Chapter 69: The Tussel
Caleb's POV
".... No one, but Caleb with such a huge responsibility. Wouldn't you agree, Mark?"
The mention of my name pulled me out of my thoughts again and I looked up at Leo in acknowledgement. But I had no idea what it was for.
Last 30 or so minute had a blur of anger and hurt. How could Ruth not tell me something like this? Didn't she know better than to side with Tristan?
Was my father really right about her? Was my father truly right about everything?
Instinctively, I eyed Leo and realised I was feeling something that I hadn't felt for him in a long, long time. Distrust.
Was my father right to advice me not to trust Leo? Was he only interested in helping me so that his position at Cross enterprises can remain uncontested? Did he really just want me out of his way?
No, he can't. He won't. There weren't many people in my life that I truly trusted and Leo was one of them. So was Ruth. And if Ruth wasn't trustworthy then can Leo not be trusted too?
Am I being an idiot or a hopeful ignorant to jump to conclusions like this over something that could be nothing at all?
All these questions were making my head spin. I hated myself for doubting the two people I loved the most. But now that the seed of doubt was planted, I couldn't stop it from sprouting.
I needed to talk to Ruth. I wanted her to try to explain this to me. Convince me that I was wrong, that I was being an idiot.
I looked around room unconsciously trying to pick her out from the crowd, but Leo's heavy arm landing on my shoulder, making me aware that not only had I turned my back to the group, but was also about to walk away without even realising it.
"Don't you agree, Caleb?" He squeezed my shoulder in a subtle warning and it tickled my irritation more than it should have.
What did it matter if Tristan got this company, anyway? It wasn't as if it was mine to begin with, not like Audrey Solutions was, and he had already managed to swindle that away from me thanks to my 'sister's' betrayal.
When I failed to respond, he squeezed my shoulder again and I answered, just to get him off my back.
"Sure, of course." I mumbled vaguely to the group of people around us, but failed to sound convincing.
My whole world, my trust in the people I loved was crumbling away by the second and as much as I tried to, I couldn't bring myself to care about talking the Board member into letting me lead this company.
These things, the company's control, Tristan, the Board meeting, all of this just didn't feel important to me right now.
Which was ironic, because those were the very things that had brought on the series of doubts that had made me question everything to begin with.
Satisfied by my generic response, the rest of them went back to discussing something, but Leo wasn't fooled.
Even on a good day, he could read me better than anyone else and this time, I wasn't even trying to hide my preoccupation.
His face turned stony behind his mask as his eyes lingered on me for a split second longer than everyone else.
It was subtle, no one else probably even noticed it, but I did. And it irritated me even more.
How dare he be angry at me when he had no idea what I was going through? Here I was fighting to keep trusting him, and he wanted to be angry?
If I felt any sanity right then, it might have sounded unreasonable to even be pissed about it. But right then, it was making complete sense to the asshole in me.
Alongside that came a sense of urgency. I felt like tearing at my clothes and a few layers of skin in the process, find Ruth and make a run for it.
Away from all that has happened tonight to the time when no real world, manipulative families or any other trappings existed, if only Leo would just. Leave. Me. Be!
In my agitation and restlessness, I shrugged off Leo's arm away from my shoulder, roughly. Maybe too roughly, because people noticed.
Laila, the head of human resources stopped mid-sentence and eyed me oddly, making everyone's head turn around towards us.
"Oh, I'm sorry, was my arm too heavy for you?" Leo smirked mockingly, but I could see anger in the tightness around his mouth which was all that was visible behind his mask.
He was playing it off, putting on the show for everyone else, and I rolled my shoulders to relieve the stress.
"No, I just realised I need to be somewhere else." I replied, first to Leo then to everyone else.
"You mean, somewhere more important than a bunch of people discussing work at a party for you?" It was Derek Manning, one of the jerks from the group.
I opened my mouth to let him know exactly what I thought of about this 'bunch of people' but Leo swooped in before I could get one word out of my mouth.
"Well you know what they say, there's no call higher than the nature's call."
Some of them chuckled at that and Leo clapped his hands together.
"But I agree with you, Derek. This is a party and we must seem like the dullest people around for discussing work, so why don't we all just kick back and enjoy the party? We can continue this discussion on 26th."
Finally. Everyone nodded and the group started to disperse slowly with some people excusing themselves while others still hanging around.
As I made to walk away, Leo's arm thudded on my shoulder yet again, but this time it wasn't casually signalling me to stay. This gesture was forceful... angry.
"Mind if I join you, Caleb?" Without waiting for my reply, he turned and smiled at the lingering Board members.
