Chapter 9: Forest's POV

I had one of the best Monday morning drives to work. Charlotte sent about ten pictures of herself wearing all kinds of elaborate lingerie that I wanted to rip off with my teeth. On top of that, there was a sexy short video that came with all those pictures. I was struggling to keep my erection at bay and couldn't stop watching the video of her getting undressed, over and over again. "Mr Greyson, is everything alright?" My new driver's voice chimed from the front. "Yes." I responded. "I'm just having a really good morning today." I lingered on every single picture. Every part of this woman's body looks like a desert that needs to be licked and devoured until her legs are trembling. 'I'm sending someone to come get your things today.' I texted her. 'You're sleeping at my place this week.' 'I have A LOT of things.' She texted back. 'Besides, I'm not sleeping at your place until you tell little Ms Cinderella that she can't sleep at your place anymore. Have you told her?' "Come on, Charlie." I muttered to myself. She was putting me in a really difficult position and knowing her, she wouldn't let this go. The mansion isn't just my home. Christian and Lauren call it their home as well. They come and go as they pleas and Lauren even helped decorate a few rooms. I can't kick her out just because I'm dating someone, even if it's Charlotte. 'We need to talk about that.' I texted back. 'I'm assuming you can tell the people at your house to start packing your things. My people will be at your place by noon to fetch your things.' 'NO.' I got a text back with about five exclamation marks. 'I'm not setting foot at your place if another woman is allowed to sleep there. DON'T send anyone to my place. You'll be wasting their time.' I immediately tried to call her. Charlotte is possessive. She's never tried to hide that. Back in school, a girl would leave me a note in my locker and the next day she wouldn't dare to look my way again because Chatlotte no doubt kindly asked her to give her attention to someone else. She was unapologetic about it because I did the exact same thing with any guy who tried to approach her. Even before we started dating, I knew she belonged to me and I was willing to put anyone who thought different in their place. However, we're not in school anymore and Lauren isn't just some girl who has a crush on me. She's a friend who has been there for me when I really needed someone and she's proven that she's someone I can count on. I may not be able to reciprocate her feelings, but I care for her, and Charlotte being back in my life doesn't change that. When Charlotte's phone went to voice mail for the sixth time, I gave up. She wasn't going to answer any of my calls; probably not until I tell her I've essentially chased a very dear friend of mine out of my house. I continued looking at the pictures she sent. There's no way in hell I'm sleeping alone ever again now that she's back in my life. One way or another, she and I are sleeping in the same bed tonight. The only reason I let her go last night is because she said all her things for work were at her place. *** The second I stepped out of the elevator and saw Lauren, I doubted that this would be an ordinary day. She and my other assistant, Melissa, both stood up from their desks to greet me before I entered my office. Lauren's eyes never left mine. She knew I had noticed the change in her look and judging from Melissa's face, she also noticed how I was looking at Lauren. Melissa was wearing her usual pants suite, but Lauren wasn't wearing one of her usual grey or blue dresses. Her hair was also no longer straight with the grey-ish blonde colour that washes out her skin and makes her look as pale as a sheet of paper. Her hair was now strawberry blonde with brown highlights that brought out the colour in her skin. It was also not straightened or pampered with gel to make sure not a single hair was out of place. Instead, her hair cascaded down her shoulders in long waves until it reached her back. And her dress. That dress looked nothing like the dresses she usually wears. She was wearing a beautiful purple dress that clinged to her body. Although she's shorter than Charlotte and has a more petite body frame, she still looked good. "Morning Lucas." She smiled gently at me. "How was your night?" "It was okay." I replied. "How about yours?" "It was great." She bit her lip a bit. "I had a friend come over and she kind of suggested I try out a few new things in my wardrobe." "She looks good, doesn't she?" Melissa chimed in. "Yea." I smiled at them both. "I like this look. It suits you, Lauren." She and Melissa seemed to be trying to stop themselves from giggling and eyed each other like they knew something I don't. "Shall we start our morning brief?" I gestured for the both of them to enter my office. It wasn't just Lauren's clothes that seemed to have changed. Her attitude also seemed different. She was swaying her hips in a way that she's never swayed them before. She even wore high heels and looked pretty good as she strutted in them. She's always worn flats and complained that high heels can get unwarranted attention from people. Yet, here she is today strutting into my office with black high heels and a purple dress that will make most people take a second look at her. "The engineers from the New Jersey B12 sight have asked for a