Chapter 10
Belle
Belle was back in her apartment by half past five. She was desperate to come back home, to find some time to think. She could still feel Devon’s mouth on her, between her legs, as she walked up to the apartment. She had felt like that the whole day, fantasizing about him. The way he had made her feel. But now, as she pushed open the door, a wave of guilt hit her.
Thankfully, Jesse wasn’t at home. She went straight for the shower. She felt like maybe if she washed herself she could also wash the guilt off. She had wanted Devon Rymer so badly, so desperately in that moment that she hadn’t thought about Jesse. But Belle had always believed that she wasn’t the type of person who would ever cheat in a committed relationship. She had committed herself to Jesse, and they might be going through a rough and rocky start, but she owed it to him and to herself to give the relationship a chance.
Besides, it didn’t even seem like Devon wanted more. It appeared that it was one moment of weakness, on both their parts and he had very quickly changed his mind. Why would a powerful, successful man like Devon Rymer want her in the first place? She thought as she scrubbed herself. When he could have any woman he wanted, what made Belle so special?
She dried herself and changed into casual home clothes, and walked out of the bathroom to find Jesse home.
“How was your day?” he asked her, as he unlaced his sneakers.
Belle gulped before pasting a smile on her face. Just facing Jesse had brought back that wave of guilt in her. She could barely look him in the eye any more.
“How was yours?” she asked him and he shrugged his shoulders.
“Unsuccessful,” he said and walked over to the kitchen area to pour himself a glass of water.
“Have you eaten already?” she asked him, drying her hair with a towel.
“Yeah, you?” he asked her and Belle clenched her jaw. What was happening to them? Weren’t couples supposed to eat together?
“No, but I’m not hungry I guess,” she said and watched as he walked over to the couch and sat down with a thump.
“Jesse,” Belle said, placing a hand on her left hip. He looked up at her, while he plugged in the controls of his playstation.
“Yeah?” he asked, and he looked away, like he wasn’t expecting her to say anything important. Now that she looked at him, she realized that she felt nothing. None of the emotions she had felt when Devon had looked at her. Even without touching her, he had managed to make her bubble with excitement. Something that Jesse had never been able to do.
“What are we going to do about next month’s rent? I won’t be able to afford the whole thing,” she said and gulped. She had so much more to say, to ask him, but his attention was drifting already.
“We’ll manage. I’ll figure something out,” he said distractedly. Belle rolled her eyes and breathed in deeply. Her cellphone on the kitchen counter beeped and she walked towards it. She was feeling mixed emotions of guilt and anger, and they were all directed at Jesse.
On her phone, she saw that she had received an email, from Devon Rymer. Quickly turning her back to Jesse, with a flush of guilt rushing to her cheeks, she opened the email.
Hello Belle,
I’m sorry about what happened in the office earlier. It was entirely my fault and I take the blame for it completely. But I don’t think we should allow for it to happen again. I’m going to ask Susan to move you to our Brooklyn office. You’ll keep your role, but just be out of my way. I wanted to warn you myself.
Devon Rymer
Belle read it again, three times over and then Jesse’s voice interrupted her thoughts. She hadn’t been able to believe what she was reading. She had expected things to get awkward between the two of them now, but this was the last thing she saw coming.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said and she jerked her head up to look at Jesse. She could feel her nostrils flaring.
“I’m being moved to the Brooklyn office,” she said, as she stared at him with unblinking eyes. She still couldn’t believe it.
“That’s great isn’t it? Your office will be closer to us that way,” Jesse said, still tapping away at his playstation controls. He was speaking robotically, just with mild interest in what she was saying. He was more engrossed in his game.
“No, I want to keep working at the Manhattan office,” she said, suddenly snapping out of her dazed thoughts.
“So, what are you going to do about it?” Jesse asked.
“I’m going to go speak to Devon Rymer. I know he doesn’t leave his office before seven. If I go now, I can still make it,” she said and looked expectantly at Jesse. She wasn’t sure why she was staring at him. Perhaps she was hoping that he would stop her, that maybe they might sit together and discuss the situation and he could give her some support. Perhaps she was waiting for some sort of sign from the Universe that would tell her that she shouldn’t be going to see Devon.
But nothing happened. Jesse continued to play his game and Belle licked her lips. She knew that was not what Devon wanted. That would be exactly the opposite of what he wanted. But if he was going to move her from the Manhattan office, she wasn’t going to go out without a fight. She was going to face up to him. After all, he was wrong; he wasn’t entirely to blame. She was just as much at fault as he was and he needed to know that.