13. Chapter 13
Chapter thirteen
I t has been one week since Paul interrupted Judas and Eliza. One week since they had touched. One week since Eliza received a voicemail from Judas telling her that she had been right and it wasn’t a good idea for them to see each other. One whole entire week since Eliza had felt her heart break for a relationship she hadn’t really even had yet.
And it was torturing them both without the other even knowing.
Eliza understood why he felt the need to end things. The way her father had spoken to him. The way he had treated Judas like an unwanted intruder in her space. It caused her heart to ache when she thought about how she's allowed it to happen. She cringed every time the entire scene replayed in her head. He deserved so much better than she knew how to offer him. She knew Judas was right, but she hated having that knowledge.
The sudden end to their encounters felt like being drenched in ice cold water. It was so abrupt and jarring to have the crazed, greedy moments they had shared ripped away without warning. She felt like an addict going through withdrawals and every encounter was a temptation she didn’t know how to endure. Walking into the conference room now, Eliza passed by Judas and wouldn’t even acknowledge his presence.
But, she knew he was there.
His scent filled her senses and caused her stomach to flutter to life with butterflies that seemed to remember exactly what his touch felt like. She wanted to turn to him and shove him against the wall, their lips tangled in a passionate embrace, but she didn't. She carefully held her poker face in place and strode past him, seemingly without a care in the world.
Judas could barely stand to see her go by him. He wanted to reach out for her. He wanted to hold her in his arms and never let her go. Seeing her so out of reach was torture of the soul and he had to fight every internal urge within him to not take her right there on the conference table in front of every single person in this crowded room. She felt like a compulsion he didn’t know how to fight. He took a deep breath releasing it harshly in a bid to relax his inner turmoil. He knew maintaining this distance was what was right and he would never betray her trust by violating the boundary put in place to protect her.
She hadn’t protested this separation and she knew she shouldn’t. It would be selfish to put him through what her father would hurl at him if they were together, but hearing his sigh from behind her is almost enough to make her call the whole thing off. She was truly walking so close to falling already and hearing him exhale in frustration nearly sent her careening over the edge of temptation. She took a seat and gripped its edges in an attempt to ground herself to something tangible before she floated away willingly into his gravitational pull.
Her Uncle Chet had been meeting with her father about law firm business before their campaign meeting and he eyed her suspiciously as he stood to leave. She wondered if she was being that obvious. Apparently, she was.
Chet walked to her side and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Are you okay, Eliza?”
She pulled away and smiled up at him, “Oh, yeah. I’m good, Uncle Chet. Just distracted. Thinking about campaign stuff.” Her attempt to sound chipper about a job he knew she hated didn't fool him.
Chet looked from Eliza to the other stressed face in the room and very quickly put the pieces together.
“Huh,” he said as matter of fact, “Well, I really thought that was going to work out. Dad complicate things?”
Eliza's painted-on smile faltered and she exhaled the sigh she had been holding inside her. She nodded.
Chet gave her a pat on the back, "That old man has no right to tell you how to live your life, okay? You outgrew him a long time ago. Do what makes you happy."
He winked at her and she wanted to disappear. How was it possible that they weren’t even currently speaking and yet their chemistry was thick enough for the entire room to read? It made the ache in her chest grow in intensity.
Intensity.
Eliza lifted her eyes and stared across the room to Judas. Like he could feel her stare, his gaze met hers and a world of emotion passed between them. She was tempted, in the moment to rush directly into his arms. Witnesses be damned.
Before she could, Georgia plopped down in the seat next to her, “Intense stare there, lady friend.”
Eliza broke eye contact with Judas and glared toward the floor, “Please don’t use that word or I may scream. Nothing intense is happening here.”
Georgia rolled her eyes, “Uh huh. You keep telling yourself that.”
Eliza looked at Georgia seeing the empathy in her eyes, “Is it really that obvious?”
The younger woman laughed under her breath, “What? The original sexual tension so thick you could cut through it or the current angst that seems to have swallowed you both whole? Because they’re both pretty clear.”
“Well,” Eliza began, “Well, I… We… It’s done. So, I hope everyone will just move on and not worry about it.”
Georgia looked even more sad, “Girl, that’s a pity because whatever was happening between you two seemed like that super rare, special, thing of fairy tales, real deal kind of stuff. Not to mention, that man is a major snack.”
Eliza couldn’t help but smile at this, “It really seemed like that?”
She playfully shoved Eliza’s shoulder, “Oh yeah. You two had that whole starry eyed, I just found my soulmate kind of buzz around you. I don’t know… It was just kind of special, you know?”
Eliza did know. She’d been feeling that since the first moment she laid eyes on Judas. She didn’t know what it was, but there was just… something. Romance and love, dare she call it that, had never really been on her radar. She was career minded. She wanted an education and a job she could love for the rest of her life. Aside from this little tangent into politics, she’d had that and she was happy. Wanting more wasn’t something she craved or needed. She figured you could have one or the other and she chose work that filled her life with purpose. Then he walked in and, and for the first time in her life, she wondered if she might’ve been able to have both. Could she be that lucky? She now knew the answer was no.
It seemed silly to her to even be thinking something so crazy so fast, but somehow it just fit.
Eliza gazed toward Judas again and found him already looking back at her. She felt that spark in herself again and wanted what she’d had with him back again. She wanted it so badly that it felt like a necessity.
Georgia nudged her, “Listen, I’m usually only into the ladies but I would absolutely make an exception for that hunky dreamboat.” Georgia shrugged her shoulders unapologetically, “I mean, if you’re really done and it’s really over. You just let me know.”
Alarm spiked through Eliza’s heart at the thought of seeing him look at another woman the way he was looking at her and she panicked, “It’s not! It isn’t done. Maybe I thought it was, but it’s not. I’m still invested, okay?”
Georgia answered with a wide smile, “That’s kind of what I figured, but now you know too, right?”
Eliza smiled back. Now she knew.