Chapter 04: You started this

ELLIE

Who invited him? My eyes almost automatically rolled at the sight of him.

He was wearing a black suit that made him look absurdly hot, and his hair was slicked back, with rebellious strands falling onto his forehead.

His appearance gave off an air of arrogance. Why did it always seem like he’d shaved the day before and now had that almost invisible stubble, making him even sexier?

Damn. It’s just hormones, Ellie. It’s just hormones. His presence magically made me more aware of my own body.

“Am I interrupting?” He approached, kissing Zoe on the cheek. “Hey, sis-in-law!”

“Bennett said you weren’t coming,” she said.

“Oh yeah?” I noticed a quick exchange of glances between the two.

Something was there.

“I changed my mind.” He smiled at Ben. “What did I interrupt?”

“Have a seat. We’re waiting for our orders. You can still make yours.” Will pointed to an empty chair at the end, next to Anna, directly across from me.

“Ellie was just about to open the gift I gave her,” Zoe gestured for me to continue, giving me a wink.

The embarrassment hit me, opening that in front of them, whatever it was, would make them all imagine me wearing it. It would make Ethan imagine me wearing it.

“I can look at it later. Thank you so much for the gift.”

“No… I want to see your reaction. Please?” Zoe asked.

“Yeah, Ellie… open it,” Anna encouraged with an almost smile.

I gave her a disapproving look before giving in.

“Okay.”

I opened the box as if there was a bomb inside. I unwrapped some paper before pulling out a black lingerie set, complete with a bra, panties, and sheer stockings.

Eventually, my eyes moved from the lingerie to Ethan’s face, which was directly in my line of sight. I could almost swear I saw him shift in his chair. Then I knew he was imagining me in it.

My face must have been red as I stuffed the pieces back into the box.

“Um… thanks, Zoe. I love it… though the moths will probably get more use out of it.”

“Moths?” Ethan asked, confused, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Ellie thinks she won’t use the gift. But I say that reaction alone was worth it,” Zoe smiled, satisfied.

“We all know why,” Ethan murmured from across the table with a sarcastic smile.

“What did you say?” I asked.

“Ethan… fuck,” Bennett muttered through gritted teeth.

“Just kidding,” he softened.

“Just because I won’t wear it with you… doesn’t mean I can’t wear it with someone less of a bastard.” I retorted with a smile. “Just kidding.” I teased, making everyone at the table stifle their laughter.

Except for Ben, who seemed to disapprove, shaking his head again.

“That’s enough. Where’s the food?” Bennett looked towards the restaurant kitchen.

“I think I get it,” Will said with a smile, looking between me and Ethan.

I narrowed my eyes at him, and he shrugged.

A few minutes later, the waitress brought our orders. I tried to ignore how exaggeratedly Ethan smiled at her while placing his order. Asshole, couldn’t see a pair of boobs.

The conversation shifted to work as we ate. When his order arrived, I couldn’t help but notice the slip of paper discreetly handed to him, which probably contained the waitress’s phone number.

It seems not everyone was avoiding the bastards of Manhattan or had trouble having sex after a few exchanged smiles. Watching the scene made me nauseous.

He made me feel weird, and he’d called me crazy. Can you believe it?

“Did you guys know that more than a million new cases of four sexually transmitted infections are contracted every day? Isn’t that scary? That adds up to more than 376 million new cases annually. On average, one in every twenty-five people in the world has at least one of these four STIs,” I said, looking at my plate.

When I looked up, everyone was staring at me with strange or surprised expressions.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, in any case, I’m glad I’m married,” Will said, looking at no one in particular.

“Are you sure that’s a topic for lunch?” Zoe laughed.

“It might be useful to someone here,” I shrugged.

But there was only one other single person at the table besides me, and that was exactly who I was trying to hit.

“So that’s why single scientists don’t have sex,” Ethan said from across the table, almost making me smile, because I was already expecting a response from him.

“And we stay healthy,” I pointed my fork at him, smiling.

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