Guilty By Association

Chapter 20 - A Tiger's Eye

Alex’s room was surprisingly nice. It was clean, almost as clean as her own house and she found herself smiling despite herself. She liked that Alex was a man who knew how to keep his house clean. The bed was almost proper, despite the fact that they’d been sleeping in it. There were no shoes thrown around the room, no random socks. The room was clean. It reminded Kelsey of a new linen. Perfectly clean, but unused.

She opened the door and found herself in the living room, which was in a state similar to the bedroom. The kitchen was neat. Kelsey took a glass and filled it up with water from the faucet. Then, she swallowed down two pills, still trying to remember what had happened last night.

She’d met Leonardo, Alex’s brother. He was young enough to be his son, frankly. He was eleven years old. The family often referred to him as a miracle and a surprise. He’d come when they were least expecting him. He was like a little, more talkative, charming version of Alex.

Then it clicked. Isabella. Kelsey should have figured out it was Isabella’s idea to start with. She was the one causing a little havoc in Kelsey’s otherwise boring life. Kelsey was also a bit ashamed of herself. For a professor, a teacher who encouraged her students to never succumb to pressure, she’d done it herself, and Isabella wasn’t even old enough to be Kelsey’s peer. She should have never accepted that first cup.

But then, she had also been there. She couldn’t blame anyone, though. What had happened had been her own doing. She was responsible for the state of her mind.

“Do you want some coffee?” Alex’s voice startled her from behind and she quickly turned around, fully aware of how indecent she was. It hadn’t occurred to her before, but now that she’d taken the pills, thoughts were beginning to make more sense. Her fingers clutched the bottom of her shirt as she stared at Alex with wide eyes. She nodded. After observing her for a second, he asked, “Do you want to take a shower? There’s a spare towel in there and your clothes from yesterday are still in my room. Isabella has some clothes here, too, if you’re interested.”

Grateful for the opportunity to get away, Kelsey quickly nodded before hurrying into the bathroom. She shut the door behind her and took a deep breath. This was surreal. No, this was beyond surreal. This was not Kelsey. She didn’t wake up in a guy’s bed. Kelsey made the guy sleep on the couch. Why was Alex in bed with her? She hated that she couldn’t remember.

She was irritated. She should have never drunk so much. She felt like an idiot. A moron! She was already jealous of Shay, and now, she’d seen what Nina looked like, too. But she had no reason to be jealous because she wasn’t in a committed enough relationship with him to drink away just because he talked to another woman who happened to be romantically interested in him.

But how could she not feel envious? Shay was everything Kelsey wasn’t. She was fit. She was gorgeous. She had a perfect figure. She was the type of woman men had wet dreams about and she was interested in Alex. Nina was gorgeous, too. And Nina and Shay both liked Alex. Kelsey liked Alex. How could she compete? Really, there wasn’t anything about her that could keep a guy’s attention, much less Alex’s.

Then, she smirked. No, maybe not, but she suddenly felt proud of the fact that she was the one who woke up in Alex’s bed and not Shay Miguel or Nina Sanchez.

And it was a wonderfully wrong thought to have.

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Kelsey was in a bit of a rush. Her alarm clock hadn’t rung on time that morning and she’d only peeled her eyes

She’d spent all night cursing herself for how foolishly she’d behaved that morning. She had no reason to be jealous of Shay. She cursed herself for behaving so foolishly that night. Sure, Isabella had encouraged her to take the first shot, but the rest of them were her own choice.