Coming Home (Only Time Will Tell #1) (29 page)

I can still hear my name being shouted. Kyle’s voice is echoing, screaming in my head hours after he’d followed us out. Thankfully, I think, I was hidden well enough for him to find me. His anger scared me to a point, and I also didn’t want Kyle to get a hold of Ben. He was innocent in all of this.

We hid in the ally until I was sure that Kyle had gone, only then did we take on an escape that would compete against a
Mission Impossible
movie.
 

Ben took me to a pizza restaurant not far from the club, with me looking like a hooker mixed in with normal people, but I just took a deep breath and held my head high. We talked about everything that had just unfolded and I explained my situation, happy to have someone from the outside world analyze it and not myself, or people who knew us. He admitted that he believed Kyle to be a womanizer, but the fact we had a past that only me and him understood, I had to evaluate everything—evaluate our past and everything that I know. He believed that sometimes it’s easier to just take the bad and breed it into something else. That, although what I’d seen was bad, I had to take into account what Kyle had said and done leading up to that. I had to think about what he thought of Josie and if I honestly believed he’d go there.

In the end, it turned into speaking to a male version of Nod. He told me that only I was able to distinguish the truth from a lie. Instead of jumping the gun and taking it at face value, I had to speak to him and find out the truth, because for all I knew, it could have been a set up.

I sat for ages, nibbling on cold pizza as I thought about it, only to come to the conclusion that although he was right, I should have spoken to him. I couldn’t see how the event had been a set up. He’d text me asking me to go over and then jumped into bed with her, forgetting about me completely.

It’s a slow and steady walk back to the apartment. The night sky slowly lifts before our eyes as we welcome the new day and I’ve not even slept yet. About half way back I’ve had enough of the heels though and they soon came off. Whose great idea was it to put women in heels? I’m assuming a man, along with the fact that we should endure every other female problem in life.

Finally making it back to the apartment complex, I sag against the window and put my shoes back on; I’m going to do the walk of shame properly if I’m going to do it. We exchange numbers too. I’ve enjoyed my eventful night even if I felt like Ben would probably take the brunt of Kyle if he chose to do something and he finds him.

Walking through the lobby I give the woman behind the desk a meek smile, but rather than getting a scrutinizing look, I get the “been there, done that,” look.

I exit the elevator and fumble in my purse for my keys. As I approach the door, a lone figure slumped on the floor to the side of it. His hands clutch the back of his head as he rests his elbows on his knees. He slowly lifts his head, looking at me with hooded eyes that show how worried he’s been and guilt fills to the pit of my stomach.

I want to try and find the words to say to him in the hope of “talking it out,” but my tongue is like lead.

“Where the hell have you been?” he asks as I walk around him and unlock the door. He jumps up from the floor, grabbing my elbow, turning me to look at him.

I gape like a fish as I tried to think of something to say…but nothing.

“Do you even know what time it is?”

Yanking my elbow free I search my purse and check my phone but it’s dead. Walking into the apartment, finally, I find a clock and realize it’s past five in the morning.

Kyle threw his hands in the air irritably, “Cat! Will you talk to me?” He follows me inside. “I’ve been worried sick all night!”

He storms over when I didn’t reply. He shakes me by the shoulders slightly as he informs me again, “Nothing happened between me and Josie.”

“You would say that,” I reply, batting his hands off of me.

“Cat please, you have to listen to me,” he pleads, raking his hands through his hair, hair that looks like it’s been left out to dry during a tornado. I can only imagine that this isn’t the first time in the evening he’d done that.

“Kyle, I don’t know what to believe. I physically saw you two and that image is burnt into my eyes. It’s all I see when I close them and it hurts. You’ve hurt me so many times in the past already, I don’t want to add to that list.”

His eyes narrowed briefly for a moment. “I’ve hurt you? Cat you left me and then you acted like you never knew me, like I wasn’t part of your life. That hurt!” he seethed, “And then you start knocking me back at every chance you get as if I meant nothing to you and to top it off, Cat, you believe her over me! I know and I understand why you don’t believe me but you’re dismissing what I have to say before I’ve finished a sentence. You believe what Josie told you, someone that has lied to both of us to keep us apart. Can’t you see that?”

“Kyle, I’m trying to believe you, but I just don’t see how she could get in bed with you without you realizing.” I sigh, thinking over his words, Nod’s words and Ben’s. My head is a mess. “And, I’m sorry, sorry for not giving you a chance to explain yourself, but every time I look at you I see her. Please, can you just give me some time to think it over?”

“No. I don’t know how she did it, Cat, but you have to believe me. I didn’t do anything to her or with her. Nothing!”

I chuck my head back and groan, clutching my hair, frustrated over everything. “Kyle, please, will you go? I can’t take much more of this. You’ve said your piece just like her. I just need to think about everything. I’m tired and sick of hearing about that night!” I shout, raising my head to look at him. His turquoise eyes gleam back at me with tears brimming, breaking me.

“C.J., if I walk out of here, you’ll think about it and only think the worst. That’s all you do. I was stupid to believe her, stupid to accept that you’d want the check, but I promise I’ll never doubt you again. Can you say the same?” he chokes.

“I really need to think about it,” I sighed, looking down at the floor. “Go. Please! Let me sleep on it and I’ll call you. I promise.”

His finger hooks my chin and raises my head back up. The tears are gone, but he still looks pained, sincere and like he was battling with himself. “Promise? Cat, I swear I will find out one way or another about that night. Just for once believe me. You never once doubted me.” He leans closer and I almost back away, but he plants a kiss on my forehead, whispering, “I can’t lose you again C.J.. You bring K.C. back to life, and I’ve missed being him, being me.”

“I’ve missed him too.”

