THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY BOOK TWO (I'll Never Love Again) (girlxgirl)

CH.SEVEN

Truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.

_Bob Marley

JAYCEY'S POV

The stares were intense. It's as if everyone knew what I was here for and as if they hated me for what I did. In my hand was a gift bag which had champagne that Eric forced me to bring to Belle as a token of my apology. I walked up to the front desk and was told to go in but first speak to her personal assistant. Anderson Estate Global Enterprises (AEGO) obviously gave off the multi-million dollar vibe. From the employees to the building, not to mention the boss; Isabelle Anderson. Everything dripped with elegance.

I walked along a corridor which led to Belle's office. There were two rooms in this corridor, one labelled Leslie Torres: Personal Assistant and the other, Isabelle Anderson: CEO. Just as I was about to knock on the assistant's door, Belle's door opened and her girlfriend came out. I froze in my spot, not knowing what to say or do. She looked flustered, but above all she seemed to give me a questioning look which I didn't blame her for because I hadn't really set up an appointment and I had slapped her girlfriend in an event full to the brim with important people.

"I'm sorry," I broke the awkward silence surrounding us, "I'm here to see Belle. I mean Anderson, I uhh I didn't have an appointment but --"

Thankfully she cut me off before I could make a bigger fool of myself, "It's alright. Let me tell her first then you'll go in."

She disappeared for a few minutes then came back to tell me to get in. I waited outside for a while, preparing myself for what was to come. Belle's girlfriend went inside the other office. I found it weird but didn't put much of a thought to it because I had bigger problems to deal with.

"Should I send a S.W.A.T team to come get you," I jumped back, startled by the brown eyes staring amusedly at me and the raspy voice belonging to Belle. The door was ajar, letting her face pop out, she looked so beautiful.

"There's no need for that," I could feel my cheeks turn red, "I was just about to knock."

She laughed, opening her door wide inorder for me to enter.

"Yeah right pfft," there was a certain aura that she presented, one that was certainly different from the one at the party. She was somewhat comfortable, and that kind of made me nervous.

"What can I do for you Mrs Lyon?," her words cut through me. It was normal, I was Mrs Lyon but why did it kill me to hear her say those words.

She sat on her office chair and gestured for me to take a seat. Feeling my knees near the verge of breaking, I wasted no time to sit. Our eyes met, for a second I thought I saw something flash in hers. A longing maybe, sadness, I could've sworn that at that moment I noticed that this jolly happy Belle was all a front but I could've also been wrong. She raised an eyebrow and looked at me skeptically, that's when it hit me that she'd asked a question.

"Oh, you asked me a question," I let out a dry laugh, "I'm here to apologise for embarrassing you at the party."

I opened the gift bag and took out the champagne, "And I thought why not bring something along with me."

She eyed the bottle and let out a chuckle, "Champagne...1996 Dom Perignon Rose Gold Methuselah. So what else did your husband send you to do other than apologising and forcing you to carry something like this. Wasn't it heavy?"

"It...," my eyebrows knitted together in confusion, "How did you know that Eric forced me to bring you that?"

Shrugging, she replied nonchalantly, "It's his favourite. Your husband has expensive taste."

"I don't know much about champagne."

"Me neither. It's around forty-nine thousand dollars, he sort of bragged about it when we first met."

Typical of Eric.

"Well my apology wasn't exactly hundred percent forced. I'm genuinely sorry," I said.

"I didn't take what happened to heart," she replied with an expression I couldn't point out, "I might as well have deserved worse, a slap is nothing compared to what I put you through."

"Belle, I mean, Anderson--"

She cut my sentence short, "Don't. We both know if your husband hadn't forced you to come and apologise you wouldn't have, and we both know that I'm the one who should be apologising not the other way round."

Was she right? Partly, I wouldn't have come to apologise to her because I dreaded seeing her again, because seeing her meant being constantly reminded that we had a past. What about her being the one apologising? I didn't know whether or not I had fully forgave her for all the hell she put me through. The one thing that I had wanted for so long, which was crossing paths with her again, hurt me in ways that were unimaginable. I didn't know whether to allow my heart to open up it's cracked stitches and let her in or to just shun her away.

"This whole thing messes with my head," I said honestly, "We can't avoid each other because...of business."

"What do you suggest?"

Her eyes searched through mine. Did I really want this or was I just doing it because Eric told me to?

"Let's be friends," I sounded unsure and she caught that. Her mouth curved into a gentle smile, a smile that used to weaken me every single time, a smile that still made my heart beat out my chest and my body burn with need.

"I would love that."

Her smile didn't leave her beautiful face. It still shocked me, the fact that after all these years I still felt everything I felt before she left. If she had stayed, I wondered what would have happened but maybe this was how it was meant to be. Belle hurt me, but I would go through the same suffering if it meant being with her again. Oh man I was losing my mind.

"I should get going," I smiled, "I'm sure you have things to do."

She seemed disappointed, "Okay well, can I uhm no nevermind."

"What?, spill it...friend," I tried to ease her nerves...and mine by letting out a half laugh.

She bit her lower lip and faced the floor, "Can I have your number?"

I wished she would look at me.

"Of course," when she did look at me, I spoke, "That's a good plan."

A deadly plan.

Talking with her was a step forward to temptation, giving her my number meant we would speak anytime of the day. But, I had no other choice. Whatever would happen, would happen. Right?