Page 31 of Heart of Stone

10:51 AM, Alexander:I’m not normal people Krystina.

You can say that again!

10:54 AM, Me:How did you do it?

10:56 AM, Alexander:Do what?

10:57 AM, Me:Deactivate my phone???

10:59 AM, Alexander:I know people.

11:00 AM, Me:Then tell your PEOPLE to change it back!

11:04 AM, Alexander:No.

11:04 AM, Me:YES!

11:09 AM, Alexander:I’ve rescheduled your interview for this afternoon.

11:10 AM, Me:Then you’re going to be awfully bored this afternoon.

11:13 AM, Alexander:Why is that?

11:14 AM, Me:Because I won’t be there.

11:17 AM, Alexander:Yes you will. 2pm. My office.

11:18 AM, Me:I will NOT be there! And I want you to fix my phone!

No response.

Fine. I’ll take care of it myself!

I hurried to my bedroom to get dressed. I hastily threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and then rummaged around in my closet for a pair of sneakers. I located them quickly and tied the shoelaces with expert speed, all while thinking about the vicious things I would say to the clerk at the cell phone counter.

Someone is going to get his or her ass chewed off for this!

And HIM…rescheduling my interview…HA!

I headed back out to the kitchen, but stopped short when I saw the Fed-Ex box sitting on the counter. I forced myself to see reason. It wouldn’t do me much good if I stormed into the wireless communications store and went off half-cocked on some poor defenseless sales clerk. I would probably end up getting myself arrested for acting like a crazed lunatic.

It’s not their fault that Stone is an assuming jerk.

Knowing that I had to get a handle on my emotions before I did anything rash, I took a deep breath to try and calm my mounting temper. Going to the store in my current frame of mind would only lead to a total catastrophe, and I tried to form a more sensible plan – one that didn’t involve any jail time.

La Biga first. A caffeine fix will do me good. Plus, it will buy me some time to screw my head back on straight.

I eyed up my laptop that was sitting on the coffee table.

Yes! I can look for a job online while I’m at the coffee shop, too.

After an hour or so of doing an employment search, I assumed that a sufficient amount of time would have passed and I’d be a bit calmer when I went to return the phone.

Satisfied with my plan of action, I grabbed everything I would need, including Alexander’s asinine phone, and dashed out of the apartment to catch the Redline.

CHAPTER 9

My feet pounded through the last mile on the treadmill. Sweat dripped down the side of my face and I wiped it away with my hand. A solid cardio workout was what I needed to clear my head, as work just didn’t seem to be cutting it lately. My life, and all that was in it, had suddenly become uninteresting. All except for one thing.

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