Indisputably Yours

chapter 28

The present
*****
I sat on my bed, alone in my room left only to my thoughts that were running a hundred miles an hour.

As good as the sex with Theo had been, it had been a bad idea. It was just a distraction. And the thing about distractions is that they never last. I would have happily stayed in that moment with Theo if it meant that I would not have to face what awaited me.

But I have never been one to back off, quit or run from my problems. Hypocritical as it may sound, given that I had been running since I was young. But you get the gist.

I had just come back from a shower to at least get the sex smell off and the sweat too. My package had arrived some twenty minutes ago and it sat on the top of my vanity table in all its glory.

I hugged my legs to my chest and stared at the little box on my table. So many thoughts run through my head. First and foremost, Zeke was back! I should have been happy that he was. Except, I was not.

Him being back made everything more complicated. And don't even get me started on the fact that he was my company's most cherished investor. I could not lose him no matter how badly I wanted to turn down his offer. I had much more to worry about than my stupid unfinished business with him. That was water under the bridge. And the sooner I accepted that fact, the sooner I could move on with my life. Except you can't move on, can you Arya?

People's lives were at stake. More than a hundred workers depended on their income from the company to get by. And I simply couldn't stand to let them go. And no matter how broken my family was, I wouldn't break anyone else's.

Things with Theo were not so great either. And honestly, I couldn't blame anyone but myself. I had allowed this, whatever it had been, to get too far. And now, It felt like I just lost the only other friend I had.

He had shocked me when he said he had known about Zeke's return. He knew I about how I had not rested day and night just searching for him. And yet, he chose not to tell me.

I know that he wasn't compelled to tell me anything, but I guess I thought us being friends earned me some trustworthy points. Because I do. I trust him with my life. I learnt to throughout the years.

He had been my confidante. He had given me a shoulder to cry and lean on more times than I could remember. And I knew I had lost both.

I kept my eyes glued on the little box on my vanity, a part of me compelled to stand up and and go spill its contents and see what Vince had decided to send me this time.

Another part of me, the more saner one, or at least I would like to think it was, played my conversation with Theo on a never ending loop.

"Excuse me?" I had asked him. Shock written all over my face. He got off the bed and went into my adjacent bathroom suite with his clothes in one hand but naked in all his glory.

He had cone back some minutes later, freshened up and dare I aay it, relaxed even. Like he did not just drop a bombshell on me. I had still been in the same position he had left me in.

"Now would be a good time to start talking!" I said as I folded my hands across my sheet covered bare chest.

"I only found out about it just two nights ago. That day when you told me to accompany Tiffany since you were staying home. I refused to go. But you, being you, forced me to.

All I knew was that she was meeting a business investor from the small half conversation I heard while I drove her." He said. I then remembered what he was on about.

It had just been last Friday. I was the one who had been scheduled for the meet uo with the investor, but Hailey and I had got caught up and I couldn't make it so I had sent Tiffany in my place.