Not Just One Night

Chapter 42

Camila's POV

"Pick up, pick up, pick up," I mumbled to myself pacing the hallway in front of Lauren's office. My hands were shaking as I held the phone to my ear.

I had already dialed her number in pure panic at least four other times, after pounding on her closed office door once I had arrived.

But it was all to no answer.

Just like the texts I had sent.

The first I typed out hectically after Dinah had walked away from me.

We need to talk. I said, knowing that the situation should be handled as soon as possible.

I had learned the hard way that keeping anything from Lauren was never a good idea. Especially something so dangerous as Dinah knowing our biggest secret.

But when she didn't reply, I had no other choice but to run back to her building; the one I had left only minutes before.

I sent her two more texts. One on the elevator ride. I'm coming there now. And another standing outside of her door. I'm here. Where are you?

But I hadn't heard from her. So I spent the fifteen minutes that it took for her to show, battling the feeling of my stomach in my throat, and the inability to catch a breath.

It was an internal war that I was having when the shock of her voice ripped me from it.

"Seriously?" she asked. I glanced up from a hooded gaze and she was shaking her head. "Babe. Are you really back for more?" she smirked.

I wanted to smile along with her but my expression was cold.

Still she didn't realize that something was wrong.

I guess what was left of the sex-fueled daze that we had both just submersed ourselves into, hadn't wore thin like mine. I blame Dinah for that.

"Lauren, I'm not-this isn't-Did you not get my texts?" I asked, stumbling over my words in attempt to explain why I was back at her office.

She pointed to the closed door. "I forgot my phone in there," she said and for the first time since she had walked up, I noticed that she was holding a bottle of Gatorade. She saw me looking at it and explained, "I needed hydration after that work out," she winked.

But I stopped her quickly before she could make another joke at our expense. Normally, I would have laughed along with her, but I feared she wouldn't wear the same expression once I told her that Dinah knew about her and I.

"Lauren," I said, shaking my head, and the corners of her mouth dropped as she walked towards me.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she reached up, laying her hand flat against my cheek. But I motioned toward her office.

"Not here," I said, stepping out of her way. She took the hint, nodding as she unlocked the door. She pushed it open and motioned for me to go in, and I could feel her close on my heel just before she shut the door behind us.

"Is everything okay?" she asked as she walked over to her desk. She sat down in her leather chair, grabbing her phone from beside the keyboard. I watched in silence as she unlocked it and read through the texts.

She knitted her eyebrows, looking up at me. "What do we need to talk about?" she asked. And I'm sure she was wondering how things could have changed so drastically within fifteen minutes.

I sighed, shaking my head. I wasn't sure how to even broach the subject.

But I decided that it'd be best if I just blurted it out before I lost all nerve.