"You're still here?" Damien paused in his tracks as he sighted Alvarez standing at the exit of the office building.
Damien had a late meeting which had lasted nearly three hours, and after that, he had stayed to finish up a project he had abandoned for a while now. Although he had eaten a few hours ago, he still felt quite hungry, and what he planned to do was go home and find a way to relax after eating.
His bones felt cramped as well.
Alvarez smiled at his best friend from the door, "Well, I'm head of security, remember? And you're the owner of this company and my boss. If you leave late, so do I." He chuckled and Damien narrowed his eyes, laughing at the same time, "I can't tell if that was accusatory or affectionate."
Alvarez shrugged with a wink, "Whichever you want it to be. It's up to you."
"Asshole." Damien shot back.
They both burst into laughter at the same time, and as they both walked out of the building and towards the car park, Damien looked back at his friend, "Drinks, tonight. What do you think?"
Alvarez thought about it for a while and then he nodded, "Sure, okay. But no one is getting drunk again. Especially you, cause you won't be able to bear it." He laughed and Damien nodded, raising his hand in surrender.
"You don't even need to tell me twice." He agreed, remembering the last time he had gotten drunk as it had been so horrible.
He didn't think he would be getting drunk for a while, but he couldn't stay away from alcohol completely. He would just have one or two shots and that would be it, he promised himself.
They both got into their cars and drove to their regular bar.
Twenty minutes later they were seated on their stools, jackets off and drinking whilst they discussed.
Damien was already beginning to feel better, and the cool music playing in the bar helped to ease of some worries. Maybe all he needed was to unwind after days of working really hard, and that he was doing.
Beside him, Alvarez took another swig of the beer he had ordered and faced Damien, "That reminds me. You messaged me a few days ago... something about Madison's number. If I remember correctly, I sent it to you. What happened?"
Damien froze, groaning internally. He had hoped this talk wouldn't come up, but of course, trust Alvarez to remember every slight thing.
Instead of answering, he took another sip of his drink, and then he cleared his throat, and muttered, "Mm hm. So?" He stalled, as he faced his drink.
"So?" Alvarez chuckled, "You can't just leave me hanging, cause I know you are trying to divert this convo. You're gonna have to do better than that. You asked for Madison's number when I'm quite sure that there hasn't been any communication between you two, and the last time you spoke to her, it didn't end well. So obviously, I'm sure you didn't ask for her number to just store it in your phone and stare at it."
Damien rolled his eyes, taking another sip of his drink.
Somehow he felt pretty stupid for calling Madison while he had been completely wasted, because as it stood he pretty much had no recollection of what he must have said to her.
Also he wasn't even ready to start imagining how he must've sounded and what he had said, and right now he really didn't want to talk about Madison, but he had no choice because Alvarez was looking at him inquisitively and so he had to spill something.
"Fine. I got very drunk a few days ago and I might have drunk dialed Madison." He finally blurted up, rubbing his forehead in embarrassment.
Alvarez's eyes widened in surprise. "You did what? What did you do? What did you say?"
Damien kept silent, not sure what to say to that. If he could remember he would feel much better, but it was still all bits and pieces, and he wasn't sure how to explain that to Alvarez without him thinking he was crazy.
"Wait. I hope you didn't say anything harsh to her." Alvarez said. He sounded more serious now and he had sat up straighter, staring at Damien as he waited for an answer, "You know how Madison is, especially at this point in her life. She's extremely fragile. I hope you didn't—"
"No, man. I... I wouldn't do that. I promise I didn't say anything, or use any harsh words. I might not remember it all, but I don't think I lashed out at her. I've vowed not to again, so I didn't."
Alvarez stared at him, making it obvious that he didn't believe him.
"You are looking at me like you don't believe right?" Damien asked in disbelief and Alvarez just shrugged, "I'm not trying to be unsupportive but you're a jerk to her in your normal state. I can't imagine if it would be any better when you're drunk. Well, what do I know"
Damien exhaled. Alvarez was right to feel and think this way, because he had been a jerk to Madison.
"Okay, fine. It's true, there's a lot against me. But I am a hundred percent sure, I wasn't mean or angry toward her. I can swear with my life."
Alvarez clutched his beer and then nodded after a while, "I do believe you. So what did you guys talk about then?"
Damien sighed heavily, "I... I can't really remember... you know I was pretty drunk then right? Everything is a blur so I don't really remember much, but I think I apologized about the letters and tried to explain that I didn't get them and why. But I'm not quite sure..."
Alvarez was quiet for a while, "That's weird. Do you remember how she responded?"
Damien wished he did. He really wished he had a recollection of what she must have said, but unfortunately he had nothing in this blank head of his. So he shook his head relaying his answer, and faced his drink instead.
They drank in silence for a while, and then he remembered something he had not informed Alvarez about.
"I changed my mind, about the flight. I'm going to London after all."
Alvarez froze in surprise, staring at his friend in disbelief and lowering the bottle of beer back to the table, he said, "Um..wow. I don't even know what to say man. T-that's nice honestly, or I guess but... do you think it's a good idea to see her right now? I mean, you don't have any idea what you both must have said that night. So is this the right thing?" Alvarez finished.
