Personal Assistant: Limited Edition[MXM]✔

Chapter 13

13.

Sebastian

On Monday morning Nasir sent me to buy groceries for a pantry that seemed already full to me. On Tuesday morning he asked me to do the laundry and pay all bills. I cooked dinner on Wednesday night. I didn't mind the extra chores, but Nasir's inability to do work he clearly loved made me suspicious. During those times I had to do something for him he disappeared god knows where. He didn't tell me where he was going and Ross didn't seem to care.

Interestingly on Monday when I returned from grocery shopping I found him with a man half his age. They were in the kitchen talking when I walked in. They stopped talking immediately and the man abruptly left. Nasir called the man a friend and left it at that. My gut told me something was fishy.

Ross didn't just seem not to care; he didn't seem to notice anything. For those three days he was holed up in his office working on something important. Whatever it was was more important than sex. I barely saw him and I kind of missed him.

I was sitting cross-legged on my bed with a computer on my lap Thursday morning when my phone rang. Now, my phone rarely rang so the sound scared the shit out of me. I almost dropped Ross' laptop and in the process messed up the email I'd been about to send. I mistakenly pressed the 'send' button anyway and hoped the CFO's personal assistant understood what I'd been trying to say.

I put the glass of Margarita I'd made myself on the nightstand and pushed the laptop off my body. My phone stopped ringing for a second but started ringing again. It was in the nightstand drawer so I pulled it out and breathed a sigh of relief when I realized who was calling.

"Hi mom," I said cheerfully after accepting the call.

She sighed heavily. "I thought you were dead or something," she admonished, her anger struggling to hide her normal sweet voice. "Why don't you call me?"

"Mom I've been busy. I...college is so hectic at this time of the year. I barely have time to breathe."

...because of all the sex I'm having.

"It's been three weeks since I've heard from you and you didn't take my calls. I was worried. I even called Cameron and his phone just went to voicemail."

He's probably lying in a pool of his own vomit somewhere.

"Mom I'm fine. How are you? Did you get that kitten you told me about?"

I could feel her resigning from chiding me just by her breathing. "No. It died a week after birth."

"Oh I'm sorry mom," I said.

I could imagine her pushing a lock of blond hair behind her ear. She always liked doing that. "I hope you can visit soon."

Her voice carried the tones of loneliness, racking me up with guilt. I couldn't fix her loneliness and it wasn't it that gave me gnawing feelings in my abdomen. Mom thought I was at college making up for my stray ways after high school. She thought I'd cleaned up my act and I'd had, until I was blindsided unawares. I wasn't back to my stray ways but was "this" any better? I owed a gangster money and worked as a glorified prostitute. All the while I lied about it from the one person who loved me unconditionally.

For most of my life it was just my mother and I. My father moved into and out of our lives until he moved out permanently – died from a brain artery that ruptured or something like that. Mom did her best to raise me alone. I never struggled for anything so I couldn't blame her when I derailed my life with alcohol and the idea I could make it as an artist – an untrained one at that. It backfired and after two years mom welcomed me back at home. I stayed for a few months before deciding to have a go at college. Mom was elated and happily spent the money, even though she thought graphic design was a qualification for people who could afford to be unemployed. I was supposed to be graduating early the next year.