Nine a.m.? Fuck! How the hell did I sleep through my alarm?
I fling back the duvet, pushing papers and an envelope off the nightstand to retrieve my phone. My jaw tightens when its blank screen stares back at me.
Shitting hell.
Why must my wireless charger continually play up on me?
Note to self, buy a new charger.
“Why didn’t you wake me earlier?” My eyes widen as I wipe the dust from them.
“Just because I work at a hotel doesn’t mean I offer wake-up calls.”
“Clearly.” My gaze is drawn to his phone and the onslaught of Grindr pings emanating from it.
Andrew huffs and turns on his heels to leave, though not before throwing a whole load of side-eye my way.
As I step out of bed, my feet are greeted not by the warmth of the grey carpet, but by the strewn papers from my nightstand. There’s barely legible writing scrawled across them.
Alexander’s letter.
A wave of nausea rises in my throat before I swallow it back down.
Seven weeks.
Seven fucking weeks it’s taken him to get in touch.
He’d criticized me for not returning his calls, his voicemail, but then didn’t have the decency to returnmymessage. To let me know he was okay after what happened. And now he thinks he can write one letter and all can be forgiven, after nearly costing me my job again.
Fuck him.
I look at the stress ball next to my bed and knock it away.
And fuck you too.
I head to the bathroom and turn on the shower, strip out of my pajamas, and turn to the speaker.
“Alexa, play disappointing affirmations.”
Certainly, playing disappointing affirmations.
I step in the shower, the steam rising along with my anger. The sight of Andrew’s silicone douche kit, next to the shampoo and shower gel, reactivates my gag reflex.
You can’t kill my vibe, it’s already dead.
I will outlive my enemies.
Every day, I get in my way.
What doesn’t kill you gives you trauma.
Ain’t that the truth.
An hour later, I’m rushing into the office boardroom to join the Zoom call, firing up my laptop to quickly scan the revised schedule for Brewed’s in-store promotion events.
Albuquerque, New York, Oklahoma, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Los Angeles.
The third week of November.
