Cameron

It took a bit of convincing, but I finally got Joel out of my apartment. I had to tell him simply that I just couldn’t think with him there and I had some thinking to do. Everything that I had imagined it would be, it was and somehow more. He was perfect for me in some ways, but so wrong in others. It was hard to see which way would be best. I didn’t want to think about everything that was going on with him though. I needed to focus on work and finding something else.

He wanted to see me later the next day, but I told him I wasn’t sure. I still wasn’t sure what it was that I was doing with him. That was something that I needed to figure out first that didn’t involve him. My life in the city was in question and even though I had gotten a great severance package, I still had to find something soon or I wasn’t going to be able to stay in the city I had grown to love.

I called around to a couple of job placement agencies to see what they had available. After a few calls I had several prospects in mind and an interview to do a few tests. I didn’t mind something temporary until I could find something else. Not only would it help with me not dipping into my savings, but I would have something that I could do to keep my mind off of all of the unanswered questions running around up there.

Just about to leave for the interview downtown, the doorbell rang and I was sure that it was Joel. I hadn’t seen him all day and I was starting to think that I shouldn’t have said anything about him coming over later. I wanted to see him and my heart started to race a little more when I thought he felt the same way and wanted to see me too.

“Hey…”

It wasn’t Joel. It was actually one of the last people that I would want to see then.

“Stephen, what are you doing here?”

I looked around out in the hallway, sure I was going to see Joel there ready to fight him again. If he knew the whole story, I was sure that he would, but I didn’t want any more trouble. The two of them acting like children had already ruined everything, so I certainly wasn’t going to encourage it.

“I wanted to see you. I heard about what happened and I just wanted to say I was sorry. I had to do something to get the settlement and you know that I needed it.”

I didn’t know anything except that I wanted him to leave. “Can you please just go? I don’t want to talk to you about this. I got fired because you lied and from what I hear, insisted that I get fired, so why are you here? Are you here just to rub it in my face?”

The more I said, the more indignant I became. Why in the world was he even here?

“Aren’t you going to invite me in? I wanted to talk to you and you are not making this easy. I wanted to tell you that I am sorry.”

“You already did. You can go now Stephen. I have heard enough.”

I went to shut the door and he stopped it with his hand and a foot. There was a touch of something in his eyes and the blonde-man wasn’t as appealing as he had been in the past. I had never really liked who he was, but even his outer attraction was gone when his face was screwed up in such a way.

“I said to leave!”

“I still don’t get why you had to be like this. I knew that you wouldn’t go with my story, that’s why I had to get them to get rid of you. If you would have just been someone that went with it, everything would have been easier on you.”

My foot moved down to stomp on his so I could close the door. I heard Joel coming up the stairs, asking if everything was okay and I was relieved that he was there to help me. I didn’t care if he lost his temper then. I wanted him to be the guy that had smashed Stephen’s face before. There was nothing else that could be done. He had already ruined my life completely with his lies.

“Stephen was just leaving.”

Stephen looked back at Joel and for a moment I thought he was going to say something, but I think that he had learned his lesson the first time around. Joel was not someone that was to be messed with and even though I knew that Joel was gentle to me, he wasn’t the same to everyone else.

“Yes I was just leaving. Think about what I said Cameron. I mean it.”

I nodded my head, but felt a big rush of relief when he was down the stairs and out of my sight.

“What was that about?”

I shrugged, not really sure how to answer that. I don’t even think that Stephen knew what it was about, but there was the same look of jealousy in his eyes from before. I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not, but I was sure that he was feeling something for me.

“So he just came over to say hi?”

“No I think he was here to say he was sorry and get something from me. A date? I don’t know. Who knows with guys like him?”

“I don’t like him showing up here like that Cameron.”

The way he said it threw me off and it went back to that possession thing that he liked to do. “You know that we aren’t even dating right?”

“No, we aren’t dating, but you are mine. You realize that, don’t you?”

“Yours?”

“In all ways Cameron, you are mine. I don’t want you thinking that this was just a one-time thing with us. This is going to be much more than that.”

I could feel my face getting red and though I would have liked to stay and talk about that further, I had to leave for that interview. “I need to go for a bit. We can talk about this later, okay?”

He agreed, but I could tell that he was put off by my unwillingness to stay. Joel made sure that he kissed me before going downstairs and I wondered for a moment what he meant about me being his. I didn’t like the idea of being owned like I was some kind of property, but I liked the idea of him owning me. I really liked the idea of it being Joel.

As I was walking down the stairs to go out to the garage, Joel stuck his head out of his door and asked me to come by for dinner. I agreed to go, but I didn’t know what time I was going to be back. “I will just keep it warm if you are late. Just come by when you can. I will be home all night. I really want to see you.”

“Okay.”

It was all I could get out and even then it felt like it was stuck in my throat. I still hadn’t dealt with Joel and the more I thought about him, the weaker in the knees I got. The whole interview I was thinking about and I don’t even really know how I did. I did the tests that they wanted of me and before I could realize that it was over, the blonde haired older woman named Denise was telling me that she would get back to me soon.

Leaving the placement service, I was looking for my car when I saw a black sports car that seemed out of place. It wasn’t the type of car that would be unnoticed in that part of the city and the black-haired woman behind the wheel seemed to be staring at me. I was sure that it was all in my head, but it gave me a weird feeling and I was always one to go with my instinct.

Walking faster to my car, I didn’t feel better until I was away from the agency and I didn’t see the black town car behind me. Chiding myself for being such a dope, I paid attention to the road and tried to keep my thoughts from where they wanted to drift.

Getting back to the apartment, I was on edge for some reason. Maybe it was the strange woman and the strange car that I had seen when I got out of the agency or maybe it was the conversation that I had started with Joel. Either way, I was on edge and I still had to get ready for my date with the manager. I wanted to look nice and I wanted everything to be perfect, but it was hard to push aside the ill feelings that I was having. Something just wasn’t right.

I somehow got to my place without seeing Joel and with no uninvited surprises. To me, that was a good day and I went inside to get ready. What was I supposed to wear? I was pushing towards something short and slutty. There was no reason to pretend that I was going to be there for anything other than that.

With a little makeup and my hair pulled back from my face, I threw a coat on a very slinky dress and made my way downstairs to see him. There was no answer when I knocked on the door and I waited for quite some time before I went back upstairs, confused and a little hurt. Where was he?