meeting this Friday at 8am." Lauren started with the briefing session. "I checked your schedule. You're fully booked on Friday so you'll be seeing them next week Monday." Both Melissa and I were taken aback. I'm the one who usually starts the session and then they make sure they update me as I give them instructions. Having an assistant start a briefing session doesn't make any sense. She needs to hear what I need from her, not the other way around. "Thanks, Lauren." I faked a smile that didn't reach my eyes. She didn't seem to understand that I wasn't impressed by what happened. Melissa on the other hand was waiting for my reaction nervously. She understood that I did not like what just happened. Had it been any other day or any other person, I wouldn't even have let them finish their first sentence. I would have stopped them immediately. However, Lauren just went through a weekend of seeing me and Charlotte having s*x. After that, Charlotte told her not to come to my place anymore. She's been through enough already and I don't want to make it worse. "I don't meet with engineers in person unless there's an emergency." I started switching on my PC. "Otherwise I'd never get to running this company. Their supervisor can handle whatever they want to show me. If it warrants being seen by me, the supervisor will send it to me." I tried to avoid making eye contact with her. She's only been filling in for my assistant for two months so I don't blame her for this mistake. However, if she had spoken to Melissa, she would have told her that a huge part of running a company is delegating so that I can deal with the bigger things. "Sorry." She smiled awkwardly at me and Melissa. "That's okay." I proceeded to brief them like I usually do. Lauren kind of does bits and pieces of work in the company. She's really helpful and always wants to help wherever help is needed. She has an engineering degree like me, but she hated every second of the course. She barely got her degree and even inside the company she refuses to touch anything that may lead to her doing the work of an engineer. So she does admin and human resources related things. When Kylie, my other assistant, had to go on maternity leave, Lauren was more than willing to fill in for her until she came back. That's how she is. She's always willing to help whenever possible. "I want those permits for the Ohio quadrant C sites." I continued with the brief. "It's been four months now. It costs us thousands of dollars each day that construction is held up. Someone is getting fired for this." "We spoke to the head of the legal department this morning", Melissa answered. "He asked to schedule a meeting with you to explain the delays. Apparently the state department keeps rejecting the application. He'd like to talk to you in person so we squeezed him in at 5pm today. That's the only opening you have in your schedule. I trust that's okay." I sighed angrily and nodded. He's probably going to try and make excuses. Even though none of those excuses will get any of the money back that we've lost. They both started making their way out of my office, but for some reason Melissa was the only one to leave my office while Lauren closed the door and started making her way back to my desk. "Can we talk?" She asked. "Of course." I gestured for her to sit down. I could tell from the look on her face that this was going to be a personal talk. I would have much preferred not having this talk at work, but I was also glad that we would at least clear the air between us as soon as possible. Too much has happened between us and I want things to be okay again. "You kissed me." She got right to the point. "You kissed me, avoided me for the whole day on Friday and then when I went to your place to talk to you...I found you and your ex-girlfriend having s*x all over the place." I decided to hear her out without interrupting her. She needs to let it all out so I can know the extent to which I messed up with her. What I did wasn't right. It was completely wrong and I need to make things right between the two of us. "Are you toying with my heart on purpose?" She straightened her shoulders to drive her point home. "Does Charlotte enjoy seeing Lauren Mitchell crying so much so that she's willing to go as far as you guys did this weekend?" I shook my head and let her finish talking. I sat there and listened to all her concerns about me and Charlotte and how she thinks that Charlotte will break my heart again. Her concerns sounded just like Christian's concerns and I was just as unmoved by them right now as I was when Christian voiced them out to me. Charlotte is not going anywhere and the two of them just have to make peace with that. "Ok." She took a deep breath. "I'm done. You can respond now." "Lauren," I looked into those determined blue eyes, "You're my friend and you're not going anywhere." She tried to hide the smile that crept on her face, but she didn't quite manage to do that. "The mansion isn't only my home. It also belongs to you and Christian and from now on, I'll make sure that Charlotte and I stay in my section of the house." She tried to interrupt me, but I held up one finger to indicate that she should let me speak. "I'm sorry about what Charlotte said to you last night. I'll talk to her. You can still come over and sleep over whenever you want." Her smile got bigger and I couldn't help but smile as well. I'm not sure how I'm going to pull it off, but I'll have to talk to Charlotte about this and make her understand that I can't ban Lauren from my house now that the two of us are back together. "And I'm sorry for what happened this weekend." I continued. "I thought it was just me and Charlie. I didn't really stop to think and consider whether you and Christian may also be at the house." I was going through apology after apology and I could feel the tension between us evaporating after each apology. I did a lot of things wrong in the past few days. I kissed Lauren and then I got back together with Charlotte after kissing her. Then I slept with Charlotte and because of how reckless I was, poor Lauren ended up bearing witness to all that. