SADIE
I’m starting to think we’ll get back to you is just a polite way of saying we’d rather shut down the entire establishment than hire you.
"Okay. Thank you for considering my application."
I wait until the call ends before lowering my phone and staring at the open notebook on my lap.
Boreal Academic Resource Center.
I draw a line through it.
That makes fifteen. Fifteen rejections in two days. At this point, I’ve been rejected from everywhere that’ll take a résumé. Cafés, libraries, grocery stores, campus offices. I even applied to tutor high school kids yesterday, which apparently also requires being anything other than an omega.
So far, nothing.
I haven’t even had time to process everything that’s happened lately. Maybe once I get a job, I can schedule that in and cry behind my desk with the free napkins.
The bedroom door opens.
"Please tell me that wasn’t another rejection."
I look up as my best friend, Lola, walks in carrying two cups.
"It was, in fact, another rejection." I grumble, kicking my feet against the edge of the bed.
Lola spent the last two weeks away on a research trip with her department but managed to come back exactly in time for my life to fall apart.
She missed the boring part where I still had a mate and a job and came back for the season finale.
Unlike me, Lola isn’t an omega. Her family are Gammas, which puts her above me in our wonderfully fair hierarchy where everyone above Omegas gets their anti-rogue medication for free, while we either need an employment letter or five thousand dollars a month.
Very clever system, really. Can’t have unemployed Omegas running around with free time and healthcare.
Anyway, Lola would pay for mine if she could, but free healthcare doesn’t magically put five thousand dollars a month in her bank account. She’s a college student, not an heiress.
For me, an official employment letter is the difference between qualifying for omega healthcare and somehow finding five thousand dollars every month to keep myself sane.
She crosses the room and holds one of the cups out to me.
I stare at it, then at her, then back at the coffee.
"What?" she asks.
I take it carefully. "Nothing. I’m just appreciating it."
She pauses halfway to sitting down. "It’s coffee."
"I know." I cradle the cup against my chest. "Very soon, I won’t be able to afford one. I should probably start treating it like a luxury while I still can."
Lola sighs and drops onto the edge of my bed, making the mattress dip beneath her.
"It’s not hopeless. We’ll find you something."
"We?"
"Yes, we." Her face scrunches. "And when we do, we’re dealing with that disgusting pig Howard. I still don’t understand how he could just fire you like that. No warning, nothing."
"I guess it doesn’t matter what the rules say when Ezra’s the one who wanted me fired." I take a small sip of coffee. "Howard was never going to tell a Mercer no."
"Still pisses me off."
She makes an annoyed sound under her breath and pulls out her phone, taking the we part seriously.
I turn back to my laptop.
There has to be somewhere I haven’t tried yet.
I refresh the campus job board for what has to be the twentieth time today, then open another tab. And another.
By the time I glance at the clock in the corner of my screen, it’s already seven.
Seven?
I swear it was barely afternoon five minutes ago. I haven’t even done anything today besides apply for jobs, get rejected from jobs and look for more jobs to reject me.
Outside, it’s already dark, and the September cold creeping through our window isn’t doing much for my mood either.
Pulling the blanket higher over my legs, I click on another listing.
Weekend library assistant—
"OH MY GODDESS!" Lola chokes beside me and I jerk so violently I almost knock my coffee over.
"Lola!" I slap a hand against my chest. "You almost scared a fart out of me."
She’s still coughing, but manages to shove her phone at me.
"What is it?"
She finally swallows, and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. "Look."
I recoil. "I can’t see anything."
"It’s right there!"
"Because the phone is touching my nose."
I grab her wrist and push it back until the screen stops looking like one giant blur.
Then I frown as I recognize the group.
TREY MERCER OFFICIAL CAMPUS CHAT 🏒
Lola somehow managed to work her way from casual Trey Mercer admirer to active participant in one of his biggest campus fan groups. I still don’t know whether I should be impressed or concerned.
And yes, he saved my life three nights ago. I’m grateful. Extremely grateful.
But considering my mate rejected me for Paige, I almost got eaten by rogues and I’m currently speed running unemployment, I’m not sure Trey Mercer fan updates deserve a spot on my list of emergencies.
"What am I looking at?" I ask. "A fan group chat?"
