Chapter 89
I ate my breakfast as I ideove to work. I avoided people as I headed for my office. It went to plan until I opened the door to my office and Jason was sitting on my
couch.
“A little warning would have been nice,” I told Clair. I was in a bad mood and I had to hold back not to let anger seep into my voice, Clair was a godsend, she was my assistant, but I knew she was a big part of our success. She always acted with the company’s best interest, and mine, in focus. So I did my best to not take my mood out on her. She just shrugged.
“Come in and stop bitching. We all know you will be in a foul mood but we have things to talk about,” Jason told me. I did as he told me and felt like a thundercloud as I took my seat behind my desk. I knew I was acting like a moody teenager, but I was having a pity party for myself and I wasn’t ready to stop just
yet.
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked Jason.
“I take it this morning was bad,” Jason said. It imitated me that he insisted on lingering on the subject.
“The morning was fucking fantastic. It’s the late morning part that is a bitch,” I told him honestly.
“You aren’t abandoning her. She has moved to her own place. You are practically neighbours and the apartment is as secure as an apartment can be,” he pointed out. He knew me too well, I hated it at the moment. He made me face my real issues, which disturbed my perfect pity party.
“It fucking feels like I’m throwing her to the wolves. She was safe in my place. She was happy and not to brag, but she seems a lot happier and confident since she came to live with me,” I confessed.
“We all see that this has been good for her. She has come into herself. It has been good for you as well. You act like a decent human when you don’t work all hours of the day. Hell, we should probably throw Hana a party for removing that stick you have had up your ass for years.”
“Hey,” I said, not sure what I was objecting against. It just felt like there was an insult hidden inside of what he said.
“Come on. So you will have to live apart for some time. It’s probably not a bad thing. You know I love Hana, I freaking adore her baking and the two of you make each other annoyingly happy. But things have moved at lightning speed between the two of you. It might be good to slow down and enjoy the dating part. When was the last time you had a relationship? And I’m not talking about calling the same woman more than two times for a hookup.” he said. I hummed. He made sense, which irritated me. I thought about his question.
“There was… Annie?” I told him.
“Who?” he asked.
“You know, we dated. Like four years ago, Brunette, worked as a manager at that restaurant,” I told him. He looked like he was thinking.
You mean the one that kept whining about how dangerous your work was? I thought her name was Ava,” he said. I thought about it. She had been nagging me to either promise I wouldn’t go into the field or that I would sell my part of the business and retire. It got old fast.
“No, pretty sure was Annie
ta nail in the
“Fuck, I guess that explains why she never liked me,” he muttered. I chuckled. She had disliked Jason for several reasons. Another thing that had put a coffin of our relationship. “Still, even with Ava–Annie you didn’t go full in. Not like you do with Hana.”
“That is true,” I agreed.
“So it may be a good thing to take it slow. Make sure to build a good foundation and all that shit,” he told me.
“It’s depressing when you are giving me good relationship advice. It’s not the end of the world, or the end of our relationship. I just got used to looking forward to going home. Now I don’t, I didn’t realise how little my place felt like a home until Hana came and made it one. Now she isn’t there and I will go back to having just an apartment,” I said. “Tuck it. Maybe we have two apartments but spend each night with each other. That can work. No one needs to know.”
“Yeah, that brings me to why I came to talk to you. A bird told me your ex and her new husband has hired Steel,” Jason said.
“Fuck. Well that is amazing. We should have seen it coming.” I said.
“It does fit with their image,” he agreed.
“Thank you for telling me. I’ll talk to Seymour so he can prepare Hana. She needs to be prepared if she is called as a witness,” I said.
1/3
Chapter 99
“Anytime. I was honest when saying that I like her. She is family. And if you screw up with her, I’m thinking you will be the one we kick out of the family,” he joked with me. I had to smile. Hana has become a part of my life in more ways than one.
“She was grateful that you helped with the security alarm.” I told him. It was my turn to torture him a little. “She was thinking as a thank you, she would get you a girlfriend.” Jason paled.
“A girlfriend. You know, a woman you commit to,” I clarified.
“Hana wants to set me up with someone? Ols fuck, I can’t ditch someone Hann set me up with,” he told me in a pleading voice.
“I guess that means you’ll have a girlfriend then.” He looked like he was planning his escape and I started chuckling. “Relax man. I talked her out of it. But you will probably get a delivery of more cupcakes than even you can’t eat.” I watched as pure relief washed over his face and then was replaced by a wolfish grin.
“That I can handle. And there is no amount of cupcakes that is more than I can eat.” I shook my head and chuckled. “Feeling better?” he asked me as he got up
from the couch.
“I do. I kind of hate you for it. I have planned my day around sulking.” I told him. I was grateful to him, I just didn’t want him to know.
“Don’t mention it, old man.” I grumbled as he left the office, but I had to admit that I still felt a bit stiff in my back from spending the night on the air–mattress. It had been worth it. I thought as I focused back on my work after sending Seymour a message to come to my office when he had the time. It took almost an hour before Clair buzzed me to let me know he had arrived.
“How can I help?” he asked as he sat down.
“I have just found out that Simon has hired Steel as his attomey,” I told him.
“Hmm. Good choice on his part. The man is like a chihuahua with a favourite toy. But he is ruthless in his pursuit of a win,” Seymour said. He had a frown on his face and I knew he was thinking about how he would prepare Hana,
“I have told Hana that you will be reaching out sometime this week to talk to her, “I told him. He nodded.
“I need you to be honest with me. Do you think she can do it without her crumbling? Do I need to take action?” I asked him.
“You know her better than I do. If you would have asked me after the first time I met her, I would have told you to make sure she couldn’t be called as a witness. But now? After seeing her in action I would say that with some coaching and knowing what she can expect, she will do fine. I will make sure she is as prepared as she can be,” he told me. I nodded. He was right. Hana may look frail at times. With what she had gone through, it was no wonder. But it had also built a core of steel in her. She was a survivor at heart.
“Thank you. I will let you get back to work,” I told him. As he walked out of my office I sat back in my chair. This situation was getting out of hand. It felt like a runaway train. All I could do was watch and make sure to minimise the damage as much as possible.
At the end of the day I hesitated. I didn’t feel like going home. My apartment would be empty and I felt fucking pathetic, and I didn’t know how to handle that. But I knew Hana still had her spies at the office that would report back to her if I worked late. I drove home, stopping to buy dinner on my way. I would cook tomorrow, I promised myself. The apartment felt cold just from the knowledge that I was alone. I sighed and called Hans. She sounded tired and she told me they had a rough day at work with several systems going offline for periods of time. She asked about my day, which had been boring.
“I miss you,” she told me as we both had our dinners and talked while watching a movie.
“I miss you too,” I said. I had taken one of her blankets and put it under my head as a pillow on the sofa. It smelled like her and made me feel less lonely. “I will come by after work on Friday. Would you mind if I stay the weekend?”
“That sounds nice. I would like that,” she agreed.
“I will let you head off to bed, sweetness. You need plenty of sleep. I will talk to you tomorrow. We said goodbye and I sighed. I could use some sleep as well. Hopefully, my funk will let go of me tomorrow. As I got ready for bed, I pulled the covers back and the post–it with Hana’s writing fluttered around. I smiled and took it. She had left it there knowing I would find it just before going to bed. I loved that woman. I placed the post–it on the nightstand so I could see it as I got into bed. I would have two days to figure out where to hide it in her apartment.
