Amelia
I’m standingby the bar in the massive ballroom where the holiday party is being hosted. I’m tempted to take advantage of the open bar, but I can’t. I need to have this chat with Marcos Mirabal, then I can dive into my Trader Joe’s wine at home.
I scan the room looking for him, but there are too many bodies in here. Clearly free food and booze got everyone in the holiday spirit tonight.
I’m actually thankful that there are so many people here. That makes the chances of running into Christine little to none.
But just as if I have summoned her with my thoughts, I hear a woman clearing her throat. “Ahem, hi there Amelia. Haven’t seen you in forever.”
I slowly turn, and am brought face to face with Christine. The woman who slept with my fiancé, all while pretending to be my work friend. The audacity of her to even speak to me as if she didn’t play a part in my world crashing down.
“Christine. Nice to see you … clothed,” I snark.
Atta girl. Keep your shoulders back and chin up. Thisputahas nothing on you. Hold your ground.
“Oh, I see we’re making jokes now. See, I told Sebastián that we would all look back at this one day and laugh. It’s all really silly when you think about it.” She bats her eyelashes.
Wait, what? They’re still together? What the fuck.
It never really occurred to me what happened after I caught them together. I guess I just assumed that it was no longer fun for them to fuck when they weren’t sneaking around behind my back.
Before I can come up with another snarky remark, a familiar scent consumes me and the hairs at the back of my neck lift in dread.
“Amelia?”
It’s him.
He’s here.
My body is unable to respond. In a time of fight or flight, I just freeze. My legs feel weighted to the ground by boulders and I forget to breathe.
A few moments pass and then finally, Sebastián makes his way next to Christine, and they both stand in front of me. My eyes locked with his.
I know for a fact that I don’t belong to Sebastián, and that we would never have made it in the long run. But seeing him for the first time is causing a pain in my heart that I didn’t know still existed. The sensation alone is sending me into a tailspin.
After an uncomfortable amount of time, Sebastián breaks his eye contact and stares at Christine in contempt. “You said Amelia wouldn’t be here. You promised,” he spits. I’ve never seen this side of Sebastián before, but I guess there’s been a lot I’ve never seen.
“Oh, my bad. I just assumed that since I never saw her at the office, she must have quit or something, honest mistake,” she says innocently as she grabs his hand.
He pulls his hand out of hers as if it’s burned him, and her eyes grow angry.
His focus turns back to me.
“Amelia, I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t have come if I knew you were here. I’ve been trying to reach out and talk to you. But this obviously isn’t the right time or place. Can we grab lunch together or something? Does tomorrow work for you?” He holds his hands out and slowly starts to move forward as if he’s testing the waters for a hug.
This whole time I’ve been quiet and in a haze, but I know I need to say something. I need to stop him from moving forward and touching me.
This bastard does not deserve a fucking hug from me.
I open my mouth to respond, but then all of a sudden, I feel a large hand holding the back of my neck possessively. Before I can react to the invasion, I feel a warm breath on my ear as I hear a husky, familiar voice. “Hey there, baby.”
Evan pulls me sideways and arches my neck up to him, giving me a very hard and passionate kiss.
Woah.
For the second time tonight, I am frozen in place. What the fuck is happening to me?!
Evan speaks first when we separate. “Sorry for taking so long, the bathroom line took forever.” He winks at me, then leans back down to whisper in my ear. “Wake the fuck up baby, don’t let him see you sweat.”
