49. Caleph
49
CALEPH
I watch as the good-for-nothing cheating scumbag trots down the stairs and starts walking down the street. He’s been to the apartment three days running, and each time, he doesn’t stay more than a few minutes. I wonder how long it will be before Ariadne’s resolve wavers and she decides to entertain the idea of a date with him. The bug just won’t go away.
Seven has managed to find out that the worthless piece of shit is not currently seeing anyone. He appears to have overcome his playboy ways and is regretting letting Ariadne go. I know he probably doesn’t even cross her mind that way anymore, but he seems to think he has a chance to win her back. Not on my watch.
I watch him leave and get out of the car. I’ve managed to stay away from her since I brought her home, but this exercise in patience is not doing me any favors. Every minute I’m away from her feels like another wall comes up between us. A wall I will have to bulldoze through if I am to have any chance of seeing her again.
I’ve got someone watching her around the clock. And of course, Arsen is never far away. He sits in a parked car across the road from the apartment watching and waiting; Ariadne’s ride if she needs one, and her protector if anything should happen.
When I rap my knuckles on the door, it’s Nina that opens for me. Her best friend looks like a little pixie with her round face, head of bright red curls and big green eyes. She looks like she’d be the sort of person who’d be perennially smiling. Like now. Her eyebrows rise in surprise and a crooked smile tickles her lips. She knows who I am. She turns to look at her friend with a triumphant ‘I knew it’ accusation on her face.
Ariadne is sitting on the sofa, her arms folded around her raised knees. She sets her legs down so quickly she almost topples off the sofa, then lifts herself up and comes to the door.
“What are you doing here?” She hisses, looking out into the stairwell to see if anyone’s seen me. She pulls me by the arm until I’m standing in the apartment and closes the door with a thud.
“I’ll just… um… go do something… in another room,” Nina fumbles, looking at us curiously before she disappears behind a door.
“I thought you’d left already,” she says, genuinely surprised to see me.
“I have a few more things to take care of here,” I tell her. “Wanted to check in, make sure you’re okay.”
I sweep my eyes across the apartment. It’s what you would call ‘quaint’. By no means is it comfortable enough for three people.
“Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?” She eyes me cautiously.
“How’s the job hunting going?” I ask. I already know the answer to this, but I don’t tell her that.
“It’s not.”
I can only imagine she’s going crazy here and can’t wait to move into her own place. She once told me Michael is a bit of a psychopath. Not sure how much of that is true, since Nina seems well-adjusted.
“Change your mind and let me help you out with a job.”
Ariadne crosses her arms and shoots me a sharp look. I don’t know why she’s so intent on not accepting my help. She can’t possibly resent me that much.
“It’s fine, Caleph. I’m fine. Something will come up.”
She seems distracted as she says this, a frown marring her face. She’s worried it won’t be fine. And she’s probably miserable being here. I sigh and indicate the sofa, asking silently if I can sit down. She shrugs and sits back down on the opposite side as I fold one leg over the other.
“I have a friend,” I tell her. “Not in publishing, but she’s looking for a personal assistant. I think you two would get along well if that’s something you’d be interested in.”
I watch as her hand slides up her arm slowly, uncertainty coursing through her. She wants to say no, but she also wants to say yes. She can’t afford to say no under the circumstances.
“What does she do?” she asks. Good. She’s interested. It’s a start.
“Everything. She does everything.”
* * *
It’s time I paid Rand Holloway a visit.
He has a rather erratic work schedule, but I finally manage to find time to make my way to his apartment and wait. The security in the building is shitty. I climb the stairs then use my credit card to gain entry through the door. This, I know, is the apartment that he once shared with Ariadne. I walk around the small apartment, wondering what living here would’ve been like for her. I enter the bedroom, stand at the foot of the King size bed and wonder if it’s the same bed they used to share. A raging fire ignites within me at the thought of her with another man, even though that’s in her past.
There’s a picture frame on one of the bedsides – I move forward and pick it up. It’s a picture of him with Ariadne, a side profile of them with his arms around her, their smiling faces looking up at me. Ariadne has green eyes in the picture, and her face is wider than it is now. She was just as captivating then as she is now.
I slip the photo out of the frame and fold it into my pocket before I turn and walk into the living room. I sit and wait quietly, the dark enveloping me as night falls. It’s late when I hear the jiggling of his keys in the door and he stumbles into the apartment, flicking on the light.
He’s startled by my appearance on his couch, and he starts to stutter incoherently before I raise a finger to my lips and tell him to be quiet.
“Come in. Close the door.”
Something in my voice must alert him to the kind of danger I pose, because he does exactly as he’s told.
“What do you want?” he asks.
“I want you to stay away from Ariadne Moore.”
My voice is simple and direct, leaving no room for argument. There’s a confused look on his face as he tries to gauge my intentions.
“I don’t know who you are, man, but I found her first.”
My rage starts to surface, taking on a whole new untapped dimension. He found her first, like she is a toy, a possession. I stand up to my full height and approach him slowly, my eyes never leaving his.
“You may have had her first, but I’m the last man she’ll ever be with.”