Beneath the Layers

Chapter 12

Three fucking weeks.

That's how long it's been since the intimate moment I shared with Nick, in his apartment. You would think after that long, I would've been over the whole thing. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

I missed him. As much as I tried to deny it, I missed him like crazy. His voice that sounded like a soothing melody I couldn't get out of my head. Our small talks that made me giddy and nervous all at once. Especially, the fire in his eyes every time they met mine. I even missed his persistence and determination. But above all, I missed the way he made me feel.

Wanted.

Needed.

Desired.

The past few weeks, he'd made brief appearances by the office. Appearances that left me panting each and every single time. He kept his distance just as promised. However, I was sure it wasn't a big deal to him. It wasn't like he had feelings for me or anything. I was just entertainment, someone he used for fun. That had been my conclusion, at least. It didn't take a rocket scientist to guess it. He made it clear by his actions. The few times he stopped by the office, all he did was salute me then disappear, leaving Melanie to hand over my new assignments with a satisfied grin on her face. There were also the very short emails he'd sent me; wherein he discussed details of pending cases, but that was it. Nothing more.

At home, things weren't their best either. Alex was on to me. He'd seemed to notice the change in me. I had no clue until he brought it up after dinner last weekend when his interrogations began. What's wrong with you? Why have you been acting strange lately? I brushed it off, telling him that I'd had a bad few days, suffering from a horrible migraine. That was followed by: Why the sudden migraines? You should make an appointment to see a doctor and get it checked out. You're acting different, Tara, headaches and all. It ended with more threats directed toward my mother as I tried to calm him down.

What was I supposed to do? He had me cornered against a wall. As much as I hated it, I had to bite my tongue and keep up the good girlfriend façade. Otherwise, I'd have left him long ago. But there was no way in hell I'd let my mother go to jail because of him. It was pointless to go against him. I'd already spent the first whole year of his dickhead commencement, racking my brain with ideas to get him out of my life, coming up with nothing worthy at the end. I didn't have a choice. I was stuck. Instead of driving myself crazy with the past and future, I had to worry about the present and how I could prevent a disaster from happening.

For the past two weeks, I'd spent every free moment looking for another job. I'd contacted and sent my resume to a few places but to little avail. I went in for an interview, at a small firm during my lunch break, last week. The attorney was impressed with my resume and the meeting had gone smoothly. But to my luck, they didn't call me back. Another place called me to schedule an appointment, only to contact me the day before , just to cancel. It hadn't been easy, but I was ready for this week to end so I could start another week without Nick and continue my search for employment.

It was Friday - thank God - and I had plans to go out for drinks with Bee after work. Alex wasn't okay with the idea, which inflicted an argument, but I gave him some random excuse, and to my surprise, he bought it and stopped giving me shit for it. Of course, I had to work him into it. To make him feel in control, I'd told him exactly where I would be, suggesting he could drop by if he felt the need. That eased him a little, but he was still not too happy about it.

"Hey there, stranger." Leslie peeked her head in through the door.

"Hey, Leslie, what's up?"

"Just wanted to say hello and see how things were going for you?" She stepped in to my office, taking a seat on one of the empty chairs.