Some people gathered on the balcony to have conversations while looking out into the illuminated garden. It was almost romantic. He wondered if his mom would plan his wedding. Wedding? Nick sighed and fought the urge to survey the room for the 1000th time. Kalilah wasn’t there. He hadn’t had any alone time with her since the Monday morning sex in his office. They had talked on the phone periodically throughout the week, but he hadn’t really seen her since Monday.
On the bright side, she wasn’t hiding from him. She answered every call and text from him like she usually did, but things weren’t the same. It wasn’t the lack of sex, although his body did ache for her. It was how she spoke, reserved and cautious. She hadn’t made a joke or sarcastic remark all week. Everything was off, and he couldn’t quite place it.
He needed to see her and talk to her. He decided on the drive over that nothing would keep him from her, his father’s policy included. Restless, Nick moved from his table and wandered around the ballroom. He sipped his drink and decided to get some fresh air to calm his harried nerves.
“Nick, darling, there you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Shit. Nick recognized Laurel’s irritating voice from anywhere. He slowly turned to his right to face her. She looked good on paper: five-ten, model thin, creamy skin, and thick wavy brown hair that fell to the middle of her back. Most guys thought wow; he did at first, but now all he thought was meh.
Her parents were friends with his, and they all thought it would be cute to fix up their children. He went on the blind date in mid-January at the insistence of his mother, not really expecting happily ever after. His assumption was confirmed when she hardly spoke to him and sent texts for the rest of the night.
To this day, she still didn’t know that he had heard her talking on the phone while he was waiting for the valet. She’d told whomever she was talking to that she didn’t care about his net worth; there wasn’t enough money in the world for her to attach herself to a nerd. Then, she called him a boring loser. He’d invited her to the Gala, something he’d never planned on ever attending, just to see if she would say it to his face. She had smiled like the coward she was and said, “Sure.” Sure? Fat chance in hell. He hadn’t seen or thought about her until he ran into her at his birthday party.
“Laurel? How may I help you?” She smiled at him like he was silly.
“You asked me to be your date, remember?” Nick’s irritation spiked; he didn’t have time for this. The filter that he’d spent months crafting for Kalilah broke.
“What the hell? We both know you never had any intention on being my date when I asked you.” She looked at him with mock surprise. “I heard you. You know, I’m too big of a nerd and loser – that my net worth didn’t matter.”
Laurel eyes grew big with genuine surprise, but she recovered quickly. She got closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I realized at your birthday party that I was wrong. We can work fine.”
She placed a stiff kiss on his cheek. Nick laughed. Kalilah liked the old him and embraced the new him, and that is one of the many reasons he loved her. She saw him, even when he was disheveled, and was willing to sleep with him anyway. No pretenses, she just accepted him.
“Laurel. Sweetheart, enjoy the party, mingle and meet an eligible bachelor. I’m off the market.”
He moved her arm and stepped out of her space. He was feeling pretty good about himself until he saw Kalilah’s retreating form. Shit. He pushed through the crowd, but by the time he made it outside, she was gone.
Nick stared at the empty chair across from him and suppressed a sigh. He had yet to hear anything anyone said during the management meeting. He rubbed his chest to try the ease the deep ache, but knew it was impossible. She was gone. It had been five days since he’d seen or heard from her, and the pain was almost unbearable.
His workouts with Natalia were the only time he could ease the pain. He would push his body to the brink of exhaustion. At least his aching muscles and burning lungs could make him feel something, anything different. Saturday night replayed in his head on repeat forever taunting him and robbing his sleep.
He’d left t
he Gala to find Kalilah and explain, but she was nowhere to be found. Dejected, he returned home and was treated to more heartache. His hope spiked when he saw the bejeweled case of her iPhone sitting on his kitchen counter. He looked around for her until he realized he was alone. Only then did he notice that the house keys he’d given her were next to the cellphone along with a two-word note: Mission Complete.
A pain unlike anything he had ever felt in his life ripped through his body with such force, he had to sit down. She had left him. This time, he remembered to save the number of her Android to his phone. Shaky fingers dialed her number; each ring sounded louder and more annoying than the previous.
“Hello?” It was soft and barely above a whisper, would he have missed it if he hadn’t been listening intently.
“Kalilah? Where are you? We need to ta…”
“There is nothing to talk about Nick,” she cut him off. She didn’t sound like herself. She wasn’t angry. Kalilah sounded…tired? “My job is done. You are a confident man and a capable lover. The woman you choose will be very happy.”
Her job? For the second time in his adult life, he felt a tear slide down his cheek.
“Kalilah, you don’t understand…”
“I do, Nick. I’m setting you free. My mission is complete. Goodbye, Nick.” The line disconnected along with a part of his soul.
Nick wasn’t sure how long he sat on his kitchen floor, but it was long enough for his body to become stiff and the coldness of the tile to seep through his clothes, chilling him to the bone. He mustered enough energy to rip off his tux and fall into bed where he stayed until Monday.
Nick didn’t notice that his dad had ended the meeting until the other VPs left the room. The only reason he continued to show up was the hope that she would be at work. Now that it was Thursday, the little ray of hope he’d held onto dimmed considerably. He closed his empty notebook and willed himself to stand. He let out a long sigh and put his notebook in his case.
“Nicholas.”
His dad’s voice made him jump. He looked up to confirm that he wasn’t alone. Even in his depressed state, Nick could not miss the irritation bouncing off his dad.