Page 42

“Of course,” she closed her laptop, “I’ll do that right now.”

“No need,” Nathan’s voice came from the hallway.

He had a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He gave Marissa an acknowledging nod then clasped my shoulder and led me out of her office.

“Where’s the bathroom?” I opened my mouth to complain but he cut me off, “Now isn’t the time; take me there.”

For once, I didn’t argue with him. I let him put his hand on my shoulder as I walked him to the bathroom.

We walked into the small room. Just like every other thing in this office, I made the final decisions on it. It had light blue tiles with a white ceramic sink and a toilet.

There was enough space for both of us to stand on opposite sides of the room without having to touch limbs or anything.

I decided to ignore him and glance at the mirror. Thankfully, egg didn’t get into my braids but my shirt and jacket was completely ruined.

I took off the black jacket and made a mental note to wash it today or else I wouldn’t be able to salvage it. There was dried egg all over the sleeves, lapels and the back.

I took in my white shirt- or once white shirt- and let out a deep exhale. The entire front was covered in ugly yellowish stains from where the eggs hit me. The rest of the shirt was clean but I would need a new one.

“Why the hell did you tell her not to get me a shirt?” I looked up at Nathan through the mirror and saw him pull off his button up.

He extended it to me and I stared at him as if he had grown two heads.

“Take the shirt, Adira.”

“What are you going to wear?”

“I have my gym shirt in here.” He answered with a shrug, “I would have given it to you but it’s sweaty.”

I finally turned away from the mirror to look at him. I tried not to stare at his body too much because it felt like an invasion of his privacy but from what I did see, he was very well built and toned. He had a toned stomach and his features may as well have been carved from stone. If someone had told me that Nathan looked like this under his formal clothes then I would have laughed in their face.

“Thank you,” I took the shirt from his hands.

He turned his back to me while I pulled off my shirt and quickly put his own my head. I was buttoning it up when he spoke.

“If you don’t want to do the session today then we can skip it.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said simply, “You did say I should be more vulnerable. What is more vulnerable than getting egged in the street after getting coffee?”

I finished the last button and looked at it in the mirror. It was too big and I’ll fitting on me. I decided to roll up the sleeves and tuck the front into my pants. It still looked weird but it looked better than it did at first.

I turned back to face Nathan and he had put on his gym shirt. It was a plain grey shirt and it didn’t look as bad as I thought it would. There were barely any stains on it and In all honesty, I would have thought it was clean if he didn’t tell me otherwise.

“Are you good?” he asked and I nodded.

“You can set up for the session,” I told him, “My office is open.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be there in a second; I just need to be alone first.” Understanding and sympathy filled his eyes and I turned away from him. “I’m not dying Nathan; you don’t have to look at me with pity.”

He opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it and walked out of the bathroom. I waited until I heard his footsteps fade out before I allowed myself to feel.

CHAPTER 12: TWENTY THREE DAYS POST BREAK UP

I don’t know how long I stayed in that bathroom. Realistically speaking, it couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes, but to me, it felt like hours. When I got out, I was sure of three things;

One, I would have preferred if that attack had happened without Nathan Cowe present. I know he would have seen it on the media, but there is a huge difference between someone seeing something on camera and seeing it in person. It is a lot more humiliating when they get free access to your raw and unfiltered reaction to an incident.