I look back to make sure the girl is out of earshot before speaking. “You know she was asking for your number, right?”
Blake lifts an eyebrow as he sprays his chair down. “No, what does she need that for?”
Ugh, men.
“Are you serious? She was asking for your number so you could go out. You know, like, date, and other fun things.”
Blake tears off a paper towel then stops as he processes what I said. “Well, even if I did actually realize what she was asking, I wouldn’t have given it to her. I don’t mix business with pleasure. Anything involving this place is strictly business.”
“That’s fair. Speaking of, does your ‘need to talk’ text have any links to my three rejection messages from tattoo shops this morning?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
Dammit. I knew it. Well, Stella spoke it first, I guess I should give some credit to her.
“First, Charlie raises my rent and now?—”
“Wow, wait, Charlie raised your rent?”
“Yep, I’m now paying thirty-five hundred dollars for that shitty studio apartment. And before you ask, I researched it, he can raise it. It’s the beginning of the month, so at most I could get away with a small extension because his only requirement is to give a thirty-day notice.”
“Fuckers aren’t going to let you go, Jen. That’s insane.”
“It’s outrageous, I’m aware. My lease ends at the end of January so I can try to find a new place, but I have to make ends meet in the meantime. Which is much harder to do, considering I can’t even get my foot in the door to work outside of the winebar.” I throw my hands up in frustration. “Fucking Hank and Charlie.”
“You forgot Tally,” Blake adds.
“What? What’s she doing?”
“Jen, you seriously don’t know? You think Hank and Charlie are smart enough to know the requirement and timing for raising rent legally? That they would know how to get lies about you spread out to nearly every tattoo shop downtown in the span of a week?”
My jaw hangs. “Tally’s doing this?”
Blake gives me a pity smile. “I’ve tried to calm things down the best I can. I didn’t know about the rent being raised, but I think I’ve gotten Tally to at least stop blacklisting your name for now.”
“All because I don’t want to work here? This is insane! Her husband is an asshole who hits on anything and everything. You know how he is, how he treated me! Maybe Tally needs to be clued in on all that.”
The pity only intensifies. I don’t have a good feeling about this.
“She’s well aware of Hank’s behavior, Jen. She doesn’t care—they have an open marriage and frankly, I think she’s just as bad.”
“Of fucking course,” I grit out. Some part of me knew she wouldn’t care if I told her about Hank, but I didn’t want to believe it. “What lies is she telling people?”
Blake gives me a pointed look. “You really want to know?”
“I need some sort of idea. I can’t disprove her lies if I don’t know what they are.”
The pause Blake gives me only makes his next sentence worse. “She’s got a few circulating. One that you were having an affair with Hank.”
“Oh, fuck off, you just said they’re in an open marriage!”
Blake snorts a laugh. “You just found that out yourself, not every tattoo parlor in Boston knows that.”
Dammit.
“He’s repulsive!”
“Again…Boston, Jen. They don’t care, they just know they have another tattoo place calling saying bad things about a person looking for a job. No sane person wants unnecessary drama in their place of work.”
