Chapter 11 The Temptation
I didn’t know how long I stood there after the towel fell but I know that I stood there long enough to know that I was human and long enough to hate myself for even pausing.
“Cassandra, what the hell are you doing?” I said, sharply.
She didn’t flinch, instead she looked at me seductively as if she had practiced how to act in times like that.
“I just wanted to be close to you,” she muttered, biting her lips slowly.
I closed my eyes and turned away from her first, not because I wasn’t tempted, but because I might make a mistake I wouldn’t be able to undo.
“What the hell is she doing?” my inner voice chided.
“Alex,” she whispered as she moved closer to me.
“I want to feel you.”
This time, her hand was already on my body. She ran her finger slowly on my arm and that made my stomach churn.
“Dress up,” I said softly.
But she still continued, and I lost it when she placed my hand on her boobs.
“Get dressed and get out of my room,” I snapped.
“Chill… you don’t have to be so worked up,” she said, slowly bending down to pick up her towel.
I turned to look at her and I saw the embarrassment in her eyes.
She picked up her towel, wrapped it around herself, and walked past me without saying anything else.
The door closed behind her and I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding.
“That was close,” I whispered, dragging my hands down my face as I sat on the edge of my bed.
I didn’t sleep that night. I just lay on my back and stared at the ceiling because all I could see was the look on Joan’s face when she walked into Marcus and me talking in my office every time I closed my eyes.
I replayed the moment over and over again.
“I should have explained,” I muttered and let out a frustrated sigh.
By morning, my head ached and my chest felt tight. It was as if regret had taken up a permanent place there.
I took my bath, dressed, and left the house early to avoid my mother and Cassandra.
When I got to the site, Joan was already there. She stood a few feet away, her eyes fixed on her clipboard and her face blank.
“How will I face her?” I said to myself as I walked closer to her.
“Good morning,” I said quietly.
“Morning,” she replied flatly without looking up.
The air between us was very different… very different from the day before.
Even though we worked side by side, she only spoke when necessary and anytime I tried to talk, she pulled away.
Her sentences were firm and professional and she didn’t meet my eyes even once.
I handed her a document, and our fingers brushed briefly but she immediately pulled away.
“What have I done?” I thought to myself.
That went on, and soon it was time to close for the day.
I watched her walk out into the street and I didn’t dare go after her.
“I shouldn’t piss her off… She looks fine,” I mumbled under my breath.
I walked dejectedly to my car and rested my head on the steering wheel before driving off.
JOAN COLE’S POV
When work ended, I felt oddly fulfilled.
I didn’t seek closure and I didn’t let my feelings get in the way of my work.
I packed my things, nodded at a few coworkers, and walked past Alex without meeting his gaze, but I knew he followed me with his eyes till I was out of his sight.
I inhaled deeply when I got outside.
“He’s nothing to you,” I reminded myself.
Then I took a cab to my office and finally picked up my car. Sitting behind the wheel again felt so good, it was as if I reclaimed something important.
The drive home was quiet. It was just me and my thoughts.
When I got home, Lena was coming out of her room.
“Hey…” she said, searching my eyes before saying anything else.
“Are you good?” She asked.
I nodded, dropped my keys on the table, and slid down onto the couch.
“Okay,” she muttered and sank into the armchair opposite me.
“What happened yesterday? I knew you needed space, that's why I didn’t interrupt,” she added.
“Hmm,” I sighed and stared at my hands for a moment.
“You remember the party Alex invited me to?” I started.
“Yes,” Lena replied.
“What about it?”
“I don’t know but I walked in on him and his friend saying the party was fake. It was planned just to make me attend,” I added.
“What?” Lena muttered, clearly disappointed.
I narrated everything to her.
How the phone rang, how I took it to him, how I overheard their discussion, and the way Alex hesitated when the truth mattered most.
Lena didn’t interrupt. She just listened, her brows pulling tighter with every word.
“So… I walked out,” I finished quietly.
“That’s messed up,” she said, shaking her head.
“I know right,” I sighed, suddenly exhausted.
“So, how was it today?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“How was it seeing him again today?” She added.
“I didn’t feel anything,” I replied, looking away from her.
“You are obviously lying,” she scoffed. “Even I feel weird when someone so much as says the name of my ex. There’s no way you felt nothing.”
“Don’t you have too many exes to be saying that, though?” I said, the corners of my lips curling into a smirk.
“Shut up,” she defended.
“Being way too cool about that isn’t normal.”
“I’m cool about it for real. You know I don’t hold grudges,” I pouted.
Lena didn’t say anything more, she just laughed.
“That’s on you if you don’t believe,” I said, stood up, and picked up my bag.
“Are you sure you are fine though?” she asked with a mocking smile.
“I am,” I said and moved towards my room as fast as I could.
“She finds pleasure in my misfortune,” I scoffed, slamming the door shut.
Just a few minutes after I left the living room, Lena knocked on my door.
I opened the door, and I met her standing in front of the door with her arms crossed.
“You have to see this,” she said.
“What’s that?” I asked curiously.
“Just follow me,” she replied.
She walked towards the entrance and I just followed her as she instructed.
What I saw made my stomach twist and the only words I could mutter were…
“What the actual heck!?…”