Page 20 of Desired

“How do you even know? And why are you being so facetious? I thought you wanted me to get together with him!”

“Ah, so you admit that you were with him, then.”

“I’m not admitting anything!”

“Alright. Then, what did you do last night? And why aren’t you already at the office? That’s unlike you, Moira, and you know it.”

I give up. “Fine. I was with him. He came to my house and I poured my guts out to him. He walked out in the middle of the night because I’m a fucking jackass. Are you happy now?! I told you this wasn’t a match. I told you this was a mistake. I hate being right but goddammit, I am!”

“Bullshit. There you go again, assuming. What is with you? Have you called him to ask him why he walked out?”

“I don’t need to! I told him that I’m related to a bunch of assholes, and my da, the head asshole, is a fucking murderer! He’d be stupid to stick around after that, Steph!”

“Calm down. You don’t know why he left. For all you know his da could be having a conniption over the news. I’m sure that’s all it is.”

“If that’s the case, then why didn’t he wake me before he left?”

“Because it’s not a goddamn eighties Wham! hit, Moira! He’s not going to wake you up before he go goes! He has responsibilities, just like you! Are you telling me that if you got an emergency call in the middle of the night, for the hospital, a dying patient or something like that, and he was there with you, would you take the time out to wake him and tell him? I don’t think so. Now, don’t be so ridiculous and self-centered. Not everything is about you.”

As much as I hate it, she does make sense. “Fine. I’ll sit tight then. I’m sure he’ll be in touch.”

“Thank you.” She says, half relieved, half satisfied. “Now, will you please contact this asshole media dude and tell him that you’ll sue his ass off if he doesn’t take that video down? Jesus Christ!”

“I’ll have Shana call about it. Really, Stephanie, I’ve got a million things to do today.”

“And call Declan yourself. Don’t just let him rot, you know.”

“I love it how you assume things.”

“I know you too well.” She changes the subject. “Will you be free for lunch?”

“Since you stiffed me yesterday, to set me up with Declan? Which, by the way, I’m still pissed about.”

“You’ll thank me later.”

“I assume you used Shana on that score as well?”

“Didn’t even have to bribe her.”

“Bitch.” I chuckle.

“See you at lunch.” She snuffles, and then she ends the call.

Nothing from Declan all morning, even though I’m not thinking about it, since I’m knee deep in patients. It turns out that I do get called to the hospital, following said patient almost ready to deliver, and I have to cancel my lunch date with Stephanie, which also means that I can’t even dream about taking a minute out to call Declan.

...and I don’t hear from him, either.

...for two days.

Declan

I don’t know who this unknown person is until I see the closing remarks on the email message. But then she comes back with the longest P.S. I’ve ever read. The bitch knows where I live and work, and she knows damn straight to never show up there, so I guess this is the next best thing. It’s been years since I’ve heard from or even of her, not that I’ve been keeping up, but my da always says to keep your friends close and your enemies closer, so there’s a point against me on that score. The message starts out sort of ominous. Almost sales-pitch-like, and as I scan through the bullshit, about to delete it and block the account, like I do on many occasions, when strange females reach out to me, I see her name in the closing signature.

Sure, Malcolm or any of my brothers or cousins would tell me to go for it, and take it as a booty call, but I’d never be in her venomous presence again, no matter what. Despite the pleading tone of the email, it still gives me shivers when I reread it, knowing that it’s my ex-girlfriend. The one that broke my heart and didn’t seem to give a shit. Her angle in the message is that she’s concerned for me. It sounds like she’s had a struggle with her health recently, but I don’t give a shit. Why should I? It’s not my problem. I haven’t spoken to her in years, and now suddenly, she gets in touch? What the fuck!

I have half a mind to just delete and block her, and I’m about to, but then she says something that hits a nerve. She says that she found something that belongs to me when she moved recently, and that she’d like to give it back. At first, I think that she’s just bullshitting me, but then she alludes to a watch that I’ve been missing since around the time we were last together. It belonged to my grandfather, and I was about to take it for a minor repair, but then we got into a huge fight, and I never saw her or the watch again. I always thought that one of my brothers stole it or something, or maybe da took it for the repair and put it away for safekeeping, and never thought twice about it.

It strikes me that if I haven’t seen it in this long, that either I should ask my family if they’ve seen it, or just forget about it. Not sure if it’s worth the risk at this point, but, stupidly, I respond to her. It’s just a simple ‘I’d like my watch back. I’ll arrange for my assistant to pick it up.’ And then in a matter of seconds, she’s on Messenger, sending me a message. I get a chill up my spine as I read it.

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