Adumbrate (Book One of the Lane Series)

2%

Copyright © 2014 by M. E. Mathis

All rights reserved.

2. Fine?

Utica, New York

Henderson Inc. Headquarters

I am frozen, paralyzed. I am caught in a sapphire gaze. Somewhere, far off, someone is saying my name over and over again, trying to get my attention. Marie, Marie, Marie. The sound is muffled though. I can barely make out the words, but somehow I know that it is my name. I feel myself swallow. I feel my lungs expand; the air filling me and then letting it out again. But most of all I feel my heart racing like a hamster on a wheel. His mouth moves, and I feel my breath catch. Then I am fighting, clawing through the fog that covers my mind, trying desperately to hear his voice. To hear that sound again.

Instead, when I come to, all I hear is Jess's repetative chanting. I don't turn to her though, instead I stay focused on him, afraid that if I blink he will dissappear. He meets my stare head-on, steady.

"Marie?" Jess's voice calls from behind me.

"Yes, I can hear you," my voice is weaker sounding than I would like.

He breaks eye contact to assess the woman behind me and instantaneously I feel my face flush and a wave of jealousy hits me. It takes everything I have not to grab the stapler off of the nearby desk and inflict some damage on her pretty little blonde face. The worst part of it is that I know I have given him the very reaction that he was looking for. Chaz, sensing my discomfort gives Jess a look and he moves aside when she nudges past Zane to get inside the office. Soon after the door closes, the new secretary decides to leave for her lunch, announcing it to no one in particular. She quickly grabs a paper bag off her desktop and along with it, her purse and laptop and then she too leaves the room.

We are alone now and I can no longer hold in the nagging question.

"What are you doing here?"

He seems to relax now that I have finally spoken to him and he looks down at his shoes, stuffing his hands into his front pockets, disturbing the the fabric of his well-pressed pants.

His voice is dripping with sarcasm as he retorts, " No hello, how are you, or how have you been. Just straight to the point. 'What are you doing here?'" He's mocking me and I feel my cheeks getting even hotter.

I don't deserve this, not now, not today. I am vaguely aware of the way he is watching me. He is looking at me the way a child studies something that they're seeing for the first time. I am at a lost for words and the very realization of this fact is infuriating. My thoughts are too jumbled and hazy; I am in pure shock. Don't be sucked in, not now, not ever.

"Marie?" His words break me from my daze and I allow my eyes to focus on his sapphire ones.

"We can't do this again," my voice is lacking conviction and I can tell by the look on his face that he isn't buying it; I no longer have to just convince him, but convince myself, "I can't do this again. It's not healthy, Zane."

"It never is." His words sting more that I'd like to admit and I can feel my palms begin to sweat and my heart rate increase dramatically. Tell him how you feel, my sub-conscious encourages.

"I mean it this time. This time, I am done no more games. No more truces. I'm done. I'm done, " my voice cracks a little, "You chose her."

"Marie," his tone is a warning, but I ignore it and continue.

"When I asked you that night to choose, you chose her."

"I made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. Even you make mistakes."