Witness

46. Kaiden/Chelsea

Kaiden's POV

A knock on the window of my car startles me. 

Noah gives a thumbs up, side-stepping my door so that I can step out. I switch off the engine as I do, pulling my shoulders back. 

"Picking up Maddie?" 

"Welcome to the girlfriend club," he snorts, gesturing to my car. 

It's not like I can argue with him. 

We both walk over to the office building, talking mostly about cars probably just to avoid the topic of Damien, and Noah's history with him. 

A receptionist I don't recognise waves at Noah when we walk through the doors, eyeing me but dropping her gaze quickly. I have whatever the male equivalent of 'resting bitch face' is, so I imagine that's the reason. 

Chelsea doesn't seem to mind. 

"Have either of your heard anything?" Noah asks, as soon as the elevator doors close behind us. 

"No," I sigh. "Radio silence. Is that better or worse?" 

He cringes. "Do you want my answer to be honest, or do you want it to make you feel better?"

I don't need an answer at all; it's written all over his face.  

"Yeah, I figured it wasn't a great sign." 

"What can I say? The guy's a class A dick." 

I laugh. "That's putting it lightly." 

"He's a sociopath," Noah adds, eyeing me. "Be careful, both of you." 

I nod just as the elevator doors open again, and the two of us round the corner to the communal desk space. Maddie is sitting at her desk, typing away at something, concentrating hard. She looks up as if on instinct and smiles. 

"Hey," she says, softly at first, to Noah. Then she turns to me. "Where's Chels?"

My face scrunches. 

"What?" 

"Chelsea." 

"Yeah? I'm picking her up." 

Her mouth opens gently, shuts again. Her eyes screw up. "Are you fucking with me? She's with you. She's been with you all day." 

A jolt of panic runs down my body and back up again. 

"She wasn't here this morning?" 

"No, but- she messaged me. She's been messaging me all day. With you."

She turns to phone to me to show the messages between them from the day. 

               Chelsea: Cover for me! With Kaiden x [09:12am]

               Madelaine: Have fun ;) [09:15am]

               Madelaine: Spending the whole day off? I told Zach you're sick x [10:41am]

               Chelsea: Yep! Getting brunch and spending some time with Kaiden & Cecilia. Wedding planning x [12:24pm] 

               Madelaine: I miss youuuuuuu [2:56pm]

               Chelsea: I miss you too ;) [3:27pm]

Another message comes in, popping up at the bottom with a ping. 

               Chelsea: Tell Kaiden that Callum was a liability x [5:07pm]

Bile rises up in my throat. Seeing Callum's name written like that, popping up, burns behind my eyes. Makes me want to cry, makes me feel like I actually might, but also sends a new waves of anger into my fists.