Page 31 of Damaged

“Hey,” Alana says, sounding concerned I’m assuming for the call out of the blue. “What’s up?”

“I got fired,” I say plainly.

There’s a pause, long enough to make me frown. “Are you at home?” Alana finally asks.

“Yeah.”

“I’m coming over.”

I open my mouth, but before I can speak, Alana has already hung up. She texts me a couple minutes later saying she’ll be over in twenty.

At least I have good friends.

I put on athletic pants and a clean T-shirt and play with my hair until I don’t look like a sad, unemployed mess.

Alana shows up precisely twenty minutes later with two coffees and two cinnamon rolls. She has light-auburn hair and a baby face. Her round cheeks are often rosy even in warm weather, and in February they are nearly always ablaze.

We hug it out for a minute and sit next to each other on the couch.

“Don’t tell me it was your new boss.” Alana glances up as she accuses James.

“It was.”

“And what was the reason?”

“Officially, strategic restructuring. Unofficially, I brought him snickerdoodles.”

“You brought him what?”

I bring Alana up to speed on the incident the other night with my door, including his invitation to sleep at his apartment and how we ended up in the same bed.

Her jaw is slack by the end of it. “So, you’re telling me you slept in the same bed as James Callaway and didn’t have sex with him?” she asks like I’m leaving something out.

“I’m telling the truth.”

“Is there a patron saint of celibacy? If not, you should be canonized. Saint Sophia.”

“He is my boss.Was, my boss.”

“Oh please. You love that shit. You think it’s so spicy when people who aren’t supposed to be with each other do it.”

“When I like the guy, sure. James is an asshole. He fired me while I had one of my cookies in my mouth.”

Alana is quiet, conceding my point. “You should’ve punched him in the throat.”

I laugh out loud, and slowly, Alana does, too.

“But how much do you know about the guy?”

“Not much. Just what’s online, and it looks like he’s had his image scrubbed.”

“You know he killed someone, right?”

I recoil my head in disbelief. I haven’t heard anything like this. “Really?”

“No, seriously.” Alana leans forward. “I did a deep dive when I heard he was going to be your boss. I was reading just the other day that he was out with friends ten years ago when they came upon a sexual assault in an alley. The alleged rapist was killed. He took a brick to the brain, several times, apparently.”

“And it says James was the one who did it?”

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