Page 11 of Best Served Hot
The anger she’d felt on Saturday was nothing at all compared to how she felt now. Like an erupting volcano.
As she parked up in front of her apartment building, she got a text. It was from Nicole. ‘I’m going to talk to him tonight. You can have him tomorrow.’
Alex didn’t think twice. She rang Nicole. ‘Hi, sorry to be the weirdo who responds to a text with a call, but—’
‘No, that’s OK. I’m sort of glad you called. I could do with some revving up,’ Nicole said with more enthusiasm than Alex might have expected.
‘I thought you were doing it yesterday?’ Alex asked.
‘I couldn’t face it,’ Nicole said miserably.
Alex couldn’t judge her for that. No one would rush to that conversation. ‘Well, he knows something’s up,’ Alex told her.
‘I’ve no doubt. I haven’t responded to him this entire… Wait, how doyouknow? Has he said something today?’ Nicole asked nervously.
‘Not directly,’ Alex responded.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I got sacked,’ Alex told her flatly.
There was an enormous pause and then Nicole said, ‘Sweet Jesus.’ She took a breath. ‘He didn’t say anything at all to you? Just sacked you?’
‘Not himself, the wimp, but yes. I assumed it was revenge. I thought he knew we’d talked. That I’d thrown him under the bus.’
‘No, it’s not that. He must be…’
‘…Trying to get rid of me so I don’t cause any problems?’ Alex finished.
‘I guess so.’
‘Rather stupid of him to do it like this. He could have just ended it. Why would he piss me off? When he doesn’t even know that you know?’
‘Because you know where he lives,’ Nicole said. ‘You might just turn up if he broke it off normally.’
‘Why the hell would I do that?’ Alex asked, aghast.
‘He probably thinks you’d turn up crying for him to take you back or some nonsense.’
Alex groaned. ‘Oh, as bloodyif.’
‘That’s the point, isn’t it? He thinks he’s somemassivestud. And a manipulative genius, to boot. Becausenow, if you did turn up at ours, he could say, “Oh, her? She’s a disgruntled employee that I had to fire. She’s just trying to cause me trouble by wrecking my marriage with her lies.” He’s trying to create plausible deniability. With paperwork.’
Alex thought it over. ‘That does make sense. In a fucked-up kind of way.’
‘Every new layer of the onion I peel back, there’s just another layer of rotten, shitty onion. That makes me want to cry.’
Alex forgot her own worries for a moment. ‘Look, it’s gonna be OK.’
‘No, it’s not,’ Nicole said. ‘But at least it’s gonna be finished. I’d better go. I have to get this over with.’ She paused. ‘I’m sorry about what he did to you. I wish I could do something.’
‘No, this is my fight. You go ahead and fight yours. Maybe we’ll meet after the war sometime?’ Alex asked. She meant it, though she wasn’t overly hopeful. After all, Alex could only serve as a reminder of a painful time for Nicole when this was over.
‘Yeah. Maybe we will,’ Nicole said and hung up the call.
Alex wished Nicole well. She was pretty sure that would probably be the last time she’d ever speak with her.
Nine