I never did call.

I know I promised I would, but I spent Sunday recovering and catching up on sleep, along with thinking everything through and constantly asking myself the same question, “How could she do it, if what he said was the truth?” She wouldn’t do anything to harm him in anyway if she felt so strongly about him. If she’s adamant on sticking by him until he gives up on all other women, so she can throw herself at him, she must love him. You don’t sit back and watch someone go with every woman he meets if you don’t feel anything, even if it does hurt…surely.

The only reason I didn’t call him was that I needed to face him. Ask him. See his face when I talked to him. I tossed my phone in my hands constantly, going to call him over and over before backing out. It didn’t feel right over the phone.

I don’t even know if he’s going to show his face this morning.

It took everything in me this morning to get my sorry ass out of bed. I was up stupidly late, but only because I sent apologetic messages to these three, Nicole and Abigail accepting it, Nod on the other hand chewed my ear off for abandoning them and disappearing. I deserved it though.

“Nod? Has Ryan heard from Kyle?” I ask, breaking the tension that was hovering throughout the office.

“Nope,” she snips.

“Oh. Is he coming in today?”

“Unsure.”

Why can’t she be forgiving like the other two? I don’t blame her, but I thought she’d got it out of her system. “Okay. How long are you going to stay mad at me?”

She finally looks up from her work and slams her pen. “Does it surprise you? Jesus, Cat, we were worried! You just ran out and didn’t let anyone know. And as for Kyle, he was uncontrollable. You only saw him before you left.”

Not true, but he wasn’t that bad. “I said I was sorry. I just need to speak with him. Did he tell you anything?”

“No. He wouldn’t take his eyes off of you, though. I swear I could see him getting redder by the second, even in the darkness. And when he did speak, it was to shout blue murder at Ryan and me. He just repeated the fact that you weren’t leaving him, again. Care to explain?”

God, I’m such a twat at times. “Was that just before I left?” I asked, before chewing on my lip, dreading seeing him, needing to see him, nervous about what would happen when I did.

“Yes. Care to explain where he got that idea from? I mean, I know you two haven’t been great recently, not that you’ve explained that to me either! I thought I was your best friend and yet you tell me nothing.”

“I handed in my resignation.” I whispered, watching her eyes as they slowly began to fall out of her head.

“Excuse me? You did what? Why?”

Taking a deep breath, I told her. I told her about finding him in bed with Josie and what happened here. “I was confused, you have to admit that it’s not easy to accept that what I saw was nothing. I was mad and just rolled with the mood. I didn’t think it through from his side. If he’s right and she’s managed to pull this off somehow, I will grovel at his feet!”

“Josie?” she screeches. “Josie? That stupid bitch?”

“Do you know any more?” I ask, twisting my hands around the hem of my dress at the sound of the elevator “pinging.”

Her eyes dart to the doorway and she closes her mouth.

“Cat! I want to see you in my office, now.” Kyle barks, sending a shiver of dread down my back.

Nod’s eyes stay fixed for a few seconds longer before she looks back at me. “Are you serious? And you believed it?”

“I saw them, it’s hard not to believe it when you see it.”

“I told you that she’s wanted—” she gets cut off by her phone ringing with an internal call. She looks at it and then me before picking up. “Hello?…yes she’s… okay.”

The second her phone goes down, mine rings. I pick it up slowly, hating the fact he wants to talk to me while he’s in one of these moods. “Hello?”

“I thought I told you I wanted to see you now? I didn’t ask you to come in your own God damn time.”

He hangs up and I stare at the receiver with my mouth hanging open. “Well, someone’s fucked off.” I try to laugh but it sounds completely fake. “Nod, I’m crapping myself right now. I don’t know what to think. Could she do something like that?”

Nod shakes her head slightly. “That woman socializes with his Mom, we all know she hates you…If she’s managed to do it, I don’t think it was single handedly.”

Of course they all know that, thanks to Abigail being in one of the stalls at the ball.

I don’t rush as I get up or walk to the office. I need some final thinking time because everything I’ve thought about saying to him has ran out of my head. Damn lines. Fisting my hand I go to knock on the door, but crap myself one final time. I don’t want to do this while he’s in this mood. I should have called him, it would have been a damn site easier, even if it’s the coward’s way. I only chose this route so I could judge him and see how he reacts, but that conversation flew off into the sunset leaving me grasping for words to say. And I never expected him to have such a foul temper when I did it.

I go to attempt a knock again, but the door flies open before my knuckles even hit the door. I gape at him. His jaw is ticking, in rhythm with his pulsing neck. “You
can
walk then? I was about to drag you here.”
 

“No need to, I managed it, eventually.” I stutter, stepping into the office as he steps back for me to enter. “What is it you want to see me about?” Stupid question. I can bet diamonds that it isn’t work related. The door clicks behind me as I walk to my seat, spinning around I find him leaning against the door, his head tipped back staring at the ceiling.

He slowly drags his gaze to me, with me standing in the middle of the room feeling like a lost sheep. “You know what. I just have no idea where to start.”

“The start is normally a good place,” I smile. “Did you keep my resignation?” Not that I want him to have kept it.

His eyes narrow on me before he tugs at his perfect hair that will soon be coming out of his scalp at this rate. “Like hell I did! And don’t even think about writing another one out, if you do, I’ll make it impossible for you to get a job anywhere else in this country, one way or another.”

I fight the smile that’s trying to escape me. Even though he’s pissed off enough I can’t help in this instance, adding fuel to the fire. “Fine. I’ll go back to England.”

“Fucking hell, Cat!” he shouts, storming across the room so quickly I almost miss him. His hands are everywhere: my shoulders, my arms, my face. Does he think I’m going to disappear? “You’re not leaving me.”