Stella & The Playboy

Stella & The Pretty Boy

Chapter 2

It had been about two weeks since I caught Gavin at the restaurant and bailed on my dad's dinner. He was not happy when I got home, to say the least. He had my mom give me a long speech about how it's rude to not show up to dinner parties and blah blah blah.

Sheila didn't take the news of her boyfriend cheating too well either. She confronted him about it and he at first tried to deny it, before she pulled out the picture. She's been taking it pretty hard and moping around the office as she worked. It hurt to see her like that, but someone had to tell her.

"Tiffany is going on a coffee run you want anything?" Sheila asks as she enters my office. She didn't have on any makeup and her eyes were puffy, a clear indication that she had been crying. I shake my head, "No thanks. How are you feeling Sheila?" I ask her.

She shrugs, "I'm okay."

I sigh motioning for her to take a seat and she does. "You are better off without him."

Her eyes begin to water, "But I miss him so much!" She starts crying and I pull out the tissues I had under my desk.

"Don't cry." I tell her as I awkwardly pat her on the back. I never knew what to do when other people cried. I hand her the tissues and she takes them, blowing her nose aggressively. "Okay how about you and I go on a little spa retreat this weekend?" I offer.

She looks up, "Really? Both of us together?" I nod. "Okay, it's not like I have anything else to do." She says as she starts crying again. I stood in front of her awkwardly, once again unsure of what to do. I take a seat back at my desk and start working as she cried in front of me.

When the workday finally ends I drive back to my house tiredly. I enter through the front door with my shoes in my hand when I hear the sound of voices and smell food. I walk toward the dining area to see both my parents, as well as the Ashford's seated at the dinner table. "There she is!" My mother exclaims excitedly standing up.

She grabs my hand and brings me to the woman and man across from them. "This is my daughter Stella." My mom says proudly. The woman smiles, "She's gorgeous! Nice to meet you, sweetie." I give her a wide fake smile, she seemed like a nice lady but I knew what this was leading to. "Thank you ma'am, nice to meet you."

The man next to her shakes my hand, "I'm Oscar Ashford, nice to meet you."

I shake his hand, "The pleasure is all mine."

"Our son just went to the restroom, he should be here momentarily." Mrs. Ashford says.

Ah yes, here we go.

A man comes out from the corridor and enters the dining room. "I'm afraid I must be off." The man says looking down at his phone as he entered the room. His voice sounded strangely familiar. I look up at him just as he looks up at me. He was gorgeous, his beard complimented his chiseled facial features effortlessly. His brows rose when he saw me before his mouth turned to a smirk. I felt speechless looking at him, his gaze stayed on me as we both stared at each other.

"You again." He says more to himself.

"You know each other?" My mother asks excitedly.

I shake my head quickly, finally snapping out of my gaze. "No, not at all."

The gorgeous man nods, "Yes, my mistake." He walks up to me and brings his hand out for me to shake, "Julius Ashford, a pleasure to meet you." I take his large hand and shake it, instantly feeling a warm sensation inside as our hands touched. "Stella Harris."

My mother applauds happily, "They look so cute already! Why don't you guys go get to know each other on the terrace?" Mrs. Ashford nods in agreement.