Behind Closed Curtains (Desires of the Forbidden)

Chapter 16

The rest of Thanksgiving break was in a word, blissful.

It was as if Zach was trying to make up for every fight, hit, and slander sent my way over the last two years. He was dotting all over me, waiting on me hand and foot, and never missed the opportunity to tell me how deeply he loved me.

I was in heaven.

This was the Zach that I had fallen in love with. The ever charming, sweet, passionate man that stole my heart with little effort all those years ago. I had missed this man dearly and thrived in every moment that I had with him until the week was up and I was forced back into the painful reality of rehearsal.

This play was beginning to be far more of a hassle and hindrance on my sanity than I had originally thought it to be; all thanks to one terribly tempting and very frustrating man.

I wasn't sure of how I would handle seeing Kaleb for the first time nor was I aware of how he would react to seeing me after our night together a week ago which ending with me escaping in the early morning without so much as a goodbye.

Never in the right state of mind would I have allowed our actions to go as far as they did. I mean, I had Zach and Kaleb was extremely aware of that fact, even as much as it seemed to perturb him.

And yet, even as remorseful I was over Kaleb and I's night together, I was even more annoyed with myself for the maddening reason that no matter what, it was undeniable how much I did enjoy my time with him.

I had fun. I laughed and danced. I felt... free.

It was with those final thoughts and an uplift of my stiff posture that I made my way into the theatre.

"Leah!"

Not but two seconds after I made my entry into the theater, Meg had sought me out with her wide brown eyes and bounded her way towards me. And as she seemed to have a tendency to do with her outbursts, everyone was now aware of my presence.

Tagging along behind her was Jackson, his brunette locks bouncing lightly as he trotted up behind Meg and came to stand next to me. Meg immediately reached for my bandaged hand, taking it between her cool fingers and igniting an instant burst of shock to course through me.

"Are you okay? How's your hand?" she asked hurriedly as she turned my hand around in her grasp, inspecting the coarse fabric that covered over my gradually healing wound.

"I'm fine, really," I replied with a soft chuckle, inconspicuously retracting my hand from her grip steadily.

"You sure know how to make a night out memorable, that's for sure," Jackson said with a playful quirk of his thick eyebrows.

"So what happened after you left with Kaleb?"

I felt my heart stutter in my chest at the mention of his name as the question fell from Meg's lips.

"What? Nothing... I," I fought to come up with a logical lie as to what happened and for some unknown reason, I was drawing a blank.

"Nothing happened. Why?" I eventually spat out the vaguest answer I could muster up in that moment and from the curious spark that flickered through Meg's stare, I knew she didn't buy it.

"Jackson, go away. We need to have girl talk," Meg said as she shewed Jackson away.

Meg hastily dragged me to the nearest corner, rewarding us with the most privacy as possible to unleash our secret 'girl talk'. Meg spun around on the spot and pinned me with her greedy stare.