His Therapist

Chapter 8

"T-Thea," He stuttered out, his eyes widening.

"You work here?" She asked. Her eyes flickered around the cafe before landing back on her ex. They had been together for a couple of months but the two never did learn much about each other. He was never unattractive or anything like that, they were just too different to get along.

He nodded slowly, more shocked than she was.

Elio loudly cleared his throat and the two both turned their attention to him. "Who's this, sweetheart?"

"Just a friend." She replied almost too quickly, glancing back at her ex.

"Friend?" Ashton scoffed. "We dated for 3 months."

She glared at him. What difference did it make? He was the one who had ended things and now he was acting like their relationship was anything more than pathetic.

"Ah. So your ex then." Elio slid an arm around her waist. She tensed up but this time she let it be, not bothering to move away as he pulled her closer to him. Ashton glared at the arm around her body, not bothering to hide his jealousy in his eyes. It was obvious that he had questions to ask but he kept his mouth shut.

She smiled, hoping to make the situation any less awkward than it was becoming but if anything, it only made it worse.

Ashton cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, what would you guys like to order?"

"Caramel iced latte for me." She replied. No matter how cold the weather was, she always preferred cold drinks over hot drinks.

"I don't need anything." Elio's deep voice replied with a hint of amusement in his tone, entertained by the whole situation. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Ashton nodded before walking off to make her order. As soon as he was of sight, Thea slapped the arm on her waist away, wiggling out of his grasp.

He snorted, quickly realizing why she had let him have his arm on her for so long in the first place. "Why do you have such a problem with me? You act like I have an STD or something."

She jerked her head around to gawk at him in disbelief. "You do?" She hissed out. If he had an STD, there was a chance he might've passed it along to her during her night of... regrets.

"No, I don't." He pressed his lips together grimly. She could tell that he was disappointed that she would think that lowly of him.

"How would you know? Have you gotten tested?" She pressed on, her voice low enough for only him to hear.

He let out an annoyed grunt, not too happy about her questions. "I always use protection. And yes, I got tested last week and the results came back negative."

She eyed him suspiciously but decided to let it go. There was no such thing as being 'too careful' in the sex world.

Ashton came back with her drink and handed it to her. Avoiding eye contact, she took it, getting ready to leave as soon as possible but Elio stopped her, placing her hand on her shoulder to prevent her from walking away.

Not wanting to cause a scene or let her ex see through her little façade, she decided not to slap his hand away.

"Before we leave," Elio began and Thea immediately shot him a warning glare, hoping he would get the sign and leave but as usual, he ignored it. She knew whatever he was about to say and whatever was about to play out was not going to be good.

"I want to learn more about you—" He eyed the nameplate on his uniform. "— Ashton."

What was he doing?