14.

I get home a little after 1 a.m, where did I go after my little disaster of a date? The bar right across the street from where I was staying, I needed something to drown my sorrows in and alcohol knew just how to do that. I needed to get my emotions in place and also, I couldn’t face Charles and tell him that I may have met his long-lost twin.

I quietly walk into the house, well I try to, but the lights come on and I hiss, why are they so damn bright.

“Well, well, well, look who decided to show up,” Charles says in a disapproving tone.

“Hey, I am a grown man,” I say trying not to slur and sway.

“You do know I can smell the alcohol from here?”

I huff, “Whatever, I’m going to bed.”

“Woah there, buddy, what happened? You’ve only ever been this drunk ever since you saw a picture of Nikki,” he says worriedly.

“Nothing is wrong, can’t a man just go have a drink?” I slur as I walk past him, I trip over the side table, but Charles catches me and holds me up.

“Don’t lie to me,” he says, he moves us to the couch and he sits me down, and then he sits down beside me.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I mumble as I lean back onto the couch, the soft cushion bringing me extreme comfort.

“Andy, please, I won’t judge you,” he pleads.

“That’s not the point Charles,” I argue.

“Then what is? Did you enjoy your time with Chantel? Are you scared that maybe, just maybe, women aren’t so bad after all?”

I slowly sit up and look at Charles, who only gives me a sympathetic look.

I sigh, “What if dad was wrong? He based his one judgement of women on what my mother did,”

“He was wrong Xander,”

I didn’t want to feel vulnerable, I hate feeling vulnerable, that’s how I get hurt. My father was wrong, or at least I think he was, but I can’t bring myself to accept it because he is everything to me, he is my role model, he made me the man that I am today and after everything he gave me, I don’t think I can betray him like this.

Charles puts his hand on my lap, “I know this is hard for you Andy and as your best friend I am encouraging you to explore your emotions and figure this out, for yourself, maybe that way you can conclude that you are happy with.”

I nod, wiping my tears, alcohol, see why I hate it some much? Now I’m crying like a little bitch.

“Thank you, Charles,” I sniff.

“No problem buddy, you get some sleep and we’ll talk in the morning okay?”

I nod, and he helps me up from the couch and walks me to my room, once I’m inside he says good night and closes the door, I lazily take my clothes off, leaving myself in my underwear and I get into the blanket and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I’m out.

Next Morning

the next morning is tense and I mean tense, Charles and Damien seemed to have hit a little rift in their relationship and weren’t talking, I didn’t want to intrude so I didn’t ask what was going on? Knowing that it would probably end up in a fight and that’s the last thing I want the morning of a hangover. The drive to work is quiet but good, it gave me time to think about a few things and how I want to proceed with this project.

I was nervous, I wasn’t ready to face Nikki and Chantel, after what happened yesterday, I doubt any of you would. Especially, Nikki, I don’t think I’ll be able to handle seeing her at all but sadly I have a meeting with her, Chantel, and Aiden so I have to be nice courteous.

We walk into the building and I spot Nikki and Chantel talking to each other, they both see me, and they whisper to each other and they both look at me with smiles on their faces.

“Oh, boy, here we go,” I whisper to myself, “Ladies, good morning.”

“Morning, Mr Forsythe, how are you?”

“Good, how are you?” I reply.

“Good, good,”

“Geez, can the two of you stop with the awkwardness?” Charles groans.

“Mr Martinez,” Damien warns, my heart jumps at the sound of his voice.

“Your office is ready Mr Forsythe, Chantel here will escort you,” Nikki says with a smile.

“Okay, great,” I smile.

“You can follow me,” Chantel says, and I walk with her to the elevator, she presses the up button and the doors open and we step inside.

“I’m sorry about last night,” I say.

“It’s okay, I should be the open apologizing,” she frowns, “I was drunk, and I said some things that I shouldn’t have said, I’m sorry.”

“No, you didn’t, I needed to hear that,” I reply.

She nods, “But for what it’s worth if you ever need to talk, I’m here, you call me anytime or come to my office.”

