A/N: Thanks for reading. Enjoy!
"Fuck baby, you feel so good.", Christian moans before thrusting into me one more time. I latch my legs tighter around his waist to help push him in deeper and harder. My eyes roll back at the exotic feeling racing through my body.
"I'm close." He grins and leans closer, taking my lips against his. My body crashes into ecstasy as I come. Christian continues moving in and out of me as I press my hands on to his ass to help him with his own release. His body tenses above me while coming.
"Oh fuck. Fuck. I could stay buried in you all day."
"Then do it.", I smirk, but he eases himself out of me and rolls over to his side of the bed.
"I can't. I have to get to work and so do you. Unless of course you're planning on working from here again today which is fine with me." I've being staying at Escala since Tuesday when the bombshell dropped that Kate, my so-called best friend, knew about Bryant and Rachel before I found them. Not wanting to see her yesterday, I was thankful that Olivia didn't push for answers when I requested to work from home, or Escala as I should say.
"I need to go into the office today. Olivia's going to want to see my notes from Tuesday's meet and greet." Despite the betrayal from my former best friend only hours before, I was able to pull myself together and attend the film festival meet and greet. It actually helped keep my mind occupied.
"Maybe you and Kate can talk.", he suggests. I move from his arms and place my feet on the floor. "You can't avoid her forever."
"I'm not avoiding her. I'm simply mulling things over.", I mutter while throwing my robe on.
"Not answering her calls or texting her back is avoiding.
"I thought you'd be happy that I'm here, going to sleep and waking up in your bed. I can check into a hotel this afternoon." Completely naked, he rolls off the bed and reaches for a pair of boxers.
"I do like having you here. You're welcome to stay as long as you want, but I also think you and Kate need to talk. It's understandable to be hurt after finding out that Kate knew about Bryant and Rachel, but you also might want to think about why she didn't tell you. You're her best friend who she didn't want to see hurt."
"And yet she hurt me."
"I'm pretty sure that wasn't her intention. The one to blame for this entire shit storm is Bryant. He's the one who committed the ultimate betrayal and then put Kate in a precarious position. The bastard only cares about himself.", Christian says. As much as I don't want to admit it, Christian does have a point, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to forgive Kate for her part. "I'm going to take a shower. How about you join me?"
"As long as you don't say the name that starts with a K anymore. For now, I only want to think about us."
"It's your lucky day Miss Steele because I happen to be very fond of us."
"Miss Steele, here's your granola and tea.", Ms. Jones smiles as she sets my plate and cup in front of me.
"Thank you, and please call me Ana." She glances over at Christian as if for reassurance, but his attention is on the newspaper business section in front of him. Without speaking another word, she nods and goes into the living room.
"Why did you tell her to call you Ana?", Christian asks, lowering the paper so I can the furrowing of his brows.
"That's my name.", I shrug. He continues looking at me in silence while I take a bite of my granola.
"I somehow knew the moment my words escaped my mouth that you would have some smart ass comeback. I'm just not sure if I like the idea of my staff being on a first name basis."
"They're your staff, not mine. You want me to feel comfortable while I'm here, right?"
"Yes.", he sighs.
"I'd be more comfortable with being called Ana." He appears ready to dispute my statement when my phone rings from my purse which is placed on the kitchen counter. "I'm guessing that it's you know who so I'm not answering it." We go back to our breakfast as the phone continues ringing. "Ignore it. She'll eventually hang up." Yet the phone keeps ringing.
"If you're not going to answer it, I will." I try but fail to grab hold of Christian's arm before he can get to the phone. He picks it up and waves it in front of me. "It's Ethan."
"Maybe she thought calling from Ethan's phone would work." Christian keeps the ringing phone in front of him until I give in and answer it. "Hello."
"Hey Ana.", Ethan says.
"Ethan, hi." Christian smirks and sits back down with his newspaper. "I'm sorry that it took me a while to answer."
