Chapter 4
Laurie
I’ve been running on very little food and even less sleep.
The only thing keeping me going is that the second place I looked at was livable and the owner said she’d hold it for seventy-two hours.
When I get paid in two days, it’s all over. I’ll move into the room and find another job.
In the meantime, I’ve been working my butt off to get the projections done before month-end, but even if I stay at the office twenty-four-seven, it’s an impossible task.
Feeling soul-crushingly exhausted, I push the front door open, and stepping inside, I pull my handbag strap off my shoulder so I can set it down on the side table.
As always, the house is quiet except for the low hum of the TV, and I assume Austin is asleep on the couch.
I can’t remember when we last had a conversation.
Walking to the living room so I can collect his takeout boxes, I glance left into the kitchen and come to a sudden halt.
Oh. My. God.
Amanda, Heather’s best friend, is sitting on the edge of the kitchen table.
For a second, my brain just... stops.
She’s wearing one of Austin’s shirts, the blue one I bought him for Christmas last year.
I watch as his hands rub up and down the outside of her thighs while he’s kissing her like he’s forgotten the rest of the world exists. His mouth moves hungrily against hers, and Amanda lets out a seductive chuckle before her eyes drift open and land on me.
The smile slips from her face as every muscle in my body tenses.
Austin notices the change in her and turns his head in my direction. There’s no look of surprise or guilt that he’s been caught.
He wanted me to walk in on them.
Amanda meets my eyes, her expression tight with annoyance and hatred.
I feel like someone just reached into my chest and ripped the air from my lungs because there’s no way they’re doing this to me.
Yeah, sure, this relationship has been dead for a while, and I know Austin doesn’t give a shit about me, but it’s still a shock to the system that they have the audacity to rub it in my face.
This isn’t about him cheating. It’s the way they’re announcing their affair without an ounce of shame, like they set out to humiliate me.
“What the hell?” I snap angrily.
Austin slowly straightens and moves to stand in front of Amanda, like he actually thinks I’m going to lose it and attack the bitch.
Oh wow.
Amanda smirks as if she’s won a battle between us, a look of pure satisfaction on her smug face.
She’s enjoying every second of this.
Austin drags a hand over the back of his neck and lets out a heavy breath. “Laurie.”
Even though this isn’t funny, laughter bursts from me because I’m struggling to process this insanity. “Laurie?” I echo him. “Jesus! You’re so entitled you have to go to this extreme? You couldn’t just break up with me?”
His eyes narrow as irritation creeps into his expression.
Amanda grips his arm possessively, and instead of the asshole manning up, he lets her talk on his behalf. “Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be. Austin is with me now.”
The words hit me so hard that I can only gape at them.
Don’t make this more difficult?
Like I’m the problem?
“It’s over.” She smiles like the cat who got the cream. “He’s been unhappy for a while but felt sorry for you.”
“Unhappy?” I’m beginning to feel unhinged as more laughter escapes me.
With my eyes locked on Austin, I snap, “I’ve worked overtime for months while cleaning this house and paying bills when all you’ve done is sleep on the couch.
” I wave my hand at Amanda. “You couldn’t lift a finger to help, but you had time to fuck around with her?
” I glare at the bitch, “You can have his worthless ass.”
Austin lets out another annoyed breath, like I’m something unpleasant he wants to get rid of.
The bitch points to somewhere behind me, her tone triumphant as she says, “I packed all your shit already.”
I glance over my shoulder, and when I see the luggage, it goes deathly still inside me.
Every piece of the years I’ve wasted on this man has been shoved into a single bag.
“Don’t embarrass yourself any more. Take your shit and leave.”
Slowly, I turn my head back to the kitchen, and as I stare at Austin, who won’t even meet my eyes, I want to scream.
I want to break everything in the house and slap the smug expression off Amanda’s face.
But then a weird emptiness settles heavily in my chest.
If I lose my shit, it will show them how much this upsets me and that they’ve won, and I refuse to give them the satisfaction.
Without wasting another second on Austin and his whore, I walk to the door, grab the suitcase handle, and pull it behind me as I leave the house.
As I walk down the driveway, I hear Amanda laugh and the front door slam shut.
For some reason, it’s the nail in the coffin that makes a tear roll down my cheek.
I have no idea where to go and end up walking back to the train station. During the ride to Island Park, everything replays like a crap movie in my mind.
I’m too exhausted to feel anything but lost right now.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll go back and bitch-slap Amanda.
Maybe after some sleep I’ll go tell Austin exactly what I think of him and…
God, I’m just too tired to care about them.
Having no other option, I get off at the stop and walk back to the office.
At least I’ll be safe there, and Heather doesn’t have to know I’m staying there for the next couple of nights.
Once I get paid, I’ll take the available room and wash my hands clean of the assholes.
I barely got any sleep last night. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Amanda standing in the kitchen in one of Austin’s shirts while he looked at me like I was the inconvenience rather than his girlfriend who’d spent years of her life with him.
