Victoria walked into her apartment, closed the door, and stood against it with her eyes closed. Happy to be home, yet wishing she hadn't left Dalton the way she did. Brayden heard Victoria come in and walked around the corner, saw her standing against the door, and noticed how she looked. Thinking she was attacked, he felt anger rush though him, and ran over to her. "Victoria, are you alright?"
Her eyes opened, frowned at him, and pushed him away. "Get away from me, of course I'm alright?"
He stepped back, and stood still staring at her, looking at how her shirt was buttoned in the wrong holes, and pointed at her. "Your shirt, looks like a three-year-old buttoned it. What have you been doing?"
She looked down, saw what he was talking about, and crossed her arms, covering herself. Feeling embarrassed, she starting walking toward her room. "Who's the one cheating?" he yelled.
She stopped, turned around, and walked back over to him, getting in his face "I'm not fucking cheating, I never have, and never will, unlike you... besides, we're not together anymore, so I'm definitely not cheating. You also have no right asking what I've been doing."
"Who is he?"
"There is nobody." she says, walking away.
"I can smell his fucking cologne!" he yelled, clenching his fists. He then unclenched his fists when she turned around, and yelled back.
"Good! Because when I walked in here that night, all I could smell was sex. Don't think for one minute that I didn't know what you were doing... you may have been in clothes, but that still doesn't mean anything, and because of that, I gave you the benefit of the doubt. It still doesn't mean I believe you; it just means I can't do anything about it, because I didn't physically catch you in the act."
She stormed into her room, slammed the door, and dropped down on her bed. She stared at the ceiling wondering what kind of mess she had gotten herself into, and began tracing her lips when the thought of Dalton's lips was against hers, and how good it felt. It made her smile, and had her thinking now more than ever, that she needed to tell Brayden to find another place to live.
Being she was going to be working all weekend at the clinic, remodeling, and organizing, she figured now would be a good time to tell him to move out, and how he would have all weekend to remove his belongings. She changed into her nightgown, and headed into the living room to have a talk with him.
She grabbed a glass of water, and sat at the dining room table for a few minutes, thinking of how to tell him she wanted him to leave. Once she felt ready to look, and talk with him, she called out his name. "Brayden, can we talk?" she asked, looking his way.
"What is there to talk about?" he growled.
"Please? It's important... and I think it'll solve everything."
He turned the TV off, walked over to the table, and sat down. Placing his hands behind his head, and leaned back in his chair, staring at her. "Well? What is so important, that you feel the need to talk to me after midnight, especially since you didn't want to talk to me earlier."
"This weekend I have to work at the clinic-."
"I thought you weren't open on the weekends..." he says, questioning her, not believing her one bit.
"No, we're not open on the weekends... but that will all be changing after this weekend. And would you please quit talking, and looking at me like you don't believe a word I'm saying? It's annoying... I'm not in the wrong here, you are..."
"Anyway... as you were saying." he snarled, sounding bitter, while giving her a dirty look.
She took a drink of her water, set the glass down, and sighed hard here it goes, she thought to herself. "I'd like for you to move out this weekend. I thought it would work with you staying here so you could get back on your feet, and some money saved for you to get your own place, but it isn't working out. And with me being away from here all weekend, I feel it'll be easier for you to move out all of your belongings."
He looked at her, and shook his head. "No..."
"No? What do you mean no?" she asked, yelling, and slamming her hands down on the table.
"Exactly what I meant... I'm also on the lease, and I'm not moving out." He stood up, shoved the chair against the table, and stormed into the other room, slamming the door behind him.
The next day, Victoria was in no mood to talk to anyone, including Tiara, and tried her hardest to ignore everyone around her. She kept to herself, and whenever anyone was to ask her a question, she snapped at them. During lunch hour, Victoria's phone rang, she looked at who was calling, answered the phone, and yelled "Don't you ever fucking call this number again!" She hung up, and threw her phone behind her, landing across the room.
Tiara looked at her, looked over at Victoria's phone laying on the ground, and looked back over to her. "Ah Victoria? What's going on with you today?" she nervously asked, afraid she was going to be snapped at. She noticed how her face was red, and saw how her eyes were swollen like she had been up all night crying. "I don't mean to say it, and I'm afraid of what you'll say to me with what I'm about to say... but you look like shit, girl... you need to talk to me, and tell me what's going on."
