ISOLATED

c h a p t e r 2 2

Chapter 22

Sleeping in Gael's bed still feels like Genesis is breaking some type of law considering how he's been so protective of his own space before, and now he's begging her to come with him.

After their date, Genesis stayed sleeping in his bed. Sure, Gael made that deal expecting sex, and she's not giving that to him. But when she falls asleep and he plays with her hair, he's satisfied. Genesis has been feeling restless, but she's not going to talk to him about that. Communication might be key, but she's not ready to actually use that key yet.

She decided to stay in her own room last night because today was the party that she organized for Gael's coworkers. "Ness," Gael leans in the doorway, calling out her name as he looks over his backyard. She's completely transformed this place, and it's only 2 PM.

"Does it look okay?" After a while, Gael expected Genesis to at least be a little more confident in her own decisions, but even now, Genesis stares up at him with insecure eyes. "It looks amazing," he says and he takes her two hands in his. "You think?" she asks, but Genesis knows that if he didn't, he would've said so.

Gael looks around his backyard. The 7 food trucks are in two lines, 3 on the side of the yard where the pool is located, and 4 on the other side. At the end of the food trucks is a stage, and Gael can already spot the band setting up their things. "You hired a band?" he asks, looking down at her. "I had them fly in from LA," Genesis answers and she grins.

"What kind of music do they make?" Gael asks and he furrows his eyebrows together, "And what is their name?" He starts rambling questions while his fingertips gently stroke her arms. "Don't worry, they're specialized in corporate parties," she answers, "They're not some crazy punk band."

Gael narrows his eyes. "Now let me go back to set everything up so that at 5 PM, everyone can arrive here and they can have the night of their lives," Genesis says, turning her back to him and she continues setting everything up. Gael watches her, before heading back inside.

His phone ringing cuts off the conversation and he looks at the caller ID. He instantly recognizes Mattias's private number, which means he must be in the US. When he's in Mexico, he's untouchable. "Gael, we have to talk," Mattias says the second Gael answers the phone. "Yeah, we do," Gael gives in. After the whole thing with Genesis, he came to his senses and he sent Mattias out way too soon.

"Dwayne is fighting tonight, I thought it would be good to watch," Mattias says. "I have to be there," Gael says shortly, "So I'll meet you there." Gael expected to be upset when he heard the guy's voice, but instead, he loved hearing it. They always fix it, no argument has ever been too big for them to fix, but for some reason, this one felt different.

Mattias coming back was exactly what he needed.

"Who was that?" Genesis asks once Gael hangs the phone back up. He turns around and looks at his wife. The only context she got gave her the impression that Gael was talking to Mattias, but at the same time, she wasn't sure if it actually was him. She remembers the fight they had and she's not entirely sure how mad Gael was with him.

He forgave the others fairly quickly, so why not Mattias?

Gael answers her truthfully. "Mattias," he answers and his gaze is glued on her face to take in her every reaction. "Are you guys going to talk things out?" She crosses her arms and leans against the doorway. "If he wants to apologize, then sure," Gael answers.

"But you did forgive the others without actually talking," Genesis answers, the words roll off her tongue before she even realizes what she said. "Genesis," Gael warns her, "How I live my life is none of your business." Her face softens at the sentence and she takes a deep breath in. "We're going there again?" She breaks her gaze away from him and she flips her hair over her shoulder.