Yes, Sirs (Book 1 of Desire's Den)

Chapter 142 - Callan

The second Mateo interrupted my meeting, it all had gone to hell. I had finally come clean, and he didn't take it well—I mean, his best friends had basically lied to him, so of course, he wouldn't be happy about it. I wouldn't have if I'd been in his shoes.

I'd tried to explain myself as best as I could to him, but let's be honest, it was all shitty excuses. I was too old to be using my issues as an excuse to do whatever the hell I wanted.

He'd left my office in anger and with our friendship hanging on a thin fucking thread. It hurt me even worse than living with the fact my parents didn't want me. Like the saying went, friends were the family we choose for ourselves. They meant more to me than my parents ever did.

For weeks, I'd known keeping this from him—from both of them—was wrong. He should've heard it from me the second I found out that Emma was a student at this school, but...he didn't. Instead, I'd swept it under the rug, hoping they wouldn't find out about it until he finished his semester. How was I supposed to know she would be his student? If I had, then I would've definitely told them.

Emma was his student...I really did fuck up on that one. My plan revolved around the fact that their paths wouldn't cross. Damn, I was one stupid fucker.

As soon as he left, I'd tried calling Emma, desperate to make sure she was okay. She couldn't possibly have taken the news about Mateo being her professor well. For such a short amount of time that I'd known her, I knew her. She wouldn't be okay with this. She would be worried—probably more about Mateo and his job than herself.

She didn't pick up—not the first time I called, and not the twenty other times I'd called since then. When that didn't work, I tried texting. I hadn't heard from her once.

Now, Mateo was pissed at me, and Emma wasn't answering any of my calls. This was what I'd been afraid would happen.

I hadn't slept a wink since yesterday when I found out. My mind wouldn't shut off, and I'd suffered one panic attack since. I thought I was over the attacks—I hadn't had one in years—but it seems the risk of losing not one but two of the people I loved would do that to me.

Gideon had contacted me a couple hours after Mateo showed up after he too had been yelled at by him. When he'd found out about Mateo and Emma, he had also tried calling her. She didn't answer him either.

For once, I'd been the one at a loss for words while he'd tried to figure out what we were going to do next. The truth was, there wasn't much we could do with Mateo until he'd calmed down enough for us to have a real conversation with him. As for Emma...first, we needed to get ahold of her.

Not being able to sit still any longer, I decided to visit Emma instead of waiting around for her to call me back. If she wouldn't answer her phone, she might answer her door.

The drive over to her place felt way longer than the half-hour it actually took. I was worried about her, and I didn't like her shutting us out. We were supposed to take care of her, and I thought by now, she'd let us. My body was tense, thinking about her needing us, and we weren't there.

I thought back to the last conversation we had. I'd been calling then too to see if she was okay, though for another reason.

Parking close to the entrance, I found the extra key I had for the building from when I changed the pressure-balancing valve for her shower and had gotten some guys to fix her leaky roof. The idiot of a landlord hadn't asked for it back, and I hadn't given it to him.

I took the stairs two at a time until I got to her floor and walked to her door: three hundred and three. Knocking, I said, "Bella, please open the door. It's me, Callan."