The call

IVAN
~•~
I did not know why I kissed her.
I could not give myself a suitable answer, not even when I parted my lips and eased my tongue into her mouth, not when I wrapped my right arm around her waist and pulled her from the door, bringing her closer to myself. At that moment, nothing made sense.
What was worse? I was perfectly content with it.
Here, with her in my arms, I felt as though nothing could go wrong. I was not scared of the entire world anymore. I did not see reasons to end my life, I did not want reasons to die, I did not want the whole world to leave me alone.
I only wanted to be right there, in her arms, with her.
When I found her in the kitchen, with Elina so close to her face, I knew I had to drag her out of the situation. Elina was not as calm or as nice as she looked on the surface, I knew because I had known her for almost half my life. She could be a sweet soul, gentle as a dove, loving and friendly. But, when you stood between her and the things she wanted, she did not hesitate to eradicate you in ways even you did not understand.
And I knew she wanted me. She had wanted me ever since we were innocent highschool graduates, till when we graduated from college, till when I got married and had Tina with Sarah. Even till now, her want…or rather, desire for me had not been quenched. It was easy for Sarah to hold her ground around Elina, after all, the both of them were devils in their own sphere.
However, just one glance at Camilla and I knew that Elina would squash her like an annoying bug if the need ever came. She would pick her up from the ground, set her on high stone, only to send her crashing back towards the ground. However the fight ended, Camilla was going to end up with a broken back and a face she would not even recognize. And that was the best case scenario.
The worst? Camilla would not survive. Neither body nor soul would evolve from the fight.
And I? I did not want that.
Still, that was not enough reason to explain the anger that blossomed in the pit of my stomach, when Camilla mentioned being threatened. It was crazy how I could not stop myself. She turned her back to leave, but my hands caught her and pulled her into my room, right where I wanted her to be. But, this time, I could not bring myself to warn her about Elina, not with the many words that were coming out of her mouth at the same time, plunging me into a deeper whirlpool of confusion.
This woman knew the right buttons to push me to the wall. She was stubborn, with a witty and fierce spirit. She would neither cower nor shut the fuck up when I wanted her to. She stared back at me as though I were nothing, laughed to my face as though her knees did not buckle underneath my stare, she took in the scent of my breath as though it did not dampen her panties.
Everything stirred something in me. Something about her always stirred something in me, even though I had never been able to point out what it was.
Now, I knew exactly what it was.
It was my body responding to hers, my body calling out to hers.
I was stunned to see her break away from our kiss with brute force. If I had not felt her lips part against mine and her tongue in my mouth, I would have felt as though I forced her into the kiss. Every woman I knew would scrub the walls with the back of the heads just for a kiss on the cheek, yet, here she was, refusing me.
My eyes blinked twice in shock.
She glared at me, wiping my taste off her lips with the back of her hands.
I heard her kiss her teeth before she turned her back towards me, flung my door open and threw herself out of my room.
She shut my door right in front of my face, the echo resonated from the walls in my room.
It was not until she left that I noticed the painful bulging in my pants. I looked down at my joggers, only to find my junior hard and erect, as though he was responding to some sort of call.
I hissed and returned to my bed, rubbing my face with my palm in frustration.
The heat in my stomach refused to dissolve, my heart continued to pound against my chest, even minutes after she was gone.
When my door creaked open, I sprang up from my bed immediately. My body jumped with hopes she was back, back to finish what she had graciously started. However, my face and shoulders fell when I found Elina at the feet of my door. She could see the disappointment on my face, she watched my anticipation die down.
She knew I had been hoping she was someone else.
I stayed quiet as I settled into my bed, I hid my erection with my duvet and kept silent. I watched as she took off my shirt, and wore her clothes carefully over her naked body. She said no words to me, and I did the same to her.
I did not speak until I was sure she was ready to go.
"I need you to stay away from Camilla, Elina. She has not done anything wrong to you. I cannot have you hurting an innocent woman for nothing." I spat out. I would not have used so many words, I could have only given her a monosyllabic stern order. But, I knew Elina too well. And she knew me far too well to be intimidated by me.
Elina turned back to me with a wry smile on her face. She had her designer bag and heels on.
Now, it was obvious why she had ended up in my bed in the first place.
"I am not the one she should fear, Ivan. The only one who intends to hurt her here is you." She spat out.
I must confess, it did sting me in all the possible places.
"She's a good girl, she deserves her peace of mind. Ivan, you and peace are direct antonyms."
She blew me a kiss, as though she did not know she had dropped a heavy missile on my chest.
"I'll see you in the office."
With that, she was out of my room. I knew Antonio would show her to the door, so I did not bother.
I only found myself on my bed, hands trembling, while her words continued to resound in my ears.
Fuck her.
What did she even know about me?
Quite a lot, but it did not matter.
I sighed and tried to force myself to sleep. The sound of my phone's ringing tone cut into my thoughts.
I frowned and picked it up. I answered it and pressed it to my ears, not taking time to examine the caller ID.
Whoever had my personal number must be really important and close to me.
"Ivan Holloway speaking."
The line was silent for a while.
I was going to repeat myself again, but the voice at the other end of the line stopped me.
"Daddy?"
My heart froze in my chest. I could neither blink my eyes nor move my lips to speak.
It felt as though my soul was trapped in a maze, and my body was… here.
Tina. Tina.
"Daddy, are you there?"
Shit! Could this be real? What should I say? What was I supposed to do?
"Mummy, I don't think he's answering."
This could not be a dream, it was really my daughter's voice at the end of the line!
After…after three long years.
I heard some crackling noises, before the line was still again.
"Ivan, are you there?"
My jaw dropped to the ground.
Sarah.