A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 39: The End of the World

Blade POV

It was a day Kiana and I weren't supposed to meet, but Mazey had once more graced me with her presence. I shot her a text, asking if she was home so I could drop Mazey off for her, but as usual, got no reply. Apparently Mazey got her independent streak from Kiana, because she was also gone without notice for hours at a time or even a day and never seemed the least bit bothered by it.

"Someone sure is busy these days," I muttered, carrying Mazey down the hall from where she'd found me, chirping demandingly. "Seems like you're stuck with me a little while longer."

"I think most people would classify talking to themselves as being crazy," Leo said, startling me as he turned the corner.

"I wasn't talking to myself," I said pointedly, raising Mazey up.

"I'm not sure talking to a cat is any better, unless you're expecting her to answer," he said, stopping to give her a scratch under the chin. "Perhaps you could use some human company?"

"Are you offering?"

"Me? Lord, no. I'm sick of you already."

"Thanks," I said drily.

"You're very welcome," he said with a flourish and a bow. "It is my job to keep you humble, isn't it?"

"I don't recall that being a part of your official job description actually."

"It is now," he said. "As I was saying, you could do with company. Ideally, that isn't me. Perhaps someone closer to home? Young? Fun? Beautiful? Knows how to put you in your place?" his eyes dipped down. "Who might also be wanting to see Mazey?"

"You're right, I should check and see how Jordan is doing," I said, walking past him now.

"You'll have to stop being so stubborn eventually," he called after me. I lifted a hand to acknowledge him, but didn't respond. Leo and Jordan had had less than stellar reactions to Kiana's sudden disappearance--neither of them had gotten the memo she was leaving either--and the pair of them were not afraid to point it out to me at any given moment, invited or not. Mazey and I weren't the only ones that she had left without saying goodbye too.

I wasn't going to point out that most of my attempts to text Kiana to hang out where usually met with hours of no response only to get 'sorry, im at work, ill text you later' or 'cant im busy' and all of my attempts at reuniting Mazey with Kiana had also failed, that even my text from a few minutes ago was still unacknowledged. If she wasn't going to reply till hours later or have time for me to bring Mazey back to her, she sure as shit wasn't going to go out of her way to make time for me more than she already did. The only times we've managed to hang out were when she texted me to say she had a few hours off; if it wasn't on her terms, it didn't happen at all.

Whatever it was that she was doing, be it work or other, she looked exhausted and miserable. Then again, just being around me was enough to no doubt put a dent in her potentially good moods, but still. Her tattoo looked the same, so whatever it was that was eating up her time was probably also wrecking her sleep and keeping her from Mazey. She wouldn't leave Mazey behind for no reason, so if Mazey was still here, it was because Kiana was physically incapable of taking her and it wasn't her ignoring me on purpose.

I think.

My phone buzzed and it was in my hand before it even finished.

Eliza: I have the day off if you wanna do something?

I thumbed over my chat with Kiana, but she still hadn't opened my message. She probably wouldn't answer till much later and it would probably be a 'thanks but can't, i'm busy' as was the case for almost all her messages these days.