Page 78 of Ruined
“Are they rumors?” She tilted her head. My phone vibrated again, rattling beside her, and I crossed my fingers that she didn’t get upset when she sawhisname on the screen. “I hope you made him pay for it, after holding out for so long.”
That was the awful part of this situation; if I had made him pay for it, this wouldn’t be such a heartbreaking ordeal. It would be a transaction. Nothing more. If only I had remembered that I was a server. A fantasy only. Nothing real existed here.
“Wait,” I said. “Why the case by case contract? What does that mean?”
“It’s not really a contract like before. You can come and go as you please. It’s that simple.” She flattened the long sleeve of her dress. “You could leave right now if you wanted.”
I squinted my eyes, trying to see past the bullshit facade she was an expert at hiding behind. But I couldn’t figure it out.
“What about my debt?” I asked. “Mama’s and mine?”
The words rolled off of her tongue in a matter-of-factly way, “You paid it off.”
A breath caught in my throat. This couldn’t be real.
“I paid it off?”
She shrugged. “You worked hard. Did you not?”
This didn’t make sense. “I thought with the breakup on the main floor, you’d add to my debt.”
“Breakup?” she raised an eyebrow. My phone rattled again, and this time Dahlia looked down her nose at the device. “I hadn’t heard about a breakup. Do tell.”
“Yeah.” I shrank down. Then I remembered that Lucas had paid for Nora’s tuition. Maybe he had paid my debt too. “Did Lucas pay it off?”
“No,” Dahlia said. She flicked a piece of thread off of the dresser. “I simply corrected the charges on your account.” The phone vibrated again. Dahlia glared at it. “He’s awfully determined to get you on the phone.”
“I know,” I murmured.
“Well,” she said, the irritation vibrating in her voice, “are you going to answer it?”
“No.”
“To be in my twenties again.” She rubbed her forehead. “He really likes you. Answer the call. That’s it. Just answer it. Or shut the thing off.” She stood and walked to the doorframe.
He really likes you.That meant that she knew who Lucas was.
“You know Lucas?”
“Mr. Conway?” she smirked. “Quite the catch, isn’t he?” She touched a finger to her chin. “I lifted the block on your account a few minutes ago. It should be accessible now.” Then she turned and disappeared down the hallway, her shoes clicking behind her.
I grabbed my phone to check my account and see which payments had been corrected, but Lucas called again, interrupting. I declined the call and blocked his number so that it would automatically go to voicemail, for a few minutes while I used my phone. Once I was in the account, I scrolled down the pages: Lucas’s charges had been bumped an exorbitant amount, and Aldrich’s payments had been tripled. Years of updates. But all of the changes were charged to Lucas’s card. Maybe they were paid for by the newly acquired company?
I had never heard of a case-by-case contract. A few servers had made it out, usually right before they hit their thirties, but not many. We were too valuable to Dahlia. What had Lucas done to convince her to let me go?
A tiny seed of hope peeked its head out of the soil of my heart, hoping that maybe it meant something. Maybe he did care.
Aldrich might have known something. Even if he hated Lucas, talking to Aldrich might give clarity to what actually happened. But when I dialed Aldrich, it rang twice, then went to voicemail. I immediately went to the floor in sweatpants. A few of the servers gawked and some of the members were wide-eyed, but I ignored them. I didn’t have to care about their opinions anymore. I wasn’t under contract.
Mel was sitting in the corner of the lounge, texting on her phone. Aldrich wasn’t around.
“Hey,” I said. She glanced up. “I need to talk to Aldrich, but he won’t take my calls.”
“He’s still butt hurt about the whole hostile company takeover,” she said.
I figured that much. “Could you get me on the phone with him?” I reached over and squeezed her hand. “It’s important.”
She eyed me, trying to gauge what was going on, but ultimately, she relaxed, dialing his number. “I’m telling him you stole my phone, alright?”
