Doused by ICE

Who needs a DNA test when you can oh-so easily read my mind?

                         Cassius's POV

It has officially been a day since I let myself lose a perfect opportunity to get back with Serena.

Simon was right.

And despite having stayed up the whole night to ponder why I'd done it –in addition to being one hour late to work this morning –I still haven't found a cogent reason why.

Lisa: that's the excuse I'd given Simon.

But in truth, in that moment, being fully aware of how much my leaving had hurt her, and whilst she'd stared at me with those big brown eyes waiting to hear me say I was dead sure I wasn't ever going to hurt her, I froze.

Coward that I still am, I guess I just don't know how to put that kind of pressure on myself.

The difference now being that you don't make promises you know you can't keep.

And that's such a good thing?

Or maybe it's simply that I'm not so sure of my feelings for her anymore, and I'm just pretending that I am.

Whatever the case may be, you're late for work.

Right.

I poured the remaining coffee in the mug I'd been lazily sipping from into the sink, rinsed the cup and hung it on the rack to dry.

I grabbed my car keys, house keys, phone, wallet and man purse off the kitchen island where I'd earlier placed them and headed for my front door.

I was going to start my day in the office, instead of at Serena's house because I had meetings with the strategy and planning team and the accounting team to talk about the feasibility of our Madrid expansion.

In my absence, Simon was in charge of A team, and consequently the ongoing work on Serena's house.

C team would be starting work on a new house today; I usually start every new project with every team, but as I am indisposed and I can't trust any member of C team to lead as far as I can throw him, Dante (from A team) would be filling in for me, and I trust him to do the job better than even I would.

Lost in my musings, I opened my front door to my first surprise of the day: Logan in front of my house and poised to ring the doorbell.

I started at the sight.
Then I blinked twice to ascertain he wasn't something my imagination had conjured.

"I'm sure I'm not seeing things" I began.

"Good morning to you too" Logan remarked.

"Yeah, yeah" I muttered.

"You look stunning" Logan said dryly.

"Thanks for the compliment" I returned sarcastically.

"Up late last night?"

"Couldn't sleep at all" I replied.

Logan opened his mouth to press the issue further, but at the last minute, changed his mind, and the subject.

"I was going say I'm glad I caught you, but it seems you're headed out, so I didn't really"