Strictly Business | 18+

10. Avoiding

And even when men lacked everything else, they surely never lacked the audacity. Alexa slowly walked towards her office after the steamy encounter between herself and Luca.

She mumbled to herself and probably had the biggest scowl on her face. Surely he was toying with her. Holding that night above her head as if it were a dark cloud - blocking out any form of sunlight and indicating that rainfall was to follow shortly.

Not only had Alexa been avoiding Luca but she was also avoiding Emily. The reason why was obvious, she refused to disclose why she wanted to leave in such a hurry.

Emily knew she saw something or someone because Alexa was quite literally pale in the face which was highly unlike her. Even in the most uncomfortable moments she always managed to keep a straight face and remain neutral.

Emily could only recall one time since they knew each other where her friend was pale in the face - which happened to be caused by the flu.

Unfortunately Alexa was extremely stubborn and wasn't going to reveal her reasons anytime soon which meant she was going to practice the art of avoidance. Alexa already knew her best friend better than she knew herself.

The moment she tells Emily that she ran into Luca of all people, the assumptions and conspiracy theories would spiral out of control. That meant that every single day for the rest of her life she would never hear the end of it.

If it were someone that didn't work at her company then perhaps she would've spilled the beans immediately but the man worked for her. Passing them each and everyday. Emily was many things but subtle was not one of them.

She would make it so obvious and Alexa just couldn't bare to deal with that on a daily basis. She already despised Luca because he was such a smug bastard, so Emily knowing would only make matters worse.

Alexa furiously typed on her laptop. Her office suddenly felt too small and claustrophobic so she decided to sit in the boardroom while she replied to emails and resolved any queries that required her urgent attention.

Once her work was complete and the woman waited for certain individuals to respond to her via email, she found herself staring off into the distance.

She tried to figure out why this man got under skin. The last man who managed to get any sort of reaction out of her was her father. The good for nothing was one of the reasons why she worked twice as hard.

So why was it that Luca affected her so badly? It couldn't have been solely because he saw her in that skimpy outfit and threw snide remarks at her. No, it was something else. It was more than that.

For some reason she thought of her favourite enemies to lovers romance and cringed when she realised that whatever was happening between them resembled that book.

Impossible. She thought to herself. She could definitely picture the two of them being sworn enemies but not lovers. Never lovers. The only reason why he would even be considered her enemy was because of his arrogant, cocky nature.

When she thought back to the way he looked at her earlier it's as if she could feel her face heating up at the thought. "There you are." Dante said while he walked towards Alexa with a medium sized pink cardboard box in hand. "When I saw your office was empty I almost thought you went home."

Alexa looked in his direction and smiled while closing her laptop. If anything she was grateful for his perfectly timed appearance. It was like a scene from a sitcom. "I wish. What have you got there?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows playfully.

"This is donuts. I went to the little cafe down the street for a chai latte and the lady behind the counter gave me a dozen free donuts because she said I've been in that cafe religiously for the past two weeks." Dante and Alexa chuckled. She held her hands out like a little toddler when they were asking for something.

"Hand them over." Dante handed the box of sweet treats over to Alexa and rolled his eyes. "I'll save one for you."

"Alexa!" The man exclaimed which in turn only made the woman laugh. "I feel like you resemble a child and too much sugar will inevitably have you running up and down the stairs in this building."

"That's not true." She shrugged. "Okay maybe it is true but I have self control. I'm obviously not really going to leave you one. I'll leave you two."

"You're a menace." He teased. The pair ate their donuts while discussing what was on the agenda for this week. In the midst of their conversation, Emily had entered the room.

Alexa hadn't noticed her friend approaching them and her heart nearly dropped when she finally acknowledged the woman's presence.

"Well, this explains why I can't get ahold of you two." Em stood in front of them with her arms crossed, a huge scowl plastered on her face. "Alexa, a word please."

Dante only sat there awkwardly and stuffed his face with donuts, the last he would do was get involved in that conversation. Women could be brutal and he wasn't emotionally ready for that.

Alexa wasn't someone who was easily intimidated and she still wasn't but she knew Emily could get extremely abrupt when she was upset.

The woman muttered. "Of course." Then proceeded to get up from the chair she sat in, fixed her skirt and followed her best friend outside of the boardroom. "I'll be right back." She informed Dante and he nodded.

When the door was closed behind both women, Emily turned around and tapped her foot on the tiled floor creating a continuous clicking sound. "Well, are you going to explain your reasons behind ignoring me."

Alexa sighed softly. "I haven't been ignoring you, I've just been extremely busy with work. I'm sure you're aware of the responsibilities that come along with this role." It was a white lie.

Yes the woman may have been busy but not to the extent of her not being able to even communicate with her best friend. "Who are you trying to fool Lex?" Emily asked, raising her left eyebrow.

"I haven't been ignoring you." She emphasised. "What can I do to make it up to you? Or to prove that I'm not ignoring you Em."

Emily smiled mischievously. "We're going back to the club tomorrow night." Alexa's eyes widened and that same feeling she experienced when she heard Luca's voice in the club that night overcame her.

"I really wish I could but unfortunately I'll be staying late for the rest of the week to finish the long list of uncompleted tasks I have sitting on my desk." This wasn't a lie, this was the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Surprisingly Alexa would've preferred being at that dreaded place but instead she was stuck here until her work had reached completion.

"Okay then next week. No excuses and I'm pretty sure you'll finish everything before the weekend so don't even try to tell me you might still be busy." Emily narrowed her eyes at her friend. "But that still doesn't explain your lack of communication this week and I still want to know why you were in a rush to leave."

And there it was. The inevitable conversation she had been trying so hard to dodge. "I just wasn't feeling well hence the rush to leave. Are you happy now?"

Emily scoffed and rolled her eyes, not fully convinced. "Perhaps. So next week, clear up your schedule babe." Alexa was already regretting her decision and the worst part about the whole ordeal was that she hadn't even agreed yet.

"I'll think about it." Was her only response before turning on her heel and walking away from best friend who gasped.

"There's nothing to think about you clown." Emily whisper yelled. "Alexa." The woman wasn't having it and continued slowly strutting back to the boardroom.

She lied, blatantly lied when she said she would think about it because the answer was no. There was no way in the blazing hot scorching hell that she would go back there.

Not now, not ever. At least that's what she told herself.