Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“No, I’m not making a choice. I’m not your secretary begging to be fucked on your table.”
My smile turned nasty. She just did the one thing she shouldn’t have done. She brought Lillian into the conversation.
“You’ve just made your choice.” I began to walk away from her.
I had just touched the handle when she called. “Wait.”
I turned around slowly and looked at her without pity. I remembered her under me. Panting, desperate, her small breasts jiggling, and I felt nothing but contempt.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done what I did. I’ll sell La Zaire back to you at the price I bought it for. I’m sorry.”
I nodded. “My lawyers will contact you.”
“Thank you.”
“Send my regards to your father.”
Then I was gone.
I walked into the elevator and waited for the exhilaration to come. It didn’t and my skin prickled with foreboding. My work was everything to me, if I couldn’t derive joy from it, what did I have? Nothing. Without Lillian, everything was meaningless.
I sent Chris a text.
La Zaire is ours
His reply came in immediately.
Whoop! Whoop! Who’s the master of this game?
Well played, Max. Showed her who’s boss.
I couldn’t even answer him.
I headed to the office, feeling as if I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. I didn’t have the excuse of being unwell either. Lillian was the cause of my sour mood.
I tried to imagine my life without her. It stretched out like an endless desert. Desolate, empty, nothingness. True, I’d lived without her and I’d been pretty happy, but meeting her had been like having a door to an unimaginably wonderful room, cracked open. After giving me a quick peek inside, the door had been slammed shut.
In the brief time we had been together, Lillian had become a necessary part of my life. If I was to be brutally honest, I needed her. I loved her. That was it. I loved her. I was in love with her. She made everything in my life make sense. Life with Lillian was an adventure and I was determined to get her back.
No matter what, I wanted her back.
My phone vibrated. I looked at the screen.
“Hello, Mother.”
“Hey, Maximus, I know you’re going to complain, but I’m in town and I’d love to have dinner with you. Can you squeeze me in?”
“Sure,” I said without feeling irritation. Something had shifted. Maybe it was the fact that she was really trying to bridge the distance between us.
“Oh, that was easy,” she said, clearly pleased. “I expected to have to cajole you. I’m staying at The Supreme and I hear the food at their restaurant is great. Let’s meet at six.”
I was glad to have somewhere to go after work. My house, which was my sanctuary had become a mockery of something fleeting that I’d had before it had flown away. I arrived a few minutes before my mother. She was late, but it didn’t matter. Nothing did any more. I used to be particular about people keeping time, but it didn’t bother me now.
Chapter 57
Max
Isat brooding over a double shot of whisky, wondering where Lillian was. What if she was on a date? What if she had gone back to pansy Dan? The thought made me livid. I wanted to take a baseball bat to his bony knees.
“Must have been a rough day,” my mother said.
I hadn’t seen her approach and I stood up and she air-kissed my cheek.
“I’m fine.”
The waiter brought the wine and poured it into our glasses.
“No, you’re not. It’s Lillian, isn’t it?”
I slumped. I couldn’t discuss Lillian with my mother. I just couldn’t. “Can we please not talk about her?”
“No, we have to talk about her.”
“I made a mistake many years ago and I won’t let you make the same one. You’re leaving right now. You’re going to her home and you’re going to tell her you love her. Because she doesn’t know that. And that will change everything.”
I stared at my mother.
She smiled sadly and nodded. “I haven’t been a good mother to you until today. Go now, my son. Go now and with both hands take what is yours.”
“What about you?”
“I’ve reached the age where I can dine alone without anyone raising an eyebrow. Go, Maximus. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Go, make me proud. Soon it will be too late.”
I stood and headed to her place, my heart pounding like crazy. I had to dry my palms every so often on my pants.
I rang her bell several times. No answer. The frustration inside me grew. I’d assumed that she would be home. I took out my phone and jabbed the screen until I got to Maggie’s number.
“Do you know where Lillian is?” I asked when she answered her phone. I knew I was being rude, but the words were already out.