Behind Closed Curtains (Desires of the Forbidden)

Chapter 27

"Are your bags packed and ready?"

"Yeah, they're in the linen closet and he never goes in there so they should be safe," I told Kaleb through the phone as I held it pressed against my ear as I paced through the confines of Zach and I's bathroom.

"Good. And you said he goes to sleep around ten?"

"Yeah, like clockwork."

"Then I'll be there right at 10:30. Keep your phone close and I'll text you when I'm there," Kaleb ordered, his deep voice resonating through the phone and filling my mind with ease as we talked through the event we planned out that was taking place tonight.

I was leaving Zach.

Once Kaleb and I both realized our true feelings for each other, we both deemed it was time for me to take my leave since there was literally nothing keeping me at Zach's side any longer; aside for fear.

What I had with Zach... wasn't love. It was at one point and I had been clinging to that love from years back for some time now and it had completely drained me. What Zach and I had now wasn't a relationship, it was an ownership.

Zach owned me.

Yet, as Kaleb and I talked through our plan... I knew he wouldn't own me for much longer.

"Are you sure you're okay with me staying with you for a few weeks?" I asked hesitantly, being sure to keep my voice as quiet as possible with the rushing water of the shower filling up the space around me and stealing most of the sound of my voice away from being heard to anyone outside of the bathroom.

"For the millionth time, yes. I want you here. I want you here for more than a few weeks if you would stop being so stubborn," Kaleb grumbled out on the other side of the phone, making a small smile pull up on my lips.

I would stay with Kaleb until the play was over and then look for a place of my own with the help of some money I had saved up from a few pain acting gigs I had done over the years. It wasn't much, but it would be enough to keep me going for a few months so I could look for another job.

"I thought you liked that I was stubborn?" I asked with a hint of teasing laced through my words.

"No, I like that you're feisty, Peaches but that stubborn streak in you... that shit's gonna put me in an early grave."

"Well, I'll be sure to make an appearance at your funeral," I joked, letting the lightness of the conversation seep through my mind in an attempt at calming my swirling nerves that hadn't been put fully to rest since Kaleb and I decided on this plan a couple of days ago.

I heard Kaleb let out a gentle chuckle that tickled the hairs of my ear just before we fell into a comfortable silence. It was uncanny how relaxed and content I felt just sitting in silence knowing that he was right there on the other side of the phone, probably with the same lazy smile gracing his perfect lips as was my own.

"Are you ready?" he asked suddenly, breaking my tranquil concentration and sending a spike of raw anxiety thrashing through my mind.

"I think so... I just can't stop thinking about his face when he wakes up and I'm not there..." I trailed off as the smallest sliver of guilt tore through my body.

I mean, I was in love with this man for years. Just because I had fallen out of love with him didn't mean I wanted to hurt him... even though he hadn't returned the same favor over the years.

There was a monumental difference between being in love and simply loving... and a part of me still loved Zach; just not as deeply or in the same way as I once did.