“Stephen, what the hell are you doing here?” I have finally managed to gather myself.
We didn’t exactly break up on good terms, and I don’t plan on perpetuating a façade. Men who lie and deceive don’t deserve to be treated kindly.
“I was in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by and check on you. It’s been so long, hasn’t it?” Stephen steps into my office, full of that dangerous confidence I was so attracted to as a naive twenty-three-year-old.
I cross my arms over my chest. It’s my only defense mechanism right now.
“Why are you really here, Stephen? It’s been seven years, you haven’t bothered to check on me once.”
His expression droops. His eyes become more serious. I’m trying not to think about how he hasn’t changed in seven years. He is still exactly that handsome.
“And I’m sorry about that, but I have been trying to live my life right. I heard everything you said about respecting women. When we met, I was already in a relationship with Janet. You know that now. Seeing you was motivated by other ridiculous reasons.”
“You were using me to get information about your rival company. To steal clients and contacts. How much lower could you have stooped?” I hiss.
I don’t care if my employees hear this. Everyone needs to hear this.
Stephen runs a hand through his hair.
“I was doing it for my dad. I wanted to impress him. I’ll freely admit it now. I wanted to show him how committed I was to our company and that I would do anything for it.”
“Including seduce one of their junior employees just to get your hands on some flyaway information.” I turn away from him and walk over to my desk. There’s a big box on it full of stuff I’m going to throw away.
“I don’t need to listen to this, Stephen. Not seven years later. What do you want from me?” I continue.
“I just want the opportunity to show you how much things have changed, Blaire.”
“Why should I even give a fuck?” I narrow my eyes at him. Stephen is kneading his hands together. Does he genuinely look sorry? I’ve always considered myself pretty good at reading people. But then again, Stephen has always been pretty good at deceiving people.
“You shouldn’t care and I deserve that, but will you believe me if I said I’ve never stopped thinking about you, Blaire?”
“No. I don’t believe a word you say,” I snap.
“I wanted to do right by Janet. I cheated on her with you. I wanted to give that relationship a fighting chance. We broke up two years ago and since then, I haven’t been with anybody else. I’ve just been trying to work up the courage to seek you out again.”
I shouldn’t let myself crack. I know that. Stephen has meant nothing to me since I got over him. I’m not even…not really…attracted to him anymore. But there’s something about the comfort of nostalgia. I’m reminded of that feeling of utter love I felt for him when I was so young.
He sees the way my eyes soften and he knows he’s going to crack me if he pushes harder.
“If I didn’t care about you, Blaire, why would I keep this all these years?” he asks, and he holds up an earring I thought I lost a long time ago. It’s just one small golden bird. I don’t even know where the other one of its pair is.
I can’t believe he still has this. Why has he kept it?
“Well, can I have it back?” I ask, and Stephen smiles lightly. He holds it out for me from a distance, knowing I’ll have to go closer to him to fish it out of his hands.
When I do, our hands touch, and I pull away immediately. I thought that maybe if we touch, I’d be poisoned by him again. I’ll fall into his trap the way I did all those years ago. But nothing happens. There’s no electricity. I’m safe.
I step back and stare at the earring.
“You can keep it,” he says.
“Of course I’m going to keep it. It’s mine. You’re the one who shouldn’t have kept it!”
He is still smiling. “Yes, I know, but you made it pretty clear that you didn’t want to see me again, and I didn’t want to risk an arm by showing up at your door to return this to you.”
“Yeah, probably the right decision.”
I put the earring away and return to the desk to sift through stuff in the box.