"Girl, I'm worried about you. You don't seem fine at all lately" Anne tells you during your break.
"That's because I'm not fine" you shrug.
"It pains me that I can't help you somehow. Please tell me anything that I can do to help you" she reaches for your hands.
"Being here for me is enough, you don't have to do anything more" you show her a smile.
"Okay, but we need to do something about your mood. I don't know what happened between you two but I missed your smile" she says happily.
"I don't know when that's coming back to be honest" you look on the floor desperately.
"We'll make it come back, come on. Your smile is so beautiful, it's a waste not showing it" she actually makes you giggle for a little bit.
"It'll come back soon hopefully" you look her in the eyes.
"Let's go out, it'll cheer you up" she suggests.
"No, not until the conference is over at least. I'm not comfortable yet, and the situation with Tony is still too fresh" you explain.
"Okay, it's not even two weeks until the conference. I give you this long to forget about Tony and after we get the first place in the conference, we're partying hard" she smiles.
"Sounds like a great plan, but you know I'm not going to forget about Tony in two weeks time. He's-" you stop yourself from saying the rest of the words.
You'd say he's the love of your life, your favourite person, the only one you want. But you can't let yourself to admit things like that anymore, you're trying to heal.
"He's an as*hole" you continue after your big pause.
"Yes, he is. Don't let him get under your skin even more" Anne hugs you tightly.
That hug and the whole mood at the moment make you tear up again. You're still very vulnerable and you cry with every little reason. As a few burning tears roll down your cheeks, you find the courage to say the words out loud to a person for the first time.
"He cheated on me" you admit and feel a big weight leaving your chest.
"What? That motherf*cker" Anne gasps.
"With who?" she asks quickly.
"I found out it was with that intern that he was with during this week. But when he came back he admitted that she wasn't the only one" the pain is once again getting unbearable.
"I'm so sorry, Alice, you don't deserve that" Anne hugs you even tighter.
You feel safe in her arms and allow yourself to cry. It surely feels better than crying by yourself every day, but it still doesn't feel anything close to good.
"I have to pull myself together, the break is almost over" you take a deep breath and wipe the tears from your eyes.
"You need to start taking care of yourself and not only focus on work" she advises you.
"Whenever I start thinking of myself I cry for hours" you joke about it.
"That's part of the healing process" she caresses your back softly.
"Ladies, the meeting is about to start in 10 minutes" Ethan appears out of nowhere and lets you know.
"We'll be there" Anne replies and you look away from him to hide your red eyes.
"Is everything okay?" he asks.
"Yes, we'll be right behind you" Anne says and Ethan leaves.
You take deep breaths and exhales to calm yourself down and it works. A couple of minutes later you feel yourself much better. Anne helps you stand up and together you walk in the meeting room. There are many people there, as expected, but there's one person that confuses you the most. Pepper Potts.
"What is she doing here?" you whisper to Anne.
"I wish I knew" she squeezes your hand in hers for support before you take a seat.
It turns out that she is here because of business regarding the conference. For some reason one of your investors left you and turned to Stark Industries instead. Last thing that you needed at the moment was to listen to people talking about Tony. Although, you fought your urges and stayed professional during the whole meeting. You even managed to ignore your bad stomach because of Pepper's presence here.
After the meeting ended, you all took separate ways and you went back to your office. The thing is though, that you weren't the only one following this path. You easily realised Pepper was a few steps behind you, and a minute after you reached your office she knocked on your door.
"Come in" you say, even though you're sure you don't want to talk with her.
"Hello, Alice" she says calmly and closes the door behind her.
"Hello, Pepper. What can I do for you?" you ask seriously.
"You know why I'm here" she takes a seat in front of your desk.
"I better hope Tony didn't put you up to this" you shake your head.
"He did not. I'm here because I'm worried about him" she says.
"About him? Thank you for your understanding of the situation" you chuckle ironically.
"Alice, he hasn't left the house in days, he won't talk to anyone, he's completely forgetting about himself and his well-being. I'm afraid he might do anything stupid" she really sounds worried.
"Stop it, alright? I don't need the guilt of how Tony is coping on my shoulders. I have enough to deal with on my own. Do you really think the situation is any better for me? Do you even know what he did?" you ask.
"I know what he did and I know you have every right to be angry at him. I'm only asking you to talk to him. Just talk, nothing more" she replies.
"I don't want to talk to him. He broke my trust and everything we had together. As far as I'm concerned, you're one of the women he slept with when we were together" your heartbeat is rising.
"I can reassure you that I'm not. I've never slept with Tony" she quickly answers.
"At least he kept it in his pants from time to time" you shake in anger.
"I've never seen him like this before. I know this is a lot to ask from you, but please consider talking to him. You can't possibly want him to be like this" she says.
"I have to prioritise my well-being. Talking to Tony right now won't help with that" you answer sternly.
"Alright, I had to try. I hope you feel better, I really do" she stands up.
"Thank you" you do the same.
You share a look and a nod and then she leaves. Once she closes the door behind her, you fall back into your chair and sigh heavily. Just when you thought things couldn't get worse than they are, you actually feel more sadness inside you because of the thought of Tony struggling.
Even though he hurt you deeply, he's still the man that you love and your heart can't just ignore it. You're naturally feeling bad that he's reacting that way, but you will definitely not get any better if you talk to him so soon, which means that Pepper has to find another way to bring him back.
YOU ARE READING
Toxic Relationship With Tony Stark
Historical FictionBeing in a relationship with Tony Stark is what every woman dreams of. But is it really as dreamy as it sounds? What happens when the relationship is just as toxic as it is all that you ever wanted?
