Probably celebrate it too and that was what scared him the most.
“Let me reiterate, it was nothing serious. Or so I thought. One day I get this hostile voice mail from her because I forgot her birthday. Hell, I hadn’t thought anything about it—you know, three years and I’d never wished her a happy birthday before. Didn’t know three was the magic number and if I failed to acknowledge it on that particular year, Crazy Bitch would rain down hell’s wrath on my head. At that time I was being slammed with a massive shitfest every which way I moved. My sister Tessa was being chased by loaners who’d already landed her in the hospital for her debt, Kasen was in the hospital with another round of stop-the-blood-disease-from-killing-her and Shahara was after a target and missing in action—I was terrified she was dead and that we’d find her body somewhere gruesome. One of my regular jobs had just dried up completely and another was pushing me to the wall with regulations and equipment requirements I was struggling to meet. Little preoccupied with family and work at the time which any normal, sane human being would have understood.
“Instead, she goes mental on me and the next thing I know the bitch has called the authorities in an attempt to get me and my sister Kasen arrested. She’s contacted my business associates trying to ruin my reputation any which way she can. She even called my best friend and tried to get him to turn on me. Never have I seen anything like it. And for what? A fucking birthday wish? Hell, I don’t even know when Kasen’s birthday is and I was not only raised with her, I love her—anyone who knows me, knows this about me. Failure to acknowledge a birthday doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I believe in celebrating the life of the people you love every day—not just on one particular day. All it meant was that I was up to my neck in crap to deal with and the last thing I needed was one more pain in my ass. Little Miss Give-Me-Attention-Cause-I-Have-No-Real-Friends needs to be schooled on the fact that the universe doesn’t revolve around her and when other people are barely hanging on by their fingernails, a real friend would have helped and not added to the stress.”
Desideria let out an elongated breath as he finished his diatribe. Not that she blamed him. He was right. Any human who would hurt another and try to ruin them over something so petty was sorry beyond belief and she hated that he’d been forced to go through that. It made her want to hurt the woman for him.
Like Caillen, she didn’t keep track of that sort of thing either.
But it left her with one question. “And you judge all women by her actions?”
He shook his head. “No. I judge all people by that. I’ve seen too many spaz out over absolutely nothing, not quite to her dangerous extent, but enough that it’s taught me to be wary of everyone, especially when they’re trying to play the victim role. And she’s an extreme reminder that no matter how well you think you know someone, they can turn on you for the dumbest reasons imaginable. Male, female, whatever. I mean, shit. Happy Birthday, bitch. Didn’t she have anyone else in her life that mattered? I mean really, my sisters and friends don’t call me on mine and I’m good with that. Never have I held it against them. I wish my life was so pathetically uneventful that all I had to get torn up over was the fact that some casual friend didn’t wish me a Happy Birthday. My own family forgets mine about half the time and none of my friends know when it is and never once have I doubted their loyalty to me. What’s the big deal?”
Desideria bit back a smile. Not because it was funny—it was actually very tragic—but because his over-the-top tirade was so out of character that it amused her to see this side of him.
He did indeed have a temper.
However, she didn’t want to offend him, especially over something that had left a lasting scar and changed the way he dealt with people. It angered her that anyone would be so needlessly vicious.
“Obviously to her, it was a big deal. But I agree with you. She had no right to do that to you.”
“No kidding and do you know to this day, and it’s been over four years now since it happened, she’s still taking swipes at me? Any chance she can get to try and damage my reputation or interfere with my business, she takes. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life, and believe me, I’ve seen some shit.”
She was aghast. “Are you serious? Four years later?”
He held his hand up in indignation. “Right hand to the gods and I swear to you I did nothing to her at all. Nothing. I was never anything but nice to her no matter how weird she’d get around me and even while her supposed real friends criticized and mocked her behind her back. I guess I should have done what they did. Then she would have loved me forever.”