A Call

A Call
Chapter Sixty-Nine

“What do you do for fun?”

Artemis stared at the text. It was one in the long line of texts Stefan spammed him.

Giving Stefan his contact became one of the worst decisions he'd taken this week. The constant beeping of his phone dragged his sleep-deprived ass out of bed this morning.

He barely got an hour of sleep, and thanks to this ridiculous “friendship goal,” his three-day sleepless streak wasn’t ending anytime soon.

Cooking was a chore and definitely no fun in the empty apartment. Artemis threw open the drawers, even though he was aware there was nothing in there. Grocery shopping was the last thing on his mind.

Luckily, he found a stash of cereal, milk, chips and even chocolate. Different kinds. A small smile touched his lips as he pulled it out. A small folded note fell out, landing on his feet.

He recognised the handwriting immediately and picked it up.

Leo.

He unfolded the paper.

“Left you a stash in case you remember you NEED to eat.”

Artemis dialed his number while reaching for the bowl. Leo answered almost immediately.

“Good morning, boss. I know you're calling about Stefan Cavell, I was going to text you the details later in the day. I didn't want to disturb your rest,” Leo said.

“If you must know, I haven't rested much. Fell asleep around 4:30am only to wake up thirty minutes later to over twenty good morning texts. Make me reconsider sparing him,” Artemis sighed.

Leo must have caught the sound of cereal clashing against the glass plate.

“Are you having breakfast?” The surprise in his voice made Artemis' pause. He brought down the phone to look at it, like he could see Leo through that.

“that was the sole purpose of hiding it in my drawer, was it not?” Artemis retorted.

“I didn't think you would find them. Usually you don't eat until late in the afternoon when you're probably about to pass out or something,” Leo stated.

“You're very rude, you know that,” Artemis deadpanned, grabbing the milk. “You think I could keep this body by starving?”

“I'm not sure how you do it. There's probably something in those protein shakes you're obsessed with,” Leo countered.

Artemis chuckled. “You're one nosy VA. Should I be worried? I haven't seen you physically in months yet you still manage to sneak food in all my apartments.”

Artemis could already see Leo rolling his eyes.

“You said you didn't want me following you around. You insisted we could communicate perfectly online. And yeah, you're too lazy to do anything yourself. I have a whole grocery plan for you but you always let the food rot away,” Leo complained. “One of us has to be competent right?”

Artemis chuckled at that. “You know the real reason I don't want you around Leo.”

“Uhmmm… no I don't?”

“I've told you a hundred times over. You're so strict you can't even grow hair…”

“I chose to go bald. I don't like the hassle of growing out my hair,” Leo defended. “It has nothing to do with the job.”

“It does but let's not argue that. What did you find on Stefan?” Artemis asked, setting down his phone to concentrate on his cereal.

“You're not going to like this, by the way,” Leo started. Artemis shrugged, barely paying attention. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a bowl of cereal. Or maybe it was the fact that someone actually thought about him while placing it there that made him so happy to eat it.

“As you can already tell, he's a trust fund baby. Old money type shit, his father is the exact kind your father hates.”

“Ouu, politician huh?” Artemis mumbled around a mouthful. The hypocrite!

They were the one set of people Trevor didn't meddle with, unless billions were involved.

“There's not much dirt on him except his love life. He's a closeted gay, hooked up with some college boys but he's never dated any guy really. It's a whole different tale with the girls though. He's had about five girlfriends. He has this kind of hero complex where he picks someone with deep trauma and then tries to fix them,” Leo continued. “At least that’s the pattern.”

Artemis raised a brow. “Fix?”

The cereal suddenly lost taste in his mouth.

“Abusive adoptive family. Mommy issues. Career failures. Ex with anxiety. Another one apparently had addiction problems. Basically, rich kid with a saviour complex.”

“What happens after he “fixes” them?” Artemis asked.

“Pretty much dumps them. He takes care of them so well that they can't cope without him and end up worse than when he met them. I want to go into details but you probably don't want to hear that,” Leo said.

He was right. Artemis did not want to know that. This was already enough.

“You think that's why he got close to me?” Artemis muttered.

“I'd like to think so but the pattern doesn't exactly fit. He never stalked any of those women. This whole secret admirer thing is new. You're the first guy he's trying to date and the data shows that you went to the same elementary school. You should remember him, boss. The quiet kid who always got bullied for being taller than his age? You were his desk mate and the only one who ever talked to him. I'm thinking it's more of a long-time crush type of thing.”

Artemis stiffened. Elementary school? That was when his life completely went to shit. That was the first time he experienced the box.

His breathing slowed instinctively. His head throbbed as an image he tried desperately to bury flashed in his mind.

He did not want to go back there.

“Boss?” Leo called out, like he could sense something was wrong. “Is everything okay?”

Artemis stood from the Island stool. He dumped the bowl of cereal in the sink and moved to the living room.

“I need new prescriptions,” he told Leo. “The pills aren't working. Took a couple last night but I couldn't sleep.”

“Okay…” Leo paused, unsure of whether to repeat his question.

“I already told him I won't be moving. Killing him would be bothersome so I'll just play along until we find a way to shake him off. I don't want anyone stalking me, no matter what era they knew me from,” Artemis said.

“Driving between cities to keep up appearances would be tough. Are you sure we shouldn't just threaten him away?”

“Tried that already but it didn't work. Bastard doesn't mind being stabbed,” Artemis sighed.

“Okay. Melinda called earlier,” The information immediately irritated Artemis.

“Have a great day, Leo.”

The man chucked as Artemis ended the call. He thought about going back to bed but his phone buzzed again.

His features twisted in annoyance. Artemis took out his phone, determined to mute him for good but the name on his screen made his heart skip.

He gulped. Didn't he block this number already?

The phone rang in his hand but all he could do was stare. He couldn't bring himself to answer or decline the call.

The second it ended, Artemis clicked block.