Page 15 of Tiebreaker

And people going about their business.

The whole world was keeping moving while I’ve been hidden away.

The angry pit of burning fire in my belly isn’t going to let me stay sleeping any longer. I shower off and grab my phone. I’m not really sure what I need to do, if I should report her or what or who I would report her to, but I need to talk to Mariah.

I am going to tell her exactly what I think of her and that three grand sitting in my purse is going to be my ticket out from working with her. I never want to see her face again.

Not after what she did.

I turn my phone on and my voicemail icon lit up on the tiny little square screen.

With an anxious sigh I dial into it.

“You have 13 messages,”it chirps as I cross my room and set the kettle to boiling. For somebody who doesn't have a lot of friends and doesn't have any family, that was definitely outside of my normal.

“Hey kiddo. Just checking in with you letting you know that the repairs are going along well. The cafe, and we should be opening for business at the end of this week so call me. And we'll schedule you in a shift.”

Mariah sounds chirpy, happy even, like she has no idea the gross violation that she had planned for me.

Like she doesn’t care about it even if she knew. My stomach feels sick. I delete the message. There is a second one from her imploring me to call her, and then a third saying that if I didn't call her she was gonna fire me.

Fire me, bitch,I think, just the sound of her voice making my skin crawl.

I quit.

Fourth message was an unfamiliar voice at first and then I realize it’s Jenna, Kai's assistant. My throat tightens, lump swelling in it.

Hi Olivia. I hope you're doing well, I just wanted to check in with you and see if you were available for another date. At the end of the week. Of course, there'll be an outfit budget for you. So just call me back at the office and let me know. Thanks so much.

The casualness of how she is speaking to me gets to me too. Does she think that now that Mariah’s made theugh, introduction…god.

I delete the message. I was not whore then, I am not one now.

Who do these people think they are?

I look down at my body in the mirror. It looks foreign, alien. It isn't even mine. It isn't even my own possession.

I sit down on the edge of my bed, and shiver. Beside me, my phone keeps playing voicemails, oblivious to my despair.

It’s Mariah again.

Look, I wasn't going to ask you, but since you're not getting back to me. You need to know that half of that money they paid you is mine. So you better fucking give me my share. Call me back, or I'm gonna make it a real problem for you.

With a shaking hand I shut my little phone. It lays there, in my palm, smooth and quiet.

This yawning, gaping well a pain and agony in my chest spirals out, and with a cry I throw my phone across the room. It hits the wall, cracking with a dull thud, and falls to through the floor with a thump.

I mirror its actions and fall over on my side, collapsing down. The sobs come deep and heavy, ripping out of my chest, tears burning my eyes already swollen from days of crying.

Meow.

Meow.

Meow.

Toby nuzzles my face, before he curls up against my neck and buries himself there, purring ferociously. I wrap my arm around him and hold him close.

He's all I have. And he's the only thing in the whole world that doesn't hurt me.

---