Damien smiled, "Oh. I'm not going to meet Madison actually." He explained and when Alvarez frowned, he continued, "I'm actually going to meet the rest of the Connors. It's time you know. It's time to meet them again... face them and confront everything that was buried in the past. I want to know why that man had that grudge against me, against my family. Whatever we must have done to him. I want to know if his hatred for me is deep rooted, or just something that has to do with my relationship with his daughter. I just want to know about it all."
Alvarez looked even more shocked this time, and he opened his mouth trying to utter something, but he wasn't exactly sure what the right thing to say was, so he continued to drink.
After he had taken a few swigs, he faced Damien as the silence between them stretched, "Look, man. I know, and I understand what you have with, and against the Connors. I know how badly you want revenge for what they did, and your idea of knowing what the cause of their hatred to you is, is very nice actually and I will always support your idea too. I know first hand what you went through, so you have my full support, but then... Do you think flying to London is the best thing right now? I mean you cancelled your flight some days back, don't you seem to be rushing things?"
Damien didn't need to think twice about this decision of his, and he even had the answers for Alvarez.
Facing the Connors was something he had longed to do for years, and even more than that, it was something he needed to do. There was no two ways about it. This was the right time, and nothing was going to change his mind now. His gut told him to go on with it and he was going to do just that.
So facing Alvarez squarely, he nodded saying defiantly, "Yes this is the right thing. I've never been sure of anything in my life than this."
As Alvarez began to say something, in response to what he had just said, Damien felt his phone vibrate in his jacket. He immediately picked up when he saw it was his secretary, and raising his hand he excused himself.
"Yes, Nina?" He spoke into the receiver.
"Good evening, sir. I just called to inform you about the fight. It has been successfully booked, sir."
Damien nodded, "Good. Forward the details of the flight to me. Date, time and such. I'll be waiting for the details. Thank you."
He hung up, taking another sip of his drink.
He took in a deep breath, glad that he was feeling much better, more confident about his plans and decisions also.
"You're taking a flight?" Alvarez asked, a frown forming on his face, "Don't you usually take your private jet during international travels?"
Damien nodded, "Yes, that's true. But I don't think there's a need for it this time. I'm not going to spend so much time there and I'm just going to get answers, finish up whatever I have to do, and that's it. I'll be on my way back."
Alvarez nodded, "Okay then. Do whatever is better for you, I guess." He chuckled, raising his beer to clink Damien's glass and the two began to laugh as they continued to drink.
Damien felt much better than he had earlier today, and it felt good. He had shared his worries, and anyways whenever he talked to his best friend, he always felt better.
Smiling to himself, he finished his drink and leaning over on the counter, he listened to Alvarez explain his experience with dealing with his wife's second pregnancy as well as her due date.
Random men talks!
.......
KATHERINE
For the first time ever, Katherine did not notice the messy environment around her as she made her way down to the underground garage where she usually had her meeting with the men, she had sent to keep tabs on Madison.
It was late at night and normally she would be worried about her safety, but this time she didn't care. There were much more important things on her mind tonight.
One was the fact that she had gotten no calls nor texts from Damien since that day, and she was still angry like she should. She had expected that after he had come out of his drunken state, he would at least return the calls and messages she had left him two days ago but of course, he hadn't.
It hurt so much, the way he was neglecting her again and she hated it so much.
Her day had also been bad, as she had been so furious that she spent the whole of her time thinking of what to do and blaming Madison for everything that was just happening.
Damien would never treat her like this. The Damien she knew would have come to her apartment and made up with her, but this sudden changing Damien... she didn't know who the fuck he was.
Well, she would make sure he returned to his normal self. Call her a maniac, but she would have her way surely.
Clenching her fists, she walked down the shallow stairs where the men were already waiting for her and as usual she didn't waste any time in getting straight to the point.
"My boyfriend has a flight booked to London soon, and we all know there's only one reason why he would do that right? So get ready. We're going to London."
The men looked at themselves for a while, and then they began to hoot in appreciation but Katherine ignored them. She was too busy running all the details in her head to care, as it was finally time.
She had been shying away from doing the worst but now she was not going to hesitate. If stalking and sending threat messages were not doing what she wanted, then she would go there and take care of this once and for all.
Looking back at the men, she swung the duffel bag which she held in her left hand at them, and they hooted once more in pleasure when they saw it was packed with cash.
"Book my flight first thing tomorrow, and yours too." Katherine ordered, her lips pressed into a thin line adding, "It's time to get rid of this bitch once and for all."
Her chest heaved as she waved the men away, and she walked back up the stairs.
She was taking the bull by its horn, and soon her relationship with Damien would go back to the way it was but that was after she was done dealing with Madison.
They would be affectionate to each other, go on dates, and possibly even get married in the near future, and finally it would be like Madison never even existed.
Only then would everything be okay.
Grinning widely, Katherine soon got outside and climbing back into her car she started her ignition, and zoomed off.
.......
Thanks for reading. 💕