24

TWENTY-FIRST HOUR

When Christian was watching the video, she walked out of the room wanting to find something to eat. Looking at the time, she noticed that it was already nearly half past twelve. It was no wonder that she was hungry.

"I showed him the video," she told Luke who was apparently the only one in the room since Jason went back to Escala. For what reason she didn't know but didn't bother to ask either.

Luke stared at him for a while before registering what she was referring to. "You... why?"

"Sean brought it up." She said, still feeling contrite about the whole thing since she was the one who spilled the beans to Sean in the first place, so she's got no one to blame but herself for being in the situation that she was currently in.

"That much I know, but I thought you want to forget about it. After all, we did for the money and nothing else."

She sighed, he did have a point and she was already feeling stupid for tending up when he brought up the music video, even though he was referring to the one that they'd be making. It was because of the fact that it had been brought to the forefront of her mind and she had already told herself that she wasn't going to hide anything from him, so the trigger only made felt guilty about keeping it from him.

"It was a nasty thing to tell your boyfriend though." He came to her rescue.

"Hannah handled it well."

"No, actually no. I didn't tell you that, but she had shut me out for almost a month, until one day I went to her workplace."

"But you monitored her phone though."

"Which is how I learned when she was where." He admitted.

"I'm sorry, Pig. It was my idea to accept it and fuck, it seemed like every decision I made with you was reckless and wrong."

"We didn't start that part of our friendship the way it should be. And, it should never have happened."

"We just showed up at the wrong place in the wrong time, so we made the wrong decision. And now, there was collateral damage." She sighed.

"You're not entirely at fault, I played a part, too."

"I know that, but that doesn't change anything, does it?"

"No, but at least we've both learned from it."

"Yeah, but it's too late now."

"Nothing is too late."

She snorted, "is that why you haven't made your move?"

"No."

She shook her head, believing what he had answered but not wanting divulge in this conversation further, she placed her face in her palms trying to rub out the frustration. It only increased the more she thought about the fucked up situation that she had placed herself in.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, "I'm sorry to put you through this." She told Luke before walking into the kitchen to distract herself by finding food in cupboards and the fridge.

Luke didn't even have the chance to think about the words that she had said to him when the bedroom door opened, and he knew he had to brace himself for Grey's attack.

"You're fired." He stated in a deadly-calm voice, it was the calm before the storm, and Luke had to embrace the storm as if he had a choice. He had sort of anticipated the exact reaction, he just never thought it would be said in such an eerily calm tone.

Luke knew that he and his job were doomed the minute Anastasia informed him that she had showed Grey the video. He knew first hand that if a guy truly loved their woman, there would be no way for them to not recognize the girl from anywhere, no matter the amount of the parts exposed to view.