Addiction

Chapter 44.

"What happened to him?" I sit up on the bed hugging to sheet to my body. My mother was crying through the phone which made me even more worried about what actually happened to him. I haven't spoken to him in weeks so something bad happening to him right now makes me feel guilty for not trying to mend our relationship.

"He was having severe heartburn and nausea and he barely ate anything. None of the antacids he took worked for him, so now we're here at the hospital and they're saying he could have stomach or throat cancer." She cries harder into the phone.

"Well does he?" I question. I care for my dad more than anyone. But him and I have been through this before. He went to the hospital with pain in his testes and they said he could have testicular cancer, which had him worried to the point where he was stressing me out. But it turned out he had gonorrhea, an STD not cancer. He was still worried and that was the last time I saw him sleeping with random women he probably found on the street, well until he and my mother started hooking up again.

It is literally the doctors job to go from 0 to 100 and scare everyone over something that is most of the time nothing.

"They don't have any results yet."

"Don't you think it would've been wiser if you called me with the news instead of trying to scare me shitless and tell me he may or may not have cancer?"

"I thought you would want to know . . ." Her voice trails off at the end and she sniffles.

"You're just going to make me worry over something that could be nothing. I'm in New York I am a long way from home. If he has cancer tell him to call me with the news, and I will hop on a plane to be there by his side. Until then don't call me again, I don't want to talk to you."

"Alice I—" I hang up on her before she gets to finish what she had to say.

"I'm sorry," I mutter to the masseuse, Bridget, lying back down on the table the way I was previously sat, "Please continue where you left off."

Hayden called for me to join him at the Oak Room, where he was just previously in a meeting. Earlier this morning when I went through the bag to find my bikini I didn't really look through all of the clothes that was packed for me, but when I had to find something to wear, I noticed everything was black. Black jeans, black shirts, black dresses, black, black, black. Hayden can't do anything unless it fits according to his liking. I should've looked inside of my bag before I left the house.

There was a pair of black lace panties that I have never seen in my life, I take it Hayden made Mrs. Sutter go shopping before she packed all of my stuff. I slip on the underwear, followed by a black bandage dress and the black heels that was also packed for me. I only grab my phone and room key before I leave the room, walking down corridor after corridor to find the Oak room. Once there, I saw Hayden outside of the room, surrounded by other businessmen, shaking hands with one of the elder men, the biggest smile plastered on his face.

I stand off to the side just watching him interact with his fellows, they all have more in common with Hayden than I do. His eyes catch mine from across the room and he motions for me to join him, I wanted to say no, but all of the other men had already turned in my direction. He extends his hand out to me as I approach him, and I take it, "Gentlemen, this is my girlfriend Alice Greene, she's an intern at the JHR Clinic."

"An intern?" The gray-haired man questions.

"Don' worry Mr. Andrews, if I learned anything from you, it's not to fuck minors, Alice is legal." The few men around him laugh but I don't find it funny. "Alice, this is Mr. Leo Andrews, a new business partner and an old friend."

He takes my hand kissing the back of my palm, "It's lovely to meet you Alice."

"You as well Mr. Andrews."