49.

Xander

“I hate it here,” I whisper as I get into the car after leaving my last meeting of the day.




“Well, at least that’s it for the day, you need to call Nikki, she’s worried about you,” Charles says as she hands over my phone.




“Charles what did I tell you? If she calls my phone, you give it to me,”




Charles gives me the, oh no you didn’t look, and I quickly apologize.




“I didn’t want you getting distracted okay, I need to leave this country and go start a new life somewhere,”




“So, you’re leaving the country with me?”




“Where you go, I go, we are best friends after all and besides we both know we cant be apart from each other too long before we start losing it,”




I laugh, “I feel sorry for our partners,”




Charles laughs, “Honestly, they’ll get used to it.”




I look out the window and see Damien on the phone, he looks worried and my runs to Chantel. Guilt washes over me and I look at Charles, he looks clueless, he’s already catching up on what he missed in the tabloids.




Damien ends his call and gets in the car and starts the engine.




“What are we getting for dinner guys?” he asks.




“I was thinking we could cook something tonight; tomorrow is our first and only day off, we can all chip in,” Charles suggests.




I nod, “I’m good with that.”




Damien smiles, “Then a homemade meal it is, do we have everything though?”




“I had groceries sent to the house this morning,” Charles says.




“Wait, you planned this didn’t you?”




He nods, “Yes I did, because I have a new recipe I found and I’ve been dying to try it, it’s from Montero’s cookbook.”




“I knew it,” Damien and I say, and we laugh.




Charles rolls his eyes.




The drive home is quiet but I can tell that something is bothering Damien, but I don’t want to involve myself, I just want to get home and call my wife. I miss her, I haven’t spoken to her all day.




I send her a text hello, but I notice that she hasn’t been online since this afternoon and something doesn’t feel right but I reassure myself that she is okay and that she is in safe hands.




We get home and we all get into the house, I go upstairs, and I start to undress and I call Nikki but she doesn’t answer my call. I call her mother and she doesn’t pick up either.




I change into short and a t-shirt and I go downstairs.




“Guys, I can’t get a hold of Nikki,” I say as I reach the bottom of the stairs.




Charles and Damien look at me and they are confused.




“Did you try her mother?”




“Yes, can you call X or Chantel?”




“I’ll call X,” Damien says, and he picks up his phone.




“I’ll try Chantel,” Charles says, and I try calling Nikki again.




“Hey X, how are you?” Damien says, “Have you heard spoken to Nikki today?”




“Yeah, yeah.”




He looks relieved but then his face turns from relief to fear.




“Okay, uhm, thank you.” He says and he hangs up.




“What’s wrong?”




Damien puts his phone down and he sighs, “Nikki was in hospital.”




Charles gasps.




“She fainted but he says she’s okay, she’s just needs to rest.” He adds.




My heart starts beating out of my chest, I knew I shouldn’t have left her.




“What happened?” Charles asks, “Is the baby okay?”




“He said he’d call as soon as he had more information, but he did clarify that Nikki and the baby are good.”




“We need to go back,” I say, “I need go back to her.”




Charles looks at me and grabs my hand, “Andy, she’s okay. I understand that you are worried about her but like X said, they are both good.”




I pull my hand away, “No Charles, I can’t. I need to be there for her,  I can’t leave her, not the way my dad left my mother. We need to book flights right now.”




“James if you don’t calm down right now,” Damien warns.




I look at him and it takes everything inside me not to yell at him and tell him to fuck off, but I know that won’t help me.




“Nikki wouldn’t like it if you did that, and you know that. Let’s wait for X to call and we can figure out a way forward. We want to be there for her too Xander, but we have to be smart about this and you are not abandoning your baby, or your wife.” Damien says reassuringly.




“If you were, you would have no plans to return back to her,” Charles adds.




They were right, I take in a deep breath in and out. I try my best not to cry, I was scared.




Charles gives me a hug and rubs my back, “Everything will be okay, she’s a strong woman.”




This is probably the weakness my father was talking about, a woman will have you vulnerable, losing control of your emotions. No, vulnerability is good, that’s what makes us human and I’m not losing control I’m expressing myself.




Charles steps back and stands beside Damien.




I sniff, “Thank you guys,”




My phone rings and its Nikki, I pick up the phone and put it on loudspeaker.




“Babe?”




“Hey, my love. I’m sorry for missing your call.”

 

“It’s okay, are you okay? X told me what happened? Is the baby okay?”




“Yes, we are good baby, I just got stressed and I fainted, nothing serious.”

 

“Nothing serious, honey you said stress and faint, that’s not good,” Charles says.




Nikki sighs, “Hey mama Charles, I know but everything is good now. I’m on my way home.”

 

“Okay, that’s good. What got you so stressed baby?”




“Just work stuff baby but Chantel will be handling my business now.”

 

“Okay good, thank God for Chantel. We are glad that you are good, honey, you scared us,”




“I know and I’m sorry. How was y’alls day? Is everything going well?”

 

“It was good, Xander almost had a breakdown, but everything is good, we were about to cook,” Charles says.




“That’s good, well I’m in the mood for some Chow Mein and Xlanti is going to get it for me,”

 

I laugh, “I’m glad you’ve got people that look after you.”




“And baby, I need to talk to you privately,”

 

The tone in her voice told me that she missed me, and I turn the phone off loudspeaker, and I put it in my ear, she tells me to go to my room and immediately know its freaky.