"Excuse us, everyone. I hope y'all enjoy the party. Have a good evening."
And then he stirred me away from the crowd and toward the end of the hall. Even as the urge to shake him off surged through me, I held back.
My agitation was reaching a breaking point and I knew I needed an outlet. It might have seemed wrong some other time, but today with his controlling actions, Leo was becoming an all too easy target.
**
Ruth's POV
Whoever said that washrooms were a safe place to have a breakdown was not kidding. I braced myself against the marble countertop and placed a shaky hand against my forehead gulping the air in.
I've just had a faceoff - of sorts - with Callahan Cross and managed to come out of it unscathed. It must be a Christmas miracle.
I didn't know why I was falling to pieces, maybe it was the last of adrenaline rush draining from my system but my heart was hammering as if I've run a mile.
I still had no idea what had possessed me to dole out advices to Caleb's father, but even through the jolts of anxiety that still jumped within me, I felt proud of myself.
I had done it. I had finally stood up - kinda - to Callahan Cross for Caleb. And maybe a little for Callahan himself.
He reminded me so much of my family that it was unsettling. Of course, my folks would never stoop down to ruining my career and manipulating me to come back home and under their wings, but they did come from the same school of thoughts as Callahan.
They truly did love me, just as Callahan loved his son, but didn't realise that putting shackles on people only made them want to get away from you even more.
And they too couldn't fathom the idea that their 'kid' could want things, want to be things, that they didn't want them to be.
I took a deep breath, my mind drifting to the mess I was in with Caleb.
It's okay, I told myself. We'll be fine. I just need to make Caleb see reason. Make him see that my accepting promotion had nothing to do with him, or his equation with Tristan.
All I need to do is explain it to him. Convince him... Make him understand that-
My thoughts came to a halt as the door to the restroom creaked open, letting the noise from outside pour in momentarily.
I opened my eyes and stared. I probably shouldn't have been as shocked as I was, but the sight of the beautiful blonde wrapped in a gorgeous in leaf green dress, stunned me into silence for a moment.
Despite the fact that a metallic green mask was covering most of her face, it took me less than a second to recognise her.
"You look beautiful, Ruth. Almost as beautiful as the man with whom you walked in."
I was used to these underhanded complements but her words still felt like a bucket of ice water over my head. I gritted my teeth and replied with as much civility as I could muster.
"So do you, Ellen."
*
Caleb's POV
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Leo burst out as soon as the door shut behind us. He pushed me roughly inside and ripped his mask off.
"What do you think you were doing out there?" His tall, hulking figure hovered over me like he was about to explode. Good thing was, so was I.
"Me? What the hell is wrong with you?" I discarded my mask too and met his angry gaze.
"Can't you see that I don't fucking care? I don't fucking give a damn who gets to be the director of this company, I don't care if they pick Tristan over me and I definitely don't care for you controlling every aspect of my life!"
A vein throbbed in my temple as I finished off. All the turmoil of the past hour, of the whole evening was boiling over now and I was helpless to stop it.
"Controlling you? You call this - THIS - controlling? Don't confuse me for your father," He spat out viciously before pinching the bridge of his nose to control himself.
"Caleb," He started, sounding more reasonable.
"After we returned from Boston, all you could talk about was how you can't see this company become another Audrey Solutions."
His voice faltered at the end and I knew why. Audrey Software Solutions was the start-up I had put my heart and soul - and every penny I owned - into before Tristan and my father had swooped in to snatch it from me to make me come back to work for Cross Enterprises again.
Leo, being the self-appointed patriarch of Cross family, had tried everything in his power to help me save it.
But by the time he had realised how many underhanded ways my father and Tristan had used to sneakily purchase majority of my company's shares, it was too late to do anything legally.
To this day, he blamed himself for not being able to save it because he knew what that company had meant to me.
"And now that I'm doing everything to stop that from happening, you suddenly don't care?"
"No, I don't. There are bigger things than a fucking company, Leo! Besides, saving this company will not compensate for not saving Audrey Solutions!"
And now even I realised I was being an asshole. His face turned beet red with both anger and guilt, and if I had any sanity left, I'd know I was being unfair to throw this on his face. But I didn't.
"Well, now you don't have a choice. Its high time you realised that not everything is about you. Tristan is a greedy bastard and I'm not letting another company fill his appetite, so whether you like it or not, you are heading this company and making it our Seattle base."
His voice vibrated with rage and authority bearing down on me as if it was a physical force. And on instinct, I fought against it.
