Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Adeline
“Morning, Addie,” he says, and I nod to him before handing him his coffee.
I turn the phones over, choosing to ignore them; they eventually get the message and leave as I settle behind my desk and turn the computer on.
The morning goes by quickly, my phone ringing just as I am about to go to lunch.
Sam’s number pops up on my screen. I smile quickly, answering it; I haven’t spoken to him in over a month as he has been away for work.
“Hello, stranger,” I answer.
“Hey, Ada. I am back in the city,” he tells me just as Cyrus walks out of his office.
I feel my lips tug up at hearing his voice.
We have been friends for a few years, the sort of friends with sexual benefits yet not in an actual relationship; neither of us wants that, but the sex is good, and there are no strings attached.
We’ve met through a mutual friend and hit it off.
We used to meet up each week before he left the county to go overseas for his job.
“I can see that, or you wouldn’t be ringing,” I tell him.
“Tomorrow night, Morgan’s Diner, the usual time?”
“Sounds good. I will see you then. I gotta go. My boss is coming,” I tell him quickly, hanging up before I get in trouble for using my phone.
“Personal calls aren’t allowed,” Cyrus says, eyeing me with a strange look.
“Yeah, that’s not going to work. What if my mother needs me, or my niece’s school rings? I won’t ignore those calls,” I tell him.
“Give them the office number then,” he says, staring at my phone before picking it up.
I go to take it from him when he pulls his hand away, clicking my phone screen on.
“Tell me who you were on the phone to,” he says, looking down at me.
I don’t bother, knowing he is going through my call log anyway.
“I don’t get why I can’t use my mobile up here,” I tell him, shaking my head.
“It doesn’t matter. You should be working, not chatting to this Sam person,” he says, locking my phone screen and handing it back to me.
I take it, placing it in my bag.
“File these, and then come to my office, please,” he says, handing me some papers.
I grab them, looking them over before nodding and walking to the printer to scan them into the system and put the hard copy in the filing cabinets in the printing room. Going back to my computer, I put the scanned document into its designated file.
* * *
Going to his office, I knock, and he tells me to come in. Walking in, he is standing by the window looking down at the street below, the city bustling at this hour of the day.
“What’s up?” I ask, and he motions for me to sit down. I do while he remains standing, folding his arms across his chest, looking down at me.
“We will be moving to Soya City soon. Eli and I want you to come with us,” he says, my mouth falling open at his words.
I am not leaving, though my job will sure be easier without them here and their antics.
“I’m not moving,” I tell him, and he raises an eyebrow.
“If you say this is in my contract, I will be fleeing the city,” I warn him.
“It’s not, though we should have had that added,” he says before sitting on the end of his desk in front of me.
“Great, glad we cleared that up,” I tell him, getting up from my seat when he leans forward, putting his hands on either side of it, stopping me.
“We aren’t leaving without you. You will be coming with us.”
I shake my head.
“Probably won’t be for another month to give you time to come around to the idea,” he says.
“I’m not leaving. You can use that month to come around to that idea,” I tell him.
He sighs, sitting back, and the door opens behind me. Eli walks in.
“We will pay off your mother’s mortgage, all her debts, including the debts you have from your sister,” Eli says, making me look at him. “Just think about it, Addie.”
“The answer will still be no. I have Maya. I am her legal guardian,” I tell him.
“Bring her then,” he says.
“I can’t take her from her life here or my mother. She would be lonely. No, my answer is not going to change, Eli.”
“You will change your mind. We won’t go without you.”
“I am sure you can find someone else to work for you over there,” I tell him.
“We don’t want anyone else, only you,” Cyrus says, and I shake my head.
“You can leave early. Think over what we said, Addie. Your family could use the help,” he says like that will make me change my mind.
I just don’t understand their fascination with me. It is bordering on stalkerish; no scrap that, it is stalkerish.
Grabbing my bag, I head down to my car. This is the third time they let me leave early, so I don’t understand why they need an assistant when I hardly have to do anything besides the few tasks they have set out for me. Most of the time, I sit bored in the office just answering phones.
Walking down, I see Bella. She waves excitedly, and I realize I haven’t seen her in ages because our start and finish times are so different.