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the worst because I knew what I was going to say next would really hurt her. "And I'm sorry for kissing you, Lauren. That should never have happened." I could see her pursing her lips into a thin line and clenching the hand that wasn't holding her work ipad. "Because Charlotte is back in your life?" She asked through gritted teeth. "No." I tried to explain without sounding like an insensitive jerk. Kissing Lauren felt like kissing a relative. It just felt wrong. Charlotte hung around at my house so much while we grew up, that we considered her part of the family. However, kissing her never felt weird or wrong. Everytime I kiss Charlotte it feels like everything else in the world is wrong and our kiss is the only thing that's right. Electricity surges through me, fire erupts throughout my entire body and the world stops. That's what every single kiss with Charlotte feels like. "It's because you're my friend and I crossed a line that should have never been crossed." I could see a well of tears already forming in her eyes and before long they were streaming down her face. Shit. "I'm sorry." I stood from my chair and bent down next to her. "I just want to be honest with you. You're my friend and I owe you that." Her face was a mess now. Mascara was running down her face and her light pink lipstick was all smudged. This is precisely why I didn't want to have this talk that work. It's only 9am and now I've ruined her day. "I love you. Lauren Mitchell, I love you." I held her hand and she finally stopped sobbing. "I want you in my life." I tried to muster a smile. "That's why you're a part of this company and that's why my home is your home." She was calming down and the tissues I kept handing her seemed to be helping to clean up her face. Lauren is so different from Charlotte. I've only seen Charlotte cry twice in my life - the last time I saw her five years ago and this passed Sunday when she told me she thinks she's broken. She's never seen any need for crying and would rather fill all her sadness with anger so that she doesn't shed a single tear. Lauren is nothing like that. She cries when she watches a sad movie, when she's frustrated, happy sad or angry. She isn't afraid to be vulnerable around anyone. She lets people in without letting them go through any hurdles to reach her. And she's okay with people seeing her be vulnerable. I like that about her. Charlotte, on the other hand, is nothing like that. Even when she lets people in, it's always at a distance. It's as if she's waiting for someone to mess up and doesn't want them getting too close so she can walk away from them without getting hurt. I handed Lauren another tissue and helped her wipe her face. "However," I took a deep breath, "I am not in love with you." I watched all the hope disappear from her eyes. I never wanted to have this conversation with her in my office. I've avoided it for years, hoping that her feelings for me would fade away, but they only seem to have gotten stronger as the years went by. There is nothing this woman wouldn't do for me. Absolutely nothing. She loves me. "I should go." She forced herself out the chair and walked out of my office without giving me a second glance. She didn't go sit by her desk after leaving my office. She just walked hurriedly to the bathroom. Melissa could tell that something is wrong, but she's smart enough not to ask about it right now. I closed the door and started preparing for the rest of the day. That was a difficult conversation to have and I hated breaking her heart, but I also felt relieved. Now that everything is out in the open, she can move on and stop hoping for something I can never give her. I spent the rest of the day in meetings, visiting sites for the merger, approving new designs and plans and Melissa and Lauren were helping me keep track of everything. There was still some tension between me and Lauren, but she and I would never let that affect our work. She went about her day like she usually does despite the talk we had in the morning. By lunch time I was beat and looked forward to the Chinese food that Lauren ordered for me. Things no longer felt weird between us and she paid for my lunch as some sort of peace offering so I'd know that we're good. I was just about to dig in when I heard her melodic voice from outside. Charlotte. "He's had a really long day, Charlotte." I heard Lauren's voice. "He literally only has a fifteen minute lunch break before his next meeting." I stepped out of my office to find Lauren looking very annoyed, but Charlotte seemed unphased...and stunning.