It was his hands I felt roaming my body, massaging the tension away from my shoulders – soft but manly. The firmness of his hands fit perfectly unto the softness of my skin, slididng over my collarbones and collecting at the deep curve that sat on my neck. I took a deep breath and allowed myself to relax, I wanted to take his hands and take them to my mouth to lick the deliciousness away, so when the words *Oh Parrish* flew out my mouth, I didn’t realize my mistake until those hands were forcefully pulled away from my body and Nathan’s voice came ringing in my head.“What!!” My eyes shot open and I gasped to find Nathan’s hurt expression pouring down on me“I’m – I’m sorry, it was a mistake” I tried to defend but it sounded pointless as Nathan was walking away into the bedroom and I desperately followed him, his footsteps loud with anger and mine timidly compensating.“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” he whipped around to face me by the time we got to the bedroom.“I’m not – i
I arrived at the bar Parrish was in about twenty minutes later, it was booming down here. The lights streaming outside of the club was pulsating and casting kaleidoscope colors against the dark night sky. As I made way through the throng of people to search for Parrish, the bass of the music reverberated through my veins boosting the anxiety that I was trying to curb. My eyes scoped the area and the beat of my heart rhymed with the beat of the music that I felt a sense of urgency grip my heart. It was extremely tight but I made my way to the counter, trying to fit a face to the voice I heard on the phone but each of the bartenders were sporting a frustrated look already, I wasn’t sure whom to approach. Still, I chose the one with the deepest frown – she seemed the most agreeable regardless and that scorn on her face wasn’t fooling anyone, especially not with the butterfly tattoo on her shoulder.“Hey – I’m sorry – ” I started “Talk fast hon” she shot back at me not in a cruel way but
PARRISH'S POV*Then I’m happy for youOf course, I wasn’t happy for her. Well, maybe I was but not in the way someone would expect me to. I was happy that maybe she was with someone better than me, she deserved someone better than me, someone who wouldn’t abandon her because he was a coward and he couldn’t stand up to his dad. With a sharp intake of her breath, she proceeded to withdraw from me but I just needed one more minute so I held her back, trapping her hand in mine. I held unto the softness of her palms, relishing the feel of her hands against my skin while she wiped my face.I didn’t say anything, I didn’t want her to say anything either. I wanted to bask the silence that held our longing because words would ruin it. I would tell her I couldn’t be with her and she’ll turn away in scorn leaving me dejected. It was better this way – no words, just her hand in mine and my eyes fixed on hers, enthralled by her captivating eyes.“I should get going” she said after a while and my c
PRESENTNATHAN’S POVI followed her, I mean I had to follow her. It was the only way to curb the chaos in my head after I had called Sophie and she neither sounded drunk nor did it sound like she was at a bar but she weirdly insisted that Jessica was with her. I knew something was up and I knew Jessica was lying to me. From the guilty glint in her eyes to her hushed tones and it cut deep across my chest that I couldn’t sit still.Immediately, I picked my car keys off the dining table where our dinner still laid untouched and I went out into the driveway and followed her cab. It wasn’t a really long distance from the house to the bar where she entered. My heart thumped in chest hoping it was actually Sophie she was going to meet. I parked a few meters away, far enough so she couldn’t recognize the car, but close enough to see everything. I watched her go inside the bar in a sort of panic and I waited – and waited until she cam out still, but she was alone. My forehead creased in fru
PARRISH’S POVIt wasn’t hard to spot his lurk – Jessica’s fiancée. Strange car parked a few blocks from mine wearing a baseball cap to conceal his face but I could see him well enough when I sprinted past his car. I smirked to myself because I knew he was going to follow me, I could understand him because I would do the same. I ran ahead, I could still feel the soreness on my face from the derbacle of the previous night alongside with Jessica’s lingering touch, and for some reason I could still perceive her scent, hovering above me like an incessant fly that would very much love to catch.I stayed on the lane, occasionally looking out for him while he trudged slowly behind. He could never catch up to me, his stamina was weak and I was going to prey on that and at the same time I needed to find out what he wanted. Like a cat, I turned the corner when I saw the lady stop him, this was my chance to turn the narrative around so I sprinted away, taking the sharp curves that Shawn wasn’t f
JESSICA’S POV“Guess what!!” I heard Cara’s shrill voice as she raced down to my cubicle, her eyes wide with excitement and nearly losing the decorum she usually fought so hard to maintain. I looked up from my work computer with my eyebrows pinched in confusion as I stared at her.“There’s a party!” she announced my ears loud enough that I flinched and sent her an odd that bordered on the line of annoyance and innate curiosity - but more of curiosity because in a way I yearned for the distraction that a party would offer.“So O&H is hosting the next banquet dinner for corporate institutions in LA and you know what that means, don’t you?” she went on and the pinched look on my face was still a constant, I had no idea what she was talking about.“Oh come on Jess” she added in an exasperated manner “It’s like the biggest event of the century, you know what I’m talking about, dinner dresses, lots and lots of wine and finger food, tons of LA’s most eligible finance bachelors, it’s going to
“Replace me with Cara!” “No” his reply was cold and calculated. It was just the both of us in his office, just after the meeting had ended and I trailed behind him to his office while every other person dispersed to their various cubicles in hushed silence. He sat on his chair, arms folded and stared at me with an amused expression – I was livid well not exactly livid but something close.“What do you mean no?” I shot at him and he shrugged “This is my company and I’ll appoint whomever I deem fit for any task, you won’t tell me what to do Jessica Peters just because we've had history” he shot back at me with a serious expression on his face“I-m not – I’m just – just pick her instead she’s dying for an opportunity like this” I said instead but Parrish still bore that smirk and now he unfolded his arms and leaned forward on the table.“Do you know how important the banquet dinner is? How prestigious it is? It is graced by the top 1% percent of the corporate world. You have an opportu
“I’m not doing this with you right now Nathan” I looked at him, suddenly feeling exhausted.“Yes you are” he stood up and grabbed my arm the same way Parrish did except there were no butteflies just a slight annoyance that was raking up my body as Shawn pondered me about my job. I knew he was insecure about Parrish and in all honesty, he had every right to be“What the hell am I supposed to do after I quit my job, stay at home and cook dinner for you everyday?”“You could get another job” he said it so easily like he had everything planned out to the T, and he was just letting me know out of due formality and I was in fact supposed to listen to him “There’s an opening at a consulting company I know – ”“No stop” I stopped him before he went any further and he seemed genuinely confused why I wasn’t keen on his idea, well for starters it was ridiculuous“Or a fresh start, what do you think of moving again? Europe? It’ll be good for us after the wedding and we could get a house with a ba