Eric and I went out. I didn't want to tell him that part though. I had to learn to stand up for myself and defend my relationship with Eric. He was with me, not her.

"I'm going to tell you this Ana that no matter what she says, this is what it was like for me," he gestured to himself. "It was a one night, one-time thing," his hand moved dismissively. "Like I said, she had been asking and asking to go out. My mother labelled her a gold-digger and I could tell right away that she was. Reluctantly I agreed to that one date and that was it. There's nothing going on between us, there never was and there never will be anything. I don't find her attractive in any way. The only thing was that she was a willing body. That's it," he finalized. "Whatever she tells you, those are all lies. That," he pointed to my phone, "that is a lie."

"I know it is."

"I'm crazy about you Ana. Don't ever let the words of some jealous, ugly, demented bitch tell you otherwise. I still can't get over the fact that she's been belittling you and you haven't said anything. And now with that text," he shook his head. "You should file a complaint," Eric supplied.

"I suspect it's her that texted me because she does mean things at work. Other than that I don't have proof, especially since the phone number is blocked." I pushed that away for now and practically jumped into Eric's lap. "That doesn't matter anymore though. And you wouldn't do something like that to me. You gave me a key to your place. You've been honest with me from the get go. You've proven yourself more than worthy of my trust Eric."

"And know that I should never do anything to break that trust," he wrapped his arms around me.

"Can we go to bed now?"

"As you wish," he smiled. I couldn't help but smile back.

Eric placed his lips on mine in a bruising kiss while he maneuvered his hands from my midsection, to my butt and then gripped my thighs. He sat up, pulling my legs around him tighter before he sprung up from the couch, carrying me towards the bedroom. My hands wandered from his neck, to his shoulders, exploring his back and then the muscles in his arms. I wanted to tear his shirt off and stare him as I had done before. I felt him pull me higher and realized that we started climbing the stairs to go to his room.

"Your arms aren't going to give out," I asked pulling my lips from his.

"They're holding my girlfriend's sexy ass," Eric lifted an eyebrow and smirked, "do you think I'm going to let that go?"

I squealed when he squeezed my butt before lightly spanking it. I would have been repulsed if Cain had done something like that but for some reason it just wasn't that way with Eric. Then he was kissing me all over again. His tongue danced in my mouth and I couldn't help but moan. One of his hands tangled in my hair as he demanded these wet, passionate kisses from me. I had never felt so hot before. I didn't know how it was accomplished but Eric ended up slowly laying me down in his bed, his lips finally releasing mine and trailing down my neck, my chest and then my stomach until he lifted up my shirt.

He kissed every part of me as he stripped me of my shirt. I pushed myself off and decided to do the same. He groaned and mumbled my name as I sucked and licked his chest or his stomach. When I took off his pants and lightly bit a piece of flesh I tried to expose from his waist, he cursed heatedly, grabbing me into a searing kiss. Eric and I continued undressing each other, kissing as we went until I was left in just my bra and panties and Eric with his boxer briefs on. Eric rolled to lay on his back with me half on and half off his body.

"I'm glad we talked this out," he whispered.

"We cleared the air on quite a few things," I replied.

"That we did," Eric agreed. "Let's get some sleep," he kissed my forehead. "We have a plane to catch tomorrow."

"Mm," I moaned rubbing myself against him.

"We're going to rest," he insisted.

"As you wish," I replied, moving my head to lightly kiss his chest.

And that is how we found ourselves almost all weekend. The next afternoon found the two of us on a beach in Candor, under the shade of a tree on a huge lounge chair with me half on top of Eric. I was in a dark red bathing suit that Eric had brought. I had used the bathing suit that I had brought with me that was until I looked around to see all the other scantily clad women on the beach. I had gone out of the hotel room with Eric's shirt and a surf shorts that I purchased from the hotel, feeling inadequate. Eric must have sensed this because we left the beach and went to another store.

"I don't know if I'd look good in that," I said as he held up something.

"Ana, it's not about looking good, it's about feeling that way. I already know that you look good now I want you to feel that way about yourself," he kissed my forehead and assured me that it would be alright. And it did.

Eric had brought a one-piece dark red bathing suit. He said that the color suited me and I felt that it did. It had cuts on the side where it showed my skin. The back side covered me decently where I didn't feel like my butt cheeks were sticking out. It made me feel modest and yet I still felt sexy, especially with the way Eric's eyes would look over me or the way his fingertips were skimming my side. We finished our first day having dinner by candlelight near the beach.

We had brought another one piece bathing suit for our second day with a different cut that showed off more skin than the first one but for some reason I didn't feel embarrassed. I was a little nervous at first but Eric held me in a way that told me I had nothing to worry about.

"How do you like Candor," he asked as we were wading in the water, wrapped up in each other.

I had told him earlier that morning that it was my first time to Candor. I had always wanted to come since my cousin moved here - leaving out the part that Cain and Blossom didn't get along with each other and Cain had fed me lies about my cousin - but rather I wasn't afforded the opportunity. So we went to visit a couple museums of interest that Eric thought I would like and I did. Almost everywhere we went, we took pictures. Eric would kiss me just before I'd take the picture on my phone or he'd make me look at him just before he took the picture on his phone. It was a little silly but I felt happy, happier than I had been in a while.

"I like the beaches in Amity better."

"You have to take me there someday," he smiled and ran a hand down my cheek, "I'd like to meet your family."

"They want to meet you, too," I whispered just as he pressed his lips to mine.

It had been a romantic weekend filled with candlelit dinners, walks on the beach under the stars and the moon, playful wrestling in bed that led to wonderful kissing. It was filled with adoration and affection that I never knew someone could possess for another. When we got back to Dauntless on Monday during the lunch hour, it continued the same way. I had almost forgotten about what happened Thursday night until I received yet another text. A romantic getaway in Candor doesn't mean anything to him. You don't mean anything to him.

I had been staring at the phone when Eric was attempting to talk to me. Quickly the phone was snatched away from my fingers and Eric read the text.

"Who the fucking hell is this," he all but shouted. He almost threw the phone back in my lap when he stood up. Eric took out his own phone and began calling someone. "Yeah, Max I need a trace."