The Meeting

Chapter 17 - Broken

My body feels numb as I watch the limousine disappear out of sight into the darkness. I stare at the corner at which it disappeared, unable to tear my gaze away. A shiver runs up my spine as the cold wind whips at my wet face. A wild sob escapes from my lips and I finally turn away with my hand over my mouth, knowing he isn’t coming back and probably never will.  

I stumble over to the door. Gasping breaths rack my body, and I can feel goose bumps rise on my bare arms as I push into the entrance of the building. The wine’s effects start to take hold of me and my high shoes become treacherous. I stumble over to the couch in the empty foyer and I collapse onto it, trying my best to hold myself together even though my chest feels like it’s splitting in two.

How can he give up so easily? He didn’t even seem to try and fight for us. I tear the shoes from my swollen and angry feet, almost unable to see through the tears welling in my eyes. I wipe and my face with ferocity. He’s a coward. Only a coward would run away like he did.

I pull myself off the couch and storm across the room to the elevator, the sound of my feet echoing. I stab my finger into the button with such force that one of my nails breaks. “Shit,” I hiss, inspecting my finger. It’s not too severe, but does nothing to lighten my mood. I drag myself into the elevator car and purposely avoid looking at the mirror, not wanting to know what I look like right now, but knowing I’m probably a big hot mess.

I arrive at my floor, but I stagger out as if I were a zombie, unsure of how to feel. Half of me wants to rant and rave, but the other wants to curl up into a ball to cry. How am I supposed to face him at work? I don’t even want to see him and I’m glad that I have at least the weekend to come to terms with things.

Aria’s home and is sat on the couch watching a movie of some kind. Her face whips around and her eyes widen as she takes in my appearance. She’s at my side in an instant.

“Oh my god, what happened to you? You look terrible,” she says, dragging me towards the couch. I mumble something incoherent in response and sink into the soft cushions. “Jesus Zoe, what the hell?”

“He left me,” I whisper, wrapping my arms around my shaking body.

“What do you mean he left you? You broke up?”

“Y-yes,” I stutter, my lower lip trembling as tears threaten to spill over again.

“You weren’t supposed to have feelings for him, Zoe.” She rolls her eyes and wraps a blanket around my shoulders. She sits down beside me and puts her arm around my shoulder. Soft approaches were never her thing.

“I know.” I stare at my knees, unable to look at her. She sighs and gets up to put the kettle on. I know she’s right; I should have never allowed myself to get too close.

She says something, but I can’t hear her over the buzzing of my thoughts. All I can think about is Damien. I try to close my eyes and clear my mind, but all I can see are his dark eyes on me, filled with lust, and the curve of his lips as he gives me his sultry smile.

I shake my head and open my eyes to see a mug of steaming tea in front of me, Aria looking at me expectantly. I take it from her with a small smile and I feel a slight blush come to my cheeks.

“God, Zoe. What happened?” She plonks herself down next to me and blows onto her own tea before taking a small sip. Her eyes are on me, filled with concern.

I pause, not knowing if I should tell her. What more can I lose? I have probably lost my job and I’ve lost my boyfriend. I take a deep breath and turn to her.

“The break in we had… I know who did it,” I say quietly.

“Shut up!” Aria puts her tea down and leans forwards, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open.