Page 28 of Our Broken Pieces
Boy, had I been fucking wrong.
Her dad had explained, in excruciating detail, that Mystic had been communicating with a fashion design blogger and had convinced Mystic that she would mentor her. All Mystic had to do was move and register for an elite fashion program.
It had all sounded like bullshit at first because Mystic was never a fashionista. She never cared about fitting in or keeping up with the latest styles. And why wouldn’t Margot just tell me that? Granted, it could have been because Margot knew I’d go after her, but still. I never would have denied Mystic a future. I’d just denied her a future that hadn’t include me.
It hadn’t been until her mother had come out and handed me a letter, written to me by Mystic, that the truth of their words had vibrated in my head.
Mystichadleft.
She had really gone, and no one was going to help me find her. They’d all been on her side, and I’d had no tools to fight for her with.
It had taken me two weeks of absolute emptiness before I had blocked her from ever contacting me again. I had also blocked Chance and Margot and had barely made it through the rest of the school year without killing someone. It hadn’t been until I let for college that I felt I could finally breathe again.
My father had never asked what was wrong. And when my mother did, I told her the truth. I had told her I was in love with Mystic and she had upped and left me. My mom had tried to see me through those dark days, but nothing had worked. She had finally let me handle it my way, and that was distancing myself from fucking everything and everyone.
And I never did read that fucking letter.
Chapter 19
Mystic~
Instincts were real.
They were real, and when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, you shouldn’t ignore that shit. Instincts, literally, could mean the difference between life and death.
So, when I got a calendar pop-up, first thing Monday morning, telling me that I had an impromptu meeting at four this afternoon with Lacey Stevens, my instincts started firing all over the place. Lacey Stevens oversaw our floor and department, and I couldn’t think of anything she’d need to speak with me about. As a matter of fact, I was kicking ass if I did say so, myself. Not only was I on top of my workload, I was taking on anything Reagan threw at me.
I wasn’t so naive to believe she’d be calling me in for employee recognition, though. I’ve only been with CI for a couple of months; there’s no way they’d be looking at me for any kind of promotion. I was at a complete loss until Reagan came hissing into my cubicle.
“Did you open your big mouth?” she snapped lethally but low enough, so only I could hear her.
“What?” While I didn’t want to cause waves, I wasn’t a pushover.
“I’ve been called for a meeting at four with Lacey and you’re included on the email,” she hissed.
Had I missed that?
I stood up because I wasn’t going to let this woman intimidate me. I glanced around to make sure no one was paying us any attention before saying, “I’ve never even met Lacey,” I told her. “The only person I talk to, whenever I do get a chance to talk to someone, is Sadie. And I haven’t told her anything about doing your work.”
Reagan’s eyes widened at me calling her out, but she wasn’t going to cower. People like her never did. “No one forced you to help out,” she spat.
“Help out?”This viper had nerve.“You and I both know I’m doing your grunt work and the projects you find boring, Reagan,” I pointed out. “Just because I’m using you to get experience doesn’t mean I don’t know that you’re using me, period. So, before you try to insult my intelligence any further, I suggest you take your guilty conscience back to your office and wait it out. You have no idea what that meeting is about. Neither do I.”
She looked so pissed, I feared she was going to pop a blood vessel. “Listen up, little girl, I’ve been here a lot longer than you have. Don’t think to start playing a game you can’t win.”
If I didn’t finish this up soon, someone was bound to catch wind of the animosity. “And don’t presume to know that I don’t know how to play the game, Reagan,” I shot back. “This isn’t my first job and you are not the first snake I’ve come across.”
Reagan gasped and I knew it was the snake comment. Women as beautiful looking as Reagan weren’t used to those kinds of adjectives. “If you cross me, you’ll regret it, Mystic. And if you think CI will pick your side over mine, you are sorely mistaken,” she threatened.
I sat back down, dismissing her. “We’ll see,” I replied, my voice strong. Even if all that were true, there’s no way I’d let Reagan know I cared. Weakness wasnotsomething I was about to show in front of this horrible woman.
In front ofanyone.
She stormed off and I quickly reopened the email Lacey had sent. There weren’t any other recipients on my email which meant Reagan was lying. I scanned the rest of my emails to see if I was sent another one where I was copied, but I didn’t find anything. There was no email and that could only mean someone had given Reagan a heads up about the nature of the meeting.
Well, hell.
The rest of the afternoon, I had done my best to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as four o’clock came inching closer and closer. It wasn’t that I was worried I’d end up homeless or anything like that, but this job paid well, and I enjoyed it, Reagan aside. I didn’t want to have to look for another job. Especially, if I got fired for falsification or something equally unappealing.
