Isabelle
I opened the door to the bar and headed right for the counter. After my moment of weakness I needed someone to talk to. As much as I loved Mrs. Strahm this wasn't a topic I wanted to get into with her. The next best person I thought of going to was Noami.
I sat down at the counter and she looked me over as she approached. "Looks like you've had a tough day." She observed.
"Yeah." I sighed. "I could use a drink right about now."
She squinted her eyes and pursed her lips together as she thought for a moment. "I don't think a drink is what you need. It seems like you need to vent."
I nodded in response. "I was kind of hoping you'd be willing to talk."
She looked over at male bartender behind the counter. "Ricky, call Casey and have him come cover the rest of my shift as soon as possible. Tell him he owes me one and I'll call it even if he does."
"Sure thing." The man she referred to as Ricky responded.
She grabbed two glasses and a bottle of red wine before coming around the counter. "Let's go to a more private area."
I nodded as I got off of the stool I had sat down on. I followed Noami as she led the way to a booth in the back of the bar. She sat down and opened the bottle of wine. She then proceeded to pour some into the two glasses.
"A little wine always goes well with some girl talk." She spoke as she set the bottle down. "Much better than the hard liquor behind the counter."
I sat down across from her. "Won't you get in trouble for leaving your shift like that?"
She let out a small amused chuckle. "You would think, but considering I own this place I'm sure it'll be okay."
My eyes slightly grew wide. "You own this place? No offense, you seem a little young to be running your own bar."
"I'm twenty-three" She took a sip of wine and set the glass down. "This place was originally owned by my father. He was so proud of it, it's his first major success he achieved on his own. He had a serious stroke last year, it's to the point he can no longer work. He was going to have to sell the place but then I offered to take over. He was more than happy to sign it over to me instead of some stranger."
"I'm so sorry to hear that." My sympathy was clear in my voice.
"It's okay." She gave me a small smile. "It just really put a few things into perspective for me. Before I was a little reckless and didn't care about consequences. My life was going nowhere, but now I have this and I'm pretty damn proud that it's remained a success even with the change in ownership."
"You should be." I responded. "I would've never guessed you were running this place."
"I don't really tell anyone. The staff are really the only ones who know. I like having a little anonymity and I really enjoy bartending." She explained. "Don't let that fool you though, if someone starts harassing one of the other bartenders or causing problems I make sure they know I'm the owner and I won't hesitate to kick their ass."
I chuckled as I took a sip of the wine from my glass. "Good to know."
"Now Isabelle, what's on your mind?" She asked.
I set the glass down and took a deep breath. "Things have gotten really complicated for me over the last two days."
"Complicated how?" She questioned further. "Does this deal with the ex you're working for?"
"Yeah." I nodded. "Things escalated unexpectedly. Yesterday he did things to me in his office and today I did things to him when I originally went in to put a stop to it all."
I didn't have a good excuse for why I caved into him so easily. There was just something about the way he looked and talked to me. I didn't have a moment to really think before my body reacted. Next thing I knew he was inside of my mouth and all I wanted to do was please him.
When it was over the regret set in all over again. I gave in to him and it was so god damn wrong. I was allowing him to use me and it wasn't acceptable. I refused to become his mistress because he can't man up and leave Elise.
"Tell me everything." Noami made sure I had her full attention.
I brought her up to date on everything that had happened over the past few days. I started off by telling her about Thanksgiving, if I was going to go into it all she might as well hear everything. I then went over the events of the past few days including the oral sex we had reaceived from one another.
"Wow." Noami spoke as I finished up the details of my story. "That's a lot to take in."
"I know." I glanced down as I felt the shame creeping up on me.
It was a relief to actually talk about this with someone though. My mind seemed to feel a little lighter compared to when I came in here. I felt like I was forcing myself to keep all the details to myself because I really didn't have a friend other than Killian to go to. God knows I wasn't about to go confide in him on this.
"Do you want me to be fake and give you a bullshit response or do you want the truth from me?" Noami asked.
"The truth please." I didn't care how bad it may be. I needed an outside opinion so that I could help get myself thinking straight again.
"Before I start, to be clear you still have some feelings for him right?" She raised a brow. "At least that's the impression I've gotten."
"Yes." I confessed.
I realized my feelings had only seemed to be repressed for him. Those feelings were for the Sterling I knew years ago. He wasn't the same person anymore, in his eyes I could see he was a broken down man. I knew part of me was holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, who he really was would make a comeback. The only time I managed to see any sort of glimpse of the real him was when we were alone but even then it didn't last.
"It sounds like he holds all the power in the dysfunctional situation his father put you in. Sounds like he's making you vulnerable in hopes to have some part of you." Her words made sense. "He needs to learn that's not how it works. Just because he's miserable doesn't mean that you should be."
"Any suggestion as to what I should do then?" I needed some type of guidance. I've never really experienced something like this before.
Her eyes looked into mine. "Knock him on his ass and take back your power."
She was right. The only way to make this better was to make him face his reality. He needed to realize I wasn't a toy for him to play with.