"Of course I would. Wouldn't want to get in the way and challenge your ownership for everything Cross by chancing my move back to Boston now, would I?"
It went against everything I knew about Leo, but that wasn't going to stop me. I was hurting. And the only way I knew to cope with it was to hurt back. And Leo had become such an easy target for it.
"What the fuck did you just say?"
His voice was suddenly calm. Deadly calm. Because he knew exactly what I was accusing him of. How could he not, when my father hammered it in him day in and out?
And while he claimed all of Callahan Cross' blames didn't bother him, I knew hearing it from me was a different story altogether.
It was the first moment in the last hour when I felt a twinge regret. Leo didn't deserve to be my punching bag.
It wasn't his fault that I let my father play with my brain again, or my trust issues and my subsequent distrust to everyone.
But before the rest of my brain could catch up to that tiny rational thought, Leo punched me in the face.
The force of it knocked me sideways and I stumbled into the row of stalls.
It wasn't that we hadn't fought before. After all, for a couple of hotheaded teenagers, punches had always been our weapon of choice against each other.
But this punch was different. And we both knew it. And while I knew that I had deserved it, had been asking for it, it didn't stop the rage coursing through my body.
All the doubts, the frustrations, rage, the guilt and self-loathing exploded in my chest, pushing me to release it.
I whipped around and threw a forceful punch at Leo, getting the base of his jaw. His body moved sideways with impact, but he seemed to be in the same auto-fight mode that I was.
No sooner had I thrown a punch, I received another one, this time straight at my jaw.
"All my life," He heaved, ducking my fist and punching me in the stomach with his other hand.
"I have done nothing... But take. Care. of you..."
His words cut off when I delivered a nasty punch against his abs before continuing.
"Despite what you and your... father did to me... I loved you... like a brother!"
He dodged my elbow against his ribs and caught hold of me in a headlock. "And this is what you thought of me the entire time?"
"And who appointed you as my fucking fairy godmother huh?" I choked out before breaking away from his grip.
"It's called loyalty to your family, asshole. Something that my father taught me! But despite him being there for you, you chose to learn from YOUR father instead of him!"
"Oh yes your father was there, for both me and for my mother!"
Leo froze. And so did I. I had not meant to say that. Even in my rage-filled mind, I had known it was not true. It can't be. But it had slipped out in the heat of the moment.
Reason finally decided to filter through my mind. His father was his hero, had always been. As he should be. And in my madness, I had just taken a shot, not on Leo's body, but at his heart.
For one moment, I hoped he hadn't understood just what I had implied.
Maybe he would think it meant something benign. But there was no mistaking the tone of my voice when I had said it. And judging by the look on his face, he'd heard it too.
"Leo... " I started, but had no idea what to say next. That I was sorry? That I didn't mean what I said? That I didn't truly believe what my father had implied about uncle Martin's true intentions of being around me?
But this time, words chose not to come. And when he grabbed hold of my collar with one hand and raised his fist, I stood still, putting up no fight for a change and just waiting for the punch I knew I deserved, but it never came.
Instead he ground his jaw and pushed me away before turning around to walk away.
"Leo.... I-" But Leo turned back to face me with a hard, maligning expression.
"I had always thought that your father needed to pay for his sins, only him. That you were not him. Just an innocent child caught in your father's mess. But I was wrong. So remember this, Caleb."
He marched back, put his face inches from mine and hissed, "What is about to come next? You. Deserve. It."
With that last threat, he turned back again and stormed out, leaving me dazed and riddled with guilt.
How could I say such a thing against the greatest man I knew? How could I let my father play with my mind again?
I stumbled out of the bathroom door, my mind even bigger mess than before. It felt like every thought in my mind was popping up at once. I needed to stop thinking. Stop feeling.
From among everything, Ruth's face popped up in my mind. I needed her. She was the only one who was ever able to sooth me. Only one who could now bring me enough peace to figure out what to do next.
But I didn't have to go far to find it. Just next the men's room, another door opened and out stepped Ruth.
"Ruth." I walked upto her in relief, only to stumble to a halt when I was close enough to see her face clearly.
Her mask was off as well, and I could clearly see her smeared make-up and tear-streaked face looking startled.
"Ruth, you've been crying."
I mumbled, trying to cup her face but she flinched back from my touch and replied, "and you, you kissed Ellen Cole?"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Bitter_Chocolate15
Bitter_Chocolate15 Hey readers! Thank you so much for your patience and support and all the kind words you've sent.They mean so much! Here's an early release to make up for the lost time. The next update will be on Saturday. I hope you enjoy it!
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