Shane went straight from the office to the restaurant La Maison Dorée, or The Golden House. If it were up to him, he'd pick up something from McDonalds and call it a night but it wasn't up to him. It seemed like it was never up to him.

To simply put it, La Maison Dorée was fucking expensive. Everything was ridiculously priced seeing as how the food wasn't even that good. But Shane guessed you weren't exactly paying for the shitty food, you were paying for the atmosphere. All of the city's finest residents ate here. Any given day you could find a local celebrity chowing down on a plate of the crap the place served. He figured the publicity that came with being seen at the restaurant was the main reason his wife chose to dine there.

Everything was always about a "photo op" with her.

"Uh, Gray," Shane told the maître d' who had asked for the name of his party. He couldn't help but notice the snooty glance he received as he spoke. He wasn't prepared for dinner with the richest folks in town so he was a bit underdressed for the occasion.

"I'm sorry sir, there is no Gray party here." The maître d' informed him. "Perhaps you were mistaken?"

Just as Shane was about to insist this guy was wrong, he saw his wife stomping up to the desk.

"He's with me." She linked arms with Shane and walked him to their table.

Once they arrived, Shane sat and shook his head as she let out an audible sigh.

"Let me guess, you put the reservations under Woodsen?" Shane asked peeved that his own wife still refused to use his last name in situations such as these.

"What was I supposed to do Shane? I didn't exactly have reservations and I figured if they knew that I'm Ashley Woodsen, they'd make room." She whispered at him. "And look, they did! Like I've said many times before, having a known name gets you places."

Shane rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. He wondered where everything in his marriage went wrong. Ashley didn't always used to be this way. In fact, when they were first set up on one of those speed dating things, he loved her personality. She seemed like a woman who wouldn't stop until she accomplished what she set out to do and that was very attractive to Shane. However that drive that pulled him in was the same drive that was slowly pushing him away.

Ever since Ashley became one of the better known paralegals in the city, her whole attitude changed. Shane could only guess it came from the other women at the office. The other women whose husbands were lawyers or judges or doctors. Those women would share tales about how their husbands would spend money on them for lavish gifts and vacations to distant tropical islands. And while they lived it up, all Ashley could brag about was how her husband owned a 'hole-in-the-wall' the he called a record label.

It seemed no matter how many artists he signed, how much money he made from those artists, or even the fact that his label was finally start to get mainstream recognition, it would never be enough for Ashley.

The simple, non-extravagant life Shane wanted to live was not good enough for Ashley.

As Shane picked up his menu to order, Ashley placed her hand on top of his, gently pushing it back down on the table.

"I already ordered for you." She simply stated.

That was another thing. Ashley always treated Shane like he was an incompetent adult who couldn't do anything correctly without her help.

"How was work–" He asked to change the subject. Before she could answer, he phone began to ring and she held up a finger at him. Instead of properly excusing herself with the manners she so often accused him of not having, she just stood up from the table and made her way to the ladies room.

Shane shook his head and pulled out his own cellphone. He dialed the very familiar number and pressed the phone to his ear, eagerly waiting to hear the voice on the other line.

"You're calling me before midnight? Should I be worried?"

He smiled at the way she answered his call. No 'hi' or 'hello', just right down to business.

"Maybe you should have canceled dinner for me after all." He whispered into the phone so she, and no one else, would only hear his words. "I'd much rather be with you than at this dumbass restaurant."

"You can't be with me all the time, Shane. People would start to get suspicious…"

He smiled. He never thought about what would happen if people actually started to suspect the relationship between him and Mitchie was more than that of a boss and his assistant. No one around the office suspected a thing and if they did, they made sure not to make a fuss about their suspicions. Ashley sure as hell didn't think anything of his late nights away from home. She just assumed he was 'wasting his time at the studio'.

"Can't have that now, can we?"

Now that he thought about it, would it be so bad if people knew? Maybe if they did, it'd give him a valid reason to end things with Ashley besides the fact that he had just fallen out of love with her. He knew she, nor her father, would find that a good enough reason for divorce. Or maybe if Ashley found out about his cheating, she would break it off with him. That would be just perfect.

"Are you doing that thing again? You know, when you call just to hear my voice?"

"Yes, I am." Shane answered nodding into the phone.

"Buh-bye, Shane."

Shane felt his heart sink a bit when she hung up. He knew why she did, though. Mitchie really only had one rule about their little affair. Under no circumstances were they to act like a couple. And he was pretty sure calling just to hear her voice constituted as a 'couple-like' thing to do.

It wasn't the first time he had done it either.

"Guess who just got signed on to another high profile case?" Ashley asked excitedly returning to the table.

"Congrats." Shane said flatly.

"Ah! I'm so excited! This is going to do so much for…"

Shane tuned her out as his mind drifted back to Mitchie. It sometimes worried him how much he thought about her. He wondered if she thought about him at all. Mitchie was a master at hiding what she was really feeling. The two of them could be flirting but as soon as someone walked by and there was the chance of their relationship being exposed, she turned on the professionalism. His little actress was what he called her sometimes. He wished he was as good at hiding his emotions as she was.

Maybe then it'd be easier for him to hide the fact that he was slowly but surely falling head-over-heels for Mitchie Torres.

So this chapter was the longest (so far). Thanks for all the awesome reviews for the last chapter! I guess I'll keep the rating T for now but I might push the boundaries of the rating in future chapters because of language but whatever, I guess. Haha

Please leave me more awesome reviews! It gives me motivation to write!

Thanks for reading!