Chapter 16

Amara's POV:

I felt the sun's rays spreading their warmth across my skin, as I had forgotten to close the blinds last night. I felt another body next to me moving. I opened my eyes immediately and saw it was Zavier. My eyes widened as I saw that he was shirtless, which made me look under the covers. I was naked too.

Memories from last night flooded my mind, and I realized what we had done. I should never have drunk that much. I saw Zavier moving, rolling onto his back before he faced me, his eyes wide too.

“Fuck,” he groaned, covering his face with his hand and letting out a sigh. “This shouldn’t have—” Zavier began to say, sitting up but keeping the blanket on his lower body so he wouldn’t expose himself, but instead, he put his abs on display.

“No, it shouldn’t have,” I said, clearing my throat and looking towards the other side of the room in case he wanted to get up and change into something.

“I’m sorry. The wine must have gotten to me,” he apologized. I could hear him stepping out of bed and moving around the room.

“Yeah, me too…we shouldn’t have drunk that much.” I sighed, rubbing my temples. I had a slight headache, but now, I wasn't sure if it was from all the alcohol we had last night or because of this situation. I heard the movement of his zipper and finally turned over to look at him, holding the blanket close to my body.

“It was good, though,” Zavier said, slightly smiling for a moment before he frowned, realizing how it sounded. He quickly added, “The wine, I mean.”

“Yeah, it was…” I replied, thinking back to last night. I sure wasn’t talking about the wine… “Shit, did we, uh, use protection?” I panicked, sitting up and clutching onto the blanket as I looked at him. I knew exactly how this went; Sebastian was the outcome of the last time.

“I—” he stuttered and walked to the bin, seeing what I assumed was a used condom. I felt the wrapper under my body, which confirmed it. “Yes, luckily.” Zavier sighed, his hands on his hips. He stared at me, and I stared back, biting down on my lip, unsure what to do next.

“Um, Sebastian and Charlotte will be here in an hour. I have to get ready,” I told him, looking around the room for a moment.

“Yeah, I have to leave for work soon. Uh, see you later?” Zavier replied with a frown on his face for a moment, but then he just went with it and held onto my door handle.

“See you later.” I gave him a quick smile and watched as he finally left the room. Once the door was shut, I got up, locked the door, and closed the blinds. I let out a loud sigh as I leaned back and thought of everything that had just happened. I knew this wouldn’t affect our agreement, but we hadn’t said anything about us. It was a mistake, so we’d keep it at that. Hopefully, he’d forget about it. I removed the bedsheet and went to shower, trying to scrub away his strong scent.

When I went downstairs, I heard his car drive off. I checked the time and saw he left right on time for work. I then checked my phone.

“Hey, are you up?” Charlotte had texted me over an hour ago.

“Hey! Yeah, how are you? How’s Bash?” I replied, setting the phone down on the countertop and walking to the fridge to grab the ingredients for pancakes.

“We’re both good. Can I bring him over? I have some things to do for the company later,” she replied.

“Of course. Should I make you pancakes to go? Or will you join us for breakfast?” I replied, and she just responded with a thumbs up.

Forty-five minutes later, Charlotte and Sebastian arrived. We all ate our breakfast together, and she helped clean up the table afterward before leaving to finish up her business. I then cuddled up to Sebastian. I missed his cute, chubby cheeks. Once I put him down for a nap, I called Nicole and told her everything and made her promise not to tell Amelia. If Amelia knew, she might force me to stop this whole deal immediately, but I couldn’t pull out of it now.

~~~

Tessa’s POV:

The next day…

I watched as Arlo spoke with a model, and I couldn’t help but feel jealous of the way he was flirting with her. He didn’t owe me anything, yet it sure felt like it. After all these years, it still affected me somehow. Maybe he was the reason I had commitment issues. I had to try to keep things cool and pretend like everything was okay, like I had been doing around him for years now.

“Arlo, I need you to sign these.” I cleared my throat, holding the piece of paper out in front of him. He read the header then frowned, took the paper, and told the model to give him a moment.

“What’s this about?” Arlo asked, making me roll my eyes. Couldn’t he read?

“The agreement with the new photographer?” I informed him, resting the palm of my hand on the surface of his desk.

“Shouldn’t Zavier be signing these?” Arlo asked, reading through the first page and then looking back up at me.

“Yes, but he’s not here right now. He went with Sebastian to get some sort of shots,” I explained, sliding the pen over to him so he could sign it.

“Shots? Isn’t he too young for alcohol?” Arlo frowned, looking up at me. I looked at him for a moment, wondering whether he was serious or not, and he seemed to be deadly serious.

“Vaccine shots, you cabron.” I sighed and shook my head.

“Oh! Oh, okay, okay.” He laughed awkwardly.

I watched as he read through the agreement for a minute, signed the papers, and handed them over to me. While I checked if he signed correctly, I heard him call the model over and began chatting with her again.

“Hey, there’s also a meeting you’ll have to attend on his behalf,” I reminded him when I realized Zavier would never make it back on time. I did have to say—since his date, he had been acting somewhat different.

“Why can’t you do it?” Arlo groaned.

“Because this has to do with the clothing line, which I am only a secretary for, but for the shoe line, I am the right woman.” I shrugged, turning on my feet to walk away after checking everything.

“So, I have to attend?” he asked, raising a brow at me.

“Yes,” I mumbled.

“Okay, I’ll see you tonight, okay?” I heard him say to the lady, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Luckily, I wasn’t facing them. I started walking towards the room where the meeting would be held and heard Arlo coming up behind me. “Will you be attending the meeting too?”

“Yes, for the shoe line, as Zav will not be present,” I explained.

We both went to the meeting; this was the first time I was in a meeting with Arlo there. I couldn’t help but stare at him at certain moments, at the way his lips parted whenever he got serious and how he would let that strand of hair dangle in front of his gorgeous eyes. I took a deep breath, looked down at my notepad, and listened to the proposals being made, trying to focus solely on that.

Luckily, after the meeting, we all went our separate ways, and I finished up the work I had at the office before taking care of my things with Nicole. She seemed to be a good architect, and we were both excited to be working together. Just when I thought I was done with work, Zavier called me back in for one last request.