"You thought it was Kate, huh?"
"Maybe.", I murmur. "How are you?"
"I'm good. I went yesterday and bought a new bed and dresser for the new apartment. My parents have offered to buy a sofa and some chairs."
"That's nice of them. I'm sure you're getting excited as your move in day gets closer."
"I am. Ana, why I'm calling is to ask if there's any hope for you and Kate to salvage your friendship. When she told me that she knew about Bryant's infidelity beforehand, I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe that my sister would betray you like that. Still, the two of you have history. You can't just forget the good times you had."
"I'm not going to forget the good times, but unfortunately, those good times are currently being clouded by the hurt she caused."
"I understand. The thing is...you can't run. Sooner or later, you're going to have to deal with things. Whether you decide to move forward with your friendship or end things, you need to talk."
"Hey. We missed you yesterday.", Audrey says when I arrive at work. "Olivia said you were working from home which made me completely jealous. I wish there was a way in which I could answer the work phones from my place. Maybe I'll google it to see there's a chance."
"You and your googling.", Daniel sighs from his desk. "Audrey spent the greater part of last night googling random things."
"If you're making fun of me, then you'll be googling yourself tonight." In the corner of my eye, I see Kate brush past me with her head down. She places her purse in the bottom drawer of her desk and then settles in her chair. She darts her eyes at me but quickly looks back at her computer.
"Um, I've already googled myself. The search result was Daniel is awesome.", Daniel jokes.
"I don't think that's what Audrey meant.", I giggle.
"My version is much better." The fact that neither of them brought up the Kate issue makes me wonder if they know what happened.
I roll my eyes and slowly make my way to my desk. After pulling my chair back, I sit down and turn on my computer screen. It's weird being this close to Kate and have nothing but silence. I begin editing my meet and greet notes as Christian and Ethan's words flood my mind. I put my pen down and swivel my chair around to face her. Coincidentally at the same time, she turns her chair as well.
"Ana, hi.", she mutters.
"Hi." She grins at my simple two letter greeting.
"I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting a response, but I'm glad to have heard it."
"We're co-workers so we should be cordial.", I tell her.
"Co-workers, yeah." The hurt in her teary eyes is difficult to look at so I focus back on my notes.
"Ana, Kate, can I see you in my office please?", Olivia asks, strolling out of the break room and in the direction of her office. She opens the door and points inside the room, indicating for us to follow her. Kate gets up first and seems to wait a few seconds for me before I finally stand and trail a few inches from her.
"Good morning Olivia. I didn't know if you were here yet.", I say as Kate and I sit down in the chairs on the other side of Olivia's desk.
"I've been here for a while although I was in the break room having coffee. My coffee maker at home decided to quit on me this morning so I've been indulging in the break room coffee. It's actually not that bad."
"I like it, but I like all kinds of coffee. It's become my favorite beverage especially during these last few days.", Kate rambles. "I've even been drinking it before bed which I never used to do."
"How much coffee have you had today?", Olivia asks.
"Only two and a half cups. So, why did you want to see us?"
"First of all, Ana tell me about the meet and greet."
"It went well. A few of the directors weren't able to make it due to a rain delay at the airport, but they're going to be there tomorrow when I attend the screenings. Some of the films sound like Oscar contenders."
"Fantastic. Ok ladies, I brought you in here to discuss an article that I want the two of you to co-write."
"Co-write? Olivia, no offense, but I don't think that's a good idea.", Kate says.
"Is it because you and Ana aren't on speaking terms at the moment?" I look at Kate appears as shocked as I am. "Kate hasn't told me anything. I have my sources."
"Your sources need to mind their own business.", I murmur, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Look, I don't know what's going on with the two of you. I was only told that your friendship had taken a hit. I stood in the doorway of the break room and watched you. Kate, I noticed how you looked at Ana, wanting to say something, and Ana, the same goes for you. The two of you are the dynamic duo of the office."
