Beyond Negotiation

~Kaelen~

My phone sat on the mahogany surface of my desk like a live grenade.

I stared at the screen, the backlight illuminating the missed call notification for the fifth time in less than twenty minutes. Raina was not answering. She was ignoring me, and the cold, sharp blade of my fury was beginning to carve out the space where my patience usually sat.

I picked the device up, my thumb hovering o