Hard to Find

Chapter Five - Groundhog Day

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c h a p t e r f i v e

{Groundhog Day}

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Skylar's POV

There is a knock on my office door. I lift my head from a pile of papers and heave my weary body out of my chair. When I turn the knob, Blake stares at me with a coffee cup in hand. My face falls the instant our eyes meet. Shit. I lost track of time and forgot about our coffee date. "Blake I'm so sorry-" I begin.

"Don't apologize," He shakes his head. "I don't know how you take your coffee, but here."

I smile apologetically and graciously take the cup from him and step aside so he can enter. He looks around my office as I sit down on the couch. "I had a rough day, I fell asleep on my desk." I point toward the mess on my desk.

Even though his back is toward me, I hear him chuckle, and it makes me smile.

I barely slept last night. After Marlee's disastrous dinner, my thoughts were running rampant. Jayden's last words before he left the passenger seat of my car replayed over and over in my head. And I realized I will never get away from him if I stay with Blake, and if I stay with Blake, things will slowly become more serious. Even though I don't want a relationship.

Blake sits in a client chair and faces me. "Aren't you supposed to be done with work by now?"

I look at my watch to find it's half past six. "Yeah, I should've been done a while ago."

"Well, why don't we get out of here."

"Where would we go?"

He stands up and walks in my direction. Every step toward me makes my heart beat faster. "My roommate won't be home until later, we could head back to my place."

I subconsciously grimace at the thought of seeing Jayden again and say, "I don't want to risk it. He didn't seem happy last time."

He cups my face and his thumb brushes over my lip. "Well, I have a surprise back at my place."

'Oh, great' I think internally. However, he must've noticed my distaste for the idea from my expression because he reassures me by adding, "Don't worry, we'll be alone."

I think for a moment but end up giving in and take his hand. I tidy up, sliding papers into their respective desk spots and we head to his car. When I left for work, it was nice enough to walk, but now, New York has disappeared under a snowy blizzard.

We pull down his street and my head whirls around, checking for Jayden's car. Thankfully, the spot is barren.

Blake still isn't aware that Jayden and I know each other. I'm tempted to ask Blake if he had been at the bar that night, but I don't want to draw attention to the situation. I also would rather not let him know I almost had a one night stand with his roommate. That would make things awkward.

I silently follow him into his place. He holds his front door open for me, revealing the dining table set for two. The entire room smells like food and my mouth waters. 

"Blake..."

"I know what you're thinking." He states, helping me take my jacket off. "But fuck-buddies still need to eat."

Short laughter bubbles out of me. He's not wrong. My stomach is grumbling from the delicious smells emanating through the apartment. I follow him into the kitchen and help carry the food to the table and we sit down to dig in. After taking my first bite of the perfectly cooked steak, I ask where he learned to cook so well. "My family owns a restaurant. When I was younger, I spent most of my time working there." He says.