The next week was tense. Lucien eventually came back, but didn’t speak to her. Things did not go the way either of them wanted after Gary’s funeral. And he would hate to see them this way now.Lucien launched himself into work. He was now the CEO of Reynolds Industries and so he was busy restructuring the company.Audrey busied herself with a job search and caring for her father. They did everything they could to avoid each other. Anything was better than confronting their real feelings. The atmosphere was cold, and distant between them. Neither of them wanted to be the first one to break. Towards the end of the week, the design contest results were posted on the competition’s website. With everything that had been happening, she forgot all about it. To her surprise, she passed.“Dear Mrs Reynolds, on behalf of the International Association of Architecture, we would like to formally congratulate you. You have placed third in this year’s Design Conference Competition. Your passion an
Damian and Audrey went to a different restaurant. Audrey was embarrassed by what Damian had witnessed.She and Lucien were married for such a short time. They should be in love, but now Damian saw for himself. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” she said after they were seated. “I owe you an explanation. Lucien and I are married, but it’s complicated. Mia is like, the love of his life. She left him a while back, but now she wants him again. So, of course he is falling all over himself for her. I can’t tell you much more than that, but I can tell you that we aren’t in love. But we also aren’t in an open relationship either. It’s… convoluted,” she finished, looking down from him. “That’s a lot,” Damian said. “We don’t have to talk about that. Just know that I’m here for you.” “Thank you. I appreciate that. Honestly, I don’t know why you continued to put up with me.”“Audrey, please. You are more than your problems. And don’t worry. We really don’t have to talk about anything that mak
A response came quickly.“We need to talk. Meet me on Saturday. The Hotel Belmont, Room 719. 3pm.“ “No.”Audrey typed back.Mia was crazy if she thinks she would go see her. “You better come. It’s about Lucien and his family” Audrey didn’t reply.‘This is stupid.’she thought.Mia was not in her corner and nothing good could possibly come from meeting up with her. But her curiosity was getting the better of her.Nobody knew about Lucien and his family better than Mia.And she really wanted to know why he wasn’t in good terms with his aunt. “Fuck,” she groaned. “Why is this my life?” Whenever she let herself believe things might work out between them, she’d get another sign. “Listen to the universe, Audrey,” she said to herself. “It’s obviously trying to talk to you.” The water stopped running. Audrey closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. She felt Lucien get into bed. “Audrey?” he called softly. She didn’t answer. She was feeling warm and fuzzy after her shower, but no
The room was bathed in a fresh, floral scent, and sensual golden glow. A small table in the center of the room held a glass of wine and two crystal glasses.Audrey walked in, and looked around. It was the most beautiful scene she had ever seen. But she was so confused. “There’s no way this is for me,” she said aloud without realizing. “It is,” Lucien said, hugging her from behind. “Why?” “For a lot of reasons,” His voice was soft, but commanding. “This is so romantic,” she whispered. “I’ve not been fair to you,” he said. “I’ve been trying to explain, but I know things wouldn’t have gotten so bad if I had just spoken up in the first place.” He turned her around so she could face him. “I need you to know that I didn’t arrange to meet with Mia after the funeral. I did go somewhere to be alone. I wasn’t thinking and went somewhere she knew about. She came to find me, and comforted me. I won’t lie to you, it was nice, but I was thinking about you the whole time. And that day at
“I’ll fucking pay for it,” Lucien grunted as he set her on top of the table. He held one of her legs in the air, and drilled into her.Audrey screamed his name as she came, but Lucien wasn’t stopping. “Lucien, I can’t,”Audrey moaned. “You can.”he snarled at her.Audrey came again and again as Lucien took her on just about every available surface in the hotel room. They came together one last time, and they collapsed into the bed. “Holy shit,”Audrey panted. “What was that?” “That,”Lucien tried to catch his breath. “is what I’ve been wanting to do ever since I got back from Italy.” “I’m not good at enforcing my own rules.” “Shut up,” He teased and kissed Audrey. It was a softer, more tender kiss. They had never kissed like that before.“There’s somewhere else I’d like to bring you to.” “Lucien, I don’t think I can walk,”Audrey laughed. “I think you broke me.” “Hmmm,” Lucien smirked. “I’ll do it again, too. I’m serious. It’s somewhere important.”Audrey smiled at this p
‘If you love him at all, you’ll come.’ The message flashed in Audrey’s mind over and over. It was easy to love him when he was like this. When he was sweet and sexy, it was impossible to resist him. When he was kind and vulnerable, it made her heart ache. She did love him despite every alarm bell going off in her mind telling her not to. Battles between the heart and the mind were seldom won by logic. Lucien’s eyes fluttered open and he caught her staring at him. A slow, lazy smile spread across his face. “Good morning,” his voice was low and gravelly with fresh sleep. “Hmmm, morning voice,”Audrey cooed, tracing circles across his bare back.Lucien smirked. “We’ve never done this before, have we?” “If by this, you mean wake up next to each other or go more than 20 minutes without fighting, then yes. We’ve never done this before.” “Who do you think will ruin it first?” Lucien asked, propping himself up on an elbow. “If we review the records, it’ll probably be you,” Audrey
Mia narrowed her eyes at Audrey. “You little—” a knock at the door startled them.Mia smiled. “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but you leave me no choice.”Mia stood up and walked over towards the door. There was a large crystal vase on a small table filled with beautiful flowers. She picked it and smashed herself over the head with it. “Oh my God!” Audrey shouted. “What are you doing?” “Help!” Mia screamed. Blood ran down her face from cuts in her head. “Audrey, please stop!” “You’re fucking insane!”The knocking at the door became incessant, and frantic. Mia slammed herself against the wall, hard. More blood. “Please don’t hurt me,Audrey! We’re just childhood friends! Don’t be like this!” She staggered towards the door, and opened it.Lucien was at the door, horrified at the scene before him.Audrey was in full shock. “What the hell is going on here?” He shouted, catching Mia as she fell towards him. “Lucien,I’m sorry. I can’t see you anymore. Audrey, she…”A
This was unbelievable. Not that long ago, they were in a reverse situation where Lucien was the one trying to explain and she wouldn’t let him. Being on the other side of it was frustrating. She couldn’t understand why Lucien didn’t want to hear her side of things. When she shut him out, it only made things worse. So, why was he doing the same thing when he knew how bad it got before? “Ugh!” Audrey yelled to no one. Her hands flew into her hair, and she pulled at it in anger. “This is insane! We’ll never get out this damn cycle!” She threw on some clothes and huffed out the house. When she arrived to the hospital, she was surprised to find Mia alone in the room. “Where is he?” Audrey asked in lieu of a greeting. “How funny,” Mia sneered. “Your husband had chosen to spend all of his free time with me.” “He made it seem like you weren’t doing well. Where is he?” “A few well timed tears and whimpers can do wonders to convince someone.” “Where. Is. He?” Audrey asked through