"I will just get some tissues from Ella," I say with a smirk of my own and turn towards the door.
"Oh no you don't," laughs erupt from me when he turns me around making me collide against his chest.
"Really?" He narrows his eyes at my challenge but a small smile plays at his lips. I think something just happened to me seeing him smile like that.
Seeing him smile, even the littlest, is something I can never get over of. I am sucker for smiles so when Zane gives me one, I internally swoon. But deep down, I know I won't be able to go any further than this. No matter how much this continues, it will come to an end sometime.
Pushing him, I run around him for the box of tissues that has fallen on the floor. Just as my fingers barely touch it; Zane manages to kick the box away from me making me groan.
"Zane stop," I say as I get up and quickly run to where it has collided against the window wall. I am about to bend down when Zane holds my waist stopping me from walking any further.
"Zane seriously stop, I am feeling so sticky and dirty,"
"Sticky and dirty hmm?" He questions with his face right next to mine over my shoulder.
"Yes," I say laughing when his hair tickles on my ear.
With my back to his front, his arm snakes around my waist before he turns me around. My eyes snap to his and see the same emotion in them that I saw that night at the club.
"Zane stop," I warn as I watch him inch closer to me, taking steps back myself, I bump into the wall behind me making me suck a breath in.
Oh God.
"Come on, run away, go get the tissue box," he challenges just as he places both his hands next to me head on the window behind me.
"It's right there you know, I can just..." I trail off as I slowly try to bend down in this position, it seems impossible and it turns impossible when he holds my waist making me groan.
"I know I look so ugly with cake smeared on my face and..." I look down to see the cake still there on my chest.
"I can help with that," he says and before I can stop him, his head ducks.
He starts to lick the cake off my chin, slowly inching closer to my lips but never fully touching them, teasing me. I stopped breathing the minute his lips touched me. I so hope the fast beating of my heart isn't reachable to him because that would be embarrassing.
It's crazy how much my body is responding to him. It's crazy to think that it even does, to this dumb CEO who works across from me.
"Zane," I whisper out just as sucks off the last piece from the corner of my lips. He slowly backs away and looks at my lips before looking back at me.
Why does he have to be so slow with his movements? Why can't I just use the tissue box?
I am acting like I'm not enjoying this, because I am. But no way am I going to admit this to him.
"Want me to clear that too?" He says pointing at my chest that is moving up and down in fast and short breaths.
"I-"
"Yes or no Elvira?" He asks as his eyes watch each and every action of mine. It makes me feel nervous and I never felt nervous. Not like this.
I open my mouth but no words come out. I want to say yes but that would be surrendering to him. If I say no, he might back away and I know he won't force himself on me.
It's as if he sees the conflict in my eyes because what he says next calms my nerves for a second before I realise what is happening.
"Time's up baby," he winks at me with grin before his head ducks and he starts to lick off the frosting. One of his hand remains on the window while the other one pulls me closer by my waist.
My mind barely registers the fact that he called me 'baby' before my mind fogs up not letting me think about anything other than what is happening right now.
My head leans back against the glass, biting my lip to hold in a moan at the soft touch of his lips on my delicate skin. My hands go in his hair slightly tugging at them making him groan.
But what pushes me off the edge is when he starts to suck. His hot, wet tongue touching me is making me want to pull him closer. Impossibly closer.
"Fuck Zane," I groan. I can feel his smirk forming. The knot in my stomach is making it harder to stop him, feeling hot and bothered, I try to clench my thighs together.
"Not today," he says lifting his head and looking at me. He looks like a kid that just got his favourite candy.
His eyes glance down at my chest once more making me curious too, I look down to see a red mark. A hickey. He just gave me a hickey and it is in plain sight.
"Zane, oh my God," I shove him away from me and run towards where my purse is on the floor near my desk chair.
His chuckles fill the office but all I am doing is fuming right now.
"Zane! I have a meeting in less than an hour!" I raise my voice slightly as I rummage through my purse to find my concealer. Finally finding it, I walk over to where the sofas are and look in the mirror on the wall just above them.
I start applying it before Zane comes from behind me. I turn to him and give him a glare.
"Don't you dare come close to me," he puts his hands up in a surrender motion but the quirk of lips tells me he finds this amusing.
After finally covering it up, I see that you can still see it but no enough, only when you are close enough.
When I turn around, my heart stops at Zane looking through my computer. I run towards him and shove him away.
"You shouldn't be looking through people's stuff. Ever heard of privacy?" I rush out while he looks at me confused.
"What is happening on the day after Irene's birthday?" he asks. I don't let anything change on my face as I answer him.
"Just another event," I shrug and shut my computer off making sure to log off first.
"You are booked throughout," he mumbles and I nod but avoid eye contact with him.
"Yeah, you should be grateful that I even accepted yours in so last minute," I say to him as I start to clean my office and picking small things off the floor or fixing the small throw pillows on the sofas. Overall, just avoiding him.
Has he seen anything else? What if he saw my emails that were open?
"You bet I am," I can hear the smirk on his face. Of course he will be acting this cocky.