"Not now Tiara... I feel I'm ready to lose it, and I refuse to lose it here."
Tiara rolled her eyes, and shook her head. "Let me guess... Brayden?"
"Who else would it be?" She lowered her head onto the desk, and covered her head with her hands. "I tried telling him last night it wasn't working, that he needed to move out, and how he had all weekend to remove his things since I wouldn't be home. He had the nerve to tell me no, that he wasn't moving out since his name is on the lease."
"Maybe go to the rental office, explain the situation, and see what you can do."
"It's fine, I can always move out." she groaned. "Nothing is holding me there anyway, it's not that nice of an apartment."
"Or... you can force him out by bringing men home with you." she giggled, giving her an idea that she hoped she would do. "Besides, he's only doing this, thinking you'll take him back."
"I know... it's exactly what he's doing... and it isn't going to work. I'm also not going to bring men home, all it would do is, egg him on, and make him want to fight them."
Later, after the clinic closed, Doctor Jones gathered everyone together and walked them through each area of the clinic, explaining what he wanted done, and the color scheme for each area. He handed them all masks, the supplies, and had them choose where they wanted to start.
Earlier in the day, he noticed Victoria looking gloomy, angry, how her attitude was toward the employees, and how swollen her eyes were. When she started walking toward the back of the clinic, he wanted to see what was going on with her, and followed her to her office, shutting the door behind him, and locking it. "Victoria, we need to talk." He says, walking up behind her. "All day long you've ignored me, and I saw how you've been snapping at everyone. I also noticed how swollen, and puffy your eyes are... was it because of me, something I did, or said?"
"No, it wasn't because of you. And before you ask... I don't want to talk about it."
"Turn around, and look at me." he said quietly. When she wouldn't, he begged "Please?"
She turned around, and looked the other way, refusing to look at him "I'm not having a very good day, and I wish you would just leave me alone."
"I'll let you be, but first, you have to let me do this." He slid his hand around, cupping the side of her neck, and leaned over, kissing her on the lips. Enjoying the way he was kissing her, she slowly turned toward him, cupped the back of his head, and kissed him back. He pulled back, and looked into her eyes, while caressing her bottom lip with his thumb. "I'm here if you need to talk, I'm not that asshole you may think I am."
She thought about telling him what was going on, but didn't want to bore him, and looked away "I better get going on this room, my boss has a mission he wants completed." she walked away, and over to the filing cabinets. Feeling giddy about the kiss, she looked at him again, and felt the sudden urge to want to kiss him again, until she saw him unlocking the door. After unlocking the door, he walked back over to her helping her move the cabinets, and desks away from the wall, hoping maybe she'll finally open to him.
Meanwhile, Brayden was at home feeling sorry for himself, and for what he had done, again. He couldn't believe he let alcohol, as well as his friends help influence his poor decisions he had been making, and thought about how she wanted him to move out.
He knew they had six months left on their lease, and wasn't about to back out on it. He started walking around their apartment looking at what they accumulated together, what he himself had bought over the years, and started making a list. He had a feeling she was going to do whatever it took to get him out of the apartment, and needed to make sure he got what he wanted, and wasn't about to not let her have everything.
While looking at all they had, he walked into the bedroom they once shared, and looked around. He noticed the pictures she had of the two of them on their dresser, and nightstands, were no longer there, and began searching the room for them. He looked through her drawers, and while he was at it, he dug through them trying to see if she was being unfaithful herself.
Not finding anything in the drawers, he looked under the bed, saw nothing, and walked over to the closet. As he dug through her closet, he pulled out shoe box, after shoe box, and set them all on the bed. He always assumed they were empty boxes, and could never figure out why she would save them, until he opened the boxes, and saw letters. While going through them, he realized they were all the letters he wrote her, when the two broke up the first time, years ago.
Seeing she still had the letters; this gave him hope she would eventually take him back. That time was way worse than this time, he said to himself. While putting everything back in the closet, he decided to look in one more spot, found the pictures he was looking for, and grabbed them.
Curious as to if she was telling him the truth, he wanted to go see for himself, and decided to take a drive over to her work. As he pulled into the parking lot, he saw all the cars that were there, and noticed all the lights on inside the clinic. He parked, and walked around the lot looking for her car. He then spotted it off in the distance, walked over to it, and looked inside seeing what she all had in there.
