forbidden { michael gray } ON TEMPORARY HOLD

s i x t e e n

For the next few weeks, things went well with Talya and Michael. Too well. They were spending every waking minute with each other whenever Michael wasn't called into work, and inevitably they were growing sick of each other.

Their honeymoon period was coming to an end, and Talya knew it as she lay on the bed and heard Michael on the phone in the other room. He was talking about something - she didn't know or care about what it was - and his voice was travelling throughout the whole house.

Perhaps if she wasn't so bored, Talya would have ignored his loud voice. She could have focused on something else. But that wasn't the case. Talya was incredibly bored. She hadn't done anything other than listen to that voice all week, and now she wanted nothing more than for him to shut the fuck up.

Sighing dramatically, she got off the bed and walked into Michael's office with a hand propped on her hip. "Do you want to be any louder? The poor fucker's eardrums have probably been blitzed."

Michael gritted his teeth as he stared at his girlfriend as he swiftly ended his conversation. "I'll call you back in a minute."

"Who were you calling? Were they partially fucking deaf?"

"Oh, shut up Talya," Michael said dismissively, but Talya knew he was ready to take the bait she was dangling in front of him. If he wasn't up for an argument he wouldn't have ended his phone call. "Don't you have anything else to do other than bother me?"

"No. I don't, actually."

"Because you quit your job."

She laughed, then. "Well, la-di-shitting-da! I quit my job because you told me you'd find me some work. And yet you haven't done that yet. If you think I'm going to sit at home every day for the rest of my life you're wrong, Michael."

Even though she was being an ass, Michael knew she had a point. He'd been avoiding finding her a job because he liked providing for her, though he knew it was selfish of him. He was just too obstinate to let her know she was right. "Oh, piss off."

Talya, quite satisfied that his lack of a comeback meant she had won, turned around on her heel. "I fucking will."

Within 10 minutes, Talya had dressed herself up and called Percy. He was more than happy to come and pick her up; he'd missed hearing from her and had wondered why she had stopped talking to him.

As soon as she heard the beep of his car outside, Talya rushed to her feet and made for the door. "Have a nice night!"

Michael was just starting to call after her and ask where she was going when Talya slammed the door behind her with all her might.

-

"So," Percy began as he sat down opposite Talya in the booth and passed her a whiskey. "Where on earth have you been?"

"I got back with my ex," Talya said flatly. She stared into Percy's face in search of his reaction. She had never been quite sure if he really had feelings for her or if he was just pursuing her for the sake of it, but the momentary flicker of disappointment that flashed in his eyes hinted that perhaps he had.

Percy nodded as he took a long gulp of his drink. "I see. I thought you might be mad at me for leaving you alone that night."

It took Talya a moment to remember what he was talking about. That part of the night had completely slipped her mind amongst all the drama with Michael. "Oh, god! Of course not. I was too drunk to even remember, to be honest."

"Good. So, how's it going with Michael then?"

"Oh," Talya said. "Swimmingly."

"Is that sarcasm I detect?"