Lola rolls her eyes. "Would you stop being miserable for two seconds and read?" She taps the newest message. "Admin just posted that Trey is looking for a tutor."
I blink. "A tutor?"
"Yes." Her eyes are practically glowing now. "A private tutor."
I grab the phone from her and open the message myself.
She’s right. Trey Mercer does need a private tutor.
I read the post twice before looking up. "How do you even know this is real?"
Lola snatches her phone back. "Because Admin knows everything. His games, where he’s partying, practice schedules, appearances. Half the time she posts stuff before the hockey page does." She taps the screen. "If she says Trey needs a tutor, he needs a tutor."
I sigh, scratching at my hair. "Okay, but even if it’s real, he’s not going to hire me. Half the university is probably applying as we speak."
Her lips curl. "Did you even read the requirements?"
"I was trying to."
She clears her throat dramatically and looks down at the screen. "’Applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.9 to be considered.’" She lowers the phone slowly. "Remind me what your GPA is again?"
I narrow my eyes at her. "You know what my GPA is."
"Oh, I do." A grin spreads across her face. "Perfect 4.0. So unless Boreal has secretly admitted somebody smarter than you while I was gone, I think you’ll survive the applicant pool."
I look back at the phone.
A private tutoring job. It’s almost too convenient. Honestly, it would be perfect for me, except for one very large problem.
Trey Mercer is Ezra’s half brother.
Three years with Ezra, plus the amount of Mercer gossip that floats around campus, taught me enough to know the two of them have never gotten along. They don’t share the same mother, and Ezra has always had this thing about Trey. Like no matter what he does, he’s still standing one step behind his older brother.
I just don’t know if Trey hates him right back. And if he does, where exactly does that leave me?
Maybe he’ll take one look at me and see the pathetic omega who spent three years following his brother around. Maybe hiring Ezra’s rejected mate is the last thing he wants anywhere near his life.
My thoughts stop on the woods.
He saved me. Trey could have left me there that night but he didn’t. And according to Lola, despite his antisocial tendencies and obvious allergy to smiling, he’s surprisingly decent to his fan girls. So maybe he isn’t terrible.
And honestly, does it even matter?
I’m fifteen applications deep with absolutely nothing to show for it. I have nothing to lose by trying and way too much to gain if he actually hires me.
I stare at the post again, chewing lightly on the inside of my cheek.
The problem is convincing Trey Mercer that out of everyone who applies, he should hire me.
"You should apply now," Lola says, already scrolling through the post. "Before every girl on campus with that GPA suddenly discovers a passion for tutoring. Where’s the—"
I shove my laptop aside and jump off the bed.
Lola looks up. "What are you doing?"
I cross the room to my wardrobe, yank the doors open and grab the first decent shirt I find.
"Are you going somewhere?"
"I’m not applying."
I pull the shirt over my head.
There’s a beat of silence.
"What?"
"If I fill out that form, what are the chances he notices mine?" I reach for my jeans. "He’ll probably hire some gorgeous girl who showed up after his hockey practice. I’m too desperate to let this slide."
Lola slowly lowers her coffee. "Okay..."
I turn toward her. "I’m going to convince him to hire me."
She blinks. "You....How?"
"I’ll talk to him."
"Talk to him where?"
"His apartment."
Her mouth falls open. "You know where Trey Mercer lives?"
I pause with one arm halfway into my coat. Okay. That sounds a lot worse when she says it out loud.
"I used to process paperwork for student employees and athletes, remember?"
"That does not explain why you memorized his address."
I shove my other arm through the sleeve. "I may have paid slightly more attention than necessary whenever Mercer paperwork crossed my desk."
For three years, anything connected to Ezra interested me more than it should have. His family included. I knew where the Mercer estate was, knew enough about his father, and unfortunately, knew where his ridiculously famous half brother lived.
At the time, I called it being interested in my mate’s family. Three days post-rejection, I’m starting to realize I may have had boundary issues.
Lola is still staring at me. "Sadie, he’s probably home."
"That’s the point."
"You’re planning to show up at Trey Mercer’s apartment. At night. Uninvited."
"Yes." I pull my coat around myself. "I have less than a month before my health coverage runs out, fifteen places have already rejected me, and this is the first job I’ve found where being good at school might actually matter more than being an omega."
I tighten my fingers around the strap of my bag.
"I have to make it work."