Temptation

Chapter Twenty-Three

Pierre remained seated in his armchair as Cory began pacing around the room, biting down on his nails.

"You're creating a draft."

"No, I'm not."

"She doesn't like people pacing."

"Shut up." Cory rolled his eyes.

Moments later, three sharp knocks were made to the door and Cory rushed towards it. He opened the door wide and smiled awkwardly seeing Esther and Jamie in the hallway. Jamie gave him a small wave as Esther handed him her coat, removing her sunglasses.

"You called?" She looked directly at Cory.

"Come in, Esther." Pierre spoke, standing from his chair.

Once Jamie and Esther walked inside, Cory put their coats on the hooks by the door and hurriedly made his way over to them. Esther stood behind the sofa as Jamie sat down on it with Cory following after her. Pierre sat back down in his chair and furrowed his brow at Esther.

"Do you want to take-"

"No," She interjected. "This won't take long."

"Mom, you know we have to talk about this." Jamie sighed.

"I have nothing to discuss. I know what my answer is and I am not giving that guy a second chance or any type of formal meeting." Esther declared.

"He fucked up, we can all admit that. But Alice likes him and he clearly feels the same way." Cory argued.

"Well, she didn't like him enough to admit the truth about what happened to her to him," Esther told them. "She told him her go-to lie about her family and about her last boyfriend. If she liked him as much as she says she does, why would she feel the need to lie?"

"She's just scared, Esther. She's scared that she'll get treated horribly if she opens up. She probably would have told him when she felt ready and safe but you took that chance from her."

"She was never going to tell him anything, Cory, and we know that. He doesn't deserve her. He's violent."

"He punched him defending Alice, mom!" Jamie scoffed. "Yeah, I'll admit that, maybe, punching wasn't the best solution but you can't just label him like that based off of one moment."

"And are we still not going to discuss how she kept this a secret from Pierre? From me?"

"Do you think she kept it a secret because she knew you'd be reacting like this? Esther, I love you, but you can be one intimidating bitch." Cory chuckled.

"Thank you." Esther grinned.

"She wants to make us happy and she cares about us a lot. She's like a sister to me and Jamie. But we can't continue on like this because I know that she's still going to see him no matter what we say. She spent the night with him because she couldn't bear to stay here, the place where we took her in and helped her get back on her feet. We've done so much for her and she needs us now more than ever." Cory explained.

"Pierre?" Esther raised her brow.

He took a deep breath and looked over the three of them.

"Cory's right. I'll admit I was against this relationship... but everyone in this world has a unique relationship. Whether it be because of age, looks, personality differences, whatever... we can't judge them. Hell, Cory and I have been through it all! I've seen people whispering, I've seen people staring at us. I've had people ask me if I'm his father. I am not one to judge her relationship with him." Pierre replied.