Chapter 92: Return Policy
Chapter 92: Return Policy
IAN’s POV :
When I saw that she had left, I was hit with the realization that I was a scum that never deserved her in the first place.
I knew she was better off without me, so I tucked my tail between my legs like goddamn bitch and and let her be.
Still, no matter how hard I try, I could never get her off my mind.
No matter how busy I was, how much money I was making, or how well the gallery was doing, all the successes in the world couldn't satisfy me.
"What you need is to get laid,"
Ally had been saying that since day one.
Sure, I’ve thought about getting laid before.
The gallery was a hotspot for art lovers, celebrities, and models.
There were plenty of times where I could’ve got myself an easy lay.
But every time I looked at a girl, all I could see was her glimmering eyes.
I'd look at a girl's lips and think, that’s not her lips.
I'd hear a girl’s laugh and I think, that’s not her laugh.
And all I wanted was her.
No one else but her.
Pathetic, I know.
She was the one for me, but I let her go.
When I saw that her plane had left, I thought to myself, maybe it was a sign.
People said that love is a feeling you feel or love is an action you take, but to me love is timing.
You could have all the feeling in the world and take all the actions you could take, but if the timing was off, it wouldn't happen.
The right person at the wrong time would still be the wrong person.
I guess what I meant to say was this: I was wrong for her.
She was right for me, she was perfect for me, but I wasn’t that guy for her.
That punk Tristan, no matter how much I hate the guy, was right.
I had hurt her so bad, she left an entire country to get away from me.
I was done forcing myself back into her life.
I've done that before, she gave me plenty of second chances, and all I did was ruin it.
I broke her heart so many times already, she didn’t deserve that shit.
So, I made a resolution that I wasn't gonna try and get her back.
If someday she'd come back and we meet again and the timing was right, maybe we were meant to be.
But if she went out there and found something better than what I could give her, then by all means.
"Is that your third glass already?"
I looked up from my glass of scotch and saw Ally standing at the doorway.
We just closed the gallery for the night and I decided to reward myself with a little scotch in the back office.
"Fourth.But I'm done now,"
I said as I put the bottle back in the bottom drawer.
Ally and I made a deal that I shouldn't be drinking too much.
Three glasses were my limit.
But today was a hard day, so I gave myself an extra push.
"Hey, lan, are you okay?" she tilted her head to the side and watched me intently.
She always knew when something wasn’t right.I couldn't get anything past her.
"It’s just one of those days,"I shrugged.
"You've been having a lot of that lately,"she commented.
That was a true observation.
Not sure why, but I’ve been dreaming a lot about Emma these days.
Thoughts of her kept me up all night.
Some nights I would wake up searching for her on my bed, but all I caught was empty air.
Guess I've just been missing her a lot more lately.
Ally walked over and reached for the top drawer.
She pulled out a clear tube with blue colored pills on the inside.
Shaking the tube in front of me, she said, "Do you want some of this? It'll help you get a good night sleep,"
That was probably her medication.
She had been seeing a psychiatrist and he prescribed her some meds that would help her with sleeping and anxiety.
My eyes were glued to the pills as I thought about her offer.
"You know what, give me that,"I said as I reached for the tube.
"Thread lightly, it's kinda strong,"she warned, but she was too late.
I had already popped two or maybe three of them in my mouth.
I downed the pills with the remaining shot of whiskey in my glass.
Once I was done, I looked up at Ally and her face began to blur.
She was right.
That shit was strong.
Because the next thing I knew, I had blacked out completely.
I woke up to hot flashes.
My head was heavy, my eyes were seeing things, and my body was rendered motionless.
I was completely delirious.
It took me a while to make sense of everything.
I was lying naked on a bed.
Not my bed, someone else’s bed.
I was in a bedroom and it was dimly lit, obviously, it wasn't my room.
And there was a girl straddling my knee, and I couldn't see who she was because she was leaning down and her long brown hair was covering her face.
Then I felt a hand gripping my hard length and a warm, wet mouth was sucking on the tip.
My hand reached for this girl and wiped a strand of hair away from her face.
She looked up at me and I recognized those eyes instantly.
"It's okay, I'll take care of you,"she said.Not waiting for me to respond, her mouth was back on my length again.
Her tongue rolled from the tip down to the base, leaving hot, wet trails of saliva.
For a moment there, I couldn’t move.
My eyes were fixed on her mouth and I was caught in a trance.
I was seeing Emma.
It was Emma's lips on my length.
Those were Emma's hands.
And those were Emma’s eyes looking back at me.
I was so happy to see her, I let go of all inhibitions.
She bobbed her head up and down my length, taking me deeper and deeper as her hand continued massaging the base.
Within seconds, I was a goner.
I released a huge load of cum into her mouth and she swallowed all of them.
I hadn't felt this way in a long time, it was pure ecstasy.
But when she finished swallowing, she looked up at me and I realized it wasn't her.
It wasn’t my Emma.
"Fuck, no!"
I pushed Ally off of me abruptly.
"lan, what's wrong?"she was taken aback, sitting on the edge of the bed with nothing but her bra and panties on.
"Al, this is a mistake,"
I groaned as my hand went to rub my head.
My head was spinning as images from earlier tonight flooded my brain.
I remembered blacking out in the office.
I remembered Ally hailing a cab and taking me home.
She lay me down on her bed and then she climbed on top of me.
After taking off her dress, she took off my shoes, then my belt, and everything else until I was butt naked.
I was still struggling with those images when I felt Ally’s hand on me again.
Using one hand, she started stroking my length back to life and her other hand unclasped her bra, revealing her full set of breasts as they jiggled free.
