Haven

Chapter Forty Four

Alex

That 5am alarm clock was tougher than I could have imagined. Not because I wasn't willing to get up at 5am, but because I wasn't willing to face the day ahead.

Jaida also turned out to be quite the cuddle bug, and I was NOT a cuddly sleeper. But I somehow managed to ignore the furness like heat glued to me and slept quite well. That didn't make the alarm any easier to hear.

Jaida groaned loudly, rolling away from me and burying herself in the blankets in silent protest of the whole waking up situation.

Chuckling, I forced myself to sit up, pulling the blankets off Jaida as I went. "Come on, get up," I say aloud, my voice hoarse.

She whines loudly, trying to pull the blankets back over herself. "I don't feel good!" She mumbles in a high pitched moan.

Shaking my head, I stood up and made my way into my bathroom. "Not a fucking chance baby girl, if I have to do this, you have to do this," I tell her, watching as she slowly pushes herself to a sit, pouting at me adorably.

"I don't wanna," she whines, giving me the puppy eyes, not that it was going to work. I wouldn't wanna go to school if I was her either, nor would I wanna come home and face my parents afterwards. But she was gonna do it all, just like I would have to face my angry associates who's meetings I'd missed the evening before, plus Pete who was taking over our house.

"I don't care. Up. Now." I say firmly, raising my brow to indicate I was over the fuss.

She huffs, and stalks out of the room rather angrily, but it was better than outright disobedience so I decided I'd settle for it, for now.

Having showered, shaved and taken a much needed shit, I headed downstairs. Ellie was waiting eagerly at the bottom of the stairs, ready for two things. Her breakfast and to be let out to take a shit also.

Before I could do anything other than let Ellie out and put her food down for her, I made a strong ass coffee. Something about having a cup of coffee gave me some hope of having patience. But anyone who knew me knew well that I didn't have much by way of patience so maybe it was just me who thought coffee helped.

Just as I'm about to sit down, my phone lit up with a call from Maddie. Deciding on biting the bullet, I answered her call.

"Hey," I murmur into the phone, trying to sound as non pissed off as possible. The last thing I needed was an argument at 5.40am.

"You're finally picking up?" She rebukes me in jest, her voice giving away that she was extremely nervous.

"I had a shit storm to deal with last night, and an unexpected visitor also," I tell her, though I'm pissed for having to explain myself. It's not something I do. "For the first time in years I can honestly say that I haven't even looked at my phone in hours," I explain, leaning back against the countertop.

"I'm sorry, I don't even know what happened," she blurts out. "I thought I was doing the right thing by trying to tell her not to break your rules, I should've left it."

Sighing, I shake my head. "It's on me Mads, you were doing the right thing it's just that Jaida isn't able for it right now. I didn't exactly get to sort things out with her properly but I've told her she was way out of line and I'm sorry that both of you were put in that position," I make my apologies, and I meant it. Madison may have came on strong but it was my daughter who blew the situation out of proportion and it was my fault that it happened at all.

I hear her sigh. "Will she speak to me?" She asks me and I cringe. That was the last thing I needed.

"Listen baby, I'll speak with her and try to see where her heads at, she could feel completely different after sleeping on it," I attempt to fob her off. "I have an old family friend of my fathers here, he's my godfather and he's as difficult as my father was. I'm under pressure with these meetings, not that I need to tell you that, but I have an hour for lunch at 2 today if you wanna meet me in my office?" I ask her.