Page 50 of If I See You Again
I yanked on his hands, trying to make him sit back down. I needed him at my level for him to truly understand where I was coming from. When he finally sat back down, the ten-ton weight lifted off my chest, allowing me to breathe again.
“Because life’s too short for this shit, David. I can’t waste time worrying that a boss, who didn’t even care that I was in a car accident, is going to fire me because I’m happy with someone. The second Mr. Thomas reprimanded me for not calling in myself when I was clearly incapable, I knew something needed to change. I only confirmed it when I spoke to him earlier today.”
David’s eyes widened as he scooted closer to me. “But what does that mean for you?”
I laughed. “Fuck if I know? Start over? Look for something else?” I closed my eyes as a small wave of panic hit me. Becauseall of that was scary. There was a lot of unknown when it came to suddenly jumping ship like that. I’d given Mr. Thomas and Mr. Braxton eight years of my life, though I hardly ever saw the other man. He was more of an owner in name only. It was humiliating to be questioned the way I had been when I’d given them no reason to.
When I opened my eyes again, warm, swirling pools of blue met my gaze. I’d never noticed the small flecks of brown in David’s eyes before, but they were there, dancing in and blending to give him that perfect ocean color I could drown in. “Maybe I take some time off and figure myself out? That’s sort of fun. If you could call it that.”
David grinned, pulling me into his chest and carefully wrapping his arms around me, mindful of where I was still sore. I inhaled him, taking deep lungfuls of his scent. This was what I wanted forever.
Chapter 36
David
After I got Malcolm to calm down a little, he sat and ate a little more before I was willing to let him take some more of his pain meds. He didn’t want to take them at first, and I was thankful he wasn’t completely dependent on them. We watched a little TV before he couldn’t do it anymore and gave in to the need for something to dull the aches.
He was asleep when I slipped from the bed, his tousled brown hair splayed against the pillow as I took my phone to the other side of the room to make a call. If Malcolm was all in about quitting his job, I wanted to provide an opportunity for him. Moving him back to North Carolina with me was out of the question. He needed to be where he could be with his family. They’d been through enough.
The phone rang, and my fingers itched on my lap. My mouth ran dry when the call picked up.
“David?”
It wasn’t very often that I called my parents, but this was something they needed to hear from me, and I couldn’t taskAudrey with it. If anything, I needed to talk her into moving out to Chicago as well to get away from some of the toxicity.
“Mother,” I answered.
She released a heavy sigh, and I wished I’d taken the phone call somewhere else because I didn’t want to wake Malcolm up if things got heated. They always tended to.
“There’s my son. I was starting to wonder if you died. You didn’t even bother to call for Thanksgiving. Did you ever stop to think how that would make your father and me feel?”
My temples were already beginning to throb, and I pinched my nose to release some of the pressure building. She worried about my lack of calls, given that she never called me either. I was always the one who had to reach out to people, or I would never hear from them.
“My apologies.” And like the coward I always was, I bent to her will and gave her exactly what she wanted. This phone call would be difficult enough without adding a fight to it.
“You better be sorry. You’d think we’d raised you better than this. It’s a wonder you’re still single. No one would want to put up with that. Same with your sister. You’re both so damn spoiled. Is that where we went wrong?”
The phone call was spiraling faster than I could figure out how to put it back together. It would be easier to rip the Band-Aid off at this rate. While Audrey knew I’d moved to Chicago, I hadn’t told my parents yet. Now was that time, especially with my mother insinuating that I would always be single. I had been single, but by my own choosing, which was a good thing because it meant I was ready when Malcolm stumbled into my life.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I haven’t been home in a while. I moved to Chicago a couple of weeks ago.”
Silence filled the line for a moment.
“Why?”
One simple word. It was enough to send my heart into hyperdrive and a sweat to break out on my back. My mother was intimidating on the best of days. I’d been lucky enough to come from money, and it’d allowed me the freedom to start as many companies as I had, but it didn’t give my family the right to walk all over me.
“Because, despite you believing that I’m still single, I’m not.”
The way she laughed did something funny to my chest. Weren’t parents supposed to be loving and supportive? One sound was all it took for my mother to dismiss me effectively.
“You’re just trying to get me riled up again, David. I expect you to be at home this weekend for family dinner. Don’t disappoint me.”
“No.”
The word was out of my mouth, and I looked across the room to the man who was still sound asleep on the bed. It’d taken me too long to stand up to my parents in my life, but it ended now. I couldn’t allow it if I wanted to give everything to Malcolm. He deserved all the best parts of me, and not the one who hid his shit-show of a personal life. He needed love and smiles. Sweetness and caring.
“What do you mean by ‘no?’”
