Man on a Mission

Chapter 16

Liam stooped down to fix the laces of his white J's. He stood and looked at them again to make sure they weren't scuffed. As he walked out of his bedroom, his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Kayla.

"Hello?" he answered the call, taking a seat on the couch.

"I got your voicemail," she said.

"I'm sorry about-"

"Don't worry about it. I've been doing a lot of thinking and I just think that we should leave our relationship in the past and try to just look at each other as friends. I don't need to be in an emotional rollercoaster and it seems like that's all it will be if I don't lose my feelings for you. I told Brandon I'll give him a second chance."

"Why?" Liam asked, annoyed.

"Because I haven't been completely honest with him either. I was spending time with you knowing I have feelings for you, and I lied to him a few times when he asked me where I was. Two wrongs don't make a right. We're not getting married anymore, but I'm just gonna give him a chance, for now."

"He cheated on you. Why are you giving this nigga a second chance? Where's my second chance? I never cheated on you. I never even entertained the idea of doing that to you."

"Liam, you're with someone. I'm not gonna be the cause of another woman's pain."

"We're not together anymore. We broke up this morning."

Kayla was quiet for a few seconds. "Is it because of my text?"

"That's what started it. But it's cool. Not your fault." He quickly changed the topic, "Kayla, I'm about to go somewhere, so I guess we'll talk another time."

"Do you think there's any possibility that you and her will get back together?" Kayla asked.

"No."

"Are you sure that whatever you two had is done?"

"Yeah, why? Why are you asking me that? You're still with that dude and as far as I can see, you ain't leaving him. One minute you're telling me how much you love me and then the next minute it's like I'm begging for a spot in your life. I feel like a clown."

"I felt like a clown too when I came to your house and saw your new girlfriend."

"How could you feel like that, when you made it seem like me and you would never be together again?"

"I already explained everything to you."

"Yeah, that you wanted me to wait for you to choose between me or him."

"It was always going to be you. Did you not hear that part? I knew deep down that I was going to be with you. I just needed more time to think," she said.

"Well it didn't seem that way, so that's why I started seeing Chalyn. Stop making it seem like I played you."

"It sure as hell felt like it. You didn't even tell me that you started seeing someone else. But you know what, let's not argue about this."

"Yeah, I'm about to get on the road. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay. Bye," she said, softly.

She hung up, and he shook his head with frustration.
_________________________________________

Monday afternoon, Liam was finishing up some work on the oil reserve behind his work building. Before going home, he wanted to check that everything was running smoothly, so he climbed up onto a tall ladder to look at the system.

Everything looked great, so he began to climb down. However, the ladder had a defect, causing it to break as he stepped on it. The next thing he knew was that he landed on the ground pretty hard and his leg snapped.

"Fuck!" he yelled when he felt and heard his bone fracture.

His co-worker, a fellow engineer named Carter heard him and ran over to see what happened.

"Oh shit, bro." He called out to Liam's father, who was a few feet away checking the other systems, "Mr. Will!"

Will turned around and saw Liam sitting on the ground. He quickly climbed down his ladder and walked over to them.

"I just broke my shit, Dad," Liam said, frowning from the pain.

His father looked at his leg. "Come on, let's get you to the ER."

He helped him up and began to help him walk to the parking lot of the firm.

"Carter, everything is running properly. Can you please put this in my office before you clock out?" Will said as he handed Carter a clipboard with a checklist attached.

"Yes, sir. Liam, get well soon, bro," he said.

"Thanks, man," Liam responded.

He and his father continued walking to the parking lot. They quickly got in the car, and his Dad began the drive to the hospital.

Two hours later, after doing an X-ray and getting his leg placed in a cast, Liam was free to go home. Luckily, his fracture didn't require surgery. He was told by the doctor that he was allowed to take the cast off in 4 weeks and his bone should be healed in about 10 weeks.

He appeared fine on the outside, but on the inside, he was feeling a little sad. He even told his parents that he would recover at his house instead of theirs. He didn't tell them why but the truth was that he didn't want to be a bother. But his mother refused to let him stay home alone, so she packed a bag and went over to his house.

As she walked inside of the house, she said, "I don't know why you have so much damn pride. You might be a grown man now, but you're still my child. You came out of me."

"Alright, Ma," he replied quickly.

"Your sister is on her way. She stopped to get you something to eat."

She stood behind the couch and rubbed his shoulders. "You'll be okay, baby."

He rested his hand on hers. "Yeah. Thanks, Ma."

He thought about his current situation. First he had experienced that whole ordeal with Chalyn, and now he had broken his leg, all within a few days. His life felt like a shit-show.