ELARA ~
I found Isla in the living room.
She wasn’t the staggering, awful drunk from last night.
She was back in a suit, her hair pulled back, her face a mask of professional indifference.
She had dark shades on.
Probably to hide her shame from yesterday, if she even felt any.
Nothing changed.
The signal was still dead.
I stared at my phone on the dining where she had dropped it.
I rolled my eyes and walked into the kitchen.
Then her voice came through.
“Ms.
Jones!”
I stepped out of the kitchen and looked at her.
“The jammer is off,” she said without looking up from her laptop.
“You have twenty minutes of connectivity.
Use it to check on your family, then put the phone away.”
The audacity.
I stared at her for over a minute, but I couldn’t find any words that felt right.
My thoughts still hadn’t recovered from yesterday.
She was a pain, an annoyance and at the same time, a wreck I couldn’t afford to get involved with.
What was that about yesterday?.
The way she looked at me, the way her eyes had lingered on my lips, that little distance between us when she pinned me to the wall.
I hated that part of me still wanted to know if she’d slept at all.
And that damn question…
I went back to my room and shut the door, only to hear a knock a moment later.
I opened it, and there she stood, effortlessly calm.
“Haven’t you done enough management, what is it now?”
Without saying a word she handed me a black package.
“What’s that?”
“That’s why you have eyes,” she said, pushing it into my chest “Open it.”
I stared at her longer than necessary, then snatched the pack from her hand.
I opened it in front of her, surprised to find a brand-new phone.
“I don’t need it” I shoved it back at her.
“Don’t be unreasonable now”
“Now I’m the one being unreasonable?”
“You’re genuinely becoming a problem for me” she heaved a sigh, taking a step back.
“I shouldn’t have stayed in this house” she turned to leave.
I grabbed her arm before I could stop myself.
She froze, her head tilting toward me slowly.
“Do you remember anything from last night?” I asked.
“I wasn’t that wasted.
Of course I…” She trailed off.
For the first time since morning her composure cracked “Any problem?”
“Why?”
“Why what?” My fingers were still wrapped around her wrist and I became painfully aware of it when her gaze dropped briefly to my hand.
I let go immediately.
The hallway was quiet, and so were both of us.
My breathing was the only loud sound in the hallway, not to mention I couldn’t read her behind those shades.
Elara it meant nothing.
I told myself “Nothing” I answered outloud, retreating into the room.
“Liar” that stopped me cold.
“Don’t do that.” I said.
“Do what?”
“Act like nothing happened then call me a Liar for deciding not to bring it up”
Her jaw shifted slightly.
“Nothing happened.”
I laughed once in disbelief.
“Right.
So you cornering me against a wall and asking if I was thinking about you was what exactly?”
“You were angry.”
“So were you.”
“And you were drunk,” I countered.
“And now you’re wearing those glasses to what?
Keep your eyes from wandering to places they shouldn’t be looking?”
I shouldn’t have said that.
She scoffed, then reached up and pulled off the shades.
“I said I wasn’t that drunk.”
“Really?
Because you could barely stand straight.” Her eyes were full on red, and two things came to mind.
It’s either she hadn’t slept a wink or she smoked the rest of the night.
“I was standing perfectly fine.”
“You were talking nonsense.”
A faint smirk tugged at her mouth.
“Interesting.
So you were listening carefully.”
God, I hated this woman.
“You literally admitted you couldn’t think around me.”
“And somehow, that’s the line you’re focused on?” she asked, raising a brow.
“What else should I focus on?” My voice rose.
“The signal jammer?
You admitting to isolating me?
The controlling behavior?
Your rudeness?
Your cowardice?
Pick one, Isla.”
“There it is,” she muttered.
“There what is?”
“The part where you make me sound worse than I already know I am.”
For a second, neither of us spoke.
That answer wasn’t what I expected.
She adjusted the sleeves of her suit, eyes dropping briefly away from me like she suddenly regretted saying it.
Then the mask came back.
“You have your phone now.
The jammer is off.
Problem solved.”
“You think that’s the problem?”
“What else do you want from me, Ms.
Jones?”
There it was again, that damn tone.
Like anyone could pretend yesterday never happened.
I stepped closer before I could rethink it.
“I want you to stop talking to me like I’m your client every five seconds.”
Her shoulders tensed slightly.
“You are my client.”
“And yesterday?” I pushed, feeling a foreign bolt of boldness.
“You were drunk.
Maybe you don’t remember, so let me help you.
You looked at me like…”
”Enough.” The sharpness in her voice cut through the room, deflating me instantly.
She took a step back.
“I crossed a line yesterday.
It won’t happen again.”
And for some stupid reason, that irritated me more than anything else she’d done.
“Oh wow,” I scoffed.
“So now you’re pretending it disgusted you?”
Her expression hardened instantly.
“Don’t put words in my mouth.”
“Then say what you actually mean.”
“You want honesty?” she asked quietly.
I held her gaze, bad idea.
Because the second her voice dropped lower, my heartbeat betrayed me again.
“I mean you’re becoming dangerous for me to be around.”
“And that’s supposed to mean what exactly?” I asked, trying to sound unaffected.
I knew she was going to walk away again and leave me thinking then probably pretend that nothing happened, that she didn’t say anything.
Her head tilted slightly.
“See?” she murmured.
“This is exactly why I should’ve left this house earlier.”
I slammed the door in her face and locked it, silence settled instantly.
I leaned my forehead against the wood, waiting for the sound of her retreating footsteps.
They didn’t come.
Instead, her voice drifted through the door.
“You should stop thinking about me, Elara Jones.” She said barely audible.
The sound of her walking away followed soon after, echoing in the quiet hallway.
I stared at the grain of the wood, my heart hammering a rhythm I couldn’t control.
I wasn’t thinking of you.