The Returnee

Chapter 19

Rage surged in Lee, and he took a deep breath to calm himself. He left. It was deck Joey, or leave. So he left. His shoes squeaked on the library floor, and Joey's echoed after as he followed. Lee didn't care. Fuck him. He was not giving Andy up for Colin and the family. 

He didn't bother trying to take his phone back from Joey. The man wouldn't let him. This was all about control, again. He was not letting them have any more control over his life. He'd given them an inch, he'd agreed to come back into the family, and they'd taken a mile. He was no better off for it, with a couple of nights of better sleep. No. He was leaving. 

Joey tried to make him stop, but there was little he could do in this setting. In public, Joey couldn't manhandle him. Joey could follow and try to get him to talk, as he was doing, but Lee did not want to talk. He wanted to scream. He should have insisted that Colin stay home. The family did not have to invade every section of his life. They joked about being worried about the Tribe and how Fairgrove was turning cultlike, but what did they call this? Isolation from friends and family was a big cult sign. 

It was not too late to disengage from them. 

"Lee, please, I know you're upset, but this is for the best," Joey said, trying to corral him into talking. "Let Colin get better, and we can set up a new meeting. Or we can ask Damian to come visit, he's good at assessing people, too."

How to lose someone in their own city? Go somewhere they could not go.

He walked into the Company's local offices and presented his ID to get past security. Joey tried to stop him. The guard let him through and demanded to know Joey's business.

The office was clean, all modern shapes and clear viewpoints. He didn't have his phone, his work stuff was back at Joey's, and Lee wasn't dressed in a suit. He didn't care. He plastered his best smile on and introduced himself to the receptionist, who introduced him to the General manager.

In a haze and blur not too dissimilar to the research at the library, he met a collection of VPs in the office and a few other people of note. The General Manager was keen to get him onboarded once his holiday was over and was very happy that he'd popped in for a quick meet and greet. 

Joey left his phone with the guard. He'd gone and returned sheepishly in the guard's words. Lee turned it off to ignore any messages from anyone. He didn't want to talk to Damian, to Colin and not to Joey.

How dare he? How fucking dare he try to stop Lee from seeing his friend because of Colin?  If Colin couldn't handle Lee having a friend, then the relationship was a failure from the start.

"Lee?" Andrew appeared next to him as he did some paperwork on a company computer. "I thought you were going back to your friends?"

"That was the plan," Lee agreed. Even on a company computer, he couldn't find whatever was setting off red flags in his head. Everyone involved was clean. Too clean, maybe that was the problem? It was hard to make fake IDs, but not impossible. "Why are you here?

"They sent my suitcases here instead of the hotel by mistake," Andrew said, lifting the suitcase.

"That's an odd mistake. Didn't they offer to send them to the correct location?" Lee turned off the computer, resolved to try again when he had a better idea as to what he was looking for.

"There was some weak excuse given. What happened? You look pale and haven't replied to my messages." Andy frowned and put a hand against his head to check his temperature. 

Lee pushed it away. "I'm not sick, I had a fight with the others. Can I stay with you tonight?" Because he didn't want to go to Joey's, but he'd released his hotel room, so he didn't have an escape. That was a mistake.