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Chapter Five
Ava
AfterMeadowsfinallyspillsthe beans about why he so boldly tried to feel me up, I know almost immediately what I need to do next. I just have to find the balls to do it.
Apparently getting balls is much like grieving your pride, because I go through all five stages in the following two days.
It starts obviously with denial. Meadows telling me that I’m well-known in certain Facebook groups for fucking clients is a curveball I don’t expect. I think I gape at him for more than a few seconds, in disbelief. It’s so stupid that I can’t even think of where a rumor like that would have originated from.
And then, even when the lightbulb goes off in my head, I still can’t believe it.
Because it sounds ridiculous to think that my old boss, apart from getting me fired because I pushed him when he was trying to assault me, is also spreading rumors about me. Maybe to cover his ass if I ever came public about what he did to me, he's told people, including Meadows, that I was only able to close so many deals because I sleep with my clients. The news must have spread like wildfire across all the important networks in the city and I'm practically blacklisted from every single real estate agency in the city.
At least, Meadows thinks I am. It's why he tries to convince me to take the job anyway and we can have our own little "perks" on the side.
I almost throw up just thinking about it.
It's also incredible to think that my career ends just like this. No proof was needed and no one even waited to hear my side of the story. I doubt anyone cares. Greg did the smart thing by getting ahead of the news, and in doing so, he tainted my reputation forever. Even if I say anything now, who would believe me? I might never get another job in this city thanks to him.
That vindictive bastard wasn't satisfied with just getting me fired. He wants to ruin me.
But that would explain why I've been having so much difficulty finding a job. That must have been what his skeevy little smile was about. He might have had it all planned out even back then. He wanted me to know that he could ruin my life just like that.
He wanted me to go back to him, begging on my knees so he would hire me again.
Oooh, that slimy bastard.
"You really had no clue about this?" Meadows asks again, but I ignore him, stuck in my own personal hell.
The more I think about it, the worse the prognosis becomes. Greg is underhanded enough to pull some bullshit like that, but given his influence, people will be more likely to believe him than me, a nobody from nowhere. Plus, Greg's father is the governor, so the man has the power and contacts to ruin all my opportunities in the city. And that means that I’m well and truly screwed because I can't afford to move out of town and start all over. Everything and everyone I know is here. My daughter's school is here. And my parents made it very clear I wasn't welcome back there either.
So, I can’t leave. It’s just not an option.
But I can’t just sit here either, twiddling my thumbs while my savings dry up.
“Look, if you don’t want the job, you need to leave," Meadow says, with a sigh. I guess he's finally tired of my silence. "I have more people waiting to be interviewed."
I glare at him for a few seconds, trying to suppress the urge to punch him. And I do because I don't want to be arrested for assault on top of everything else. So, I just hold my head up high at only god knows what cost and leave with my dignity in shambles, but my poise as good as ever.
My emotions are volatile as I leave, but I don’t let myself cry. I focus on my anger instead. An anger like I never felt before. I'm angry at Greg for being a no-good, slimy rodent. I'm angry at myself for not calling HR on him when I had the chance. And I'm angry at everyone who believed the asshole's lies. But most of all, at myself for not being strong enough to fight him.
I get in my car and zoom off with the cauldron still boiling inside me. Right now, I want to go somewhere where I can throw things and rage, but I keep it bottled up inside as I drive. I don’t want to be the crazy woman screaming at her steering wheel in the middle of traffic.
Even though it sounds really,reallygood right now.
Nevertheless, I keep my sanity, or what's left of it anyway. I go home and pay off the babysitter. I eat dinner with my daughter while she tells me about how White rhinos are actually gray.
And then, when I'm sure she's fast asleep, I go to my room and cry the night away.
The next day, I enter a stage of bargaining, with a hint of even more denial. I send out more applications even to internships just to see if I get any bites. Nothing. Then I even apply for places that are over an hour-long commute, hoping that maybe a few of those won’t have heard about the rumors. But no such luck. One person even has the decency to reply with an email saying "Maybe I can be convinced, winky face."
I nearly toss my laptop at that. Then I draft an entire email lambasting the asshole, but I delete it before I send it. Because, what's the point?
And then, because I'm apparently a masochist or something, I check one of the Facebook groups that Meadows mentioned. Sure enough, I'm still a topic of discussion there and I don't even have to scroll all that much to find my name. The internet is a creepy place because they know my name, face, and even where I live. Good thing, no one has mentioned my daughter yet. I think I would die if they did.
Because the things they're saying...
God. It makes me sick.