"Let's just go, we can be early anyway," I start to head out when Zane stops me.
"No, let's just stay here. Why be early anyway? We are here so the meeting doesn't begin until we go," he says from beside me but I ignore him and start walking out.
"Violet, wait, why are you walking so fast?" I just roll my eyes because I'm not even walking that fast. I look over my shoulder to see him on his phone walking slowly. That's why he thinks I am walking fast.
"Ella, you ready?" I call out as I am wait for the elevator. I hear the her say yes before she stumbles on me.
"What-" I hold her to stabilise myself along with her to see that Zane, ladies and gentlemen, has walked into her while being on his phone.
He looks up at her with a glare but when his eyes meet mine, he is met with my glare for being rude to my staff.
"Watch where you are going," I tell him before looking away. The elevator arrives soon and we all enter it.
With the rising tension between me and Zane, everything is now going to be harder. It isn't normal for your client to suck cake off your body. Not like this, not like anything. It just isn't normal. Maybe I need to tell him to back off, but knowing myself, I probably won't do it. I will just avoid him altogether.
We arrive at the conference floor shortly after when I see Arya waiting there with Micah next to her.
I smile at both of them.
"Arya, Micah, how are you?" Micah gives me a toothy grin before answering.
"All great. Just moody bosses and worried interns, that's all," I laugh when Arya turns to him with a frown. I know what she is like, and seeing Micah speak his mind is quite funny.
"Let's walk in," I tell them before leading them all inside. Kade should be here if Zane is but I don't see him. It's fine, I'll meet him tonight anyway. But why am I have an angsty feeling then? Is Kade okay?
"Take your seats and we can just wait for the rest of the team to come," I go to sit at the head of the massive round table of the conference room. It fits around thirty people, not our biggest but big enough to fit everyone.
I open my laptop to the PowerPoint slide when I notice two people missing. Looking out the open the door, I spot Arya and Zane talking animatedly. Like having an argument or disagreement. A frown etches on my face.
What are they talking about?
Arya hated the idea of Zane, then what could they be possibly talking about?
"Arya!" I call out, she turns to me before giving Zane one last glance and walking in.
"Yeah?" I motion at Zane who is talking on his phone now.
"What?" She looks back at him confused like she did nothing.
"Never mind," I ignore the feeling, maybe I am just overthinking.
Soon enough, the meeting starts and goes smoothly, now I will just have to go to the venue from time to time in the next few days to keep everything on track and before you know it, the day will be here.
Whenever I looked at Zane, this time, my mind kept bringing the moment that happened in my office. And I think he did too judging by the smirk on his face. I noticed a habit of his that I didn't know he had. He bites his pen while concentrating, and it is quite attractive. I swallowed the angsty feeling when I realised that I do that too.
"And that is it. Thank you for coming and choosing us. We hope you all like the end result," I tell them all with a smile and everyone starts clapping. A slight blush rising on my cheeks under the attention and praise.
Out of the whole massive room, I catch Zane's eyes and for the first time, I see something I haven't seen before. Pride. A sense of happiness washes over me when I see him looking at me like that. Zane works hard and I know that, he hasn't been on the pages of many covers for nothing, it's a reflection of his success.
But I didn't become business woman of the year for nothing. I know I work hard too, but seeing someone silently praising me, appreciating me from a higher, more powerful status is quite a thing to be proud of. It's already hard, so looking at how Zane asked me for this event without a second thought, I did have a warm feeling blossom in my chest before the date of it removed it.
"Hey," I turn around as I am heading to the elevators to see Micah running towards me.
When he reaches me, he is out of breath making me laugh lightly.
"Out of breath already? Just by running that much?" I tease him yet he still manages to give me a cheeky grin.
"Practicing for when I may have to chase after a girl," I shake my head with a smile and walk in the elevator.
"So, going back to the office?" He questions, just as I am about answer, a hand stops the elevator from closing and in walks, Zane.
I give him a smile for the sake of the fact that Micah is in here. But what does he do? He fucking winks at me.
My eyes widen before I avert them trying to stop myself from saying anything to him.
"Up for some coffee?" Micah asks hopefully without thinking about the fact that he is standing next to one of the most powerful men.
"Maybe some other day. I got somewhere to be tonight," I say to and he nods without arguing any further.
See Zane? He can take no for answer.
The tension in the elevator is suffocating, especially when Zane keeps looking at me from the elevator doors. Hands in his pocket, he stands with power but so do I. I don't hunch over or try to appear small. I meet him head on with the way he is standing. He raises an eyebrow at me but I wink at him playfully.
I almost cry of relief when the elevator opens on the ground floor.
"I'll see you tomorrow Micah," I nod at him as I leave before giving Zane a slight glance.
"And you Mr. Roman," he bites his lip to stop what I am assuming is a smile before nodding.
I look away in hopes that I don't think what just happened.
I walk right out with my bag that I told Ella to get from my office, and walk to my car. Fortunately enough, Zane doesn't follow me, instead, he walks to the other side towards his building.
