38. Where is She?
Sacha
My day is long and stressful. Full of conversations with investors and board members, putting out fires, explaining too many times that these things happen, that no data was lost, that no one needs to worry. Talking until I am too tired to think any longer, and the words repeat themselves without any effort on my part. Hanging in the back of my mind the entire day is the sadness I saw in Bailey’s eyes. I can’t believe I hurt her. I was trying so hard to appeal to her human side when I should have just explained everything to her from the start. Trusted our bond. Trusted in fate.
I’m completely emotionally exhausted when I arrive at Ness’s office late in the afternoon. All I want to do is find my mate, hold her in my arms and beg her to forgive me for being an idiot. I haven’t spoken to her since this morning; I need to talk to her in person. To see her face, to hold her when I explain.
“What is this about, Ness? I have better places to be.” I roll into Loch’s office and plop into a chair, I’m slightly surprised to see Pleasant standing in the corner, I’d expect the chief technical officer to still be working with our IT team on solutions.
“Sacha. I’m glad you’ve been happier the past couple weeks. Don’t you think you’ve been happier?” Ness slouches in his office chair. His legs are visible through the glass topped desk one of his legs fidgets nervously. He’s not a sloucher, or a fidgeter, something is wrong.
“Could we cut to the chase? Just tell me why you asked me to meet you here?” I ask.
“We know about the contract, Sacha,” Pleasant says bluntly.
“Contract?” I have a brief moment of confusion, and then my stomach sinks. This is about Bailey. They found it. “I can explain everything. I wanted to tell you, both of you. I was going to bring it up.”
“I’m really disappointed, Sacha.” Pleasant’s voice remains calm but his antennae wave wildly as he speaks. “This is the kind of behavior I expect from Magnes.”
“I would never. I don’t pay for sex,” Ness scoffs.
“The money wasn’t for sex,” I interject.
“And if I did, I wouldn”t write down the agreement in legal jargon, sign it, and then send it through easily trackable company email.” Ness’s words bite through my protest.
“It’s reckless, thoughtless, borderline illegal behavior Sacha,” Pleasant continues. “Can you imagine if this had gotten to the press? You jeopardized the entire company. You could have ruined us all, everything we’ve built here. I can’t believe you did something this irresponsible.”
“I can believe it,” Ness snaps. “He’s been mooning over the woman since she showed up. Acting like she’s his mate or—” he stops mid-sentence leaning forward to splay his large hands across his glass desk. “Holy shit dude, is that what this is?”
Pleasant’s antennae sway toward me. “Of course she is.”
“You knew?” Ness demands.
“You didn’t? It was obvious that night at Moonshine, he couldn’t stop staring at her.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Ness asks me.
I shake my head, “I needed to be sure that she wouldn’t reject me.”
“Well, fuck man,” Ness mutters. His body language relaxes, he knows what it’s like to feel this way, he almost didn’t survive when his mate rejected him.
“We can’t tolerate this kind of behavior from a CFO,” Pleasant barrels through what is clearly a prepared speech, “we are suspending you from your position?—”
“You can’t do that—” I yelp.
“The board of directors already has.” Pleasant manages to sound threatening without raising his voice. “We’ll reconvene in four months to see if we can allow you back into your position.”
“Pleasant. If she’s his mate—maybe we should reconsider—” Ness starts to interrupt.”
“We’ll reconsider in four months.” Of course the Mothman doesn’t have any sympathy for my situation, the bastard’s been strung along by the same human woman for years now. One who definitely isn’t his mate.
“You can’t be serious,” I mutter. “This is my company the same as it’s yours.”
“Don’t worry, we contained the information before it could present a real threat,” Ness says, “We made sure Bailey was satisfied with the situation.”
“What do you mean by that?” I sit forward in my chair.
“We fulfilled your contract with Ms. Thorn—” Pleasant says.
“What did you do?” I demand.
“We gave her the money that you promised her. We offered her another job with the company that was in no way connected to you, and she declined. She signed an NDA and took the money,” Ness says.
“You gave her the money?” I stand, my hands reflexively ball into fists.
“We didn’t have a choice. We’re lucky she didn’t try to take us to court. She wouldn’t have ruined just you Sacha, she could have taken down the whole company.” Pleasant’s wings flutter with irritation.
“I don’t care what it would have ruined! Where is she?”
“You should be thanking us, Sacha. You signed a sexual contract, the lawyers are furious. we saved your ass,” Pleasant says.
“WHERE IS MY MATE!?” I yell, feeling the anger boiling to the surface. My fist hits the desk before I realize I’ve swung it. The room is quiet enough to hear the cracks splintering like lightning across the surface of Ness’s desk, until the broken lines reach the edge, and the desktop shatters. Everything on Ness’s desk crumbles to the floor in a rain of tempered glass. Pleasant flinches, but no one else moves for a long silent moment. My chest feels like it might burst.
“Gone. She’s gone Sacha, she took the money and left.” Ness scoots his chair calmly away from his ruined desk.
I don’t listen to any more of his words. My feet take me to the hallway without any instructions from my brain. None of this matters if I’ve lost her. I have to find her, I have to explain, I have to make sure she knows that everything I said before was real. She is mine, forever and always, no matter the money, or the job, or some silly contract that never actually meant anything. None of that matters. I belong to her.
While I wait for the elevator I pull out my phone, calling her over and over, praying she will pick up. She isn’t answering my text messages, and she’s never listened to a voicemail in her life, so her mailbox is too full to accept new messages. I need to see her. I need to speak with her. To explain!
I growl in frustration.
The elevator is moving too slowly, I move to the stairs, taking them three at a time all six stories to the lobby. I don’t have time to wait for a town car, or an Uber, or a cab. I need to see her now.
Fuck it. I am not a man, I am a beast, I don’t need to wait.
So I run.
My bare feet pound the sidewalk, the wind buffeting my face. My suit feels tight, too tailored to allow for these movements, but I only run harder, feeling the seams split along my shoulders and back, hearing the ones around my hips tear.
A woman walking a poodle steps in front of me. I veer around her with a low snarl, not willing to stop, not willing to waste another moment away from my Bay, my mate. I cannot let those assholes at the office ruin everything for me.
I skid to a stop in front of her door, seams ripped and my chest burning for oxygen.
I pound on her apartment door.
“Bay! Open up!” I bellow at the hollow aluminum door.
“What’s going on?” Bailey opens her door. My heart almost cracks in two when I see her perfect face.
Bailey looks me up and down before her face contorts into something that isn’t quite surprise as she takes me in. “Sacha! You’re here. Are you alright? What happened to your suit?”
“Bailey. I love you.” That”s all I can think to say.