Chapter 8
Fable
“You’re fired.”
I almost fell out of the chair. When John called me into a meeting early Monday morning, I’d have bet money it was to congratulate me on pulling off a kick-ass event.
I laughed. I actually laughed in his face because, after walking out on Beau this weekend, crashing on Harleigh’s couch, and feeling my entire reality crumble, I needed a win. I deserved a win. But getting fired on a Monday morning? That wasn’t on my bingo card.
“I’m sorry.” I finally stopped laughing, wiping at my eyes. “I think I misunderstood. You meant to say I’m promoted for the incredible event I brought to Bucking Energy.”
John shook his head and leaned back in his chair, his expression unmoving. “No. You heard me right. You’re fired.”
I blinked rapidly, my brain scrambling to process. “I-I don’t understand. The event—”
“The event was amazing, and it’s over now.”
“I can bring other events to Bucking Energy. The tour doesn’t end with Chicago. There are other events that I’m willing to travel to, and we can promote them nationwide to gain a larger audience.”
John shook his head. “No. We’ll have another team do that.”
My mouth hung agape. “John. Reason with me. I’ve been working with your company for four years.”
It was the first job I’d gotten out of college.
I had always been a hard worker and rarely missed a day of work.
This was the biggest event I’d had. I had no idea what was happening, but as I looked down, the germs on my hands seemed to come to life, and I needed to go wash myself.
Wash myself of the disgust I felt for what I did this weekend with Beau.
The disgust I felt for myself for hitting rock bottom.
Because that’s what this was—rock bottom. It had to be.
“Yeah, and in those years, I asked you many times to work over, to stay at night and come to dinners with me . . .”
Wait . . . wait a fucking damn minute. I flew off my chair. “Is this because I won’t fuck you, John?”
“No, I would never—”
“Oh, shove it.” I threw my hands in the air. “This is disgusting. I was engaged, John! I wasn’t fucking your tiny dick because I was in a relationship, you absolute worm.”
His jaw tightened, and he leaned forward, his voice flat and patronizing. “That’s the way the world works, Fable.”
I shoved my finger into my mouth and made a gagging motion. “You are a foul, pathetic piece of shit. I would never have fucked you even if I was single.”
I hated this. I hated him. I hated my life, but if everything was going to burn, then I was going to be the one holding the damn match.
No one was taking that from me—not John, not anyone.
If this was the end, I wouldn’t go out quietly.
I was going out in flames, burning so brightly no one would ever forget it.
“What about Harleigh?”
She technically worked for me, but if I wasn’t there, I was hoping they would assign her to another person.
“She’s fired too.”
“John!” I shouted.
“Calm down, Fable. You’re starting to cause a scene.”
“A scene?” I threw his chair toward the desk. “A fucking scene?!”
“Fable.” John tutted in warning. “Stop it.”
I was done with men like him—like Mike. So fucking done with men who thought they could control the narrative. I might’ve been messy, crazy, and anxious, but I wasn’t someone people could walk over. Not anymore.
It was the same reason I’d walked out the back door after Saturday night. I wasn’t going to let some bull rider define what that night meant. I wasn’t going to wait around to be told I was a one-night stand. No, he was the one-night stand, and I was the author of that story.
“Bye, John,” I said, standing tall. “I have absolutely nothing else to say to you, except that I expect Harleigh and me to have a thick-ass severance package. Otherwise, I’ll be going straight to HR to let them know the real reason you’re firing me is because you wanted to fuck me.”
John laughed. “And you think they’d believe you?”
Probably not. The odds were stacked against me, but I wasn’t going to let him see an ounce of doubt.
“It’ll stir up plenty of problems for you. Start rumors you don’t want following you around. You wouldn’t want that, now, would you?”
John mumbled something under his breath, his eyes darting away from mine.
Good. Let him squirm.
“That’s what I thought,” I huffed and then turned my back on the only job I had. I glanced over my shoulder. “Say goodbye to the worst decision of your life, John.”
I didn’t wait to hear a response as I left his office and slammed the door behind me.
I walked straight to my desk. Harleigh was across from me, and the moment she saw my face, hers dropped.
“We’re not going to make a scene. I want you to pack whatever you need in a bag and then walk out of here.”
“I-I don’t understand.” Her brows furrowed.
“We’re fired.” My voice shook as I shoved my things into my bag. “John wanted to fuck me, but I didn’t put out, so he said the project was over and canned us.”
Harleigh’s jaw dropped, her face a mixture of disbelief and fury. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
I shook my head, guilt twisting in my chest. “It’s my fault, Harls. I shouldn’t have put you in—”
“Absolutely not.” Harleigh stood and rolled up the satin sleeves of her dress like she was gearing up for a fight. “Do not apologize. We should be hiring attorneys to investigate this shit. Fuck this company. I don’t want to work for pieces of shit like them anyway.”
I sniffed, fighting back tears. My hands moved swiftly, stuffing whatever I could into my bag, trying to focus on the motion instead of the burn in my eyes.
Harleigh stepped closer, squeezing my shoulder firmly, grounding me. “We’ll figure this out. We don’t need them. And we sure as hell don’t let them win.”
“I’m so sorry I put you in this position. Truly.”
She grabbed the last of my things. “You’re the best thing that came out of all of this. Plus, I have an idea.”
I narrowed my eyes at her as she grabbed my laptop and tucked it under her arm.
“Come on,” she said, her voice firm. “Let’s get out of this disgusting place, and I’ll tell you everything.”
I nodded, my body feeling heavy with exhaustion.
She gestured toward the bathroom. “Want to wash up before we go?”
I glanced down at my hands, the skin red and raw from my endless need to scrub away everything. The urge was there, buzzing faintly. “Nah. I’m good.”
The corner of her lips curled into a knowing smirk as we turned toward the elevators. There was no need to say goodbye to anyone. I needed to leave, to breathe fresh air, to shake this place off me.
“Between Mike and this shit show,” I muttered as we stepped inside, the doors closing behind us, sealing us in.
Harleigh pressed the button, her face unreadable as she glanced at me. “It’s time we take back control. No more playing by their rules, Fable. We write the story now.”
I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat as the elevator descended. She was right. It was time to stop letting everyone else dictate the narrative. It was time to start over.
My mind swirled with everything that had just happened—getting fired, John’s disgusting audacity, and how my life seemed to be unraveling piece by piece. Somewhere in the chaos, my thoughts wandered to Beaudreau Banks. I tried to push it down, shove it away, but it lingered.
Harleigh glanced at me. “Really, the new story started when you fucked Beau.”
I groaned, rubbing my temples. “Please don’t remind me. I already regret telling you.”
“You didn’t have a choice,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “You didn’t show up at my apartment. I thought you bailed because it was too dirty in the arena. Turns out you were just out getting laid, and some bull rider was spitting your cum back inside your mouth.”
“It was so not like me,” I muttered, the shame creeping back in.
“It was exactly like you.” She countered. “You’ve just suppressed that part of yourself.”
I groaned again, leaning against the elevator wall. “Tell me something good, Harleigh. Please. I need a win. I don’t want to talk about my entire weekend of regrets.”
That mischievous glint in her eyes that always made me nervous made an appearance. “I have the perfect solution to all this, babe. Seriously. The timing couldn’t be better.”
I eyed her suspiciously as we stepped out of the elevator. “What are you talking about?”
“We’re going home, honey.”