~~~

That night…

Once I got home, I kicked off my heels, threw my bag to the side, and walked straight to the kitchen to get a cold glass of apple juice. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and saw my phone had a notification. I opened it up and saw my photo gallery showing me a prom photo from years ago. Wow…

Zavier was two years older than me. I switched schools when I entered middle school and was placed two grades higher. I happened to be a little more advanced, and my parents made sure I’d be in the right grade, mostly to brag about it, but it turned out to be a good thing for me. I met Zavier, who was the first person to be kind towards the new girl. We immediately became best friends. Our families became close to each other too. They’d joke around about Zavier and me, but what they didn’t know was that I had my eyes on his older brother, Arlo. I never acted on my feelings, given that he was five years older than me.

At a Fuentes dinner party, Arlo and I started chatting because Zavier was out that night. Arlo confessed he had always liked me but knew I was too young for him. I was surprised and ended up confessing to him, telling him I liked him too. It was then that we pursued a secret relationship. I kept asking when we’d tell the others, and he told me one day. We decided that day to be prom, almost two months into our relationship. He said he’d be my date, which would be the right time to tell the others.

Zavier was excited for me, knowing that I never had an official date with Arlo. He even designed my dress, saying I’d blow his brother's mind. Back then, I didn’t like to dress too extravagantly. Even now, I preferred simple outfits. Zavier’s dress, however, was stunning. It was a blush pink dress with thin straps and a V-neck, and the back hung quite low. My waist was covered with sheer pink fabric with stones all over, down to the tulle skirt. I looked like an absolute princess that night, and I was excited too. I wouldn’t have to keep things a secret anymore. Only—Arlo never showed up. In fact, he didn’t even respond to any of the texts I sent and pretended nothing had ever happened between us when we met at family dinners and parties.

Even after all these years, I still felt something towards him, and I knew it wasn’t right. This was the only secret I’d kept from Zavier, and I planned on taking it to the grave. I swiped out from the app and saw that my neighbor had texted me. She was a sweet old lady with a young dog. She asked if I wanted to take Fluffy out on a walk, as she was a little too old to do that herself, and the dog was a gift from her grandchildren. She said Fluffy made her feel less lonely, but she worried she wasn’t a good owner, which was why I offered to walk Fluffy in my free time to make sure he got in his exercise.

I grabbed my keys, water, and phone and went over to take Fluffy for a walk. When I returned her to Mrs. Hellena, she gave me some cookies, which tasted just like my grandmother’s. I checked the time and bit down on my lip. I was craving some fun, some sort of adventure. I decided I wanted to go to a club, so I went to the bathroom and took a long shower, shaved, and washed my hair too. Who knew—some guy might just get lucky tonight.

I blow-dried my hair and added the hair products I liked to use for my hair to go back to its natural, moisturized curls. I then walked to the closet and searched for a specific red dress that clung to my skin like a glove and had a crisscross design on the back. Once I found it, I slipped it on and put on a pair of black heels with it. Next, I put on some jewelry, filled my clutch with necessary items, and then stopped at the full-length mirror to take a picture before heading out. Hopefully, I could make these boy problems go away.

When I arrived at the club, I walked in and headed straight for the bar to order a virgin bloody Caesar. I patiently waited for my drink and looked around. I saw a blonde man looking at me with a smirk and making his way over to me.

“Care for a dance?” he asked confidently, his voice loud enough to be heard over the booming music.

“Yes, when I finish my drink,” I replied in the same tone as his, with a smile playing on my red-tinted lips.

“I’ll have what she’s having,” the stranger told the bartender, earning a nod in response. “So, are you here by yourself, or will some guy come knock me out when we start dancing?” he asked, leaning closer to me.

“I’m very much single.” I laughed, still not telling him that I was here by myself.

“I’m Owen, and you are?” he finally introduced himself, smiling and showing his dimples.

“Tessa,” I replied and looked over at the bartender, who just gave us our drinks. Owen ended up paying for them, and I thanked him.

“What are these? Virgin drinks? Really?” He frowned after taking a sip of his drink and looked at me, almost disappointed.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that. I’m a responsible driver.” I shrugged, throwing my hands up and then going back to sipping my delicious drink.

“Fair enough.” He chuckled and drank the bloody Caesar.

Once we finished up our drinks, we hit the dance floor, and wow, it had been so long since I felt this way. Owen really made me laugh. The man had some moves, and he was handsome. Score! I bumped into someone and turned around to apologize, which was when I saw him—Arlo.