Page 15 of The Villain

“Good. Tell her not to call me until she's feeling better. This shit is not important and she doesn’t need the stress.”

“I will. I’m Asher by the way.”

“Good for you,” I hang up. Then I sit in silence to readjust my world view.

I’m not sure why I’m so positive that she’s pregnant but I’ll roll with it. Does she know? Do her boyfriends know? There’s three of them. What if they’re pissed? It’s not like she’ll lift my bans to punish them.

I need to get my shit now and get my ass back here just in case Tera needs me. No more obsessing over my statue. He told me to go and I want him to have everything he wants. That’s done.

The purchase went through on the house but she doesn’t know that the move in date got changed. So much for keeping it a surprise. It’s not like I care, but Tera likes surprises.

I’d rather she have the knowledge she has a place to crash when she needs it. Her reassured face is better than her happy face to me. She fakes being happy too well for it to be a win.

She wanted to go with me to pick up my stuff in a few weeks but that’s not happening now. We were supposed to discuss it at dinner with her guys, not that I expected them to allow her out of their sight. That decision is out of her hands and I’m not asking for permission.

I return my rental well within the speed limit and get pulled over two more times before I make it. Here’s hoping cabs don’t have the same bad luck with me as a passenger. Although that would be interesting.

I wonder if they can get a plane delayed? I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

07. Perish the Thought

Shade

DAY TWELVE

“Please stop!”

Tera’s voice sounds muffled. Probably a pillow over her face.

“Hang up, angel,” I hear Asher suggest in a furious tone.

“Wait!” I yell furiously, getting a lot of attention on the street. It’s four in the fucking morning, no one should be out. My schedule is all out of whack now that I’m hunting for South.

The line has gone dead.

I call back.

“Enough,” Asher’s voice is enraged. “If you call her again, I will bury you, Shade.”

“Ask her to set up a meeting and I’ll stop,” I return in a flat voice.

“You’re lucky she loves you.” His gritted tooth response makes me want to break my phone. Or him.

His voice gets muffled and they talk back and forth for a second before Asher gets back on.

“She says she’ll try. Now go to sleep, son.”

I can’t. I miss her and I’ve lost it. The need to reconnect with her is more intense than my relationship with the twins. How fucked up is that?

It brings home to me what I started figuring out in month two of my self-imposed isolation. They were a crutch. They were interested. They talked to me and kept the loneliness at bay. But they never saw me. They never listened. They didn’t want to. For them it was sex. I wanted more. So much more.

I had no idea that something more soul crushing was out there. Something that felt as easy as breathing even without words. The loss of it is eviscerating me.

The feelings I thought I had for them is nothing like when I follow South. When I feel her watching me. I want that back, not the fake as fuck version I had. She’s too intense for it to be fake.

Three words and she listened.

I wasted over six years on useless bullshit instead of waiting for her.

---