“Bryce, this is all my fault, I shouldn’t have flirted with you, I was enjoying it a lot, maybe too much and I let it go too far. I’m sorry. I never thought you would want to take it any further, I’ll go and clear out my stuff.”
“Alexis No.” He was firm, yet fragile.
“Alexis, please don’t leave, I should never have kissed you without your consent, I promise it won’t happen again. I want you to stay and I think you want to stay as well.”
I did want to stay, more than anything. This past week has been amazing, I have felt energetic, exhilarated and a bit like the Alexis I once was before I had kids. Don’t get me wrong I love my kids and I love being a mother and wife, but I gave up my single life very early on and sacrificed my career for a family. I would never go back on those decisions nor do I regret them at all, this was now the time to get a little bit of the old me back and I needed that for my own sanity. I just lost control a little bit, that’s all.
“No I don’t want to leave, I love being here, I feel like I was meant to be here, but I am married and I have two beautiful children that depend on me to make decisions in their best interest.”
“I know, I’m sorry. Just don’t leave, I need you to stay.”
“I’m not going anywhere Bryce if you don’t want me too, but I do need some air. You’re about to see Jessica and I need lunch.”
“In that case take as much time as you need, although the meeting tonight will still go ahead, so I’ll see you back in the office at five.” He gave me an unsure smile, I nodded my head and exited the room. I left his apartment I headed straight for the elevator, I had to get some fresh air and dissect what the hell just happened. Alexis, what had just happened was so horribly wrong, but somehow it felt right, it felt very right, how could that be?
CHAPTER EIGHT
I pressed level 2 and headed for what felt like my sanctuary in this place, to my disappointment the sundeck was so busy, too busy to clear my head. That being the case I thought I would go and check out the Aquarium, the Aquarium was built like a cylinder 2 stories high, it was surrounded by a spiral staircase that went from level 1 to level 2. I peered into the it, swimming around were lots of different tropical fish, I didn’t know what species they were, except for Nemo, the sharks and the sting ray. My mind was swimming around just like these fish, I felt terribly guilty, if Rick found out what just happened he’d be furious but more importantly hurt. Rick had become close to a family friend once and although it never ended in a passionate embrace, or so he said, it still hurt terribly that he let himself get in that situation in the first place and here I was in the same position and it happened so easily. I knew I wanted to stay, l loved it here, but I had to be stronger, I couldn’t let this happen again.
I stopped on the landing in between the two levels, I was watching Nemo swim back and forth, he was looking at me, I swear he twitched his fin at me. Don’t judge Nemo, I really am a good person. He swam off, probably in disgust. I peered deeper into the tank and noticed a person looking back at me, it scared the shit out of me at first, but then I realised it was Gareth and he was around the other side of the tank on the stairs. He smiled, waved and started to climb the steps towards me.
“Alexis, nice to see you again, so how have you settled in?” Gareth was attractive, he wasn’t as tall as Bryce, his hair was light brown and short. He gave me the creeps, I don’t know what it was about him, he was pleasant enough, he just gave me the heebee jeebeez.
“Hi Gareth, I’ve settled in just fine, although, I’ll be without my teacher now.”
“Oh?” He looked at me quizzically.
“Lucy gave birth this morning.” He had no idea. Shit did I just put my foot in it?
“Lovely, what did she have a boy or girl?” Again he had no idea, I didn’t want to share any more information, it wasn’t mine to share.
“Um, I’m not too sure, listen I hate to be rude but I have to be somewhere, it was nice to see you again.” I smiled and climbed the stairs to level 2, I could feel his eyes pierce deep into my back and it gave me a chill.
I made my way to the hotel kitchen, I was starving and felt quite ill from the encounter with Gareth, I grabbed myself a salad sandwich and a much needed cup of tea. Abigail walked in as I was about to head back up to my desk.
“Alexis, how are you Love, how’s Lucy doing, did she have the baby?”
“Yes, Abigail she did, she did a wonderful job, I’m hoping to go and see her tomorrow.”
“Oh, wonderful, so how is your new position going?”