Abstinence

Chapter 48.

"Baby, we don't stand a chance, it's sad but it's true, I'm way too good at goodbyes."

(Sam Smith - Too Good At Goodbyes)

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Our days have been so good that normalcy was becoming us. Since Lina's funeral Hayden and I have been better than ever, our love for one another is unbidden and seems to continue to grow more and more each day. We don't fight, we don't even have disagreements over anything. Everything is perfect between us.

Erika and Luke are staying in a hotel tonight because I planned a special night for Hayden. We've been talking a lot about the wedding, he wants to leave everything to me but I haven't had the time to even think about it. When he left for his business trip to New York, I took that alone time to start planning. I've created a wedding inspiration board and I picked a date. I just want to make tonight romantic for him then we can get into the wedding talk.

I enter the apartment surprised to find Hayden sitting at the dining table and a woman sitting across from him. Neither one of them were talking but the tension in the air was suffocating. Hayden's expression was austere and dour, and if I knew any better, I would walk right out of the apartment and pretend I never walked in.

The woman turns her head towards me, teary sad brown eyes staring back at my confused ones. I have never seen this woman before. I have no clue who she is.

She could be an old friend of Hayden or a friend of Lina, who's confiding in Hayden. She could be anyone.

Her black hair is shoulder length and she has the perfect bouncy curls that I crave when I attempt to curl my hair. Her brown skin is glowing, she's darker than Reign's complexion. And despite her tear stained flushed cheeks, I can see her flawless face. The dimple in her chin, almost similar to Hayden's. Her jawline is perfectly carved, her cheekbones high, her lips full. She's a voluptuous woman, and I feel slightly intimidated standing in the same room as her just by her outward appearance.

What did I just walk into?

When I tried to search his face for answers, Hayden looks away from me and back at the symmetrical faced woman sitting before him.

"Hayden?" I want to ask for answers without having to actually say 'what the hell is going on here?' I think that question is readable in my tone with just the one word.

"Give us a minute." He speaks without averting his eyes from her, but he's talking to me not her. He wants me to give them a minute alone.

In order to stay on his good side I give him what he asks for, a little more time. "Sure." I mumble and go upstairs to get to the bedroom. I quickly undress and go into the bathroom for a shower before having to cook dinner.

As I lather the loofa and begin to scrub over my body, I can't help my curiosity as to who the mysterious woman in the dining room may be. Different answers playing into my head as to who she is and why she would be here in the kitchen crying while Hayden is vexed.

Is she Olivia? The woman he was once close with? The woman he took advantage of years ago? I don't know much about the Olivia woman except her name and what happened that one fateful night between her and Hayden. Could she be the person in the dining room emotional while sitting before her past? If so, why is Hayden angry? Is he angry with her? Is he angry at something that she said? Is he angry at himself?

I have way too many questions forming in my mind and I'm going to need answers. Preferably when he's calmed down. I don't want him to take his anger out on me. I've had enough of his displaced anger to last me a lifetime.