14 - THE LAST CONVERSATION

I woke up to Serena as she was moving carefully around her bedroom, and for a short moment I forgot about the stitches in her eyebrow. Ethan had indirectly left me to spend the night with her.

I remembered Ethan leaving, Serena promising she would not hide me, and her final words about everyone at Velvet knowing where I stood. I pushed myself up as she turned from the mirror and the small wince she tried to hide made my chest tighten. 

“You’re supposed to be resting,” I uttered while watching her reach for her black jacket. Serena paused with one arm through her sleeve before giving me a look that usually ended arguments. 

“I am resting,” she replied to me while adjusting her jacket, “I’ll just be doing that somewhere that needs me.”

I moved closer to her and said, “You’re not going back to work. Serena touched the edge of her bandage before meeting my eyes. “I am not going back to work as if nothing happened,” she explained, “I am checking what happened, speaking to my people, and coming straight home.”

She reminded me that the doctor had forbidden heavy work, driving, and anything that could worsen the injury. I straightened the collar of her jacket while keeping my eyes on the bruising over her eyebrow. “Then I’ll be coming with you,” I said, while Serena gave me a small smile.

The drive to Velvet was quiet with one of Velvet's drivers in Ethan’s SUV carrying us because Serena could not drive yet. 

When the black doors of Velvet came into view, her fingers soon tightened around mine before she released them. The building looked normal outside, but I knew she was seeing the fight that put her in the hospital.

“You do not have to prove anything today,” I whispered to Serena while watching her. She opened the door carefully and then answered, I am not proving anything. I am just making sure what happens does not decide how I live.” She stepped inside and this time, I walked beside her instead of how I used to walk behind her.

Her employees looked up immediately with their eyes going from Serena’s stitches to me. This time, Serena didn’t ask me to go somewhere private in the club or pretend like I wasn’t there. She stopped near the bar and informed her staff there that she wasn’t resuming fully until the doctors cleared her of her sickness. 

Serena looked directly at me, and continued to them, “Maya is staying with me, until I handle what I can,” she said while keeping her voice calm but clear enough for everyone to hear. My heart really kicked because she was not disclosing me as her best friend’s little sister, and she was not hiding me as her friend. 

Inside her office, Serena sat instead of standing, while also pressing two fingers against her temple. “You really should be home,” I said while taking the chair opposite her.

She reached across the desk for my hand and immediately admitted, “If I disappear after what happened, everyone will think I am afraid.”

“You’re allowed to be afraid,” I said to her, while holding her fingers. She properly studied me before answering, “Maybe you’re right, but I am more tired of being afraid to choose you.” The words from Serena settled between us which made me realize that her return to velvet was not about work alone.

A movement outside caught my attention as it was Claire. She appeared near the entrance and immediately stopped when she saw us together, and Serena saw her too, but she didn’t pull her hand away from mine. Claire approached after a short moment with her eyes settling first on Serena’s injury.

“I heard what happened,” she said while looking at the stitches, “and I wanted to know if you were alright.” Serena accused her of not coming to see her at the hospital, but she defended herself saying she heard about it late. She eventually thanked Claire before answering, but the old ease that was between them was gone. Claire’s gaze dropped briefly to our joined hands, while Serena tightened her finger around me.

“I see things are different now,” Claire added, giving a faint smile, while Serena held my gaze before answering, “They are.” Something inside me loosened because she didn’t soften the truth from Claire, nor did she hide it from me.

Claire reached for her phone when it vibrated and looked back at Serena. “There is something we need to settle because of what happened the other day to you in this club,” she said while lowering the phone. Serena’s expression immediately sharpened as she asked what she meant.

Claire shook her head and said it was not something she wanted to discuss in front of me. My stomach tightened which made Serena notice before I could look away. “Nothing about my past needs to be hidden from her,” Serena asserted while still holding my hands.

Claire nodded and stepped away saying she would wait for Serena to decide when they could have the conversation.

I thought that was the end of it until Serena’s phone vibrated a few minutes later on the desk. She picked it up to see the message and what was there changed her expression immediately.

“It is Claire,” Serena disclosed as she placed the face of the phone down, while I stared at her trying not to let the old insecurity return. “What did she say?” I asked keeping my voice low.

Serena hesitated before she turned the phone screen toward me, and I saw only the final line of the message. “Please, Serena, give me one last conversation before you decide whatever you want to keep doing.” Serena’s thumb hovered over the message, and since the morning we were together, and now reaching towards evening, she looked caught between two parts of her life.

Serena met my eyes before giving me another excuse, and she didn’t dismiss the message. She took a slow breath and the tenderness in her face gave way to something that seemed heavier. “I cannot ignore her, Maya,” she whispered to me, while holding her gaze. 

My fingers still tightened around hers while she moved on. “Not after what happened here, and not when I still have something unfinished with her.” I also asked what she meant, but the answer was clear and already waiting between us. And this time, Claire was no longer outside our relationship.

My gaze met Serena's and waited because I needed to know whether choosing me meant closing the door on Claire and simply asking me to trust her again. Serena squeezed my hand and still didn’t answer, which hurt me.