Page 58 of Reinventing Cato
“How can you even ask me?”
Max pushed to his feet and walked over. It was as much as Cato could do to stand his ground.
“It would make me so happy.” He tugged a lock of Cato’s hair and twisted it in his fingers. “I miss you.”
Cato shook his head to shake Max off.
“I know it’s a lot to ask. Please think about it, at least. If you don’t want to be part of our family, then maybe you could just donate your sperm. In an ideal world, I’d like you to come and live with us. Be the three we should be. We could have some sort of ceremony. I know it’s not the same as marriage, but there’s never going to be any way three can legally marry. I miss you so much. I’d love a child with your face, your gentle nature, your humour, your intelligence.” He let out a shaky breath. “I’m not going to say anymore and I don’t want you to respond. Just take some time to consider it.”
Cato opened his mouth and a finger landed on his lips.
“Please think about it.” Max sighed. “You have no idea how much I want to fuck you. But I promised…” He gave a short laugh, grabbed his coat and left.
When Cato heard the front door bang, he shuddered. He closed his bedroom door, picked up Max’s half-drunk tea before he kicked it over, put it on his desk, then lay on the bed. In some cheesy romcom Vigge would have turned up in the middle of that conversation, got entirely the wrong end of the stick and that would have been the end of that.
He felt sorry for Max. Really sorry. But not sorry enough to be the father of his and Louise’s child. He thought she’d make a terrible mother. She was selfish, vindictive, thoughtless… Cato took a deep breath. That hadn’t been what he’d thought at first—only later. He’d blamed her for everything, well, for more than he’d blamed Max.
Maybe she’d make a great mother. What did he know? Except she wasn’t going to be the mother of his child. Cato couldn’t face that. The overture on New Year’s Eve about getting back together had been a lie. Cato suspected she didn’t want him back with her and Max at all. Cato was just a means to an end. Max hadn’t even asked him more about the interview.
Cato thought about that. And the threat. If the pair wanted him to father their child, they wouldn’t want him to take that job. At least, not until they’d got what they wanted, then they’d like him gone. Maybe not Max, but Louise would. He started a list of people who might have sent the text, then deleted it. Maybe using his phone wasn’t a good idea, the reason Vigge had written down his email and address. If someone had installed spyware, they might be tracking everything he did. But to install spyware, they had to have physical access to his phone, which put Sam and Pedro, as well as several colleagues, high on the list.
He thought about how often he put his phone down and walked away from it. Not far, but too many times. His PIN would be needed. He really ought to upgrade his handset. Fingerprint identification or facial recognition would be far more secure. Probably too late now, but he changed his PIN anyway. Cato knew there werejailbreakingprocesses, apps that could bypass built-in protection. He searched for them because the software might not have been deleted, but found nothing. He wasn’t reassured.
~~~
Cato arrived at Vigge’s house just after ten on Saturday. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to see. He’d known Vigge lived in a little village, so he’d assumed he wouldn’t be living in some slick eco apartment made of metal and glass, but this was a small house with a neat front garden, still half-covered in snow. Vigge’s BMW was on the drive and Cato pulled up at the side. Vigge opened the front door before Cato reached it and stared wide-eyed at Cato’s car.
“Are you okay with me parking on your drive?” Cato asked. “Is my little car lowering the tone of the neighbourhood?”
“Can it be seen from outer space?” Vigge raised his eyebrows. “We have to set off straight away. Okay?” He clicked open his car and tossed a backpack into the rear.
Within moments, they were heading away from a house Cato hoped he’d get to see inside.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a car as yellow as that,” Vigge said.
“My mother gave me money to have it resprayed, but I didn’t bother. It’s full of dents from careless drivers, and some wanker’s keyed it. But I still love it. And at least it brightens up a dull day as well as attracting every insect in the county at certain times of the year.”
“Where do your parents live?”
“Lower Wotton. In Surrey. Still in the house I grew up in.”
“And your family?”
“All over the place. In the south though, but my older brother is going to be spending his time between Northumberland and London for a while. He’s in the hotel business. I have a big family. Two brothers, two sisters and my sisters have children. A lot of people to worry about. Talking of which… Did you have any luck tracing that number?”
“No. Have you had any more texts, or thoughts about who it might be?”
“No more texts. I made a list of people.” Cato hesitated then sighed. “I had a visit from Max.”
Vigge glanced at him. “Your ex.”
“He and Louise want a baby and apparently Max can’t give her one, but I could.”
Cato saw Vigge’s fingers tighten on the wheel. “And your response?”
“Fuck the hell off. But it got me thinking. Does it mean that despite what he said, Max wants me and my baby-makers in America and not in his wife? Or that Louise doesn’t want me to take the job until I’ve made her pregnant? It could work either way with both of them. Wanting me around or not wanting me around. I’m not doing it anyway. The baby thing. No one else has leapt up the suspect list and I’ve not heard from NASA.”
“Have you changed your PIN?”
