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I didn't want to wait until Wednesday. There was some woman out there who knew my kid's name, and I needed an explanation for it. I finally decided to go ask his assistant, who looked at me suspiciously, but told me that it was unlikely I could get an appointment with him for the rest of the week.
Was this normal? I know I'd asked him not to contact me, but I didn't think that would involve avoiding the business that he owned just because I now worked here. I knew that logically there were plenty of reasons that he'd be out of the office that had nothing to do with me, but I couldn't help but feel annoyed. Ever since the accident, it had been like he was everywhere, constantly asking to be part of my life. And now, when I actually needed to see him, I couldn't find him.
I realized that if I wanted to see him, I was going to have to call him. I headed back towards my office, angrily scrolling through my contacts and clicking on his number. It rang and rang before finally going to voicemail. I left him a short, probably angry-sounding message asking him to call me and hung up. I decided if he hadn't returned my call by the end of the day, I would try calling again.
I didn't hear from him for the rest of the day. As I left the office I checked my call log, just in case I had somehow missed his call, but there was nothing. When I tried calling again, it still went straight to voicemail. He'd never ignored my call before. No matter what he'd been doing, he'd answered. Was he not answering now because he was upset with me? Or had he decided that I just wasn't that important?
I clenched my jaw as I headed home for the day. Cassius might be the most infuriating man I'd ever met. Where the hell was he?
TWENTY-TWO
CASSIUS
That night drinking with Scott was probably the most drunk I'd ever been. True to my word, I had managed to get so drunk I forgot all about Deira and Makayla. Unfortunately, the next morning reality came rushing back to me, and brought with it the worst hangover I'd ever had. My head was killing me, and even the dimmest light seemed too bright. I forced myself to drink some water, and then called my assistant to reschedule all my meetings. The hangover was too severe to even think about working, and I decided to just go back to bed.
After I let my assistant know that I would be unavailable, I sent a text to check in on Scott. Once he confirmed he was fine (though in a very similar state to me), I turned off my phone so that no one could bother me. I wasn't worried about missing any calls, because the only people I wanted to talk to were Deira and Makayla, and Deira had just told me the day before that she wouldn't be contacting me for a while.
When I woke up again, it was dark. Great, now I had ruined my sleep schedule as well as wasting a whole day. My hangover was slightly better, but I still had a headache and wasn't in the mood to interact with anyone. I drank a little more water and forced myself to eat a little food. It wasn't until I was halfway through dinner that I remembered my phone was off. I picked it up and turned it back on.
A bunch of messages came through, and I lazily scrolled through them as I ate. Then I saw a name that made my heart jump. I sat up straight and checked the phone again. Yes, I had two missed calls and a voicemail from Deira.
Given how mad she was at me, if she had called, it must have been something important. My mind immediately went to Makayla. I listened to the voicemail, but it just said that we needed to talk and asked me to call her.
It had been several hours since her last call. I immediately called her back, but her phone went to voicemail. I'd been feeling sluggish and still somewhat hungover moments before, but now I was wide awake and full of nervous energy. In five minutes, I had thrown on some clothes and was driving over to her place.
I managed to get into her building and went straight to her door. I knocked, waited, and then knocked again. After the second knock, she jerked open the door. Seeing me, her eyes narrowed.
"Is Makayla okay?" I asked. She pursed her lips, and opened the door.
"Come in," she snapped. "But keep your voice down, I just got her to bed." Every word she said seemed like it bristled with unspoken anger. I decided to cut to the chase.
"You said we needed to talk," I reminded her.
"Guess who I met yesterday?" she asked.
"What does that have to do with anything?" How was I supposed to know who she met yesterday? And why would that make her mad at me?
"Your ex-wife," she said, dropping each syllable like a hammer.
"My what?!" What did she mean, my ex-wife? Who was...? A sudden thought occurred to me. "Michelle?"
"So, it's true. She's your ex?" I could tell that wasn't what she wanted to hear.
"Ex-girlfriend. Not wife! She told you we were married?"
"That's not all she told me," Deira said. There was a dangerous edge in her voice. "She said you guys were together for years, so she was shocked when she found out about me. More shocked when she found out about your daughter, Makayla," Deira continued. "How does your ex know my kid's name, Cassius?"
Now I understood the tone of her voice. There was no reason for Deira to think anyone but me had given Michelle that information. And I hadn't, but I had no way to prove it.
"I don't know," I said.
"I called you because I thought you should know that your ex tracked me down, and because I wanted to give you a chance to explain yourself. But it doesn't seem you can explain, so it's time for you to go," Deira said. She opened the door and gestured for me to leave.
"Deira, I know how this looks, but I didn't tell Michelle about Makayla. I don't know who did, but I will find out," I said. And there'd be hell to pay.
"Good," Deira said. "Because she's your ex, and that makes this your problem."
"I'll take care of it," I said, vowing to deal with this tonight if at all possible. "I'll call you when..."
