SADIE
There are many places I’d rather be than work right now: Curled up in my bed, buried six feet underground or maybe hit by a campus cab.
Anything sounds better than sitting here pretending that Ezra’s rejection never happened while smiling at students asking why their payroll hasn’t reflected yet.
Unfortunately, omegas don’t get sick leave for getting their hearts ripped out by their mates. They don’t give you one for almost getting eaten by rogues either. So here I am, fifteen hours later, sitting behind a desk in the Student Employment Office, surrounded by invoices, payroll forms and spreadsheets.
"Sadie?"
A pen lands on the payroll sheet in front of me, making me jump so hard my calculator nearly slips from my hand.
My head snaps up to find Lucy staring down at me, her brows drawn together.
"You okay?"
Turns out watching two rogues try to kill you does interesting things to your nerves. The printer has scared me three times today.
"I..." I blink at her for a second before forcing a nod. "Yeah."
Leaning against the divider between our cubicles, she lowers her voice. "Did you piss someone off?"
I frown. "Huh?"
She glances over her shoulder before looking back at me. "I just overheard—"
"Sadie!"
The booming voice echoes through the office, cutting her off, and every conversation around us dies.
My stomach sinks.
"Now." Mr. Howard barks. "My office."
I don’t dare keep him waiting.
"Talk to you later," I mumble to Lucy, already pushing back my chair while she gives me a sympathetic look.
I smooth out my blouse with clammy hands before making my way across the office.
Howard’s office sits behind a wall of glass, almost twice the size of the cramped cubicle I share with four other people.
Everyone says the glass is supposed to make him look approachable. Personally, I think it just gives him a better view of everyone he gets to boss around.
I knock once before stepping inside, closing the door behind me.
Howard doesn’t bother looking up immediately.
He’s halfway through what looks like his second cheeseburger of the day, grease glistening on his fingers as he tears off another bite. A smear of melted cheese clings to the corner of his mouth, but apparently that’s far less important than staring directly at my chest when he finally lifts his head.
His eyes linger there for a beat too long before lazily dragging upward to my face and I fight the urge to tug my cardigan closed.
"You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Mmm."
Instead of speaking, he takes a long gulp from the oversized paper cup beside his keyboard before finishing the last bite of his burger. He wipes his greasy fingers on a napkin and claps his hands together, scattering sesame seeds across his desk.
This is usually the part where he hands me one of his reports to finish before presenting it as his own at the department meeting without so much as a thank you.
But honestly, I don’t mind. Finding work as an omega is hard enough. Keeping it is even harder.
When he finally looks at me again, he clears his throat. "How long have you worked here now?"
The question catches me off guard.
"Almost two years." I answer.
"Two years," he repeats with a slow nod. "Wow. That’s impressive."
I have no idea where this is going, so I stay quiet.
"You’re probably one of the longest-serving omegas we’ve hired." He adds.
I force a polite smile. "Is there anything you’d like me to assist with, sir?"
He folds his arms across his chest. "I think you’ve stayed long enough."
I wait for the rest of the sentence. Perhaps a promotion? A bonus?
"Sir?"
"Clear your desk."
For a second, I honestly think I heard him wrong.
"I’m sorry?"
"You’re being let go." He reaches for a manila envelope on his desk and slides it toward me. "Today’s your last day."
Today’s your last day.
The words bounce around inside my head until everything else fades into the background. The office blurs, the air suddenly too thick to breathe.
No. That can’t be right.
"What?"
Howard lets out an impatient sigh.
"You heard me." He nudges the envelope closer with two fingers. "Take it, clear your desk and be out of here in thirty minutes."
I shake my head. "What... what did I do?"
His mouth pulls into a faint sneer. "What did you do?"
"Yes. You can’t just terminate me without telling me why. The Student Employment Office handbook...It says every employee must be informed of the reason for termination, and before dismissal there should be three formal warnings unless it’s a case of gross miscon—"
His hand hits the desk before I can finish, rattling me.
"I know exactly what’s in the handbook, so don’t quote it to me." He leans back in his chair, fixing me with a cold look. "It also says management reserves the right to terminate employment under exceptional circumstances. You think you’ve read something I haven’t?"
