Chapter 3

Hector said goodbye to Theresa after lunch, leaving her with butterflies in her stomach and an expectation of seeing him again. Even though nothing had happened between them, the sexual tension present in the environment made both of them create a crazy desire to cross the line of the forbidden.

As soon as she settled on her sofa, her phone beeped, informing her that she had just received a message. Annoyed at having to get up to get it, Theresa walked towards her kitchen counter that divided the living room from the kitchen. Unlocking the device, the following message appeared on the screen:

Albia

Friend, where are you?

09:45 pm

Followed by another one:

Albia

Theresa Michaels

WHERE DID YOU GO?

10:35 pm

And there were a bunch more messages like that, with different times throughout the night and morning, plus, of course, one from a minute ago:

Albia

Hi

Girlfriend

This is serious, where are you?

Theresa started typing a reply message to her best friend, Albia, but decided to delete it and sent a simple and modest 'Hi'. It didn't take long for her phone to start ringing; she answered on the third ring, already expecting the scolding that would come as soon as her friend started talking.

"Well, look who decided to show up," Albia said sarcastically.

"Friend, it wasn't my fault that I disappeared yesterday..." Theresa retorted quietly, embarrassed.

"Then whose fault was it?" she asked.

Theresa was silent for a few seconds. Albia was worried and certainly had reasons to be stressed and concerned; after all, she had been missing for hours. She didn't know how Albia hadn't shown up at her apartment looking for her yet.

"It would be better if you came over to my place so we could talk better and I could tell you everything that happened in the last twelve hours," Theresa said, indirectly inviting her friend over.

"I'm on my way right now," Albia said without a second thought, surprising absolutely no one.

Theresa knew her friend was a bit crazy ever since they met in their first year of journalism school, in which both were in their final semester. The day they met was being the worst day of Theresa's life, and meeting Albia had brought a breath of energy to the hectic day of bad events. And the previous day had been one of those days, which is why she needed her friend by her side.

"See you soon, Albia," Theresa said goodbye to her friend, who also said goodbye, informing her that she would soon be with Theresa so she could tell her everything.

***

As soon as she finished getting dressed after a long, relaxing shower, she heard the doorbell. She was sure it was Albia, so she ran to the front door and opened it at once. Her friend was wearing black and white, wore aqua green sandals, and held a small black vegan leather bag.

"Come in, friend," Theresa said, making space for Albia to enter. She knew her friend had been analyzing her since the moment she opened the door and didn't mind her doing it. In all the time she'd known her, she never had to hide anything from Albia, and if she ever did, it didn't take long for her to do something that gave away that something was wrong.

She entered the apartment and immediately furrowed her brow upon noticing a tone of joy in Theresa's voice. Not that it meant her best friend was sad; however, something was different, Albia just didn't know what it was.

Theresa closed the door behind her and they both walked to the sofa in mutual silence. As soon as they settled next to each other, Albia began her interrogation:

"Now tell me, woman. What happened?"

"So, you know I went to surprise Ryan, right?" Theresa began, pausing, waiting for her friend to answer, but she just nodded in agreement. "But what you don't know is that I was the one who got surprised. I caught him cheating on me with some slut, so I ended the engagement."

"HOLY SHIT!" Albia exclaimed in a yell. "Go on."

"So I decided to go to the most popular nightclub in town and ended up drinking everything in sight. Then the owner of the place, who is my father's friend, brought me home."

Albia stared at her, mouth agape, still unable to believe what she had just heard.

***

Hector was lying on his king-sized bed with his eyes closed, but he couldn't nap. His thoughts were buzzing, remembering the events of the previous night and the day. He couldn't stop thinking about Theresa's red lips and how it would feel to kiss them. He also couldn't stop imagining what it would be like to make love to her. He felt his cock harden; by reflex, he squeezed it over his pants and let out a hoarse moan.

He opened his eyes after he heard his phone ring, cursing whoever was calling for interrupting him in his moment of pleasure.

"Hector speaking," he said grumpily.

"Boss, we have problems," Salvior said after hearing his boss's voice, who was not in a good mood and would certainly get worse with what had happened at the nightclub.

"Spit it out, Salvior. What happened?"

"It's just that the fire department came here to do the safety inspection and they want to speak with you," Salvior said quickly and hurriedly, his desperation showing.

"Dammit. I'm on my way," Hector said and ended the call without waiting for a response from his employee.

He got up from the bed, put on his shoes, grabbed his car keys, and left his room. He left the apartment, entering the elevator. His thoughts were now focused on finding a solution to that problem. The elevator's *ding* snapped him out of the inertia of his thoughts. Hector left the elevator, walking towards his car.

"Just what I needed," he thought as he started the car. He put on some music and headed to the nightclub.