Page 30 of Passion

I punched thatEnd Callbutton so fast I almost dropped my phone. There was no way I was going to listen to him say that. Not today, not like this. Tears flooded my eyes, and I thought of everything my mother said about him. She warned me that he was trying to control me with his money, and I hadn’t listened. I still didn’t believe it was true, but this behavior was unacceptable.

I collapsed onto my airbed and cried, curling up into a ball. He had no right to try to parent me or play big brother. I knew that maybe he thought it was just being a protective friend, but we hadn’t even discussed what we were to each other. Why did he think he should demand things of my landlord?

I felt alone, so alone I decided to call my mother and tell her everything. I should have called Midge, but I didn’t. I was stupid. I rang Mom and sobbed my entire past six weeks out on her shoulder.

“Oh, dear, I’m so sorry it came to this. I really wanted to protect you from everything. You know that man had the nerve to call me and try to get me to convince you to return to his house? The gall!”

“He did what, Mom?” My crying was slowly ending, and I listened to her tell me how he called her. I didn’t think it overbearing and controlling. I thought it was sweet. And now, I felt like a horrible person for telling him off. “I have to go, Mom.”

“Oh, dear. I’m buying you a plane ticket, okay? You just leave all that trash in the apartment and I’ll buy you new things when you come home.”

“Mom, I’m not moving home. Miami is my home now.”

“Vera, you see how bad things are. Please just listen to me.”

“Goodbye, Mom.”

I ended the call with her too, wishing I’d have just given Luke the chance to explain. It would have to wait. He was right. I needed to calm down before we talked. I hadn’t meant a word I said. I’d just taken my frustration and emotion out on him. I needed to apologize.

Tomorrow…

24

LUCAS

“Frank, I’m just telling you to get it done. Got it?” I didn’t wait for his response. I just hung up. The physical security of the building wasn’t ever an issue for the most part, but after having been followed across town by that PI, I had Frank working on a full-process audit to make sure everyone was following protocol and all our physical properties were secure.

I’d been so irritable, however, that I was snapping at everyone. Tina tried to bring me a coffee this morning, and when she set it down on my desk I accidentally knocked it over, spilling it off the end of my desk onto the carpet. She scrambled to clean it up, but not before I bit her head off. Gracious as always, she scurried out to get a fresh cup, leaving me feeling like an asshole.

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my face. Vera hadn’t called or messaged in days. It was eating away at me. Frustrations just kept mounting, and I felt like the bad punchline of a joke no one had the decency to fill me in on. This didn’t happen to me. I didn’t get emotionally attached to someone in a way that left me wrestling with my ability to control myself if they left. I didn’t let this sort of thing happen.

“Sir, your coffee?” Tina popped her head into my office and smiled. “Sorry about that last one. Totally my fault.” Her quick steps had her at my desk in three strides, and the new cup of coffee, complete with a broad smile on her face, made me feel worse.

“Look, I’m sorry for flying off the handle at you, Tina. I have no clue what’s going on. I am just really irritable.” I took the coffee and sipped it, then set it to the side where it wouldn’t be in my way.

“We all have rough days, Lucas. You should have a day off.” She hovered by my desk for a moment. “Do you need to talk about it?”

I wasn’t really in the business of talking about my feelings with my staff, but the offer was kind. I smiled. “No, thank you, but I appreciate it.”

Tina wasn’t gone five minutes before Henry stormed in. He sat across from me watching me finish typing an email. His presence distracted me, causing me to have to think twice as hard about what I was writing. It irritated me that he hadn’t even knocked on my door. When I was finished, I snapped at him too, the pattern of my morning replaying itself.

“What.”

“Wow, what a great greeting.”

“Well, it’s not like you knocked. Why don’t you ever knock?” I shook my head at him and leaned back in my chair. I should have kept my door locked at all times. It would make it more difficult for him to interrupt my train of thought.

“Frank called me this morning to let me know you were out of sorts. I saw Tina in the breakroom making you a second coffee moments after she made the first. She told me what happened. What’s going on?”

“Nothing’s going on. I’m just in a bad mood. Is that okay?” I took a drink of my coffee a bit faster than I should have and burned my tongue. “Goddammit!” I set the cup down a little too hard, sloshing coffee out the hole in the lid, then stood up abruptly, snatching a tissue to wipe up the mess.

“Well, if you say so.” Henry’s wry comment irritated me. If I was in a bad mood, it was my personal business, not his. He had no right to judge me.

I tossed the soiled tissue into the trash and sat back down, taking a harsh tone with him. “Look, is there some other reason you just barged into my office?”

“It’s the girl, right? She broke up with you?” He sighed, and I could tell he was trying to be compassionate.

I raked my hand through my hair, which was getting long enough that I needed a haircut, but my regular Tuesday morning appointment had gone unobserved for the past two weeks. It wasn’t by any means looking horrible, but that told me just how much this situation with Vera had gotten under my skin.

---