20. Kairo

20Kairo

As I drove backto the condo, I could have replayed the night in my head a thousand times and it wouldn’t have made me any less upset. “I’m so sorry for what happened, Justin. It was all my fault, I shouldn’t have sprung you on Alex. I just didn’t realize how much of a jerk he could be.” He nodded. That sounded good. After all, it was the fact that Alex treated Justin so poorly that we were in this mess to begin with.

I pulled into the driveway and stared up at the condo. It was in complete darkness. Fuck! That was a horrible sign. Justin must’ve arrived back to the condo and went straight to bed. If I wouldn’t be able to talk to him, I would wind up being forced to think about it all night. Frankly, my heart wasn’t ready for that. I needed to make sure my mate halfway understood that I wasn’t the one in the wrong for this situation. It was all Alex and I had straightened him out and was going to make sure he never did that ever again.

I released a breath and turned off the car. It was only hoping that I would get the chance to talk to Justin. I would beg and plead with him, surely he would relent and hear me out. After all, I knew who was in the wrong. It surely wasn’t Justin.

When I stepped into the condo, it was eerily quiet. “Hello?” I called out.

Way to go. Wake up Theo and Sara, why don’t you? I stepped into the living room, just to make sure Justin hadn’t fallen asleep on the couch. But no one was there. The sound of my footsteps echoed through the house, causing an eerie feeling like I was about to get caught up into a horror flick. Even the steps made creaking sounds, none like I had heard before.

Imagination, Kairo. All in your fucking imagination. When I got to the top, I stopped and listened. Surely I would hear the sound of rustling of feet in a bedroom. Whether it was Ashley, or Justin. Did they all go to bed? There were no sounds, just complete silence.

You’re being ridiculous. Justin is in the bedroom and if you want to salvage anything you need to go to him. I walked down the hall to the bedroom and lightly tapped on the door. “Justin? Can we talk? Please.” I waited, holding my breath. No sound came from the other side of the door. I knocked again. “Justin?” This time I spoke a little louder. “I won’t be able to sleep if you won’t at least hear me out. I’m begging you.” After waiting for a response that never came, I rolled my eyes. “Fuck it!” I opened the door without his permission to enter. “Justin? We have to talk.” I stopped and looked down at the empty bed. It was still fully made.

I hurried from the bedroom and turned the lights on in the hallway. Had he never made it home? I didn’t worry about waking Ashley or the kids. Justin had left long before I did and should have been home a long time ago. Beginning to panic a bit, I pounded on Ashley’s door.

“Ashley, are you decent? May I come in?” There was nothing. “Ashley?” I burst into the bedroom and anxiously looked around, suddenly warped into a third dimension time zone. The spare bed was fully made, as well. It didn’t even look like Ashley had even come into the room, let alone slept in it. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and held it tightly, rushing out of the room.

When I checked on Theo and Sara, I wasn’t surprised that their beds were also empty. Tears sprang to my eyes. What was happening? I pulled up Justin’s number and called him. It went straight to voicemail. “Dammit!” I growled, rushing out of the bedroom.

I hurried down the stairs, leaving the hallway lights on and went to the kitchen, where Ashley’s number was on the refrigerator. I dialed it and it, too, went straight to voicemail. “Hey, you’ve reached Ashley, please leave your name and number and drop me a line. I’ll call you when I can.”

“Hey, Ashley, it’s Kairo. Where is everyone? Please call me because I’m freaking out a little bit here.” I disconnected the call and nervously tapped my finger on the counter top. He had an uber taking him home. Did something happen on the way back to the condo? If it did, did that explain where Ashley and the kids were? Surely he would have called me and not an eighteen year old to get him some help, especially when the kids would have to be awakened in an effort to get to him. You’re acting crazy and getting all worried over nothing. There could be a million reasons why he’s not here. But the fact that he’s not answering his calls? What was the excuse for that? Where was everyone?”

I tried calling him again. Just hoping that this time I would get him. Again, the phone went straight to voicemail. After the voicemail, I left my message. “So, hey, yeah…just wondering where you are? Hope nothing happened to you.” I hesitated, my throat practically clogging up. “I know that you’re safe, but I would feel much better if you would just return this call. Please.” I hung up and started to call Ashley again, when I heard the front door open.

I rushed out of the kitchen and to the foyer and saw Ashley and Justin standing there. “Where the hell were you two?” I yelled. “Do you know how worried I was? You couldn’t have called me? Left me a note? Nothing? I literally was about to call the…” My words trailed off as I looked at the two of them, both looking wrung out. “Where are the kids?”

Justin met my gaze and slowly shook his head. “I can’t do this anymore.” With tears in his eyes, he threw his arms up and turned, heading back out the front door. I hesitated to follow him, then heard the sound of his car starting up, followed by the squealing of tires. Now I had this to worry about too.