“Adeline, wait up. I am about to go on break. Come get lunch with me,” she calls, and I stop at her desk. She grabs her handbag, and I wait, deciding to go with her; it will be good to see a friendly face.
Bella pulls her hair into a loose bun before throwing her bag over her shoulder, slipping her heels off, and swapping them for flats.
“My feet are killing me,” she whines, slipping them on her feet.
“How is working upstairs?” she asks, just as I see Cyrus and Eli walk out of the elevators. They stop for a second before walking over to us, so I don’t get a chance to answer.
“I thought I sent you home,” Eli says, looking at me.
Bella becomes all flustered when their eyes land on her.
“You did, but Bella is on break and asked me to join her,” I tell him, waiting for them to go.
They don’t. Instead, Eli turns to Bella.
“Where are you going?” he asks her, and she gawks at them. I have a funny feeling this is her first interaction with them.
“Over the road to Morgan’s Diner,” she says.
“Good, just where we were heading. We will join you,” Cyrus says, though I don’t believe him for a second as his eyes land on me. Bella looks alarmed, and I roll my eyes before gritting my teeth.
“Come on, let’s just go and get this over with,” I tell her, looping my arm through hers and leading her to the doors.
“Are they really joining us?” she asks.
“Apparently so,” I tell her, and I can see how uncomfortable she has become.
“But why?”
I would love to know that, too. Though I have a feeling, it’s to see what I will say to her or to make sure I don’t tell on them for the things they have done. Not that I will, knowing I can get in some serious trouble for it.
“No idea.”
She nods, looking back at them following behind us.
We walk down the street toward the set of traffic lights.
I press the button when a woman pushing a pram and holding a little boy’s hand stands beside me, his blond hair falling in his eyes as he sweeps it off his face.
He is a little younger than Maya and quite adorable with his chubby cheeks and dimples.
I smile down at him as he looks up at me, his hand tugging his mother’s shirt, trying to get her attention.
His mother is distracted by trying to answer her phone in her handbag, and she lets go of his hand for a second while she rummages through her handbag, trying to dig it out.
I am about to offer to help her as she struggles to hold onto the pram with one foot when she finally retrieves her phone and answers it.
She is maybe in her mid-thirties and looks quite flustered.
“Hello, just give me a sec,” I hear her say before she shrieks, making me jump and look at her to realize the little boy is suddenly gone.
Her scream rings loudly as I look to the road to see he has wandered off into the line of traffic, adrenaline pumping into me as the mother slams the brakes on her pram as I rush out, ripping him by his arm back toward her.
The brakes screech as the car hurtles toward me, and I brace for the impact, knowing it’s going to hit me.
I can hear the frantic screaming as the car smashes into me, and I land on the bonnet before it comes to a stop as the car locks up, flinging me off the bonnet and onto the ground.
My hands bite into the road, and my skin tears off as I skid across it, the wind being knocked from my lungs at the impact.
“God, that fucking hurt,” I wheeze out to myself.
Bella screams as she rushes over to me as I crawl on my hands and knees.
Thank god this is a shared zone, and the speed limit is only 40kms/hour.
The driver frantically races over to me, hysterically crying, all shaken up.
I feel hands wrap around my waist, helping me stand, my knees and hands torn to shreds.
Besides, I am going to have a wicked bruise on my hip.
“Oh my god, I am so sorry. I didn’t see him. He came out of nowhere,” the blonde woman frantically cries, worried.
I wave her off; I was a little bruised but okay. I realize the person who’s picked me off the ground is Eli as he holds me steady. I look at the little boy, his mother frantically checking him, but he looks fine besides being a little startled.
“I’m fine, sorry to startle you,” I tell the woman, and she seems shaken, her face streaked with tears.
“I’m fine, really,” I tell her as she looks between me and her car.
The boy’s mother rushes over, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing me, sobbing her eyes out.
“I am sorry. I only let his hand go for a second… Thank you, thank you,” she gushes as she sobs.
“It’s fine. I saw him standing next to you.
It is not your fault,” I tell her, and she rushes back to her son, next to whom Cyrus is standing, an indecipherable look on his face.
Eli holds my elbow, walking me to the side of the road, and the traffic starts moving again.
Bella is holding my bag that she has retrieved off the road.
“You should go to the hospital,” she says as she kneels beside me. I sit on the garden bed.