"Not anymore."
"Do you two know how lucky you are? Some people dream of having friendships like yours. I'm one of them. I've got friends, but I'm not as close to them as you guys are. I'm sure whatever happened can be fixed."
"Olivia, suppose one of your friends saw your boyfriend with another woman.", I say with my eyes on Kate.
"I don't have a boyfriend.", Olivia mumbles.
"Hypothetically. Your friend sees your boyfriend with this other woman but doesn't tell you. What do you?"
"Another thing, the boyfriend promised the friend that what she saw was nothing and that he would tell you about the kiss.", Kate adds, scowling at me.
"Yet, the boyfriend didn't tell so you are left to find him having his cock sucked by the other woman.", I counter. "What would you do?"
"Hmm, what would I do?", Olivia ponders as she taps her index finger against her desk. "First of all, I would kick the cheating bastard so hard in the nuts that he would be walking bow-legged for weeks. I would also be upset that my friend didn't tell me, but I also would try and see things from her point of view. She probably didn't want to see me hurt."
"More than anything. The last thing she wanted was for you to be hurt, but she ended up hurting you anyway.", Kate sighs. "The friend despises herself for ruining things with the girl who's like a sister to her. It's the one true friendship that she's ever had. The thought of not being friends is devastating."
"I just remembered that I have a meeting with uh..one of the department heads. I can't recall which one, but I'm going to step out for a few minutes.", Olivia says with a sympathetic smile aimed at both me and Kate. She scurries out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"Ana, I'm sorry for keeping this huge secret from you. I honestly didn't mean for it to destroy our friendship. I let you down. I let myself down. You're right for not wanting to be my friend. I don't deserve your friendship.", Kate sobs. I hear the sincerity in her voice and see that she does truly regret things.
"I'm sorry too. You were only looking out for me which is what a friend does. I wish you would have told me, but I need you in my life. Christian said that the only one responsible for this is Bryant. Here he is still causing chaos in my life after all this time. He's probably sitting at his office desk with a grin on his face at the thought of playing a role in ending our friendship."
"He certainly seemed pleased with himself the other day."
"How about we not give him that satisfaction? It's going to take some time to put things back in place, but I believe it's possible to fix things. Bryant's in for a rude awakening." Kate stands up and bends down in front of me as she pulls me into a hug.
"I'm glad you and Kate worked things out.", Christian smiles after taking off his shirt.
"Me too." I pull my hair from my ponytail and pick up a brush to smooth it out.
"Does this mean you're going to stay at your place tonight?"
"Yeah, but you can stay there as well. I'm still trying to figure out who Olivia's source was. He or she seemed to have a lot of insider knowledge."
"And good intentions.", he points out. "Of course, I'm only guessing."
"Right.", I laugh. "I'm grateful for whoever it was." He approaches me with seriousness in his face. "You look like you're up to something."
"I am. I've been thinking about things. I love you, and you love me. We're madly and deeply in love with each. I trust you more than anything in the world. especially with my heart. Fuck, you're the one who showed me that I have a heart. I want us to continue to flourish together. In order to do that, there's gap that needs to be closed. It's one that I've been thinking about for a while, but I'm finally ready." He takes my right hand and starts bringing towards his chest but stops for a moment.
"Christian, I know what you're wanting to do, but I don't want you to do anything that you're not ready for. Touching your chest has no baring on how we feel about each other."
"But it's a barrier Ana. It's one that I'm tired of holding me back. I'm ready." He closes his eyes and places my hand on one of the scars. He opens his eyes and moves my hand on another scar. The process is repeated with each scar. His body is more relaxed than I've ever seen as I touch the last scar. He then turns around and motions for his back where nine scar lay. "Here too." Following his instruction, I touch each of the nine scars. Tears are consuming my eyes, and when he turns back around, I see that his eyes are filled with tears as well. "No more holding back."
"No more.", I whisper.