Big Bad Wolf Chapter 26: The Call

***8:30 AM***

Harper slowly woke up to the sun shining in her face coming through the window. She groaned and stretched out, reaching her hand out to touch him. When her hand came up empty, her eyes snapped open.

She was alone in her bedroom. Lucas was gone.

Sitting up slowly, she looked down under her blanket and saw that she was naked. She let out a sigh of relief. Flashes of last night immediately flooded her: her hands fisting the sheets; Lucas between her legs; her legs over his shoulders; his eyes on hers as he kissed her down there.

She tried to bite back a smile, but her cheeks blushed like crazy when her body reacted to the memory of Lucas’s mouth on her.mShe was supposed to rest for a few minutes and wake up to pick up where they left off. She was supposed to return the pleasure! How could she fell asleep?

Her ear to ear smile soon faded as her eyes fell on the empty spot beside her. The sheets were still rumpled from where Lucas had been. Then she noticed a note lying on the pillow next to hers. She smiled, thinking just how cute it was of him to leave her a note.

She grabbed the piece of paper and bit her lower lip, feeling her stomach churned as soon as she recognized Lucas’s penmanship.

My dearest Harper, I had originally planned to wake you up with a mind-blowing breakfast in bed, but an unforeseen circumstance has come up, which has left me no choice but to leave. Please don’t hate me. I am so happy right now that I am literally singing in my mind as I am writing this short message to you. I can’t wait to see you again.

P.S Rest well. We’re going to need your full energy later.

Feeling all giddy like a teenage girl, Harper kissed the note and set it back on the pillow. Yawning, she stretched her arms and settled back in the middle of the bed instead. Buried underneath her warm and thick blanket, she closed her eyes and let herself drift off into sleep once more like an obedient assistant as she had always been.

***11:45 AM***

Harper checked her phone again and let out a frustrated sigh this time, stabbing her pancakes with her fork. There was still no text message from Lucas. She shoved a good slice of pancake into her mouth and dialed his number again. She impatiently waited as it rang. Then the call went to voicemail. After shoving a couple more pancake slices, she redialed his number but had the same result as the first, second, fourth, fifth, and sixth time since she woke up about an hour ago and decided to call him up for brunch. She let out another long and frustrated sigh at the growing pit in her stomach.

Something just didn't feel right.

But the greeting of his voicemail box never failed to make her feel all excited and nervous each time she heard it, no matter how simple and subdued it sounded. "Hello there, you've reached Lucas Weston. Please leave your message at the tone.”

"Hey there," she murmured. "You’re probably still so busy with whatever it is that needs your undivided attention…,” she laughed feebly. “So I…ah...I just want to let you know that it may be too late for brunch by the time you get this call. So meet me this afternoon for late lunch instead? Call me back."

***3:00 PM***

After her 8th call that was again sent to Lucas’ voicemail, Harper’s excitement was now replaced with slight annoyance and a little bit more worry. Lucas had never gone on hours without returning her phone call. And she had not heard anything from him since that morning when he left.

What’s going on? she mentally screamed when she went out for late lunch―all by herself―at a café two blocks down from her apartment. She had called Lucas again to inform him of where she was. But her order came, and she still had no text message or even a return call from him.

"Why is it so important for him to call you back?" Kendal had asked in exasperation from the other end of the line.

After stabbing her lunch with her fork multiple times, a habit that she suddenly formed out of frustration, Harper had decided to call Kendal to shed some light on what could possibly be the reason why Lucas was not picking up her call.

“Because…because…” she struggled.

“Yes?”

“Because he was…he was kind of upset last night when I told him that…that…that last week was my last,” she ended up lying to Kendal. But she was left with no choice. She couldn’t just tell her friend what happened. She and Lucas didn’t have sex, anyway. He gave her a jaw-dropping orgasm with his mouth that, for her, was just super good beyond belief, but could she really share that with Kendal?

"So you called him again and again to what? Apologize?"

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Well, he’s clearly upset then. I think I would too. Let him be. Give him some time to forgive you. The least you could do is give him space and time.”

Harper sighed. Kendal’s advice was good, but it wasn’t the right advice for her situation. Lucas wasn’t upset. He couldn’t be, and he made it quite clear on his note that morning that he wasn’t. In fact, he literally said he couldn’t wait to see Harper again.

She sighed. “Maybe you’re right,” she said, left with no choice.

“Of course, I am. Time heals all wounds, Harper.”

Then there was a long moment of silence that stretched between them.

Until Harper spoke again, “Kendal, how are you holding up?”

She heard a long, sad sigh on the phone that was soon followed by a sniff and another sigh.

“I’m okay. Claire’s parents…they…ah…” Kendal sniffed and cleared her throat.

“They what?”

“They’re…they’re blaming me for what happened,” she blurted and started sobbing.

“They what?” Harper shook her head. "That couldn’t be your fault?”

Kendal sniffed. “I know, but I understand, Harper. They just lost their daughter. I can only imagine the amount of pain they must be going through right now.”

“I understand that too, but Claire was important to you too. And it was obviously not your fault.” Harper assured her. “And I’m sure Claire would agree.”

