Chapter4

Cole stared at me like he'd never seen me before.

Then he laughed. "Sure. I get it, you're upset, you don't know what you're saying. I'll let it go."

He took Sienna's hand and walked away.

People in the crowd snickered.

"Oh my God, she just got fired and she still thinks she's Cole's girlfriend? That's so embarrassing."

"And she tried to pin it on Sienna on her way out. Everyone knows Sienna and Cole are basically a thing. She's just jealous."

I limped out of the building with all of them laughing behind me.

While I was waiting downstairs for my Uber, Sienna called.

I picked up and didn't say anything.

Through the phone, I could hear her and Cole joking around. She had me on speaker.

"Okay, okay, I admit it, I maybe tripped her a little."

Cole scoffed. "So what if you did? If she watched where she was going, she wouldn't have eaten it like that."

Sienna giggled. "Oh, did you look at that picture closely? I think the shoes she dug out were the ones you threw away."

Cole gave a careless "Mm."

"You were right. She loves the drama. She set it up to get photographed so I'd see the shoes and feel guilty."

"So she spent a little money on me. Now it's staged photos and a sob story, and the whole company knows. No wonder people say she's embarrassing to be seen with."

"But she broke up with you in front of everyone. You're really not gonna go smooth things over?"

"Smooth things over? Hell no. She's been with me three years for the money. She's not going anywhere."

"What, you don't believe me? Wanna bet?"

I hung up.

Five seconds later, Sienna sent me a voice message:

"Oops, did I accidentally call you? You heard all that, huh? Don't cry, babe. Everybody slips sometimes."

I pressed and held. Save.

Then I dialed a number I'd politely turned down three days earlier.

"Hi, this is Jenna Price. Is your offer still on the table?"

"It is? That's great. Once I sign, I can start tomorrow."

I hung up and looked at Sienna's voice message, still sitting on my screen.

Cole wanted to bet? Fine.

I was done losing.

After I signed the contract at my new company, the HR manager pulled a first-aid kit out of a cabinet and told me to take care of my leg.

At Cole's company, if I used anything that belonged to the company, even a pen or a pack of tissues, he made me Venmo it back at cost.

So when she handed me antiseptic and Band-Aids, my first reaction was: "How much? I'll send it to you."

She stared at me for three seconds. Then she burst out laughing.

"Honey, it's a Band-Aid. We're not monsters."

"We're coworkers now. You don't have to keep score."

I looked down at my knee, and my nose started to sting.

So in the normal world, nobody makes you pay for a Band-Aid.

When she heard I still needed to find a place to live, she told me to start next Monday instead.

I went back to Cole's condo to get my stuff.

At the door, the fingerprint lock flashed red.

Fingerprint not recognized.

I called Cole. It rang once before he declined it.

Sienna's exaggerated laugh came through the door:

"You know her so well! It's been, like, a few hours, and she's already calling to make up!"

Cole snorted. "Told you. She's got no backbone. She'll throw away her dignity for money."

"I'm not picking up. She needs to learn there are consequences, or she'll never learn."

Hearing me outside, Sienna opened the door herself.

She was wrapped in Cole's bathrobe, her hair still dripping. When she saw me, her eyes were full of mockery.

"Oh, it's you. Cole had me add my fingerprint today, and I saw an extra one in there. I figured it was the cleaning lady's, so I deleted it."

"Didn't realize it was yours. Now you can't even get in. Sorry."

I didn't bother answering. I stepped around her and went straight to the bedroom to pack.

Cole's voice came from behind me, sharp and cutting:

"Good call deleting it. She's lived in my place for almost three years and actually thinks it's her home."

"Didn't she want to break up? Let's see if she can stand going back to that crappy shared apartment."

I carried my things out to the living room, one box at a time.

Cole's face slowly darkened.

"Jenna, are you done with this act?"

"It was one pair of crappy shoes. You humiliated me in front of the whole office today and I haven't even said anything, and now you're milking it?"

"Re-add your fingerprint, then go mop the bathroom floor."

"Sienna just showered, and there's water everywhere. Cleaning is your job. If she slips, you're paying her medical bills!"

Sienna chimed in sweetly:

"Jenna, don't get the wrong idea, okay? I never shower at a guy's place. It's just because Cole's like my brother."

"I'd mop it myself, but it's not my place, you know? You're the one who lives here, so you should do it."

Three years.

Three years of scrubbing these floors and washing his shirts, and all I got was "Cleaning is your job."

My phone rang. The movers were downstairs.

I opened the door, and four movers in uniform walked in.

That's when Cole realized I meant it.

He froze for a few seconds.

Then he completely lost it.

"You're really leaving? Fine! If you walk out that door today, don't even think about coming back, even if you're on your knees begging!"

I walked to the door and looked back at the two of them.

One of them wrapped in her "bro's" bathrobe. The other telling his ex to mop up after her shower.

The corner of my mouth twitched.

"Wearing each other's bathrobes and calling it a totally platonic 'bro' thing. I've only ever seen that on reality TV."

"Thanks for the live show, you two. Really riveting."

"What the hell are you talking about?! Sienna and I are just friends!"

Cole shouted and hurled a glass at me.

It flew past my ear and shattered against the wall.

All four movers stopped what they were doing.

One of them slowly pulled out his phone and looked at Cole. "Buddy, throw one more. All four of us saw that. I can call the cops right now."

Cole's face went red, then white.

I slammed the door.

The second the elevator doors closed, I leaned back against the wall and laughed.

I laughed until I was crying.

It was the best cry I'd had in three years.

Then I wiped my face and opened my laptop.

Cole wanted fifty thousand dollars from me. He was about to find out what I could do with one voice message and four witnesses.