Page 5 of That Irresistible Poison (Calluvia's Royalty 2)
“Hey… what’s up?” She waved her hand at him as she felt foolish of the greeting. Invisibly rolling her eyes to herself.
“Look, I didn’t really have a chance to talk to you about the other night.” The other night? You had a week buddy. “Whatever was about to happen in your apartment...” Jack looked down, as if his shoes held more interest than her face.
“It can’t,” he winced and his gaze finally made it back to hers, but only for a second before looking elsewhere. He clenched his jaw, like he always did.
The disappointment was real and her heart was now in the pit of her stomach. She wanted it to not affect her so much but it did.
“Jack, I understand, I was drunk and emotional. You were just being nice.”
“I just want you to understand that it’s not because I don’t want it to. It’s just… I can’t bring you…”
She quickly cut him off. “We can just forget it happened, okay?”
She couldn’t hide the sadness in her voice even if she tried. She felt like a high schooler who just had her crush stomp on her heart and throw the pieces into a fire.
“Yeah, never happened,” he didn’t look away from her.
“Exactly, see, nothing happened.” Okay, she needed to leave before things got more awkward. “I better go.”
Vanessa couldn’t have gotten out of there fast enough.
* * *
She swooshed the cabernet in her glass, all but barely spilling it over the rim. She laid on her floral print bedspread on her stomach with her legs and feet up in the air. She had on her fluffy slippers and the same bath robe that jack caught her in. Her laptop was in front of her and she was watching a cheesy romance flick. Yup, this was exactly what she needed.
She shouldn’t let the whole thing with Jack consume her. She was in a good place. Once she got her designs made, she would show them off eventually to another designer and see if they would bite. Then, she could move on from the club. Although, the thought of not working there actually made her a tad sad. She made great friends in such a short time. To be honest, working there was fun. But now, with Jack... She had to constantly see him and be reminded of what could have been.
She looked at her buzzing phone.
After twelve times, she didn’t know why Doug hadn’t given up. He called Vanessa the day after the bar. She didn’t answer. He called again that same night. No answer. Let’s just say, he had called almost every day since. She thought about blocking him.
“Doug, you have to stop calling me.” She was about to tap end call when he shouted into the other end.
“No! Don’t hang up please,” he said desperately.
She let out a deep sigh, “What?”
“I just wanted to say that I am so sorry. Vanessa, I was an asshole to call you that.”
“Oh, you mean when you called me a whore or maybe it was bitch?”
“God, I know. I’m such an idiot. I have been going crazy since that night. I haven’t been able to think of anything else.”
Well how sad for him.
“Look, I was drunk. Not that that was any excuse, but I guess…” he paused.
“Spit it out, Doug.”
“I guess seeing you made me realize how much I miss you.”
She couldn’t roll her eyes back far enough but he did seem to have sincerity in his tone. Maybe he wassorry.
“Can we get lunch tomorrow? And before you shut me down, it’s just to talk about some things.”
What could he possibly want to talk about?
Sitting there with her movie on pause and wine in her hand, she wondered if everything had to be so dramatic in her life? This could be her way to get closure, even if it was unwanted.
“Fine, but don’t make me regret this.”
“I won’t, I promise. Meet at our favorite… say noon?”
Yeah, he knew her favorite restaurant, it happened to be his, too. “Okay.” She hung up with another eye roll.