“Yeah, I know. I guess I’m just going to have to wait for them to heal and forgive me.”

“Kendal, there’s nothing to forgive because it wasn’t your damn fault. You could have died too, you know. It was that damn dog that killed their daughter, not you.”

“But it was my idea to go out that night.”

“Or it could have been Claire’s idea. Whoever’s idea it was…it doesn’t really matter. You two would still have gone out. Let them blame the owner of that dog! They should have known how aggressive it was.”

Kendal’s sob had soon subsided. “Now that I think about it, it was too massive to be a dog, Harper. It was like…like a wolf…an enormous and strong wolf.”

“What? Like a dire wolf?”

“Kind of.”

“But they are extinct. The only dire wolves I saw were in Game of Thrones,” Harper kidded, trying to lighten up her friend.

And it worked when she heard a very faint laugh from Kendal, who soon said, “It couldn’t be a dire wolf. It was bloodthirsty. It stared at Claire like it was all in for a kill.”

“Oh…I am really sorry that you had to witness it, Kendal. And I’m delighted that you’re holding up.”

“Well, I’m trying. I’m sorry that I had to leave.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m fine,” Harper forced a smile as soon as she remembered Lucas. In this state of sudden emptiness and worry, it was a lot harder for her to stay positive and not to miss him so much.

***8:50 PM***

Harper was already tired after walking around the city, trying so damn hard to keep herself occupied and forget about Lucas for a while. But all she could ever think was him. But when night time came, she slumped back into her apartment and flopped down on the couch, thinking about her new job for the first time that day.

Tomorrow, a new chapter of her would finally begin, and all she really wanted was to spend as much time as she could with Lucas. Mondays had always been the busiest day of the week for him, and it would be almost near impossible for them to meet then. He would leave the office late, and she would be too tired after the endless list of meetings that were already scheduled for her to join.

Where the hell are you, Lucas? She wanted to scream.

She sighed―something she had kept doing all day―and looked around the apartment. One thing about living alone after Kendal was gone was discovering the emptiness that had suddenly surrounded her. All of a sudden, she had more time for herself, more space to move around, and enough time to spare to think. And without Kendal, she had no one to bring Pad Thai for, no one to clean after to, and no one to tease her about Lucas.

Now, she was missing Kendal.

Sighing again, Harper pulled her phone from her pocket only to be disappointed again. No matter how much she had tried to push the feeling aside, but fear that Lucas could be avoiding her glimmered in her mind. But she knew that he would never do that to her. Not only because he had implied in his note that he’d be meeting her again that day, but because he was a good-natured, kind man. He was no Alex. Alex was capable of ghosting anyone, that she knew for sure. But Lucas was never like him. She had never heard any office gossip about him sleeping with a woman and never returning her calls ever again. More so, she never heard any office gossip about him sleeping around with women. Ever.

Unlike Alex.

After sitting on the couch for quite some time, Harper stood up and dragged herself to her room to lay down in her bed. She lazily changed into her pajamas, settled under the covers on her bed, then scooped up her phone.

She called Luca’s number again, for the last time that night, she decided. She just wanted to sleep early now. She also needed her full energy for her new job the following day. Lloyd Castor had told her she would be working as an assistant to Green Life’s head for Marketing and PR. She had to be in her best shape and have the right frame of mind.

Lucas’ phone, as usual, rang and rang. She rolled over onto her side, removing her glasses off and setting them on the nightstand as she resigned herself to yet another unsuccessful call. She groaned and set the phone next to her glasses with a thud. She was so frustrated that all she really wanted to do now was sleep and forget about the whole thing.

She shut her eyes, taking a slow, deep breath, and tried to force herself to calm down. Soon after, the deafening silence in her room and her rhythmic breathing lulled her to sleep.

***2:55 AM***

Harper didn't know what time it was but based on how heavy her eyelids still were, she was pretty sure it was still too early to get up, but the sudden vague sound of her phone ringing woke her up. She rolled over and grabbed her phone from the nightstand with a frown and saw that she was right. It was still too damn early.

Looking at the caller ID, her heart fell, and her stomach churned.

Lucas calling…

“Lucas?” she quickly answered his call.

"Harper? Are you home?"

“It’s…” she looked at the clock on her nightstand. “It’s three in the morning, Lucas. Of course, I’m home.” She closed her eyes. It felt so good to hear his voice finally. “I was beginning to think you were trying to ghost me.”

“I’m so sorry, Harper. I didn’t mean to.”

“I know. What happened?”

“I’ll explain later. But now, Alex needs your help,” she heard him say. His voice was grave and laced with such concern.

“What? What happened? Where are you?”

“I’m gonna have to tell you everything later, but right now, I need you to help Alex.”

Harper’s eyes widened, and she quickly sat up on the bed. “Hold on. Why me? Aren’t you helping him now with whatever it is that he needs help with?”

Lucas let out an exasperated sigh. “I’ll explain later. But right now, I will text you an address, and I need you to go to that address as fast as you can.”

“Lucas, you very well know what I feel about that cretin.”

“Alex is badly hurt, and he might die. I'm begging you, Harper, you're the only one who can help.”

“What the hell? What did that insolent man do this time?!”