Yeah, like she’d ask for help from the shitheads who’d throw her out without a second thought. Cassie had worked her ass off for this company. Hell, she’d just finished a major project that probably helped with the company’s new focus. And did they care? Apparently not. She and Ian had worked hard on that.
Ian.
Shit! Was it just this office closing down, or was his office on the chopping block too? She’d have to call him and tell him what happened, hoping he was in the clear. Cassie looked around, and her colleagues were at different stages of grief. Most were still too shocked to process what was happening, some fuming mad, others crying. She wasn’t crying yet. But when she looked at Sasha, she felt the first pang of sadness. Sasha was stuck between shocked and crying. Cassie had to go to her, console her. She was on her way over when Richard adjourned the meeting.
“Tucker?” he called to her. She stopped and turned to him as the room cleared out. Sasha stayed frozen in place.
“Yes?”
“Did Cope mention anything to you about this?”
Confused, Cassie looked at him. “No. Why would he?”
“Evidently, he was the one who created the consolidation plan to close this office. He presented it to the executives this morning.”
Cassie felt her knees give and grabbed the edge of the table, bracing herself. Her head was spinning, blackness surrounding her. No! This was impossible. She wouldn’t, couldn’t believe this. She started shaking her head before she could find her voice.
“He and Mac met with them. When I asked about your work on this project, they said nothing was mentioned to them about it.”
Too many emotions swamped her. Anger, betrayal, devastation, they all hurt. Richard kept talking, but she couldn’t hear the words anymore. Her eyes watered. She wasn’t crying before. She was crying now. Sasha stepped over, a look of regret marring her normally spunky face. She felt sorry for Cassie, and Cassie was too lost to fully register her friend’s pity. Her phone vibrated since she’d turned the ringer off for the meeting. She numbly pulled it out of her pocket and stared at Ian’s number. She sobbed at the instant stab to her heart. He’d used her. He didn’t feel anything for her. It was just another day at the office. At the next buzz, she accepted the call and put the phone to her ear. She didn’t know why she did that. It wasn’t as if she could talk right now. She tried to say hello but she couldn’t catch her breath to speak.
“Oh God, baby, let me explain,” Ian pleaded.
Cassie ended the call, threw the phone like it’d bitten her, and collapsed into the chair beside her. Her head fell into her hands and she wept.
The man she loved had used her.
She wanted to die.
Chapter Ten
By Friday, Cassie was too numb to feel anything. She stayed in bed, only getting out to fix a bowl of ice cream when she got tired of pretzels, which stayed by the bed. She never realized one could live off eating only those two things, but she was a living case study. She considered starting a blog about it. Maybe she could do that for a living since she needed a new job. She loved her some ice cream. She could focus on new flavors of ice cream and varying brands of pretzels each week, concentrating on the nutritional aspect of carbs. Yeah, that’d go over really well, she thought as she crumbled up some pretzels as an impromptu topping for her rocky road.
She hadn’t shown up at work since the big announcement. What would they do? Fire her some more? She was already an elite member of the unemployment club. She had the snazzy new t-shirt and everything. But she knew she had to clean out her desk. She figured she’d go in sometime next week to do that. She didn’t see the rush in pounding the last nail into that coffin.
After she’d hung up the phone on Ian that afternoon, Richard had told her his belief that Ian had pumped information out of Cassie to complete his report. That theory was surely floating around the office, with her coworkers hating her guts by now. She couldn’t really blame them. They needed something to focus their frustrations on, and she made the perfect scapegoat. Cassie knew it wasn’t her fault the company administration made this call, but she also knew she’d played an unwitting part in the demise of her colleagues’ careers. And she just couldn’t face everyone yet.
That was her clinical observation. She couldn’t allow her emotional observation to be considered, because as soon as she thought about what Ian had done, what this meant to her heart, she would start crying all over again. So she steeled herself against the pain. Being numb was better than thinking about what he did.
A knock sounded at her door and she groaned into her ice cream, ignoring the visitor. She didn’t want to speak to anyone. And by God, she wasn’t going to.
“Damn it, girl, I know you’re in there. Open this door!” Sasha yelled from the other side as she pounded relentlessly.
“Shit,” Cassie groaned as she made her way to the front of her house, and when she got there, she yanked the door open. “I have neighbors, for crying out loud! What do you want?”
“Well, now, is that any way to treat your comrade? Go get dressed.” She stepped past Cassie, walking into her house. “Strike that. Go scrub your stinkin’ ass first, then get dressed. Tonight we’re hittin’ the bar.”
“I don’t wanna go out,” Cassie mumbled as she closed the door
