Chapter Two
Luna’s heart, which had started to settle, jackhammered again at the sight of Justin. She watched, barely breathing, as Justin’s eyes scanned the room. Somehow, his gaze passed over her head for the duration in which he looked at the entire room. And Luna used that time to blink, to stop staring at him so hard, and to let air into her lungs. People start to move, there were mumbles of ‘Good morning, sir’s’ and Justin moved away from the entrance to walk further into the room. As he made his way toward the chair at the head of the conference table, his eyes strayed to Luna briefly. And then he did a double-take. His black eyes narrowed sharply on her face, and the rest of the room faded away. Luna was suddenly back in six years ago, still married to Justin, but on the brink of it all falling apart. Her heart was breaking with Justin’s indifference to his mother’s maltreatment of her, and filled with the pain of loving a man who didn’t love her back. One look into his midnight black eyes, and she was back to the agony of losing the one thing she had hoped would bring Justin closer to her. His son. Luna swallowed past the lump of pain in her throat, and resisted the urge to rub a hand against the tightening in her chest. Instead, she kept her gaze on Justin’s, and met his stare head-on. “What are you doing here?” he finally asked. Hearing Justin’s voice for the first time in so long sent a shiver down Luna’s spine. She glanced at the enraptured audience around them and looked back meaningfully at Justin. But he didn’t seem to care that all his executives and hers were staring openly at the both of them, his gaze never wavered from Luna’s. The man standing beside Justin, leaned forward a little to whisper in his ear. From his position, Luna surmised him to be Justin’s assistant, and he looked to be more experienced and efficient than hers. “Sir, she’s the CEO of Green-ish Food, the healthy food company we’re partnering with for the program.” Only then did Justin’s gaze waver from hers. He looked at his assistant, confusion written all over his face. “What?” “Yes, sir,” the assistant replied. Justin looked back at Luna and she realized that that was the moment. The moment she had been dreaming of for months, when she revealed who she was and Justin looked at her with the shock that was currently plastered all over his face. And she was pleased to realize that it was even better than she had imagined. Yes, Justin, it’s me. I made something of myself. After you left me broken and shattered, I picked up the pieces and made something of myself. Deciding that they had put on enough of a show, Luna cleared her throat and looked at Justin. “I think we should get on with the meeting now, don’t you?” she asked him. Justin just stared at her for a full minute without replying, and then without taking his eyes off her, he talked to the rest of the people in the room. “Everyone, out, now.” There was a slight pause, as if the men didn’t understand English. And then, the assistant looked between Luna and Justin and comprehension dawned on him. “Yes, sir,” he said. And turned to herd the rest of the men out of the room. Even Luna’s assistant, who sputtered something about asking for permission from Luna. The door closed behind Justin’s assistant, the last man to leave the room, leaving just Luna and Justin. Licks of nerves threaten to flitter through Luna’s fingers, but she covered it by calmly interlocking her fingers in front of her. “Hello, Justin,” she said, calmly too, even though she had work at it. “It’s been a while.” ”What are you doing here, Luna?” Luna wanted to flinch at the blandness in Justin’s tone. That indifference, that blandness, had been the most infuriating part of Justin when they were together, Luna remembered. He had mastered the art of looking so totally unbothered by a situation, had perfected it to the point where the other person in the situation starts to wonder if they were the one who was crazy. Luna felt the familiar feeling of frustration start to pass through her, but she refused to let it spread. So she shook it off internally. She smiled a little. “I know you hate when people repeat themselves, so I’m sure you heard what your assistant said.” She paused. “But I’ll humor you. I’m the CEO of Green-ish Foods,a green food initiative. And I’m one of the companies your company is partnering with for your upcoming gala week.” Justin’s brows furrow in confusion. “But-” Luna cut him off. “I know it’s a big surprise for you to see me here, and more, in the position that I am in. Given the way I was the last time you saw me. But six years have passed between then and now, and that is a lot of years. I got busy.” She paused, clocking her head slightly to the side. “Still, it was no reason to be rude, sending your employees out of this place that way.” Justin’s eyes narrow slightly, a little surprise showing in them for a second, and then they clear. “First of all, I don’t give a damn about being polite,” he said. “And second, yes, I see you got busy.” Two things happened to Luna as Justin talked. First, when he said he didn’t give a damn about being polite, a dark thrill had run through her body at the arrogance in his words. And secondly, when he said he saw that she got busy, his voice had deepened and his eyes had raked all over her body. And that had set off a tingling from the base of her spine up to the back of her neck. Oh boy, Luna thought to herself.Chapter ThreeHours later, Luna walked out of Justin’s company building and towards her parked car, waiting for her in the parking lot.Jaden opened the door to the backseat and Luna got in, she closed her eyes just as Jaden closed the door. She let out a breath she hadn’t even been aware she was holding, her breath coming out on a shaky tremble. After their little private reunion, Justin had called everybody back into the conference room and the meeting had progressed.All through the meeting, Luna could feel Justin’s eyes on her, even though she had been careful to not look at him. And she had had to remind herself every few minutes to breathe, when she realized she was staring at Justin’s assistant- who was laying out the objectives of the gala- with bated breath. She had almost jumped out of her skin when someone spoke beside her, and that had made her realize that she was on pins and needles throughout the entire meeting. But now it was over. Luna threw her head back on the