He turned around, and leaned against her car with his arms crossed, debating about going inside to see what she was up to. He saw people going in and out the front doors, figuring the doors were unlocked, he headed over there. The moment he walked through the first set of doors, the smell of paint fumes instantly hit his nostrils, causing his eyes to water. He covered his nose and mouth, and walked in the next set of doors. He started walking around, seeing if he would run into Victoria, and as he walked past a group of people walking the opposite way, he felt a hand rest onto his shoulder, stopping him from opening a door "Excuse me, sir? I'm sorry, but we're closed."
He turned around, saw a man wearing a mask, and placed his hands on his hips "I understand you're closed, but I'm looking for Victoria, is she here?"
"May I ask who you are?"
"Brayden... her boyfriend, and you are?" he asked while staring at him. He didn't recognize him, and wondered if this was her new boss she had talked about.
"Boyfriend?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Surprised to hear she has a boyfriend.
Tiara happened to walk by, and saw Brayden talking to Doctor Jones. Shit, she muttered. She walked over and tried squeezing herself between them, wanting to warn Victoria who was there, and to tell her to stay where she was. "Excuse me." she says, trying to get to the door.
"Tiara..." Brayden says, holding out his arm, and blocking her from getting past him. "Tell this goon who I am, and tell me where the hell Victoria is." he demanded.
She looked at him, and shook her head, not wanting to tell him where she was. "Sorry, I'm not sure where she is."
"Liar... she isn't here, is she?"
"She's here, but as you can see, we're a little busy at the moment." Tiara says, waving her hand out, showing him what was going on.
"I'll go get her... you can stay right here." Dalton says while placing his hand on the door knob.
Brayden reached his hand out, handing him a picture "Here, give her this... If you look at it, maybe this will give you some sort of clue of who I am." he says, smiling.
Dalton looked, and took the picture from his hand, opened the door, and started walking to her office while looking at the picture. She walked out of the back room, and started walking towards him while he was walking towards her, he heard footsteps, looked up, and pointed over to the door. "Go back in there."
She stopped walking, and looked at him curiously after noticing the look in his eye, and how he sounded pissed, wondering what she did. She walked back in the room, crossing her arms, and tapping her foot, while waiting for him to come in, and yell at her. "Now what?" she asked when he walked in.
He shut the door, leaned against it, and lowered his mask. "Who's Brayden?"
"Nobody of your concern, why?" she snarled, pissed he was asking her about him, yet shocked to hear him say his name, being she's never mentioned his name around him before.
He gave her a smug smile, and stepped away from the door. "Oh, but he is of my concern, right now he's out in the office waiting area, looking for you." he says, waving the picture for her to see, while walking toward her. He looked at the picture, and raised an eyebrow. "Looks like to me, he's someone you know very well... boyfriend, perhaps?" He sounded furious, and couldn't believe he kissed someone who was already involved with someone, something that was against his beliefs.
Her face instantly turned flush, and felt her legs go numb. She didn't know how he got the picture, or how Brayden found it, then grew angry after figuring he was digging in her closet, and reached forward snagging the picture out of his hand. "Like I said, he's a nobody."
She brushed past him, and headed to the front, walking as fast as she could. As she got to the door, she slammed it open, hitting Brayden hard with the door. "OWE! What the fuck?" he yelled.
Not caring who was all in the room watching, and listening, she firmly grabbed his arm, and pulled him with her. "What the fuck is your problem?" he yelled, as she pulled him outside.
"You're my problem, why are you here?"
"I needed to talk to you." He rubbed his arm, and looked down at the red marks she left from her nails digging into his arm. "It's because of him, isn't it."?
"I have no idea who you're referring to." she says, turning her back to him.
"The one who told you I was here... he's the one you're having an affair with, isn't it?" he asked, looking through the glass, and feeling like going back inside to kick his ass. "I saw the expression on his face when I told him I was your boyfriend, and when I handed him the picture of us... priceless." he grinned, and laughed "You should have seen how red his face got."
"You're unbelievable... what do you not understand? I broke up with you, remember?" She held the picture up in his face, tore it in half, and dropped the pieces to the ground. "There... now do you get it? We're over! Now, leave my work, go home, and move your ass out of my apartment."
Will he get the hint, and finally move out? Or, will he stay and make things hard for her?🤔🤔