Chapter 15
Alex
“Damn it!” I shouted at my empty apartment.
I had just tried calling Holly’s phone for the umpteenth time and my calls were still going directly to her voicemail. I must have called her at least five times last night after she’d left my condo, and then I’d called her at least another six or seven more times today. I hated talking to answering machines and voicemail prompts, but I didn’t know what else I was going to be able to do since she refused to pick up the goddamned phone and actually talk to me—or at least fucking listen to what I had to say.
She hadn’t even given me time, nor a fair opportunity to explain the situation or even enough fucking time to react to everything that happened the way that it had all played out. I mean, shit, I was still sitting over here wondering exactly how the hell such a small, seemingly-innocent misunderstanding turned into something so goddamn catastrophic.
At first, I had wanted to be angry with Alicia because she was the one who had come onto me. But then I had to be completely, one hundred percent honest with myself and realize that I very well could have led her on with my laid-back, passive fucking attitude toward her blatant, openly, and obvious advances.
I replayed the situation over and over in my head, numerous times, and each time I had thought about a different way that I possibly could have handled it. But it had all happened so goddamned fast that I hadn’t even had enough time to react—let alone explain the misunderstanding that had taken place just before Holly had arrived.
The moment that Holly had turned around and ran down the hall, I had immediately run out after her, but she made it to the elevator before I could catch up. I had then rushed back down the hall to my condo and Alicia had still been there, pulling her tight black dress back up over her hips and clasping it back together at the top, behind her neck. I was almost certain that the expression on Alicia’s face was outright, obvious confusion—and perhaps also a little bit of embarrassment.
Even in the dim candlelight of my front room, I could tell that a slightly reddish tint had appeared on both of her cheeks and she was looking downward as I came back in through my front door and gently closed the door behind me.
“Alicia…” I had started to say—but she had raised her left hand, as if to silence me and stop me from saying anything that may have offended her or maybe embarrassed her any more than she clearly already was.
“No, it’s my fault,” she had said softly, taking the brunt of the blame. “I just assumed…” Her own voice had trailed off as the gravity of what had just taken place began to set all the way in.
“Listen,” I said, and cleared my throat. “I—I’m sorry, really, for whatever it was that I did or maybe said to lead you to believe that I had an interest in you that was anything beyond strictly professional.”
“I—I, um, I guess I’m gonna go, then,” Alicia said in a voice that was barely more than a faint whisper. Then she turned around to head toward the front door.
I didn’t make any attempt to stop her—mostly for fear that my action would possibly have been misconstrued. The miscommunication had already gone much too far, already, and had already caused way too many problems. Therefore, I was determined not to take a chance at letting these wildly incorrect misinterpretations and assumptions continue to happen.
I watched Alicia walk right out my door and turn right to proceed down the hall toward the elevator. She had paused for one brief moment, and it appeared to me that she really wanted to turn back around and look at me. But then she must have thought better of it and continued on her way. I had sighed deep and long, feeling completely overwhelmed by everything that had just taken place. I shut the door behind her without saying a single fucking word.
After all that last night, I was still devastated. The combination of emotions and feelings that I was currently experiencing were entirely new and unfamiliar to me. I had never felt so ridiculously and undeniably out of my element before, and for the first time as far back as I could possibly remember, I realized that I didn’t have the slightest idea what to do to rectify the misunderstanding, or where to even fucking start.
This was all very unlike me because I was usually so in control of every situation and every emotion that I allowed myself to portray. But, this—this was very different. Seeing Holly so upset had really stirred something up inside of me. I had to find a way to fix this—to make things right—but for the first time in my adult life, I felt completely at a loss for words and had no clue what to do.
* * * * *
On Monday, I decided to go over to the elementary school to see if she was at work. At least there, she couldn’t just leave and refuse to speak with me. This time, I took my gold Mercedes Benz instead of my black Rolls Royce, since she would most likely recognize the Rolls Royce right away if she happened to see me pull up outside the main entrance.
I went inside the building and into the main office but this time, the black woman at the front desk told me that Holly had taken the week off and had gone out of town due to a personal family emergency.
I was perplexed. She had actually left out of town over this? A part of me really felt like she was completely overreacting but the part of me that truly loved her realized that she must really be hurting over what she’d seen—even it was a misunderstanding, and I knew I was going to have to do something major to prove my love to her.
“Yeah, you really screwed up this time,” a female voice called out from behind me as I was walking back out to my car.
Surprised, I turned around to see a tall, angry-looking redhead coming out of the school’s main entrance.
“Are you Joana?” I asked, eyeing her as she walked over to where I was standing.
“Oh, so she has told you about me,” she replied haughtily as she folded her arms across her chest. “Yep, I’m Joana.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Same as you. I came to see if Holly was at work, but she wasn’t.”
“Listen, Joana, I know I screwed up, but it’s not what either of you are thinking,” I explained.
“Really? You do know that that’s what almost every single asshole says when he gets caught red-handed?”
“Actually, no, because I’ve never been in a situation like this before. I’d always been a playboy up until I met Holly, but I never screwed around with more than one woman at a time. I never had a reason to. My flings usually never lasted more than a few weeks or so, and then I’d break things off and move on.”
“Mm hmm,” she said, cocking her head to the side.
“Look, I know you have no reason to believe me, but Holly is different. She’s everything those shallow, superficial women weren’t. I would never have done anything to purposely hurt her. What she walked in on was a misunderstanding, nothing more. That blond woman works with me, and she had come by to drop off some papers for my father. She saw my place all set up for a romantic rendezvous and mistakenly assumed that it was for her. Holly walked in right before I’d had a chance to rectify the situation.”
Joana raised her eyebrows.
I continued, “Still, the part of it that was my fault was the fact that in my excitement about my date with Holly, I had completely forgotten that Alicia was supposed to be bringing that file over. That’s where I messed up and that part of all this is definitely my fault. I just want a chance to explain that to Holly. After that, she’s welcome to make her own decision.”
Joana looked at me thoughtfully, as if she was trying to decide whether I was lying.
“Well, that’s definitely one I have to say I’ve never heard before—and I’ve heard a lot of excuses from men in my day,” she said.
“If you do happen to hear from her, would you please have her call me? If anyone can convince her, it’s definitely you.”
As soon as I left the school, I went straight over to the meeting I had set up with a property owner in the area. It was a very important meeting that took top priority over everything else in the works. I had already decided that I was going to purchase this property, no matter what, and I wanted to get the documents signed and cleared immediately. I had a highly important deadline to keep.