Whore.

Chapter 22: Beep

I sat in Dorian's apartment, feeling defeated and alone. Everyone was gone. Sure, not everyone, but everyone that mattered. I still needed to organize the rookies tomorrow. I clicked back to the site administration page and looked at my profile. Booked until next week Monday. I sighed. I wished Dorian had included an option of removing bookings, but that could only lead to chaos. I slumped back in the chair and groaned. Life suddenly felt unpleasant. I knew I didn't need to actually be at Swash's, especially as Emmet and Dorian were not around to watch my every move right now, but I knew I also had to deal with my conscience if I didn't go. Swash had done me a favour and was paying good money for it. Money that I needed to find a way to pay back. Maybe I could get him to cancel the rest of the booking as I didn't need it anymore; I felt sure he didn't either. I grabbed my jacket and left the apartment. I needed a distraction.

I picked up my phone as soon as I got back to my place. It must have been fully charged by now. I looked at the screen. 16 new voice messages. Oh well, there was nothing else to do.

"Michael? Where are you? It's past two already and you're supposed to be at the station. Anyway, call me back when you get this." That was Nathan. Probably from Monday when I had to do my hospital visit with Tom and go to the bank. I sighed and moved on to the next one.

"Michael..." Nathan's voice again. This time, he was using the baby voice. "You won't even spare a mere thousand dollars for me? Call me back baby..." I couldn't help but laugh. The manner of delivery was so phone sex worker. I felt my thoughts begin to drift towards how much I could make from phone sex but I shook it away and laughed again.

"Oh my God, Mike, why didn't you tell us Hunky Dory was getting hitched? Plane tickets just came in! Pick up your damn phone so I can scream on you in person you...you...just call me back, okay?" Emmet, obviously. I smiled a little to myself. I had managed to be the first to get informed and the only one to miss the actual event. Life was full of these little ironies.

"Michael, I-" And that was the end of the message. I couldn't even tell who that was from. I wanted to look up the number from the contacts list, but ignored the impulse. Maybe the person left another message.

"Mike, I sent Alex to Swash's address to deliver your tickets. I don't know why you're not picking up, but I hope you're around at least. Call me once you get this, okay?" Emmet again. This was from Wednesday. He couldn't leave the station and had made Alex drive all the way over to get me the tickets. I felt bad.

"Seriously Mike, pick up your phone. I don't know if any of these messages are getting to you. Em said I should call you when I get to the apartment but you were not answering the door. Anyway, your ticket is in the mail. I hope you get it." Alex. He sounded as sexy as ever on the phone. I shook my head at myself. Stop focusing on the wrong things, Mike. This message was also from Wednesday. I remembered that as the day I had slept throughout on that magical couch in Swash's living room. Also the day when he got custody of Bradley. My thoughts shifted to Bradley. I felt the need to apologize to him, somehow. Sure, I wasn't in the best of terms with his dad but we had our own little friendship going on. I sighed. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be worried about patching things up with a four-year-old.

"Michael? I've been trying to reach you but now I guess I have to use this stupid voice message thing. I haven't heard from you since you left on your trip. Call me back. I miss you." My heart must have stopped. Malone. I hurriedly looked up the details of his message. This was dropped on Thursday. Now I really felt the need to call him. Maybe I could explain everything on the phone. No. Things like these had to be done in person.

"Mike! Everyone's getting ready for New York. You've still not called me back. I really hope you got the tickets and you'd be in the airport by tomorrow. We all miss you. Maybe Swash is keeping you really...offline." Emmet chuckled a bit at the end of the message. Typical Emmet with his snide jokes. I smiled. Finally, he sounded like the person I knew. I moved on to the next one.