“Call the girls, yeah?” he tells me, turning and moving for the door, but looking back at the last minute with a sad look in his eyes.
He doesn’t want to leave me.
“Go. I will be okay.”
He slips through the door, closing it gently behind him, and as the lock clicks, my tears fall. I look around my little apartment, wondering what comes next—the loans, this place, the showcase.
My showcase.
The girls have worked so hard for this.Ihave worked so hard for this.
I go to my bag and pull out my phone.
I call Mason.
Nothing.
“Mase,” my voice cracks and I try to swallow past the lump in my throat. “Can you call me back?”
I try Lucy instead.
Nothing.
My shoulders shake, no longer being able to hold back the faucet of tears. I slide down the wall to the floor. My studio is gone. Erin has sold it. I knew it was too good to be true.
My hand covers my mouth as a sob escapes me, and I do nothing to stop it, not the pain, not the tears and not the wails that echo throughout the apartment.
“Why!” My hand hits on the ground in a feeble attempt to free my hurt. “Why couldn’t I just have one thing. One safe space,” I cry.
My head thuds to the floor boards as I curl into myself, my body shaking with each broken cry.
I’ve never felt more alone.
24
Mase
Sold.
That’s what my email told me when I checked this morning. Cara sold the studio overnight, and the locks were changed this morning.
A sick feeling fills my gut all day, knowing there is no going back.
I’ve sold her studio. To think last night she completely gave herself to me, and I took it.
It’s early afternoon when the call comes. The call I’ve been waiting for, but now that it is here, and she needs me, I don’t answer. Instead, I watch as it rings out and goes to voicemail.
My body is at war with itself. The need to know where she is and that she is okay is overwhelming, but the coward in me wants to stay far away.
I did what had to be done.
Fuck.
* * *
Nina
After calling Mason,Lucy and Megan with no luck, I knew there was only one other person I had left. I breathe out a sigh of relief as Maggie passes me a cup of tea, joining me on her sofa.
