Page 82 of Small Sacrifices

Mr. Wright leans over his desk with his fingers steepled together. "Well, we’re a few hands short now. I’m sure you can see that this is an excellent opportunity for you. We’ll need someone to fill Ms. Contreras’s position until we find a replacement for her. And you’re perfect for that!"

He looks at Reid expectantly. Reid can only nod.Opportunity.Yeah, right. Opportunity to do what, exactly? Benefit from his colleagues’ sexual harassment? Just the thought sends a shiver down his spine.

"I know you worked well together. That means you already have a lot of the knowledge you need to sub in for her. Isn’t that great? And you can really prove yourself by doing well now. We need you."

Mr. Wright’s smile is so saccharine that it makes Reid’s teeth hurt. Reid wonders what he means.Sub inandfill her positionsound a lot like he wants Reid to do Marisol’s job. All of it, with all the responsibility attached. But in return for what?

Reid knows it’s useless to ask if they’ll pay him. Dangerous, even. He’s an unpaid intern, they’re not suddenly going to start compensating him no matter how much they purportedly need him. Asking about that will just make him look difficult. Nothing Reid can do about that. But credit? If he does this, are they going to allow him to say that he did it?

Even that feels like it’s too much to ask. And that’s what makes Reid stop in his mental tracks and reevaluate. If he can’t even ask this question without fear of reprisal, then he shouldn’t do the work, should he?

This cannot possibly be what his father meant when he talked about sacrificing for the job. At least if you arrive early and stay late, you can still claim the work you did as yours. And here Reid is, scared to ask a simple question for fear of reprisal. Because one thing he knows for sure: If Mr. Wright was willing to fire Marisol just like that, he’ll do the same to Reid.

Reid clenches his teeth to keep in any snarky remarks. This is what he’s compromising his personal ethics for? They could and would fire him at any minute for the flimsiest of reasons. And still, he’s staying. Under a boss who tries to blackmail his employees into sleeping with him. And under that boss’s boss who keeps his son in the closet and poisons children to make himself look good.

"I quit."

The words are out before Reid has fully registered them in his head. But their effect is immediate. He feels light and untethered, like a large weight has just been lifted from his shoulders. And Mr. Wright looks like he’s just bitten on a lemon.

"What?"

"I resign from my position, effective immediately."

"No, you don’t!" Mr. Wright hisses. "What are you doing? Be smart about this. We really need your help right now. If you play this right, you could get a job when your internship ends."

Reid almost snorts. Sure, that’s definitely going to happen after what he just said. Mr. Wright keeps talking. When cajoling doesn’t work, he starts to threaten. Says he’ll put Reid on a blacklist and make sure he never works in politics again.

It makes Reid want to scream, but he doesn’t. He stays professional, hands in all his materials, and says his goodbyes. When Mr. Wright shouts one last threat after him as he leaves the office, he understands why Marisol was giggling earlier. This feels liberating.

Chapter 28: My deepest condolences

On the entire ride home, Reid feels numb. The sound of the wheels on the street lulls him into a trance—so much so that he has to turn the radio on to make sure he doesn't doze off. That would be too much; to quit his job and get into a car accident on the same day.

God, this will look horrible on his resume, won't it? Who quits an unpaid internship after barely being there for a month? Even if Mr. Wright doesn't blacklist him, a hiccup like that won't endear Reid to potential employers. That'll make it even more difficult to figure out how to meet his parents' deadline.

Strangely giddy, he wonders what he’ll do all day. His first instinct is to call Everett. But he’s probably attending his remote lectures. Maybe they can talk this evening if they're still going to meet. Everything feels hazy—did he tell Marisol he'd see her?

All those questions disappear when he arrives home and finds Everett waiting on the stairs leading up to his building. As Reid approaches, Everett jumps to his feet so quickly that Reid gets dizzy at the thought of the head rush he might be experiencing.

Everett, however, remains steady. He just quietly follows Reid as he unlocks the door, climbs the stairs, and then unlocks the door to his apartment. His dark eyes track Reid as he closes the door behind them, hangs the key onto its hook, and deposits his bag onto the chair next to the door. Only then does he speak.

"Did they fire you too? I heard they let Marisol go, and then you left, so…"

A giggle bubbles up in Reid’s throat. He barely disguises it as a cough. "No, I quit."

"What, why?"

Reid shrugs. He doesn’t know how to explain it. Sure, Everett knows how bad his father is. And he doesn’t seem to like Mr. Wright either. But it just… It still feels a bit too complicated in Reid’s head to explain. The problem with that, it seems, is that Everett isn’t just going to let this go without an explanation.

"I thought this job was important to you. What happened to getting people engaged in politics?" Wow. That would feel like a low blow if Everett didn’t look so concerned. Even under the deep furrow of his brow, his eyes are strikingly wide.

"Not like this," Reid says. "I’ll find another way, but I just… couldn’t stay."

The searching look in Everett’s eyes makes him squirm. He feels so pinned under his gaze that he doesn’t even try to get past Everett and sit down on the couch. Instead, he just leans back against his front door and lets himself glide down.

Before he can say anything, there's a hand on his knee. When he looks up, Everett is kneeling in front of him with a concerned expression on his face.

"What's wrong?"

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