Page 150 of Chase
I follow after him like I’m walking the plank.
I start to think I actually might puke.
He sits down in his office chair and I sit across from him, running a hand through my hair and bouncing my leg.
He swivels his computer screen toward me, and starts playing security cam footage.
The footage is of me, on the top floor, entering Logan’s suite. It flips to another clip, where I’m doing it again, but the time and date are a bit later.
More clips play as he starts to talk.
“Another worker told me that they were aware of you using your access card to get up to the top floor. And the interesting thing was that we were informed the VIP in the penthouse suite was not in town that week.”
“David, he gave me permission. He was well aware?—”
“And then I found out that you went up one day during the middle of a busy shift, outside the hours of your break.”
I forgot I had even done that.
Logan had messaged me, asking if I could check if he left a charger on his couch, and I stepped out of work for three minutes at most to go upstairs.
“David, I’m sorry. I can work for a week with no pay?—”
“We are going to have to let you go, Chase. I don’t want my ass on the line. I’m sorry to see you go, because you have been a good worker, and the customers like you. But it’s just policy.”
It feels like my insides are being wrung out.
“Can I ask who told you?” I say, trying to stay calm on the outside.
“I won’t be sharing that.”
Don’t tell me it was Julian.
Please, please don’t say my brother did this to me.
I get up and head for the door, then turn on my heel.
“You were a good boss, too,” I tell him. “Best of luck.”
I’m about to leave when he speaks. “Um, Chase? Your access card.”
I pull in a long breath, reaching in my pocket for my Bellwood card. I place it gently on the desk, and then I leave.
When I walk out through the lobby, I feel like the ground isn’t stable beneath me.
I step out onto the street into the beating sun. A truck whizzes past me on the street as I take out my phone.
My fingers are unsteady on the screen as I text Julian.
Chase
Why did you do it? Deep down? Do you just want to see me get punished?
I shove my phone away.
I don’t know where I’m going as I walk down the street.
The city feels like a pressure cooker. It never usually feels overwhelming to me, and I always enjoy how busy it is, but right now I can’t take it.
