The Man Who Has No Sight (Soulless 4)

I was quiet because I had no idea what else to do.

He stared me down like he expected me to speak first.

“Yes?” I asked, mildly annoyed.

“You better tell your boy to back the fuck up.”

I listened to the threat and felt my blood start to boil, felt the indescribable rage take hold. Without thinking, I was on my feet, staring down the man who had been so close to claiming my heart before I’d found out he was an adulterer. “If you want to continue living here, I suggest you shut your mouth.”

He obviously hadn’t expected me to fire back with my own threat because his eyebrows rose. “Like you have any power to change that.”

“Oh, but I do.” My hands flattened against the desk, and I leaned forward. “I run this place like a commander in the armed forces. My boss pockets a fortune every month because of my hard work. If there’s a conflict of interest, you think he’s gonna choose some whiny tattletale who always complains? Or the woman who makes him a shitload of cash?” I opened my drawer and pulled out a sample of the contract he’d signed when he moved in. “You must have skimmed through the contract, because my boss has the right to force eviction in the event of a conflict of interest. This threatening behavior toward Deacon and me is considered a conflict of interest. So, your ass will be gone.” I sat back in my chair and looked at my computer.

When he couldn’t find anything to say back, he turned around and walked off.

Wise decision, bitch.

It was unusual to have Derek at the condo during the week, and it changed our routine immensely. Deacon couldn’t always leave the office early to grab his son from school, so I left the office and took care of it myself.

I greeted him outside the gates of his school and took him home.

“Can we get ice cream?” he asked from his side of the car.

I wanted to spoil him rotten but knew that wasn’t my right. “If I asked your father, what do you think he’d say?”

He cringed. “No…”

“Then no.”

“Couldn’t we just not tell him?” he asked hopefully.

“No,” I said with a chuckle. “Ice cream is a once in a while treat.”

He groaned. “Man…”

We arrived at the building, and I took him to the residence. He dropped his backpack and hopped on the couch to watch TV.

I stepped away to call Deacon. “Hey, I just picked him up, and now he’s at home.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you guys in a few hours.”

Both of my eyebrows rose in surprise. “Uh…what does that mean?”

“Is that a problem?” he asked, clearly confused.

I didn’t mind watching Derek at all, even though I’d never really been alone with him except on a flight, but that wasn’t the problem. “Well…I’m working right now.” I worked long hours too, either at the desk or with clients. I could do emails and texts in the residence, but most of my time was spent physically doing tasks.

“Oh…I’m sorry.” He sighed into the phone. “I…I didn’t really consider that.”

If I’d known he needed me, I would have moved things around to accommodate Derek, but that wasn’t something I could do every day. If he expected this to happen every time he stayed at work for an extended period of time, we’d have a problem.

“I can’t step away right now, Cleo.”

I was a bit annoyed that he expected me to take care of Derek, that he’d forgotten I worked for a living, probably because I was a woman. He was used to me dropping everything for him, but childcare was such a strenuous job that I couldn’t juggle it too. That wasn’t my job anyway. If we were married, that would be different, but we hadn’t even talked about how to handle this. “I can take care of it. Don’t worry about it.” I eyed Derek on the couch, watching him watch TV. “But I can’t do this every day.”

“Thank you,” he said. “We’ll talk when I get home.”

“Is there anything I should be doing with him?” I knew how to entertain him on a flight, but day-to-day operations were foreign territory to me.

“He can have a small snack, but he needs to work on his homework at the table. Afterward, he can watch TV.”

“Alright. Bye.” I was about to hang up.

“Thank you, Cleo,” he said quickly.

“Yeah…no problem.”

I had to cancel a lot of appointments at the last minute and ask Matt to cover for me. Deacon was gone really late, so I really couldn’t salvage the day at all. I worked on my laptop, but there was only so much I could do remotely.

I made dinner for Derek and me, and when Deacon still wasn’t home, I got him ready for bed.

Taking care of him was easy because he was a sweet boy. But I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I weren’t stressed about all the responsibility I’d shirked that afternoon. I was supposed to negotiate for a raise. Blowing off my job to take care of my boyfriend’s kid was not a good segue into that conversation. I’d never blown off anything before, unless I had the flu, so people assumed I was either dying or had a family emergency.