Aubrey's Playground

:59:

Lori watched Aubrey as he slept. She had never really seen him do it, he'd take short naps here and there at random times of the day but he never slept a full eight hours or longer, she frowned as she watched him. This was yet another confirmation of just how comfortable he was around her. To turn your back and close your eyes while a significant other sat next to you was a level of trust that took women years to get out of Aubrey. His subs slept in their rooms never with him. She softly got up from the bed and tiptoed to the bathroom, she brushed her teeth and tossed her hair from side to side. She looked back to Aubrey sitting up leaning against the large pillows he propped up scrolling his phone.

"I'm sorry." She said leaning against the bathroom door frame.

"For what?" He asked looking up from his phone.

"You barely sleep as it is. I didn't mean to wake you up."

"You're right, I don't sleep. Unless I'm alone, high, or drunk. But you know why I sleep when you're around?" He said placing his phone down on the nightstand next to the bed.

"Why?"

"Because I trust you won't trust you enough to turn my back to you." He replied calmly as he stared at her from across the room. Lori chewed at the inside of her cheek, she played with her fingers not realizing she lingered on the bathroom doorframe for longer than she should have. "Everything ok?"

"No." She faintly said.

"You know I expect you to tell me what's wrong."

"I know." She replied softly. She bit at her bottom lip and looked at him, she slowly walked towards the bed and propped her right knee to the mattress then followed with the left, Aubrey watched her patiently as well as admiring her movements. She rested on her knees and looked at him for several long seconds. "I have to tell you something. Before you get upset with me please know I didn't know who I was dealing with until she told me." Lori looked at Aubrey to gauge his thoughts but his face remained emotionless he was entirely too hard to mentally read and that only made Lori not want to finish yet she had already started and there was no taking back her words. "I met Robyn... your Robyn. She contacted me wanting my business and I did help her because I just figured she was another high profile client..." Lori stopped and took a deep breath Aubrey's face had yet to change even with the mention of Robyn's name. She grew nervous as she stumbled over her words. "She... contacted me the other day... the night I left you. It started like a normal meeting... then she asked me "how is he?... I didn't know what she was talking about until she said your name... she knew because of my necklace... I cut the meeting off and I haven't spoken to her sense... I didn't know what to do... I was scared you'd be mad at me... I"

"I'm not mad at you." He replied lowly, his voice was still deep from his sleep. Lori raised her eyes he could physically see her body relax, a sigh of relief escaped her chest.

"You didn't know Robyn was Rihanna. I made sure the names were separated on purpose. It's because I know the way Robyn moves."

" You knew she was here..." Lori said knowingly.

"She moved back to the city, has a condo. She and her husband are having problems." Aubrey said.

"How do you know."

"She didn't have a ring on when you met with her in your office at midnight."

Lori's eyes widened as she looked up at the ceiling. "You followed me."

"I followed her." Lori nodded showing she understood then sat quietly. "The problem is not Robyn, the problem is that you are scared to tell me things. I don't like it nor is it acceptable. So, what do I need to do to fix it?" He spoke sternly as he looked her in the eyes. Lori stared at him unable to fix her words the way she wanted too she breathed in deep and swallowed. Aubrey had completely disregarded Robyn and whatever plan she had going and put the focus back on Lori and her newly surfaced issue.