Stolen Identity: Mute Heiress

Chapter 512: It Hurts

Jamal tossed and turned in bed, hoping that sleep wouldn’t come so that morning would come quickly and he would distract himself with work at the office.

No matter how hard he tried, sleep refused to come.

He had taken medication for his headache, hoping the throbbing in his temple would cease, but it didn’t abate.

He tried not to think of anything but every time he shut his eyes, he would see Dawn standing in front of the spa with Adam, her hand in his, and his heart would ache all over again.

When he heard the sound of his doorbell, he frowned, wondering who was there until he heard the door opening.

He got off the bed, hoping it wasn’t Dawn, and was relieved when he stepped into the living room and saw Callan.

“What are you doing here so late in the night?” Jamal asked, glancing at the wall clock.

It was past midnight already.

“What do you think? I’m checking on you. Are you okay?” Callan asked, watching him closely.

“I don’t feel too good. My head aches.”

Callan eyed Jamal for a moment. “Is it just your head that’s aching?”

“Yeah,” Jamal lowered himself to the couch. “How did your date with Em go?”

“We had to cancel,” Callan said as he joined Jamal on the couch.

“Why?”

Callan shrugged as he reached for the game pads and turned on the television.

After he called the spa and figured out that there was more to whatever was going on between Jamal and Dawn, he had been more worried about Jamal, and after talking to Emily about it, she had agreed he go to Jamal instead.

“I spoke with Dawn,” Callan said, handing Jamal one of the pads.

Jamal’s heart twisted painfully at the mention of her name.

He took the pad. “About?”

“She was worried about you and wanted to know if I knew what the problem was.”

Jamal frowned. “You didn’t say anything to her, did you?”

“I spoke with her but I didn’t tell her what you told me,” Callan said quietly, then added. “I also spoke with the receptionist at the spa.”

Immediately Jamal turned to look at Callan. “Why would you do that?”

“I figured something happened to…”

“Nothing happened,” Jamal cut in before Callan could finish.

“The receptionist told me what she told you. Dawn spent some time chatting with Adam in his office,” Callan said, and Jamal gritted his teeth.

“Cal, stay out of it.”

Callan nodded. “I’d love to. If it were someone else, I might have done just that. You know me. You know how I prefer to stand by the side and watch people do their thing. But that doesn’t apply to you, Jamal. You’re my brother.”

When Jamal said nothing, he continued. “Jamal, you’re the first real friend I ever had. I can’t look away when you’re hurt. So, talk to me. How are you feeling? What’s in your head?”

Jamal drew in a deep breath and set down his pad.

“I can’t.”

Callan’s brows drew together. “You can’t what?”

“I can’t breathe,” Jamal confessed. “It hurts.”

Callan set aside the pad and patted Jamal’s shoulder. “Why don’t you talk to her? I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding.”

Jamal shook his head again. “It’s not. I saw her with him, Cal. I saw the way she laughed with him. The way he held her hand.” Jamal shut his eyes tightly.

Callan frowned. “But the receptionist said you didn’t come to the spa.”

Jamal nodded, then explained what had happened and how he had ended up watching Dawn and Adam from the distance.

Callan listened quietly.

“Maybe if she hadn’t lied to me… maybe if she’d just told me that she had been with him in his office, I’d believe all I had seen was nothing. But she lied to me, Cal. She couldn’t even tell me she had spent hours chatting with him in his office.”

“I still think you should talk to her. You can’t keep this to yourself. It’s only going to affect your relationship. You both need to talk things out,” Callan pointed out.

Jamal exhaled deeply and rose. “I don’t want to talk to her until I figure out whether or not I want us to continue with the relationship.”

Callan frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Jamal shrugged. “I need to be alone, Cal. Thanks for stopping by. You can crash in any of the bedrooms. It’s late already. Don’t drive home.”

Without waiting for Callan’s response, Jamal walked away.

As Callan watched Jamal walk away to his bedroom, he became even more worried.

It was a known fact among them all that Jamal was highly sensitive, and that was probably one of the reasons he was such a good friend.

They’d never seen this aspect of him before, and Callan had no idea what to do about it.

Remembering that Emily had asked him to call her after speaking with Jamal, he picked up his phone and dialled Emily’s line.

She received the call after the sixth ring. “I was beginning to doze off,” she said with a yawn. “What’s up? Is he okay?”

“No. He’s not.”

Immediately, Emily sat up. “He’s not?”

“I think this is more serious than I imagined,” Callan said, explaining all that Jamal had told him to Emily.

Emily frowned. “Why would Dawn do something like that? Jamal has never given another girl his attention all these years, even when she wasn’t in the picture. If I were in Jamal’s shoes, I’d be just as pissed. He has every right to feel betrayed. How can she just…”

“Em, calm down,” Callan cut in softly. “You’re letting your emotions get the best of you.”

Emily took a deep breath. “This doesn’t even make any sense. Whatever Jamal decides, I’m fully in support.”

“Em, this is not a Jamal versus Dawn situation. We are not taking sides…”

“What do you mean we are not taking sides? Are you saying you support what Dawn did?” Emily asked incredulously.

“No. I’m saying they’re both our friends, and we should figure out a way to help them. Jamal is not happy. Dawn is not happy either. Let’s put aside our emotions and focus on them, not on how we feel about what either of them did or failed to do.”

Emily sighed deeply. “So what do you want to do? Call Dawn and tell her what Jamal told you?”

“I can’t do that. I have to try my best to convince Jamal to confront her.”

“I never imagined we would ever be the ones thinking of resolving any misunderstandings between Jamal and Dawn,” Emily murmured after a while.

“Every relationship has its ups and downs. I guess this is theirs.”

“It’s disappointing that it has to be something like this. I expect better from Dawn,” Emily said with a yawn.

“Try not to judge her too harshly,” Callan advised. “I should let you go to bed now and try to get some sleep myself. I’ll spend the night here so I can try to talk to Jamal in the morning.”

“Alright. See you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

After hanging up the call, Callan sighed as he set down his phone.

He hoped that Jamal and Dawn would be able to fix whatever was going on between them.

For both their sake, but especially for Josh’s sake.