“You were only allowed around them for pity, did you know that? They never liked you.” Tracey laughs at her words. “You do know you never really knew what he did for a reason, right? You can’t be trusted. So, it makes you wonder if he ever really loved you considering he wouldn’t tell you what he actually did. But do you know that Storm knows? She knew pretty early on.”
Selena looks back at me. I didn’t know that she wasn’t aware of what he did for a living. What did she think he did to make money?
“He doesn’t want you, he wants me. You should know… that’s all I came to tell you. He’ll always want me.” She pushes past Tracey as she makes her way out. I sit back on my chair wondering why the fuck I agreed to let her in, in the first place. That bitch has no one but multiple screws loose.
“I told him, just letting you know,” Tracey says holding the door ready to walk out.
“You didn’t?” I groan. I don’t want to see him, not after the words he spoke to me on the weekend.
“I did, sorry. But he asked to let him know if you ever needed him.”
I stand to reach for my purse. “I don’t need him. Ever. We’re going to have to miss dinner, Tracey. I have to go.”
“You can’t escape him forever, you know.”
I smile when I look back at her. “Oh, but I can.” I take the stairs knowing full well Selena would have taken the elevator. When I get to the doors, I see her standing out the front of the building. And I see him too. He’s shaking his head at her firmly. Selena’s hand lifts and she’s trying to touch him on his arm. Echo shakes her off not letting her touch him.
Looking for an escape I can’t see one, the only way out is past them both. And the last place I want to be is in the same vicinity as them. They’ve made my life more complicated than it needs to be. I was getting by watching my movies before they came along and ruined everything. Now my life is a total mess, plus my head. He’s done things to me that a man like him who’s tied up with someone else shouldn’t be able to do. It’s unfair. I should have asked for a dating history check before I let him kiss me. Damn it! That was the moment I knew there was no going back.
He lifts his eyes, anger in them as he speaks to her until they reach me. I’m standing still unaware of what I should be doing. I didn’t expect him to have arrived so quickly. I was hoping to escape without sighting him. My luck isn’t that great lately. Seems I’m always being put in shit positions and places I don’t want to be.
Selena looks back noticing he’s stopped talking and sees me as well. Her hand lifts to his face and turns it back to look at her. That’s all I can stand to watch, looking for my closest escape I find the bathroom and lock myself in there. Hoping and praying that when I can finally leave he’s gone.
“Tracey, you made this happen. You need to come down and make them disappear,” I say into the cell.
“Storm, where are you?”
“I’m in the bathroom. Hurry up.”
She giggles. “Are you hiding?”
“Tracey… they’re both are standing out the front. Make them leave. Now.” I hang up and sit on the toilet. The door is knocked on and few times and I ignore it hoping whoever it is will go away. Then it happens again. And I know it’s him before he even utters my name from those sinful lips.
“Storm, why are you hiding in the bathroom?”
I open my cell sending a text to Tracey to hurry up. I’m not answering him, he needs to go away so I can go home. Where it’s safe.
“Storm…”
Looking up to the ceiling I try to stop the tears that want to fall. The ones that scream about the fact that I’m lying to myself, and that the feelings I have for this man are purely manifested in my head when really they’re sitting evident in my heart. Like a fucking tornado wanting to blow through the rest of me to wake me up and realize this is it, it’s the love I never had with Matthew. That the feelings I have for Echo can’t be blown away a second longer. Even though no matter how hard I try I can’t make them disappear.
“Storm, I will break this door down. People are starting to stare. Not that I care, but I figure you might.”
He’s right, it’s my place of work.
Then my cell dings and Tracey tells me she’s here. I try to listen to what they say while keeping my head held high to stop the tears, until a softer knock raps on the door.