Page 276 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 7
Today was my first day of work. What time was it?
I pulled out my phone. My heart nearly stopped when I saw the time. 8:42. And work started at 9. I was going to be late.Late!On my first day! That was like…the worst thing ever. I would literally rather die than be late to work ever, much less on my first day. I felt completely paralyzed.
Should I just not show up? Should I borrow Ryder’s toothbrush to brush my dirty whore mouth? I could move across the country and never show my face in NYC again. Or maybe I should just kill myself. Yeah, that would be best.
My phone buzzing pulled me out of my suicide spiral. It was a text from Chastity: “Hey girl, can’t wait for your first day!”
I started to type out a text, but there was no time. This was serious. For the first time in my life, I understood why phones still had the ability to call people.
Chastity answered on the first ring. “What’s wrong?”
She sounded as hysterical as I felt, because I literally never called anyone. Out of principle. Out of the fact that I was a normal millennial. “Everything is wrong!”
“I’m going to need you to be a little more specific. And also stop screaming.”
“I slept over at my stalker’s place.”
“Stalker? What? Who’s stalking you? And wait, you did what?!” she shrieked. “Ah! I need all the deets!”
Oh God.I’d told her about the handsome guy that walked out of One57 every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 pm on the dot. We’d even tried to run into him together. But I never actually told her he was stalking me. And I didn’t have time to go into this right now. “I’m not going to make it to work. Just tell them I died.”
“No way. You’re not going to screw me on this. Do you know how annoying the guy was that I had to blow to get you this job?”
“You blew someone to get me the job? You promised you wouldn’t do that!” God, she blew someone! Not showing up would be a crime to humanity and a crime to her lips.
“Yell at me later. For now, tell me what I need to do to get your ass to BIMG in the next fifteen minutes.”
I looked down at my red dress and lack of shoes. None of it was work-appropriate. Including my face. And there was no way I was going to get sidewalk foot fungus. “Go to my apartment and get the outfit I laid out on the bed.”
“No time. I’ll have to bring you some of my clothes.”
“And shoes,” I added.
“Done. Anything else?”
“Makeup.”
“You think I’d ever leave home without makeup?” She sounded horrified.
“Fair point.”
“Call an Uber,” she said. “Now.”Click.
I did. Luckily the Society app had switched off and I had access to all my normal apps. The Uber was two minutes away. Which meant I had just enough time to go find some of Ryder’s shoes to steal.
I sprinted up the stairs and opened his closet. It was filled with…nothing. Well, not nothing. It was completely empty except for a pair of…Crocs?What the hell?Why were there no clothes? And more importantly…why were there only Crocs? In any other situation I would have taken appropriate action and burned the entire closet to the ground, but there was no time for that. Somehow, walking around in size thirteen Crocs was less horrifying to me than being late to work while simultaneouslycontracting a deadly foot fungus. Unless Ryder had foot fungus. And Crocs would totally fit that vibe.Screw me.I slid the hideous plasticky things onto my fungus-free feet.
I sprinted to the bathroom just to see if there was time to brush my teeth. But…there was no toothbrush. Or toothpaste. I pulled open another drawer. Everything was empty. What kind of maniac was Ryder? Who lived like this?Fuck everything.
I kept my black wig on to save whatever ounce of self-respect I still had left as I stumbled out of the Caldwell Hotel in my clown shoes and whore dress.
I expected people to point and laugh while I waited for my Uber, but no one did. In fact, no one even looked at me.Ah, the beauty of New York City.Only the liftman and doorman paid me any attention, and they had mercifully ignored my general appearance.
The Uber driver, however, definitely noticed. I was for sure going to get a one-star review, but I didn’t care.
I watched the seconds tick by on my phone as my Uber wove between angry cab drivers. 8:54.Shit shit shit!Drive faster!
Three minutes later, we arrived at the BIMG building. I didn’t bother to thank him. There was no point in trying to salvage my rating. I was Uber doomed. I’d never ride again in this town.