Once settling in my car, I take a deep breath and ponder over everything that has happened today. It has been hectic but very unexpected. Pulling out my phone, I go to my camera and look at the bruise on my chest. It is still covering but I brush my finger over it which makes some of the product come off.
A sigh leaves me.
What am I doing?
***
As soon as the bell rings, I open the door in a rush with a smile.
"Hi," I say breathless from the running I did from my room to down here.
Without a word, he walks in and settles himself on my couch in the living room. I follow behind him silently and sit next to him.
No one says anything for few minutes with both of us staring blankly at the switched off TV on the wall. The silence becoming more and more intense as the time goes along. Getting the silence from a person is one of the worst things because just like people say, silence speaks volumes.
And now, it is making me anxious to see Kade silent. The leg bouncing up and down is a clear giveaway of me being nervous and the erratic beating of my heart is not something that can be calmed down unless Kade says something.
"Kade," I whisper turning to him. I want to break the silence.
Say something Kade. Anything. Just talk to me please.
My heart drops when he closes his eyes and breathes out a shaky breath. Instantly, I move and hug him. It's awkward but it's the only way I can manage.
"I'm sorry. I am so sorry I didn't tell you," he shakes his head making me move away.
He looks at me with a sad smile making me feel even more guilty.
Shout at me. Blame me. But please talk to me. You are all I have.
"Hey, don't feel bad. I know you wanted the best for me. And I get it, sometimes we make stupid decisions but don't add this as another burden on yourself," he holds my hands in his and gives them a squeeze making me look up at him.
I am biting my lip to stop myself from bursting into tears. Why am I always so emotional?
"I promise I didn't have any intentions to hurt you. I just thought I will tell you in time to make Hazel realise just how much of cheater Hunter is," my words turn bitter when I think of Hunter.
He tried not only on me, but also Arya. He tried to hit on both of us but if that wasn't bad enough, we caught him kissing another girl just before Hazel's graduation. Then kissed her with the same disgusting lips to congratulate her. Acting like he loves her.
Both me and Arya were conflicted on how to tell her because we couldn't even record it in time since the ceremony was starting soon.
"What do you mean?" He frowns and I realise he doesn't know. I should tell him instead of making the same mistake twice.
"Hunter cheated on Hazel," I say in a small voice.
Anger. Pure anger is what I see in his eyes.
It just literally shows how much he loves Hazel. Maybe they can get back together. Maybe there is still hope if we tell Hazel about Hunter. Maybe she can trust Kade again.
"Forget about me, talk about you, birthday girl," Kade changes the topic when he notices me thinking too much.
I laugh at that and get up from the sofa.
"Do you want something to eat? Did you eat anything before coming here?" I ask as I head towards the kitchen with a heavy heart at the mention of my birthday.
"Elvira. Elvira listen to me," taking my upper arm, Kade turns me around but I keep my eyes down.
"Please don't do this. Don't push me away, I don't know how to tell you but it just know..." he trails off as he lifts my head up with a finger.
"It wasn't your fault, trust me." I shake my head making him drop his hand.
"No Kade, there is always a reminder for me. There is a reason why I moved all the way here and dragged you with me," I walk away from him and take out a water bottle from the fridge.
My throat is tightening up.
How can I forgive myself when every birthday is a reminder to me?
How can I celebrate living another year knowing they aren't here?
I didn't realise silent tears were falling until Kade wiped them off my cheeks. I look at him once, seeing his eyes filled with adoration but also sadness for me. Holding this in is hard. Holding your emotions in is hard. Not telling anyone what is breaking you from the inside is even harder.
Slowly, day by day, I am struggling to forgive myself. Why can't I see that it isn't my fault? Why can't I just accept it?
"Shh, it's going to be fine. I am here for you," Kade whispers making me gasp out trying my best to not cry.
Don't Elvira. You aren't weak. You aren't weak.
Kade doesn't care, you can cry. Yet somewhere in the back of my mind, the words of people, the words that told me to 'toughen up' are lingering.
Kade has been a brother that I always wanted. Taking the job of being my parents when I needed support, being the friend that I wanted. He could be declared as my everything then how can I think of hurting him?
I couldn't. I didn't. It wasn't my intention to keep about Hazel from him.
And I am so grateful he understands or else I wouldn't be able to handle the guilt.
I would just...break.
Ok, before anything happens, I want to say something.
Don't judge Elvira too soon. I mean you shouldn't anyway but nvm that now. You don't know what she has hidden and I promise it will be revealed in time. I don't want you bashing her for being selfish when it was Kade she hid the info from. There is a reason she is acting like this so please don't say anything unless you know everything.
Ok now that is done.
What did y'all think of this chapter? Like seeing, I bet you are all so damn confused, I would be too if I were in your position. So what are y'all assumptions on all this?
What is bothering Elvira so much?
Why is she so sour towards the subject of her birthday? And many more questions which I cba to type out.
So yeah, hope you guys enjoyed it because dear God, it did go downhill from the beginning. 👀
Next update on Saturday!
Hopefully!
Don't forget to vote and help me out by pressing the small star at the bottom!
Have a great day!