Curiosity Kills the Cat
890 Words
Jax Romano wasn’t a patient man.
If he wanted something, he got it.
If someone said no, they usually changed their mind.
That was simply how his life worked.
So why…
Why was he still thinking about a woman who had absolutely no idea he existed?
He leaned back in his office chair, a crystal tumbler of whiskey untouched on the desk.
Stacks of contracts lay open before him.
He’d read the same paragraph four times.
Nothing was registering.
A knock sounded against the door.
“Come in.”
Matteo walked in carrying two coffees.
“You look miserable.”
“I’m working.”
“No.” Matteo dropped into the chair opposite him. “You’re distracted.”
“I’m not.”
“You’ve checked your phone eleven times in ten minutes.”
Jax frowned.
“I have not.”
“You have.”
Silence.
Matteo smirked.
“So…”
Jax already knew what was coming.
“…have you forgotten her yet?”
“I don’t even know her.”
“Exactly.”
Matteo took a sip of his coffee.
“So why are you acting like you’ve lost something?”
Jax rolled his eyes.
“I was curious.”
“Still are.”
Another silence.
Then Jax asked the question he’d been pretending not to care about.
“…Does she have a boyfriend?”
Matteo nearly spat out his coffee.
“Oh, you’re finished.”
“I’m asking a question.”
“And I’m answering.”
Matteo leaned back.
“I don’t know.”
Jax nodded once.
That should’ve been enough.
It wasn’t.
Across town…
Ava had exactly one mission.
Return a pair of heels Linda had “accidentally” stolen after brunch.
“I borrowed them,” Linda argued as Ava walked into her apartment.
“You’ve had them for three months.”
“They were emotionally supporting me.”
Ava laughed.
“You need help.”
“I need shoes.”
Aliyat looked up from the couch.
“I’ve been telling her that for years.”
The apartment erupted into laughter.
It was easy here.
No expectations.
No pretending.
No wondering if someone secretly wished she looked different.
With Linda and Aliyat…
She could simply exist.
Linda suddenly sat upright.
“I forgot to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I think i********:’s favorite pretty boy has a crush on you.”
Ava groaned.
“We’re still talking about him?”
“We’re absolutely talking about him.”
Linda grabbed her phone.
“He liked another picture.”
Aliyat looked impressed.
“He never does that.”
Ava shrugged.
“So?”
Linda stared at her.
“So?”
“Linda…”
“What?”
“I don’t know him.”
“You could.”
“I don’t want to.”
Linda blinked.
“Not even a little?”
Ava smiled softly.
“I’ve spent too much time entertaining men who looked good on paper.”
The room grew quiet.
She continued.
“I don’t want another man who’s exciting for three weeks and exhausting for three months.”
Linda’s teasing expression disappeared.
Aliyat reached across the couch and squeezed Ava’s hand.
Neither of them joked anymore.
Because they knew.
They remembered the nights Ava cried herself to sleep.
The calls that started with,
“I think he’s pulling away.”
The excuses she’d made for men who never deserved them.
Linda sighed.
“Okay.”
“No more Jax.”
“No more Jax.”
That evening…
Jax was halfway through a meeting when his phone buzzed.
Linda had accepted his follow request.
His lips twitched.
Progress.
Without overthinking it, he opened her profile again.
A new story.
Ava.
Standing outside Linda’s apartment, laughing as she tried to unlock her car while balancing a box of pastries.
She wasn’t glamorous.
She wasn’t trying to impress anyone.
She looked…
Normal.
Real.
Happy.
He watched the six-second clip twice.
Then a third time.
His assistant cleared his throat.
“Mr. Romano?”
Jax looked up.
“Hm?”
“You asked us to review the security reports.”
He had.
He hadn’t heard a single word.
After the meeting ended, Matteo caught up with him in the hallway.
“So…”
Jax slipped his phone into his pocket.
“So what?”
“You smiled.”
“I did not.”
“You smiled at your phone.”
“I was reading something.”
“What?”
Jax didn’t answer.
Matteo stopped walking.
His eyes widened.
“No…”
Jax kept walking.
“…You are not seriously smiling over a girl who doesn’t even know your name.”
Still no answer.
Matteo laughed so loudly people turned to look.
“Oh, this is going to be fun.”
Jax shook his head.
“It isn’t like that.”
“Sure.”
“It isn’t.”
Matteo clapped him on the shoulder.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night .”
That night, before going to bed, Jax opened i********: one last time.
His thumb hovered over Ava’s profile picture in Linda’s tagged photos.
He couldn’t message her.
He didn’t even follow her.
He should’ve closed the app.
Instead…
He smiled to himself.
“Interesting.”
For the first time in years…
Jax Romano wasn’t chasing a woman.
He was chasing a feeling he couldn’t quite explain.
- Writer