"Ally, stop it!"I pushed her away again.
"Why?"she whined.
"You seemed to be enjoying it five seconds ago--"
"Because you're not who I want!"I hissed through gritted teeth.
Seeing my clothes all crumpled on the floor, I used all my strength to roll to the side and grabbed them up.
Ally watched in silence as I slid my boxers and pants back on.
She was just sitting there with her chest completely bare to me.
"It’s been almost a year, lan, don’t you think it’s time for you to move on?"she said finally.
Her tone was laced with jealousy and bitterness.
"How long did it take you to get over Richard?"I said as I slipped my shirt back on.
"Not too long.I guess I've always known he’s not the one,"
"What do you mean?"
A smile slowly curved up her face and she started moving towards me, saying, "Deep down inside, I've always known you're the one,"
"Ally..."I warned.
I caught her hand as she was about to reach for me.
"It's true.I never told you this before, but you’re the reason why Richard and I ended our engagement.Since we started working together, I never had time for him anymore.I stopped giving him attention, and he figured it out.He knew I was still in love with you— am still in love with you,"
Using all her strength, she lunged forward until her lips were inches away from mine.
My hand quickly went up to stop her.
They caught her by her chest, right on her breasts.
She moaned lightly at the contact, but I was only doing that to shove her away.
I sighed in exasperation and got up as soon as I could find my footing.
"Ally, we fooled around, like what, in high school? You can’t possibly "
"Possibly be in love with you all this time?"she asked challengingly.
"What do you think, lan? Why am I here with you in this city doing this gallery in the first place?"
"You said you were done with the corporate world.You wanted to be an entrepreneur and start your own thing?"
"You bought that?"she scoffed.
"I left everything in Jersey for you.I left Richard, I left my work, I left my family,"
"Ally, I never asked you to" Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.
"No, I know.You never asked me for it, but I wanna do it because I wanna be with you! That’s how much I love you!"she exclaimed.
Fuck, I didn’t expect that at all.
I've always thought of Ally was one of my closest friends.
She was like family to me, I'd trust her with my life.
I thought I was the same thing for her.
Slowly, she got up from the bed and her hand reached for my face, saying, "I meant what I said that night at the soft launch...I love you, lan.Not just as friends...Isn't there any way you can see me the same way?"
Her eyes were pleading with me.
I took a deep breath and exhaled a long sigh.
My hand went to grip her hand that was on my face, and slowly I peeled it away.
"No, I can’t.I'm sorry,"
Tears were pooling around her eyes as she choked, "Why not? We're perfect for each other, lan.Ask anyone!"
I shook my head quickly and said, "I can’t look at any other girl the same way again, not after...her,"
Tears fell from her face and she wiped them away with her hand.
She turned to the side, avoiding looking at me.
"You know, I never understand this.What is it about her? Why is she goddamn special anyway?"she spat sourly.
Honestly, I never understood it either.
She was an enigma to me.
My soul felt full when I was with her.
Nothing else in this world could make me feel the way she made me feel.
She was my first ever real heartbreak.
My first ever real love.
"She's everything.She’s my entire world,"
I said in a whisper.
Ally didn't say another word.
I looked at her naked back and I felt bad for her.
I never realized she was feeling all these things for me.
I wouldn't have worked with her if I knew.
I saw a blanket on the armchair next to her bed.
I grabbed it and draped it over her naked body and said, "This was a mistake.I’m sorry, Ally.I’m not the one for you,"
"lan, wait, please don’t go,"
she said when I was halfway out the door.
I turned back to face her and said, "Ally, for both our sakes, I don’t think we should do this anymore.Starting tomorrow, I'm quitting the gallery,"
"What?! lan!"she gaped, waiting for an explanation.
But I've said all that I needed to say already, so I just turned around and headed for the door.
"lan!"
I heard her calling out after me several times, but I never turned back.
When I stepped out of Ally’s apartment, the sun was starting to rise over the city.
I hailed a cab and watched from the car’s window as the sky turned pink and purple.
It was a beautiful sight.
My mind wandered back to Emma and how I wished she was here to see this too.
My hand instinctively reached for my phone.
I had written her a thousand texts and emails that I never send, and this morning was no different.
Emma and I hadn't contacted each other since that day, but I've always kept track of her and her activities.
Her social media profile wasn’t locked, thank God, so I could see how she was doing and what she was up to.
Yes, I'm a pathetic excuse of man.
She had just posted a new photo.
She was standing on this balcony with the Eiffel Tower on display behind her.
She was smiling so brightly.
Such a gorgeous smile.
"Someone else was probably making her smile,"
I thought bitterly.
In a desperate attempt, my finger went to type a message for her.
My hand stopped moving after I typed the word ‘Hey’.
I didn’t know where to go from there.
I mean, what would I even say? Hey, Emma.
We used to talk about the future together.
Now it’s here, but you're not.
It doesn't feel like the future without you, though.
I know it's all my fault, but will you please take me back? That sounded shitty as hell.
I deleted that text and started typing another one.
"Hey Emma, so I was missing you a lot last night..."
What the fuck? That was even worse.
"Hey Emma, I miss you..."
And what? I couldn't have her back anyway.
What's the point of writing this stupid thing, then? Realizing full well that this wasn’t gonna work, I laughed at my pathetic ass and deleted the text, putting the damned phone away.
If at first I thought she'd be better off without me, after what happened last night, now I know damn sure that she's way better off.
You're the best thing that's ever happened to me and I'm sorry that I'm the worst thing that's ever happened to you.
I hope you're happy out there, baby girl.