A week later.“So, looks like the damage control in San Andreas is the last thing on your to-do list for today,” Rita said jokingly.Luna looked up from her laptop to give Rita a dry look.“Yeah, it would have to be, now, wouldn’t it?” Rita gave Luna a pitying look. “I know, babe, I’m sorry.”“I’m telling you, that saying, ‘If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself’? It’s on point.”Rita gave a dubious look. “I’m not sure that’s a saying, per se.”“Ugh!” Luna explodes, slamming her hand on the table. “Those reps in San Andreas are going to hear it from me.”“Yeah, you get ‘em, babe,” Rita said in support. “Anyway, I think I have something that will make your trip a little easier. I booked a ritzy hotel for you to stay in, breakfast in bed and the whole deal. Now, do you love me, or do you love me?”Luna leaned back in her seat, the hint of a smile flittering around her lips as she looked at her best friend.“I do love you,”she said. “You’re probably the o
“Oh hell no!”Luna marched directly to Justin, who was standing beside a pla- no, not a plane, a jet. A private jet?! Woah. But that thought didn’t deter Luna’s strides as she marched up to Justin. Following his announcement, Matt had driven her to the private hangar, Justin’s private hangar, where the plane that was supposed to take her to San Andreas, was. Luna had only allowed Matt to take her there to confront Justin, nothing more. She stopped in front of him, her eyes narrowed as he turned away from the person he had been talking to, to look at her, all calm.“Hello, Luna,” he said, still all calm.“What the hell, Justin?” Luna demanded.Justin shrugged. “I don’t know what you mean.”“You know what I mean, don’t try and act dumb. What’s the meaning of you saying you’ll take me to San Andreas?”“I believe that was me offering to help,” Justin replied, his tone perfectly reasonable and patronizing, like he was talking to a child.Which just made Luna’s teeth set on edge
“I’m almost the restaurant. Yeah, I’ll see you soon.”Luna disconnected the call, she looked both sides of the road before crossing over to the opposite sidewalk. Seeing she and her sister’s and mother’s favorite restaurant just a few feet ahead of her, she quickened her pace towards.Her mom and sister were already seated at a table, one of the several ones outside. As Luna neared, Ashley, her sister, turned. Seeing Luna, she smiled and waved enthusiastically at her.“Hey!” Luna smiled and waved back. At Ashley’s greeting, her mother, Mira, also turned, smiling too as she saw Luna. Looking at the two women side to side, the resemblance and similarities between them couldn’t go unnoticed. They both had light green eyes, straight black hair, and the exact same smile; with a crinkle at each corner of their lips. The light green eyes was the place Luna’s similarity with them ended though. Her hair was flaming red and her smile didn’t have a crinkle, but a curve when tipped to the
Luna stared up at the ceiling of the hospital room, both her hands folded on her stomach, as she waited for her doctor. The fluorescent lighting over both sides of her head highlighted the starkness of the hospital tiles. Luna didn’t revile hospitals as most people did, but it wasn’t one of her favorite places to be either. Drab was its aesthetic, always, and it always smelled of antiseptics and drugs. It was where people died and babies were born. It was where her baby had died.At this, the memories threatened to trickle in, but Luna forced them back to the deep dark corner of her mind. Rehashing them now would do her no good. The past was where it was meant to be; behind her. She was moving forward now, and her appointment today was one of the steps involved in that future. Just then, the door to the hospital room opened and Dr. Gina Michaels stepped in. Dr. Gina was a trim willowy woman in her mid-thirties, blond hair currently packed back in a bouncy ponytail with deep blue
“Thank you, Julio,” Luna said as she took her seat in the chair the restaurant owner pulled out for her.He tucked the chair back towards the table, Luna looked up at him, and gave him a smile. The pudgy mid-thirties Italian chef smiled back at her, his ruddy face flushed with pleasure.“You’re welcome, ma bella,” he said, his tone heavily accented with his hometown intonation. “You know you’re my favorite customer.”Luna chuckled. “I know. And I’m a sucker for your praises and fawning over me. I’m pretty sure I come here as much as for your food as I do for your compliments.”“A beautiful woman like you should be fawned over as frequently as possible, bellasima, you’re a direct art from God.”Luna laughed at Julio’s extravagancy. “Okay, stop, or my head might not fit through the door when I leave here.”“I’ll try,” Julio said, smiling too. “So what’ll you have? My specials, as usual?”“You know I trust you always.”Julio’s face flushed with pleasure again. “Then you’re in for
When Julio finally left, Justin took his seat across Luna. He sat and stared at her for several seconds without saying a word. Luna stared right back at him, determined to not be the first one to break. She knew Justin well enough to know that their little staring game was just that to Justin, a game. And he would take great pleasure in winning it over her.Slowly, his gaze raked over Luna, just like hers had when he first came in. Tortuously, his eyes travelled from her head, down to her belly, where it dipped to her center. Heat pooled there as Justin’s eyes came back to hers. His were darker and more dangerous as he stared deliberately into her eyes.“Red had always been your color,” he finally said.Luna’s pulse jumped, and scrambled at the intimacy of Justin’s low tone. “I know,” she said, pleased to hear her voice coming out strong with no tremble. “I’m surprised you noticed though,” she added.“I notice a lot more than you think,” Justin said, his gaze still fixed on
Eight years ago.Luna twisted the strap of her purse as she stood on the pavement, nervously waiting for her ride. One Mr. Jake Kierney was supposed to be picking her up, Luna recited the descriptions of how he looked like in her head again. Brown hair, dark eyes, Caucasian and wearing a black suit. And then she remembered he was going to be pulling up in a car, and that the details of the car was probably what she was supposed to be memorizing. The realization upset the resolve Luna had managed to build up through the pep talk she had given herself before leaving her apartment.Licks of panic threatened to swarm through Luna, she forced them back with deep heavy breaths. In the middle of her breathing exercise, a black car pulled up in front of her. The window winded down to reveal a man leaning across the passenger’s seat.“You Luna Jones?” he asked, his tone a little accented enough to tell Luna he was a New Yorker, true and true.Luna nodded her head timidly. “Ye- yes, I am.