Chapter 30

Celeste had been hoping that she would be able to get into her apartment and hide there for the rest of the day since she didn't have to work. The painkillers had helped, but she was still feeling sick and confused over everything that had happened.

Luck once again wasn't on her side however and Jen was waiting right outside her apartment door. By the concerned look that was on her face as she stared at the closed door she must've been there for some time.

"Jen?" Celeste asked surprised to see her friend. Relief and shock were written across her face when she whipped around to see that her friend was standing there and seemingly untouched.

"Thank god! I was so worried about you!" Jen cried as she launched herself at her friend to give her a tackle hug. Almost knocking them both over in the process.

"Where have you been? Me and Tony were both worried sick about you." Jen took a step back so that she could examine her friend's face and didn't miss the way that she flushed upon being asked this question.

Jen herself couldn't remember what had happened as everything from the night before felt like a big hazy dream to her. Tony had to fill her in on what took place and she couldn't deny that she had been happy to hear that it wasn't a dream that she had meet her rich idol even if it had only been for a brief second.

She became concerned though when he proceeded to explain how Lessie had ended up leaving with the unfamiliar man that he didn't like even though the other girl didn't protest against it.

"It's a bit complicated." Celeste replied, fidgeting with the edge of her shirt sleeve as she avoided direct eye contact with her friend.

"Do you mind if we go inside first?" She requested, glancing around to make sure no one else was watching them. Jen simply nodded her friend as she took a step back, never taking her eyes off the other as her friend unlocked the door.

Celeste wasn't entirely certain why she was feeling so self-conscious about having been with Bane. It wasn't like anything had actually happened between them. She had just spent the night there because she had a little too much to drink.

Once they were inside the apartment and the door had been closed. Jen turned around to look at her friend. Putting her hands on her hips she gave her a look that told the other she was expecting her to tell her everything that had happened.

Celeste didn't start right away though. She wanted to get something to drink first as she still felt desiccated and parched from all the alcohol that she had drank the night before. She wasn't even sure if her voice would be that reliable if she didn't wet her throat first.

After securing her water, she trotted into the living room so that she could curl up on one side of her fluffy sofa while her friend took the other. Being quiet but still looking at her intently as she waited for her to tell what exactly had happened.

"I spent the nigh with Bane, but not like that." She explained, her voice low as she spoke after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence between the two of them.

"Wait you mean you two?" Jen asked a certain look on her face as she made a motion with her hands that the other presumed was some kind of indication of sexual interaction.

"NO!" Celeste shouted her face suddenly heating to a temperature she didn't think was possible as she blushed in response to her friend's question and intimation.

"I just told you that it wasn't like that." Celeste defended as she buried her face in her hands. She already felt like it was going to be a bad idea to talk with her friend about this and not more than five seconds into the conversation she had proven her right.

"Okay, but are you sure you like. You know you had even more drink than I did from what I heard. It's not like you'd actually remember if anything happened. A man like that with an attractive girl like you? How could something not happen between the two of you." She pointed. It was honestly hard for her to believe that nothing would've happened if it was true that Bane was interested in her friend. Why would he miss out on such a chance? Hard to believe he wouldn't advantage of it with some of the rumors that were floating around about his previous relationships.

"Jen you're not helping." Celeste whined as she tried to burry her face further into her hands in hopes of hiding the blush that was getting darker by the second.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm just saying maybe you shouldn't be so quick to trust what someone says." Her friend replied as she shifted closer to the smaller girl so that she could pat her on the shoulder in an attempt to be comforting.

It wasn't like Celeste hadn't thought about all these things already herself. There was just a small part of her that wanted to believe Bane was maybe honorable and wouldn't lie to her about such a thing since it didn't seem like he had much to gain from lying about whether or not they had been intimate.

"Why don't you just tell me everything that had happened and after that we can decide whether it is believable or not?" Her friend suggested. Partly because she nosy wanted to know if there was a possibility that anything could've happened and partly worried that her naïve friend might've been taken advantage of and she didn't want her to get hurt later.

Celeste didn't really want to talk about anything that had happened, but she had a feeling that her friend wasn't going to go anywhere until they had talked it all over. That was the only thing that lead her to launch into the lengthy explanation of the things that she remembered happening after her friends had left her and what Bane had told her happened and why she was inclined to believe him when he said that nothing sexual had happened between them even though she had no way of verifying it herself. Beyond the fact that her body didn't look or feel weird except for the killer hangover that she was still recovering from.

"Wait, he actually even undressed you so that you wouldn't catch a cold AND bought you new clothes?" Jen was practically squealing when her friend told her this. Celeste had to admit that it warmed her heart a bit that he had been that thoughtful.

"Why don't you just ask him out and have it done with since it's obvious that he likes you?" She asked as she grabbed her friend's arm to shake her slightly in her excitement.

"I'm not sure that's something I can do." Celeste confessed.

There were things that she was aware of about Bane that her friend didn't know about and that was what made her hesitant to embrace the kindness and lose herself in the other like she might have if they had been any normal. The alpha though was hardly any normal human and she was no closer to understanding what exactly he was.

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