Sweet Temptation: A Trick-Or-Treat Collaboration

re separated. Yes…” I sigh with a heavy heart, wondering why I continue to defend him, “… he shouldn’t have had that one-night fling. And look, now he’s going to welcome another kid into the world, he’s got a lot of decisions to make.”

“He has a kid, Scarlett. Two, in fact. He has a family here,” Charlie argues back.

I hate arguing about this. This isn’t my fight. No, just your heart caught in the middle of the piece of rope that’s being tugged back and forth. And arguing with Charlie is futile, she’s a lawyer by profession. She has a career built on arguing. In fact, she makes a ton of money from it. Shut up now and find alcohol.

Lex returns with his sister, Adriana, and her husband, Julian. I greet them both, Adriana being one of my favorite local designers.

“Why the faces?” she asks with caution.

I admired her costume. She’s dressed as a nun in a short, black dress and modest pumps. The irony of it is her pregnant belly sticking out in front. She rocks it even with her tiny frame.

“Congratulations, I had no clue.” I hug her tight, then lean in to hug her husband, Julian. “When? How?”

“About six months now.” She grins, snuggling into Julian’s side as he kisses her forehead. “And how… well, my brother’s standing here, so maybe the scientific version?”

I laugh along with Julian, though Lex shuffles uncomfortably. There’s this rivalry between Lex and Julian. I’ve only heard bits and pieces, but this subject seems like a sore topic. According to Noah, Julian and Charlie were engaged when Lex came back into Charlie’s life. Lex and Charlie had dated in high school, it ending badly with him walking out without an explanation.

Lex is extremely controlling, so the thought of his ex-girlfriend engaged to someone else ended in a sordid affair behind Julian’s back all in the name of love.

To add to the messy triangle, Adriana lost her husband, and she and Julian fell in love. I swear, it’s a story made for the movies.

“No need to be awkward, Lex.” I pat him gently on the arm, attempting to diffuse the tension. “I think it’s great your family is expanding, too. According to the tabloids, Charlie’s expecting.”

Charlie snorts, very unfeminine of her, which causes Adriana to break into a fit of giggles.

“Clearly, because drinking champagne while pregnant is so crass.” She raises her glass, the champagne already loosening her words and thoughts. “Let’s see, photographer caught me on a bad day when I was PMSing and bloating like a beached whale. Plus, I happen to be stuffing my face with a burger. Stupid pencil skirt. I did look pregnant, so now all I’ve been doing is drinking to squash the rumors.”

“Careful, next you’ll be the alcoholic,” I remind her, playfully.

We all laugh, unable to contain the hilarity of our own lives. Being in the spotlight is a devil in disguise. Whenever we zigged, the paparazzi zagged.

“Did you hear the one about Lex having an affair with Kate?” Charlie asks, nodding her head with a sarcastic smile.

Kate is Lex’s executive manager and a close friend of the family. She’s also very tight with Noah. Often, Morgan worried about their friendship being more than platonic, but Kate never expressed interest in Noah except for when they first met. Noah mentioned they got into some sort of trouble which ended up with them in jail for the night, but it bonded their friendship, and nothing ever eventuated from that.

Kate is mainly based on the East Coast running Lex’s multiple businesses. She’s unable to make it tonight, which is disappointing. It won’t be the same without her and her comedic pommy accent.

“Yes, but Kate texted me a picture of the man she was screwing. So, sorry, Lex… that lie’s out of the bag,” I point out, jokingly.

“Wait… Kate is screwing a man?” Lex questions with a confused expression. “Please don’t tell me it’s the same one I’m thinking. Does she not have the brainpower to move on?”

Charlie and Adriana both glance at Lex with fire in their eyes as they unleash in unison.

I half-listen, uninterested, as the nerves begin their unwanted mission shimmering over me in waves. Thinking of ways to exit this conversation and trying to remember where I left my Xanax, I blurt out what comes to mind, “I’ve said enough,” I admit. “The heart wants what the heart wants. You can’t fight it no matter how hard you try.”

“Tell me about it.” His voice lingers behind me. A voice that haunts me in my dreams and tortures me in my nightmares. A voice who belongs to the one man who’s ruled my stupid heart and doesn’t even know it.

I’m scared to turn around, to see his eyes pierce me for all the wrong reasons. And the moment I do, his eyes bore into me just like I knew they would. The weight of his stare claws into every part of me, inch by inch, digging deep into some secret part within me desperate to hide as the constant ache follows.

“Noah.” Julian extends his hand first, shaking it politely. “I thought you were called to New York?”

“Change of plans.”

There’s an awkward silence between us, and I am unable to look at him. I turn away and focus on the crowd pretending he doesn’t look devastatingly handsome in his black designer suit.

“Listen, we’re all adults here,” he says with a slightly bitter tone. “You don’t have to tiptoe around me. I can handle it. Okay? So, Adriana, congratulations… I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Um… thank you. And, um… congratulations to you, too,” she blurts out, immediately regretting it as her face cringes.