Pull My Heartstrings

Chapter 7

Rowan

"Kari?" I sat up from where I was laying on the couch and groaned, feeling weak. My nose was still stuffed, but it felt a lot better. In fact, I felt better as a whole. I suppose I had recovered from whatever I was suffering from.

"Oh my god, Rowan!" she rushed to my side, perching delicately on the coffee table across from me. "How are you feeling? I called your mate and told him to rush over because you were super super sick but it's been like twenty minutes and he still isn't here and--"

"Kari, you're making my headache worse," I cut her off gently. I love that girl and her run on sentences, but she seriously needed to be cut off sometimes. "I feel fine. I just have this weird headache... Wait, Finn is on his way?"

Kari nodded. "At least he said he was. But it's not rush hour and the drive is only fifteen minutes, tops," she wrung her hands anxiously. "He should be here by now, if he's coming."

"He'll come," Andrei said, putting his hands on his mate's shoulders. "His mate is in danger."

"Not anymore," I muttered. I rubbed my temples. My head hurt, but in a residual way, if that made any sense. It felt like a fading headache, but it wasn't getting any better. If anything, it was becoming more prominent in my consciousness, like a niggling thought that just kept coming back.

"Well, we made you some chicken noodle soup, if you want it. And some tea, but that's cold now," Andrei rubbed my shoulder before heading to the kitchen, presumably to get the soup.

I turned to Kari. I remembered that before I had crashed home and started sobbing, Kari was sharing important news with Andrei, as well as sharing some other parts of her... I coughed delicately. "So? What did he think about the bun in your oven?" I asked.

Kari took a moment to register what I meant and jumped in excitement. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "He was sooooo happy. Man, I gotta tell you, even though you hate it, the things he did to me..."

"I don't want to hear about it," I said quickly. Andrei was too much of a brotherly figure for me to hear these kinds of things from his mate. "I take it you guys are going to move out? I'm sure you want some privacy."

"We're going to wait a while," Andrei set a red soupbowl full of chicken noodle soup in front of me and a spoon in my outstretched hand. "To be brutally honest, we thought having you around would be like having a live in babysitter."

I glared at him. No way was I going to watch a baby while its parents got funky twenty feet away. "He's kidding, kind of," Kari giggled. "We still have that extra small guestroom nobody uses anyways. I figured moving out could wait until we really ran out of space."

Sighing, I knew Kari and Andrei were only telling part of the truth. In reality, they were just worried about me. I appreciated it, and I would probably need the support later on, but I didn't want to hold them back from having the family they had always wanted.

"It's been forty minutes," Kari changed the subject as I glanced absentmindedly at the clock across from me. "I don't know what's on your mate's mind, honestly!"

"Whatever," I murmured. "I'm alive, aren't I?"

I didn't want Andrei and Kari to worry about me. They already worried too much. The truth is, I was really, really hurt that he didn't come at all. I mean, the least he could have done if he wasn't planning on coming was tell the truth, right? He got my hopes up, and he dashed them immediately. 

Kari gave me a sympathetic look before she got up and dragged Andrei along with her, probably to give me some alone time. She was a good friend. I gathered my blanket around me and trudged back to my room, wanting the ground to open up and swallow me whole. Finn was such a jerk. I knew I was a horrible mate to him when we first met, but seriously? He didn't even come when I could have needed him. Jerk.

My headache got even stronger as I thought of my errant mate, and I frowned. Maybe the signs of withdrawal were growing stronger. Maybe I should call and set up a meeting. Gods. It sounded so cold, the way I was thinking about it. I wanted warm hugs and passionate kisses, but I knew all I would get was a ten minute hand holding at best. Talk about only not knowing what I have before it's gone. Or at least what I could've had.

I flopped onto my bed, making the springs squeak in protest. Staring up at the ceiling, I focused in and out of my special ability, watching the network of red strings appear and fade. One passed right over my nose, tickling my bridge as it wavered in the air. One string was even closer, touching my chin as it passed over my face and through the wall. I touched the string gently, pinning it between my finger and chin.

A man worked in a luxurious office, probably in some highrise downtown tower. The glass windows behind him offered a breathtaking view of the opposite building, but the man didn't notice. He was busy scribbling away on a notepad. 

His desk was minimalist and modern. There were little decorations on the desk, save for a small lamp and a business card holder. Jeffrey Turner, CEO of Mandolin Inc. He looked rich, but if the lack of personal touches in his office were any indication, he had not met his mate just yet. \

With a frustrated groan, the man stood and pressed a button in his drawer, speaking curtly into a speaker. Moments later, a woman in a tight pencil skirt and blazer walked in, swishing her hips in a sexy sashay. He smiled at her, taking in her pouty red lips and bombshell dirty blond hair. This woman looked all natural, all seduction. 

In a moment, she was pinned on his desk and he was kissing her passionately, running his fingers through her hair....

The scene switched to a bar. It was too early for the bar to be a vibrant social scene, but one platinum blond girl chatted up the men next to her like it was midnight and she wanted a companion for the night. She was the CEO's mate.

Her clothes looked cheap, but she wore them well. She was talking to a redhead man to her right that looked more interested in his beer than the attractive woman next to him. 

"You know, my ex was a jerk anyways," she hiccupped. "He took my car once, without me knowing, and crashed it. And guess who had to take the crap and pay the bills? Me. Whatta worthless douchebag. You know, I never caught your name."

The man grunted, not offering anything but a quick rub to his beer belly.

"My name's Tina," she said, flipping her almost white blond hair behind a slender shoulder. "I just need a break, you know? I need to reinvent myself, find a new job."

Back to the office. An old man walked in on the CEO and his lover, startling the pair. The old man grew as red as a tomato, clearly he held a position of power. 

"Again, Jeff? You!" he pointed a wrinkled finger at the secretary, who quickly buttoned her blouse, which the CEO had presumably unbottoned while they were lip-locked. "You're fired. Get out, now!"

"Father," the CEO whined unbecomingly. "Not again..."

"Don't give me that tone, you idiot," the father snarled. "I need a drink. I presume you have my speech memorized by now, so think about your actions."

The old man stormed out, shaking his head topped with snowy white hair. "Now I need to find a new secretary..." he muttered.

I drew out of the vision with an amused chuckle. It was always interestiing watching two mates in vastly different situations. It looked like Jeff the CEO and Tina WIth the Ex were in for a ride better suited for a torrid romance novel. 

Thinking about my own situation, I supposed it was a romance novel-type thing, right? Do I get the guy in the end? Am I too desperate? Whatever. My eyelids drifted shut and the last thing I saw were the red strings above my head.

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Merp, it's three AM here so I'm gonna sleep... Vote and comment if you like it <3