Temptation

Chapter 28

The moment of crisis had come, and I knew I had to face it. My old fears, my insecurities must be dealt with now and finally pushed aside. I couldn't let my past interfere anymore. It was becoming too much. Everything is different now, and I haven't even realized how happy I've been the past couple of days until now. I lay back on the bed and closed my eyes, thankful for the cool white comfort of clean sheets. At this moment I wished my mind would somehow rest like my body, relax and go to sleep. Not hum around in circles the way it did. I pressed my hands over my eyes but I just couldn't stop thinking about why he was trying to reach me and how he even knew where to call. He always had a way of getting what he wanted.

"Chez? You in here?" I hear Sarah's voice and foot steps following behind her.

"Yea." I don't look up to see who's with her; instead I lay there, trying to gather my thoughts.

"We brought food. Do you want to come and eat?"

"I ate already."

"You alright? What did Gary say?" It's Nicola and I feel the bed move as they both sit on the bed next to me.

"It wasn't Gary."

"Who was it?" I take a deep breath, the phone still vibrating in my hand.

"Chez? Who was it?" I sit up and hide the phone under the pillow.

"It's no one important."

"Cheryl give me the phone."

"No Sarah, you don't want to answer it."

"Cheryl who is it?!" Nicola seemed a bit impatient and quickly I brake eye contact, knowing they wouldn't stop until I told them.

"Ashley." my voice is a whisper and I hear them both gasp.

"What the hell does he want?"

"Don't tell me he's here?!"

"No, I didn't- I mean I answered but I hung up when I new it was him."

"Don't go back there Cheryl, he's just going to cause trouble."

"I know, I know. I'm not. I don't want anything to do with him anymore."

"Then what does he want?"

"I don't know Sarah but I'm scared he's not going to stop until he gets it."

"Come here babe." Nicola opened her arms and leaned back on the pillows. I shuffled over and lay in her arms closing my eyes as she comforted me. I felt Sarah lay on my lap before she started talking.

"Chez, you can't let him get to you."

"I won't its just, he keeps coming back and I just want him to go away."

"Even if he did try to talk to you, that's all he can do, we're not even in the UK anymore, he can't just show up here, he can't possibly know where we are." I chose not to answer.

"Chez?"

"He's not going to ruin this for us; I'm finally starting to feel happy."

"He won't babe." Nicola runs her fingers in my hair, my eyes closed as Sarah hugs my waist.

They use to do this all the time when we were younger and it brought me comfort knowing they were still here for me. Like if we were still kids laying on my bed and just talking about anything and everything.

Thinking about the past, I couldn't help but start to think back to the first day I met Kim. How she trusted me to tell me about Tomas only after just meeting me. How we lay on her bed that first night, arm in arm, as we talked it through and she explained her feelings to me. It had only been a month since that day and It surprised me because during this whole month, Ashley was the least of my worries. I was finally starting to think that he was out of my life for good. And even though he is trying to make his way back, I know now that I am no longer afraid of Ashley. He cannot hurt me anymore.