"I-I’m only asking why I’ve been fired."
"You read one handbook and suddenly you think you’re qualified to tell me how to do my job." He rises and rounds the corner of his desk. "Do you have any idea what it takes to work in this office? Do you honestly think you belong here?"
There are a dozen things I could argue with, but one matters more than the rest.
"I earned this job. I sat the aptitude test, I passed the interviews and I wasn’t given this position out of pity. I qualified for it."
His face contorts in disbelief. Then he barks out a laugh.
"Earned it?" he repeats, shaking his head. "You actually have the nerve to stand there and say that to my face?"
"That’s—"
"The Alpha’s son was calling in favors for you." He takes another step forward, forcing me back. "And you’re seriously going to stand here pretending you got this job on merit?"
My mind goes completely blank.
"I sat the aptitude test," I whisper.
"Want a gold star?" He gives two slow claps before dropping his hands. "What did you think everyone else did, jump rope? The difference is they didn’t have a Mercer picking up the phone for them." His gaze drifts over me with open disgust. "Or offering something in return."
I shake my head. "I didn’t—"
"You honestly thought you could work hard for two years and everyone would forget how you got through the door in the first place?" he cuts in. "Quoting policy to me like you’re some model employee."
"Stop!" Two years of work reduced to a favor from Ezra. "That’s not true. I didn’t know... I didn’t ask him to... I worked hard. I worked hard..."
"Oh?" His lip curls as he reaches for the envelope again. "If you’ve got a problem with it, take it up with the Alpha’s son. He’s the one who opened the door for you and the one closing it too." He shoves the envelope against my chest. "Now clear your desk."
Without another glance, he walks back around his desk and drops heavily into his chair, my blurry gaze following him.
My fingers tighten around the envelope until the edges dig into my skin.
Ezra got me this job? That can’t be right.
I remember spending nights buried in textbooks before the aptitude test, practicing interview questions with Lola until two in the morning and checking every formula twice because this job meant everything to me.
I earned it. Didn’t I?
My lips part just as another thought crashes into me.
The injections.
My heart lurches.
Without this job, I won’t qualify for the employment health plan. Without the health plan, I can’t afford the anti-rogue injections.
And Ezra knows. He knows exactly how expensive the injections are. He probably knows my coverage expires next month.
He rejected me. Today, he’s taking away the only thing keeping me alive.
Is that what this is? Is he trying to make me turn rogue? What did I do that was so unforgivable?
I wipe frantically at my face before looking back at Howard. He’s already reaching for another burger.
"Sir..." My voice comes out embarrassingly small. "Please."
He sighs dramatically before lifting his eyes to me.
"I didn’t know." I bite down hard on my lower lip. "I swear I didn’t know if someone helped me get this job. I didn’t ask him to. Please... just let me stay until next month."
His expression remains blank.
"My health plan expires then." My fingers twist together. "I only need one more month. Just one. Then I can renew my anti-rogue coverage for another year. I just don’t want to become a rogue. Please."
The rustle of paper is the only response I get. Such an ordinary sound. Too ordinary for the moment my life is falling apart.
I keep looking at Mr. Howard, waiting for something. Maybe a glance of sympathy or hesitation. Anything.
He unwraps another cheeseburger instead.
My knees give out before I realize I’ve stopped holding myself together and I sink onto the floor.
"Please." I clasp my hands together.
His eyes drift down to where I’m kneeling and he lets out an irritated sigh.
"Are you done?" He leans forward in his chair, resting both elbows on his desk. "Get. Out."
I don’t move.
He reaches for the desk phone.
"I’m only going to say this once more." His fingers hover over the keypad. "You can walk out of my office yourself or I’ll have security escort you out. They’re usually not very gentle with people who refuse to leave."
His thumb presses against one of the buttons and I realize painfully that he’s not bluffing. He’ll do it.
The entire office would see. They’d watch security drag me out of the only place that had ever given me a chance.
Slowly, my hands fall back into my lap.
There isn’t anything else left to say and I know Ezra has already made his decision and Howard is simply carrying it out.
The edge of his desk gives me enough leverage to pull myself back onto my feet and I turn towards the door.