Page 90 of Until He Confesses

"Nice. But what am I going to tell your mom?"

I had this thought as I dressed and eventually came up with a response.

"We've already established that I'm dating someone, haven't we?" I said, and she made an unhappy face.

"I detest lying to her."

"You're not lying," I said. "I'm seeing someone."

"More like sleeping with someone," she said.

I gave her a dark look at this, but she was unamused.

"Be safe," she said. "And get going, you're running out of time."

She was right, so in no time, I was out of the room and on my way. I was sure that I wasn't going to be able to avoid an interrogation from my mom as I passed by, but I didn't plan on remaining behind to address them.

Thus, I was prepared to give her some quick excuses and refer her to Anna. However, I found as I hurried by that she was already asleep, therefore I was able to leave the apartment and be on my way.

I did worry, though, that she would become concerned that I was spending too many nights outside the house, but I decided to address this concern later on. Now, all my focus was on getting to his apartment as quickly as possible.

A few minutes before I arrived, I gave him a call. I was on time, but I needed to be certain that he was expecting me in case he wanted to count the time spent getting through the concierge.

The phone rang and rang until it disconnected, he didn't pick up. I wasn't discouraged, because according to that text message he sent, it was very clear that I had already gotten on his nerves. When I tried the third time around, and there was still no response, I gave up.

Angry, I pulled the phone away and instead sent him a message.

42

LUCAS

Callie: I'm here.

I reread her text, but I didn't exactly know how to decipher it. I was going to ignore it after all it was what was stipulated in the contract.

Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me. I hadn't expected her to respond at all after she had initially gone silent, but now that she was, I couldn't help but wonder if there was some other extenuating circumstance.

Lucas: I'm not home.

After hitting send she immediately called me. I couldn’t not pick up now, and even though it was distracting from the work at hand, I did.

"Where are you then?" were the first words she spoke. She sounded upset, and it brought me quite a measure of satisfaction.

"At work," I replied, and she briefly went silent.

"Should I head home then?" she asked, and I looked at the time.

"It's been more than three hours," I said. "So as stipulated-"

"I got to your apartment on time," she cut me off, and I stopped trying to rein in my temper.

At my silence, she added.

"Let's not make more of this than it should be. I got to your apartment on time, but I just got the directions wrong."

"I'm no longer in the mood," I told her. "And as for whether or not this agreement will continue, I'll let you know later on."

I ended the call and tried my best to return to work.