Holy shit…
The house was beyond astonishing. The ceilings looked like they could go on forever and I wanted to run my fingers across the vibrant marble floor. I followed the nurse as my eyes widely took in the surroundings. I was expecting to be taken to his bedroom, but I wasn’t. She led me to a den of some sort. I waited while she opened the wood pocket doors.
Mr. Callaway must have been an advocate hunter.
There was every exotic animal on the planet in that room. I almost jumped when I saw the stuffed Black Panther beside of me. It looked so real, and his eyes looked hungry.
Mr. Callaway did look bad. I had never seen him look so sickly. His eyes were sunk into his skull, and his lips were dry and cracked. The nurse pushed the button on his bed and he struggled to sit. I got an immediate cold chill. You could feel death lurking in the air. I didn’t want him to die. I wanted to know him.
He put his hand out to me, palm side up, and I placed mine in his.
“How are you, Morgan?” he asked. I knew he was talking about Derik and what I had been through with him, and I was going to leave it at that. My intentions all along were to go there and expose Drew. I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want him to think that he took me out of a bad situation and put me in a worse one.
“I’m good Mr. Callaway. How are you?”
“I have never been better,” he smiled.
My eyes couldn’t seem to stop looking around the room at death. I’m sure if I would have counted, I would have counted close to fifty dead animals, including the paintings around the room. I couldn’t help but look at the owl straight across from me hanging from a branch that miraculously grew from the wall. His big eyes never left the sight of me.
“You’re a hunter,” I stated the stupid fact.
“I used to be. Have you ever been to Africa?”
“No,” I replied. I had only been out of the country once, and that was when Drew took me for our anniversary.
“You tell that boy I said to take you there, beautiful country,” he assured me.
I dropped my head. I didn’t mean to let him see the sadness, but he did. He read me like a book.
“What’s wrong, Morgan?”
I looked into his cloying eyes. “I know who you are,” I said.
He smiled a warm smile.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you give me time to know you?” I pleaded.
“I’m sorry, Morgan. I don’t always make the best decisions, I guess,” Mr. Callaway confessed.
“I need to know what you expect of me. I don’t think Drew, and I are going to stay together.”
He looked shocked. “Are you two having problems? What did he do?”
“It’s nothing like that. Drew is fine. I just need some time. I don’t know how to process all of this,” I lied.
I should have thrown him under the bus right there. Anyone in their right mind would have wanted him to suffer a slow painful death. I wasn’t blessed with a normal mind, whatever that was.
“Morgan, I don’t know how much Drew has told you, but all of this is yours,” he said, waving his weak hand around the room full of dead animals. “You will never want for anything for the rest of your life.”
I knew that was a lie. Money couldn’t buy what I needed.
“None of this will be Drew’s without you. If he walks away now, he’ll be homeless,” he added.
“He’s not the one that wants to walk away. I am.
And I don’t want that. Drew runs your company better than anyone could. He is good at it. He takes great pride in it,”
I stated, not having any idea what I was saying. Why wouldn’t I render the bastard homeless? He deserved it.
He smiled at that. “He always did, even when he was still just a boy. What do you want, Morgan?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just need some time to figure things out.”
I went there with the intention of finding out how my mother became pregnant by his rich son. I wanted to know where she was, and what she was doing. It didn’t seem to matter anymore. She was obviously one of the people who could be happy with money, and it was also apparent that she didn’t need me.
I cried all the way back to Drew’s or my house I should say. I knew what I had to do, and the sooner the better.
I walked the north corridor and unlocked the door to hell. I didn’t walk in, and stayed back as Drew slowly walked out. He stared at me cautiously with his hands in his pockets.
“I don’t want any of this,” I said, crossing my arms. “I’m going back to my small town, my job, and my friends.”
He nodded. “I’ll have Felix fly you there,” he said.
He took a step toward me and my heart fluttered as I closed my eyes.
I tried not to feel anything when he placed his hands on my arms.
“Morgan, for whatever its worth, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not worth anything, Drew,” I replied looking up to him.
Damnit…Why did I have to go and look at him?