We lived in One57, even though I knew Athena would have preferred a more suburban lifestyle one day. I mean, Athena had a lot of stuff. Closets full of shoes. Dresses. Bric-a-brac. Knick knacks. Books. Plates. You name it.
I had to give up my man cave and move a lot of shit into storage when she came. But I wasn’t moving to suburbia. And I was okay. As long as I had my queen. We’re billionaires, and she gets it. New York City is our nation and One57 is where our tribe dwells, and we were bound by duty as its citizens. Together, Athena and I manage our disparate empires. And I love spending my days with Athena.
My Athena, the perfect woman.
So, why was I feeling worried? The first few months after we moved in togehter were nothing short of perfect, but during the past few days I couldn’t help but notice that she was acting somewhat strangely.
First, she started leaving at odd times during the day, telling me she had meetings to go to. Thing is, whenever I checked with her assistant, there seemed to be no meetings on her schedule. And then there were the incessant phone calls and text messages… What was up with that? I asked her, and her answer was a standard one - work.
It was always about work.
I didn’t mind that she worked her ass off. Hell, I loved that she had found something she felt passionate about. But that… That was just becoming plain suspicious.
Now, I was trying not to think of it but it was becoming damn hard not to. What if she was - fuck, I can’t even say this - cheating on me?
Fuck, that was impossible. There was no way on Earth that Athena would do that to me. No fucking way. But the question remained… If she wasn’t cheating on me, just exactly was she doing? And why did she feel the need to hide from? She had never done that before.
I had to know what was going on.
The first time I spoke to her about it, she brushed it off once again. Work, she said, shrugging as if I was the one acting strange. Then, when I pressed her for what kind of work it was, she actually shrugged once again and said “you know, meetings and stuff.”
Seriously, what the fuck? That shit just wasn’t right. I knew she was hiding something from me and I needed to know what.
It all started getting real one night. And when I say real, what I mean is fucked up. And, to top it all off, it was the night before my birthday.
We were lying in bed together, still sweaty from a three hour long sex-marathon, when her cell phone buzzed. She picked it up and, instead of taking the call in front of me, she scurried away to the bathroom. Now, why the fuck would she do that?
And, worst than that, when she took the call just before closing the bathroom door, it seemed I could hear a man’s voice on the other side on the line.
I needed to face the truth. If she was cheating on me, I needed to know. There was no use in running from it. But fuck, if that was it, if that was the truth of it… Fuck. Just fuck. I didn’t even want to think of it. That shit would just ruin me.
That night I fell asleep feeling like shit, thoughts of betrayal hammering inside my head. Athena woke up early, happy as always and, instead of waiting for me so that we could have breakfast together in the balcony, she got dressed in a hurry.
“Gotta go, Malcolm. Work,” she leaned into me and kissed my cheek.
“Already?” I asked, already not liking it one bit. She never left the room that early, let alone because of work.
“Yeah, I have an urgency meeting right now.”
“With who?”
“You know, it’s work.”
Right, fucking work again. I was already becoming tired at that same fucking answer.
The moment she left, I jumped out of bed in an instant and got dressed as fast as I could, just grabbing some jeans and a plain shirt and head out my apartment and into the elevator. I got downstairs just in time to see her turn a corner, heading straight to the building acro
ss the street. She was not leaving the area then; whatever she was up, she was going to do right here.
Fuck, I couldn’t believe that I was actually following her around, like some fucking jealous teenager. But my curiosity had gotten the best of me. I needed to know, I just needed to. And the more I followed her, seeing her head straight to the lobby of the building and go to the concierge, the more I started to worry.
Where exactly was she going? And who was she meeting with? Fuck, I wasn’t liking any of that shit.
I swallowed hard in anxiety. What if she wasn’t cheating…? Fuck, I was becoming paranoid. Whatever was going, I had to solve it fast or else I’d really risk going crazy.
It didn’t take much to ask the doorman the tell me what floor she had gotten off on and make my way over there.
I took a deep breath and prepared mentally to knock at that door - or just fucking kick it down - and see once and for all what was really going on. But the moment I was about to walk towards it, the door swung open and Athena stepped outside and looked straight at me.