Till Death Do Us Part

Ch. 17 - Please Leave a Message After the Tone

**Here's the next chapter! I really am spoiling ya'll this week. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!**

Roxie's POV

I rolled over in bed and stretched myself out, releasing an inhumane moan-slash-groan as I heard a few pops in my joints here and there. I clenched my toes before fanning them out, trying to will the soreness in them from the previous night of heel-wearing away. I was incredibly thankful that I had today off; it was the first Saturday I wasn't working since I started at Rouge. I was still shocked that things had pretty much gone back to normal since I returned home two weeks ago.

A few seconds later, my phone began vibrating on the nightstand.

Well, everything went back to normal minus that, I thought to myself. I rolled over and watched the offending device buzz around before the call went to voicemail. I waited until it buzzed one last time, signaling a new voicemail, before finally picking it up and unlocking it. I immediately pulled up the recording and pressed play while snuggling back into the warmth of my covers.

"Hey Roxie girl, it's me. I was just calling to say good morning and that I miss you. I hope everything has been going good. I have a second meeting with Ezekiel this morning, but that's only thanks to you. He made sure I knew he was only agreeing to meet up once more for your sake. I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate that. Your amazing heart is one of the things I love the most about you. I have to get going or I'll be late, but I hope you have a good day. I love you, Roxie girl. Be good."

The voicemail ended and I had butterflies in my stomach, the last line causing a pang of familiarity in my heart. It was the same thing he used to say to me at the end of every conversation, both in person and over the phone, all those years ago.

This had been my routine since the morning I woke up back here. Jedrek calls every morning and every night. Sometimes he calls during the day if something happens that he wants to tell me. No one knows about any of this because I keep it to myself. Khloe almost caught me once when she saw my search history on my phone - I'd googled how many voicemails you could have in your inbox before someone was unable to leave a message. When she asked me about it, I deflected by asking about Xander, something she was easily distracted by these days. Either way, I was incredibly happy for her.

She didn't need to be burdened by knowing I'd just saved all of Jedrek's voicemails to my laptop so I could clear my phone and not risk missing his messages.

I scrolled down and played the only older message, which also happened to be the first original message, that I chose to keep on my phone.

"Roxie girl, I'm so sorry for everything. I can't even begin to tell you how sorry. If I could go back and figure out a different way to go about this whole fucked up situation, I would. I would a million times over. Since the day I had to break things off with you, my life hasn't been worth living. I meant what I said, I never stopped loving you. Ever. You're the only woman I've ever wanted. I need you to understand that this is all out of my control and I never wanted to do what I was forced to. I fought this for the first couple of years after you left, but then I got complicit. There was no light at the end of the tunnel and I just gave up, but after seeing you it made me realize all over again how wrong you not being with me is and how much I've been missing out on in life. I'm doing everything in my power to fix this and make things right. I will fix this. I love you Roxie girl. Be good."

I sighed deeply, my thumb moving forward to press play again when a knock at my door startled me. I quickly exited out of the app before sitting upright in bed and facing Khloe's suspicious expression head-on.