“I appreciate that thank you,”

The elevator doors open, and we are on the same floor as Miss Abraham’s office, we walk down the hall, past Chantel’s office and one door down from hers, we come to a door with my name on it, she opens it and we step inside.

“Welcome to your office,” she says.

The office looked just like Nikki’s, glass desk, white leather chair, monochrome interior, and a great view, it was just much smaller but still effective.

“Wow, thank you,”

“I’ll leave you to get comfortable, if you need me, I’ll be in my office or you can press seven on the office phone,” she says.

I nod in response and she leaves the office, I walk to the window and look out into the city, this must be her way of apologizing, for what happened.

“What happened between the two of you?” Damien voice echo’s through the room, causing me almost to jump out the freakin’ window.

“Damien, what the hell? You scared me,” I say furiously.

“Sorry Xander, I didn’t mean to scare you, I thought you heard me come in,”

I huff, “No, I did not and to answer your question, we had a drunken argument, she said some things and I got upset.”

“Things like what?” he asks as he walks to my desk, he places my briefcase down on top of it and sits down.

“The same things Charles is always telling me,” I say, I sit down on my chair and lay my briefcase down, I open it and take my things out.

“About your sexist attitude and lack of emotion,”

I nod, I place my briefcase down, once I’m done emptying it and start to organise the desk.

“See that should be saying something to you, you can’t keep going on like this,” he says.

“I know, I just, I just need time, okay?” I sigh, “And another realization is that I might actually like both women, please don’t tell Charles.”

Damien laughs, “I knew you were a player and I won’t tell Charles.”

“My dad would kill me if he was here,” I mumble.

“The man is dead Xander, stop letting him control you from the grave,”

“I know but somehow I let him,”

“Charles told me that you still have his ashes back home, why?” he says leaning over the desk, his eyes are sympathetic but still tense enough to know that he’s expecting nothing but the truth.

“I can’t see to let go of him, he’s the one that gave me this life and getting rid of his ashes would feel like I’m throwing him away and saying fuck you,”

“I get it but dude, at some point you will have to let go and really start healing, you deserve better Xander, you do and the only way to do that is to give yourself and the people around you a chance to prove it to you,”

I run my hand through my hair, Damien was right, gosh why does he have to be right?

“Okay,” I reply, “I’ll try.”

“Good, we are all here for you Xander and we love you just like any parents would love their only child,” he teases.

I roll my eyes and chuckle, “Of course, I appreciate you, dad.”

Damien laughs and gets up from his chair, “Let me leave to get down to business,”

Damien leaves my office and I’m alone once again with my thoughts, but I don’t dive into them, I instead bury my head in my work, and my work, I mean setting up the office, there wasn’t much to do but just unpack a few boxes of the project plans and go through them.

Just after twelve-thirty Charles comes knocking at my door, he comes in.

“Hey Andy, just wanted to remind you that you have a one o’clock meeting with Aiden,” he says, “I like this office, it’s nice and less depressing than the one back home.”

I groan, “I hate that motherfucker,”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Whatever,” I scoff.

“Very mature James,” Charles replies.

“Go away Dante,”

He clicks his tongue, “Puta,”

He turns around and heads for the door and that’s when Aiden comes barging in, almost knocking Charles over with the door. Charles gives him the middle finger and walks out, closing the door behind him.

“Mr van Rensburg, come in why don’t you?” I say sarcastically.

“Cut the shit asshole, I’m here to talk to you man to man and maybe give you another warning, maybe you don’t hear me the first time,” he says leaning over my desk.

“Look if it’s about Miss Abrahams I heard you the first time okay,”

He stands up straight and sits down in the chair behind him, “Good, I don’t want you ruining my chances of stealing the company from me.”

What the hell did I just hear?

“You and I both know that she’s not fit to run this huge company, so I need to get board members to get her to sign over her shares to me,”

“Uhm, I don’t –

“And if you keep your mouth shut, I’ll give you a cut,”

Now he’s talking my language.

“I’ll think about it,” I reply quickly.

“Giving you till Friday, to make your decision, you just say yes and I’ll do the rest.”

I swallow the lump of guilt in my throat and nod, “Of course,”

“Good,” he smirks, and he leans back in his chair in satisfaction.