I’d been wary of her the first time we met. Jake brought her back to the office to go through the contract after showing her around a studio apartment. From one look at her raggedy clothes and greasy hair, something in my gut told me she would be trouble, but Jake didn’t agree.
He eventually convinced me to give her a chance, andeventhough I knew it was because he wanted to fuck her, I relented and offered her the contract. She’d been a tenant for the last six months, and she hadn’t come to my attention.
Until now.
I scanned over the list of her payments to the company. Like every other tenant, her rent was due on the first day of each month. Anger bubbled under my skin at discoveringthatfor the last four months, she’d been late paying her rent. It hadn’t been by a couple of days either; she’d paid it right at the end of the month, a few days before the next payment was due.
My anger turned to boiling rage when my gaze landed on October’s payment. Not onlyhad she been late, but she’d underpaid by $200; something Rob should have brought to my attention.
Not giving a shitthatit was his day off, I grabbed my phone from where it sat on the desknext to me and dialed Rob’s number. He answered it after a few rings.“Mr. McScroodge…is, uh…is everything okay?”
His apprehensive voice shook down the line, making my jaw clench in irritation. Rob wasn’t a big man, neither in personality nor in stature. Often, his voice was barely over a whisper, and he always looked like he was going to shit his pants whenever Jake or I went over his figures.
“No, everything is not okay,”I hissed, staring at Bella’s accounts.“I want to know why itwasn’t brought to my attentionthatBella Matthews underpaid me by $200 last month?”There was a short pause, and I was certain I heard him gulp nervously. Before he could reply, I continued.“I also want to know why you haven’t informed methatshe has been late making her rental payment for the last four months?”
“I…I think there must be a mistake. Why don’t we look at the accounts tomorrow?”he stuttered, the obvious lie in his voice adding to my growing fury.
“In all the time you’ve worked for me, Rob, you’ve never made a mistake. Nor have youlied to me. So I suggestthatif you want to keep your job,thenyou tell me the truth. Why haven’tyou brought Bella Matthews’ account to my attention before?”I snarled, standing from my chair and pacing my office.
A heavy sigh of resignation echoed down the line.“She’s a friend of my son. She…shecomes from a difficult background-”
“Not my problem,”I snapped, interrupting him before he could give me pitiful excuses.“She signed the contract; she knew the terms of the agreement.”
“She recently lost her job-”
“Again. Not my problem. If she can’t afford to pay her bills,thenshe’s out.”
“Mr. McScroodge, please.Justgive her a bit of time. Her rent might be a bit late, butsurely it’s better to have it late than to have another vacant property not earning you any money,”Rob replied, desperation lacing his voice.
I knew he was right, of course it would have been better to have the income,evenif itwas a bit late. But if I made an exception for Bella, others would expect the same, and I wasn’t a goddamn charity case.
“No,”I said, an air of finality to my tone.“She’s had too many chances. The evictionnotice will be prepared and delivered this afternoon. She’s got twenty-four hours to get her shit together and get out of the apartment. There’ll be someone else interested in the place; it’s cheaper than most of my properties.”
Rob sighed, but he knew better than to push me. Once my mind was made up, mydecision was final.“I understand, sir.”
“Good. And make sure this is the only mistake you make, Mr. Crutchens. Don’t thinkyou’re irreplaceable.”
“It won’t happen again, I assure you.”
Telling him I would see him at the office in the morning, I hung up and sat back down infront of my computer. With a few clicks of the mouse, I loaded up the template for the eviction notice, intent on getting it written as quickly as possible so Icould personally deliver it to Bella Matthews with a smile on my face.
With Bella’s eviction notice hand-delivered, I returned home to finish theaccounts, intent on making sure Rob hadn’t made any other mistakes. Hours ticked by, and when the sun set, I took it as my cue to call it a day.
Switching the computer off, I headed to the kitchen and made my dinner: a plate of leftover cold chicken and saladthathad started turning brown. Neither were particularly appetizing, but I hated wasting food; it was a waste of money.
Like always, I ate in the living room in silence. I didn’t own a TV; I had no interest in the mindless reality showsthatseemedto be continuously aired, nor did I need to watch the TV for news. If I wanted to know what was going on in the world, I had the internet.
I preferred silence when I wasn’t working. The group home I’d grown up in had always been filled with chaotic noises; kids crying, adults shouting.Evenin sleep, their screams haunted me. I often locked myself away in my room with a pillow over my head to drown out the noise, but it rarely worked.
Silence soothed me. It brought calm to the continuous storm in my head. For some, silence made them face their demons. Forme, it brought me a black hole where only I existed, and it suited me perfectly.
After I’d eaten, I washed my plates and tidied the kitchen. I hated mess—the irony wasn’t lost on me, given the state of the interior decor. The outside, too. I couldn’t remember the last time the backyard had been mowed. It wasn’t like I went out there to enjoy it.
Sometimes I wondered why I bought the house. When it came across the market at a cheap price, I’d envisioned turning it into a beautiful mansion and selling it for a tidy profit. The reality, though, wasthatit was a bad investment. I’d underestimatedjusthow much work needed to be done, and how much it would cost.
I’d tried to resell it, but no one was interested, and over a year later, I was still stuck with the place, only instead of it making me money, it was draining my bank account.
Just like the business seemed to be doing.
