Page 14 of Caffeine & Chaos

Maybe she had read Armand wrong. It’s not like he had confessed to seeing a litany of women come and go in Ryan’s life, and even if he had, why should she care? The morning doorman at her building had probably lost count of the number of times he saw Nadia coming home in the early hours of the night, looking disheveled.

Try as she might to tell herself she shouldn’t give a damn whether Ryan had done this dozens of times before, the reality was, she did care. She wanted to be special. Had he taken her to the same place as he had taken another woman? Multiple women? The thought was nauseating.

Nadia closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, taking deep inhales through her nose and exhaling slowly through her mouth, hoping to soothe the turmoil within her. Ryan was making her crazy. Or maybe she was making herself crazy. She’d had an amazing day with him, so why was she ruining it for herself by overanalyzing a short conversation she had with his driver?

Perhaps she would re-schedule her appointment with Dr. Blakely. She needed to get some perspective. She spotted the café up ahead and picked up the pace, hoping to catch Mandy before she left for the day. She had so much to tell her.

The Watcher.

The dull hum of the city below echoed through the room as he stood at the window, his breath fogging up the glass in front of him. He had been waiting there since dawn, his eyes fixated on the street below, waiting for her. She always passed by at the same time in the morning, never failing to grace his view with her presence.

But today was different. Today, she was late. His agitation grew with each passing minute, his fingers drumming nervously against the windowsill. How dare she disrupt his carefully crafted routine. How dare she deviate from the pattern he had meticulously studied and memorized.

Hours crawled by like a sluggish tide, dragging his patience along with it. His mind raced with thoughts of where she could be, what could have delayed her. He imagined all sorts of scenarios, each one more grotesque than the last. But none of them compared to the relief he felt when, finally, he caught sight of her shapely figure making its way down the sidewalk below.

A rush of euphoria washed over him as he watched her, his heart pounding in his chest like a drumbeat. She was here. She hadn’t forsaken him. She was his. With trembling hands, he reached for the camera resting on the nearby table, snapping picture after picture as if to immortalize the moment. Each click of the shutter felt like a victory, a testament to his devotion to her.

As she disappeared from view, he felt a sense of contentment wash over him, his earlier agitation melting away like snow in the spring sun. Spreading the polaroids out before him, he stroked his rigid erection absentmindedly as he murmured to her, the pictures serving as her effigy. She had returned to him, just as she always did. She was his, now and forever. And he would never let her forget it.

Her.

The scene inside Casa Maria’s indicated it had been a quiet afternoon. A lone table was occupied by a couple of familiar older gentlemen, regulars that Nadia knew by sight. She offered them a nod and a smile as she entered, heading straight for the front counter. Mandy, she assumed, was likely busy in the back. Nadia toyed with the idea of ringing the bell as a playful gesture, but hesitated, unsure if Mandy would be in a joking mood.

“Well look what we have here,” Mandy said, shoving open the servery door with her hip, her arms full of cutlery rolls, paper cups, and other odds and ends she needed to restock before calling it a night. “Hey everyone, Mrs. Ryan McKellen has come to grace us lowly cafe workers with her presence.” She turned her back on Nadia, crouched down, and stuffed paper cups into the cupboard below the cappuccino machine.

“Mandy I’m sorry, please don’t be mad at me.” Nadia leaned on the counter and tried to catch Mandy’s eyes in the mirror on the back wall. “You were busy, and I’d had a hell of a day and I just needed to go home.”

“You could’ve called, or texted, or whatever.” Mandy was stocking the cups more slowly now, softening to her friend.

“I know and I’m sorry. I just couldn’t deal. I had such mixed feelings. I just needed a bit of time to myself.”

Mandy finally looked up into the mirror. Her eyebrows pinched together in confusion, “are you wearing your jogging clothes?” Nadia never went anywhere but jogging in these clothes, and she only ever went jogging in the morning.

“Heh, yeah, I am. I’ve had another hell of a day and I’d like to talk about it with my best friend.” She smiled at Mandy wholeheartedly, still trying to make amends.

Mandy smacked her gum and cracked a wide smile. “Oh, I can’t wait to hear this. Tell me it has to do with our friendly neighborhood billionaire.”

“You bet it does,” Nadia laughed. “You wanna come over after your shift? Hey, aren’t you supposed to be off already? I didn’t think I was going to make it in time to catch you.”

Mandy rolled her eyes, “yeah, but Helena called and said she was going to be late. Again. So here I am covering her like a good little employee.” She grabbed the cloth and began wiping down the counters haughtily. “It’s bullshit. This is like the third time she’s been late this month.”

“Ugh, she’s the worst for that. Do you know how long you have to stay?”

“She promised she’d be here by six-thirty,” Mandy said, moving around front to wipe down the display cases.

Nadia crouched down to tie her shoelace. When she straightened up, she caught Mandy pausing from her wiping duties, giving her a cheeky grin. “What?”

“I can’t wait to hear about everything.” Mandy pointed the rag at Nadia, “did you know your shirt is on inside out?”

“What?!” Nadia hadn’t even realized it. Her tank top was one of those workout quick-dry shirts, tagless and easy to slip on inside out. The only giveaway was the stamp on the back neckline indicating the make and size. While Mandy was busy cracking up, Nadia tugged at the collar of her shirt in disbelief and twisted her neck to see for herself.

“Go home and get yourself straightened out, you harlot.” Mandy said through chuckles. “I’ll come by when I get off.”

Thank god Mandy wasn’t mad at her anymore. She meant a lot to her, and right now she really needed to lean on her to keep herself sane. “Ok, I’ll see you later.”

Him.

Ryan walked into an absolute shit storm at his office. When Theresa called earlier, she hadn’t given many details about what was going on, just that Markus was in trouble and he needed to come in as soon as possible, forcing him to cut his day with Nadia short.

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