God, every damn day I tried making myself smaller and did everything in the house because I could feel him slipping away, and I was terrified of what would happen when he finally stopped wanting me around.
Even though I knew it was coming, I still can’t believe it actually happened.
Especially two days before payday.
I don’t have a home anymore.
I’ve hidden my suitcase in the cleaning supplies cupboard, and feeling worse for wear, I keep watching the time.
Heather will be in any second now.
My chest feels so tight I can barely breathe, and nausea churns in my stomach.
What am I going to do? There’s no way Heather will give me an advance so I can pay the rent.
Shit, she probably already knows Austin kicked me out. The last thing I want to do right now is deal with her, but more than ever, I need this job.
Just until payday.
The second the front door opens, Heather’s voice cuts through the air like a sharp knife. “Laurie. My office. Now!”
God. Here we go.
I get up as she stalks past me, and seeing the animosity on her face, every muscle in my body tightens painfully as panic rushes through me.
Suddenly, I’m terrified because I have no idea what she’s going to do. When I stop in the doorway, Heather looks at me with a cruel smirk.
Please, God.
“I heard my brother finally kicked you to the curb. Now I don’t have to deal with your sticky fingers dipping into the petty cash anymore.”
I frown at her, completely thrown for a loop. “What?”
“You have stolen more than three thousand dollars from petty cash. Did you think I wouldn’t keep tally and just forget about it?”
The words slam so hard into me that my pulse stumbles before picking up fast.
When I shake my head, she snaps, “Don’t play stupid with me. Did you know Austin was going to finally drop you for Amanda and you decided to clean out the petty cash box yesterday?”
“No.” My voice comes out strained and uneven. “The last time I checked, there was twenty dollars in the box.”
Heather lets out a sharp, humorless chuckle. “I placed five hundred dollars in it, and when I checked yesterday afternoon it was all gone.”
I shake my head again as waves of horror crash over me. “No, there was only twenty dollars left.”
When she keeps going, her voice gets even sharper and crueler with every word. “You know what your problem is? You drift through life expecting everyone else to take care of your worthless ass.”
Do not lose your shit. You need the money!
My stomach twists violently. “That’s not true.”
“Really?” Heather lets out another chuckle. “Because from where I’m standing, you’ve spent years leaching off my family.”
The word hits like a slap across the face. “I have never leached off anyone.”
If anything, they took advantage of me!
“My brother let you live with him while you barely contributed anything.”
Disbelief crashes through me because every paycheck I got disappeared into groceries, utilities, and all the other bills. I was the only one keeping the house clean.
“I did everything for your ungrateful, cheating brother,” I snap, my anger overriding my survival instincts.
Heather rolls her eyes like I’m pathetic. “Please. Austin’s been miserable for months, but he felt sorry for you until Amanda and I sat him down and convinced him to cut ties with you.”
Pain slices straight through my chest, knowing they laughed behind my back while they plotted everything.
Heather grabs a file off her desk and throws it at me.
Before I can catch it, the papers spill to the floor.
“Your salary’s being withheld to cover everything you’ve stolen from petty cash.
I have footage showing only you handled the box and will turn it over to the police if you cause a scene.
” The corner of her mouth lifts higher. “That includes the security footage of you breaking into the office around one a.m. this morning to live here like a squatter after I fired you yesterday.”
My ears start ringing as the final blow to my already shitty life knocks me a step backward. My voice is hoarse as I whisper, “You can’t do that.”
“I absolutely can.” With the cruel smirk still on her face, she steps around her desk and gives me a daring look. “Who do you think the cops are going to believe, my family and me or little ol’ you?”
“I worked for my paycheck.” Panic claws violently up my throat. “I need that money. Just give it to me, and I’ll leave without causing any trouble.”
Heather’s expression turns ice cold until she looks at me like I’m nothing but a cockroach she’d love to squash beneath her high heels. “You won’t get another cent out of me. You are not my problem any longer.”
For a second, all I hear is my own breathing as reality closes around me so tightly it feels suffocating.
I have nowhere to go.
No paycheck.
No place to stay.
No way out.
Something inside me starts cracking under the pressure, and then it splits my chest wide open, allowing rage, hatred, and desperation to pour in like a tidal wave.
“I don’t deserve you treating me like this!” I snap as I take a threatening step forward. “I’ve given my all to this company and your pathetic brother. Give me my paycheck.”
She narrows her eyes and points her finger at me. “You didn’t do anything worthwhile. You were tolerated because Austin felt sorry for you.”
Knowing how Austin really felt makes shame crawl beneath my skin. While I gave everything I had, he viewed me as nothing more than a charity case.
Heather picks up the phone, then her index finger hovers over the nine. “Get out or I’m calling the police.”
I stand still for several seconds because I genuinely don’t know where to go, but then my pride wins out. I stalk away, and grabbing my suitcase from the cupboard, I hurry out of the office.
Once I’m darting down the sidewalk, the chaotic mess in my chest gets the better of me. I burst into tears as my entire life collapses around me.