Forgotten Temptations

Chapter 13: Showdown

Toni POV:

Derek and I drove back to the suite at the hotel. My heart was heavy. Something in me just knows Ashley figured something out, and if I'm being honest, I felt awful about it. I never wanted this to come out, or wanted Cheryl to suffer because of what we did. It looks like there's nothing I can do about it now.

We pulled up the hotel and Derek was yapping on about Pops and how the food was good. I couldn't focus on him though. I kept thinking about the glances between us. The huge secret that lingered. One thing struck me odd. If Ashley knew about us, why didn't she call me out to Derek? What did she owe me, absolutely nothing. Though she was kind of a bitch, and not even that pretty, I was somewhat grateful to her actions. Maybe she liked that I hid what Cheryl was to me. Maybe it made her feel like I didn't care about Cheryl anymore. I was no longer a threat to her relationship even if I was sitting across from them. But at the end of the day who knows. I just felt hollow inside after leaving that restaurant.

"Babe are you even listening?" Derek said while opening my car door to make me get out.

"Yeah.. Umm something about Pops right?" I said grabbing his hand to exit the car.

"Kind of. I was saying how I liked meeting your friends. I've never really met anyone from your home town".

"Yeah well you made a big deal about the serpents so I figured you didn't want to meet anyone from my past" I said annoyed.

"Woah.. okay.. not really the point of what I was saying."

We walked inside the hotel and made our way up the room in silence. There were too many thoughts floating around my head to deal with him right now. I went into the room and laid down on the bed.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he sat next to me.

"I'm fine. Just fine Derek. I just want to relax and watch some tv"

"Okay well I'll turn it on for you. Maybe we can watch a movie?"

"That's fine. Put anything on, I really don't care what we watch."

With that, he slid next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. He put the first crappy hotel movie he could find on and slowly started stoking my arm. I really didn't want his touch but what could I do? I can't just keep pushing him away, especially when he didn't do anything wrong. He tried to surprise me and spend time with my in my home town. That counts for something right?

A few minutes into the movie, his phone began to ring and he jumped up and grabbed it.

"Shit. It's my boss!" He said worried as he muted the tv.

I could only hear his side of the conversation as he paced around the room.

"Yeah. I have the files on the Demarco case...

Well aren't we going to trial next week?

Tomorrow morning? It can't be pushed back a few days? I'm kind of in the middle of something..

Yeah.. yeah... I understand sir. NO! Johnson doesn't need to take over. I'll be there bright an early" he finished as he hung up the phone and rubbed his temples.

"Everything okay?" I asked seeing he was upset.

"I have to go. I need to be at court tomorrow so I need to leave now in order to get a few hours of sleep before the case. I'm so sorry babe" he said while grabbing his bag on the table.

"Oh... it's fine. Just drive home safe please". I was actually thrilled. I really didn't want him here in the first place. I wanted alone time. I wanted to clear my head. Maybe I can soak in the tub now and relax.