After the guard leaves me in the parking garage, the tears I held back spill down my cheeks.I shuffle my feet along, shocked and in a daze, toward the rows of cars, searching for Gen’s, then I halt.
I tip my head back and sigh loudly.
Gen has the keys and the receptionist said I couldn’t return before tomorrow, when my employment status would be announced.
I walk to the edge of the garage overlooking the fields of cars below and lean my head on the cold metal bars.What am I going to do?I needed this job for school.My savings from this summer would only cover a fraction of the costs of my first year, but still.I’ll have to request more loans, which may take me my entire life to pay off.I’ll be a well-paid corporate slave.
Opportunities like Harvard Law don’t come around every day.I should be grateful.And yet I’m not.It doesn’t feel like a dream, it feels like a burden.
ChapterSixteen
I’m sitting in my favorite spot in the backyard on the lounge chair, where I’ve been for the last half-hour staring at the trees.I didn’t bother removing the purse from my arm.It seemed like a lot of work.I can’t wrap my head around the fact that I just got fired.It makes no sense.
A vibration zings my ribs where my purse rests.I reach inside and grab it.“Hello?”
“Cali, are you okay?”Gen’s voice sounds high-pitched and panicked.“Mason said you left the casino escorted by asecurity guard.”
“Yup,” I choke.The rain of tears has dissipated, but my voice hasn’t fully recovered.
“What happened?Where are you?”
“Home.I took an Uber.”I gulp a deep breath and rub my nose, which is likely bright red from all the crying.“I was fired.”
“What?Why?”
I’m about to sayI don’t knowwhen a memory of the other night pops into my head.No.He wouldn’t… would he?Drake was pissed when he left.Pissed enough to take revenge?
“I—I don’t know.”
“This is crazy, Cali.You can’t get fired.You haven’t done anything wrong.”
I filter through the events of my last night of work, and the time I spent at the club.Had I done something employees shouldn’t?The casino gives drink tokens to employees at the end of every workweek, to be used at Blue bars.Administration has no problem with drinking and gambling at their facility.They’d probably be happy if we blew our entire paycheck on the house.
I drank and danced, which is no big deal.The thing that was a big deal was getting a ride from Drake and Jaeger punching him,an executive of Blue.
Would Drake take that out on me?In this way?Male pride makes men do stupid things.I sure as hell don’t know Drake well enough to say he wouldn’t have had me fired.He proved himself a jerk, possibly worse.Jesus.
And I can’t tell Gen any of this yet because I haven’t told her about Drake and Jaeger and what happened that night.It’s too much to fill her in on over the phone while she’s working, and I want to do it in person anyway.“Supposedly employees are provisional the first three months.The casino doesn’t need a reason to release me.The head of Gaming said?—”
“You spoke to someoneupstairs?They never bother with us.”
“Yeah, well, this guy did.He said I don’t fit the casino culture.”
“Are you kidding me?You’re a genius, soon-to-be Harvard Law student.Not to mention classy and beautiful.What are they looking for?Dropouts with bedhead and poor manners?”
Hmm, interesting theory.Some employees fit that description.“No, I don’t think that’s it, but I doubt I’ll discover the truth.They’re not required to tell me.”
“This is so weird… and not right.”She lets out a loud sigh.“Forget about Blue, Cali.Who needs them?You have a bright future ahead.”
I pinch my lips and breathe through my nose, holding down the ball at the back of my throat.“Right.”Having this job while I figured things out with school was my buffer, and now it’s gone.
Gen returns to work, but promises to come straight home after her shift.Talking to her had the positive effect of waking me from my catatonic state on the patio.
I only spent thirty minutes in the casino, but my clothes and hair carry the burnt tang of cigarette smoke.I want to purge every reminder of that place.I grab my favorite threadbare sweats and T-shirt, and take a shower.
Wet hair dangling down my back, I flip through television channels, searching for a smutty reality show to make my life appear normal.
My cell phone vibrates.It’s a text from Jaeger.
