Caustic Read online

  Caustic

  By Morgan Black

  Caustic

  Published By Metamorphosis Books

  Copyright © 2015 Morgan Black

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places or events are entirely the work of the author. Any resemblance to actual persons, events, or places is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in piracy of copyrighted materials.

  Cover art by Resplendent Media

  Editing by TCB Editing and Jersey Devil Editing

  ONE

  “Skye!” she screamed, terror written all over her face. My face, our face. We were the same, her and I. Practically.

  I reached for her, but I couldn’t save her. They had strapped her down. She couldn’t move. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

  “Skye, don’t let them hurt me! This isn’t my fault.”

  I knew she was right. I knew they might hurt her. But I couldn’t stop them, I wasn’t strong enough. I never was. She was always better than me. Always more of what everyone wanted. But, that night, in the dark, none of that mattered.

  They took her. I watched it all happen, but it was like I wasn’t really there. Or was I? I could hardly remember. These nightmares were different each time. Sometimes, they were worse than the reality, and sometimes not.

  I tossed and turned, sweat dripping down my face, as I thought of her. Getting in the car with my parents, leaving her behind. It was my fault. It was all my fault. And there was nothing I could do about it. Too much time had passed, too much pain had been caused. But, it was all my fault.

  I heard someone attempting to get into my apartment, but I wasn’t sure if the banging was the front door, or if it was still my head. Maybe they were here to punish me. It was my fault.

  I started mumbling to myself as I came out of the dark, out of the nightmare. My head was pounding. Or was that the door?

  Goddamned stolen wine from expensive restaurant; the alcohol level in that stuff must’ve been massive. I hadn’t been hung over like this since my sorority days. But here I was, a hot mess, tangled up in the sheets of my queen-sized bed, waiting for someone to come into my bedroom. But, as I waited, the banging just got louder.

  Slowly, I pried my eyes open, and squinted into the morning light. It couldn’t have been that late. I had just kicked my new potential client out of my apartment, and my bed, not five minutes ago. So, why was the sun streaming in so brightly? Another bang of the door. Fuck. I was going to have to go get it.

  I wrapped the sheet tightly around my body, and made some sort of toga out of it. I was excellent at that. There were quite a few late nights that I had asked a man to leave, and then ordered myself some pizza or Chinese as an after sex treat. That was how most of the delivery guys in the neighborhood knew me: as the girl who wears the sheet. They couldn’t know anything else about me. It was safer that way, for everyone. But I couldn’t remember ordering anything, not this time. Again, expensive wine equals horrible hangover. Maybe I blacked out or something, I heard the final two bangs, and then I heard my name. This didn’t sound like some type of delivery guy. I shuffled over to the door, and swung it open. No shame here, but it wasn’t any of the local kids standing in front of me.

  Sloan brushed past me, her hands and lips going a mile a minute. I could hardly understand anything she was saying, it sounded like gibberish.

  “Slow down. What the hell is going on? And, why are you at my apartment? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for work?”

  Sloan’s mouth dropped open. “Wait. Is he still here?”

  I squinted at her. “Julian? No. I kicked his ass out about ten minutes ago.”

  Her face was full of shock. “Did you have breakfast together?”

  “No,” I said, as I shut the door. “You know I don’t let them stay the night. This was a one-time mistake. Now, let me just get ready for work.”

  “But that’s why I’m here. You’re three hours late for work. I said I was going to take an early lunch and drove straight here. Deidre and I have been calling you all morning! Where the hell is your phone?”

  “What? I’m late for work?”

  “Yes. Three hours late. And we couldn’t cover forever. When I didn’t know where you were, I thought something was wrong! I mean, I know you said you were going to spend the night with Julian, but Jesus, Skye! You missed a staff meeting. I can’t cover that up.”

  I smacked myself in the head with my open palm, and that was a bad idea. Suddenly, the fogginess of my hangover turned into a horrible headache. I could feel the color fading from my face. I needed to sit down.

  “You do not have time to puke,” she said, reading my gross expression. “What the hell did you drink last night?”

  I shook my head at her. More pain. The throbbing was at the base of my neck, and radiating throughout my entire head. Today was going to suck, as if it already didn’t. I had kicked a very large client out of my bed, and, now, I was three hours late for work. At a job where the boss didn’t even like me to begin with. I was totally screwed.

  “Sloan, do I even still have a job?” I whined.

  She chewed on her lower lip, nervously. “I don’t honestly know. But I do know that if you don’t get your ass in gear, then you definitely won’t have a job.”

  I nodded slowly. “Get back to work. I guess I need to charge my phone and take a shower. But I’ll get there as soon as I can. Just tell her my cat died or something.”

  She began to walk out the door when she looked over her shoulder, “Skye, you can barely take care of yourself. She’s not going to believe that you could ever keep a cat alive.”

  I smiled at her. “Then, no wonder she’s dead. Her name was Fluffy, may she rest in peace.”

  She laughed at me. “You’re ridiculous. Now, get moving!”

  I put my hands up in surrender, almost dropping the sheet that was covering all of the bits that Sloan hadn’t seen since that time we went skinny dipping in college. “I’m going, I’m going!”

  TWO

  After a shower, and charging my phone, I looked at it to see that I had ten missed calls. I had to give Sloan credit for at least attempting to get a hold of me. Having a sorority sister as an intern for your company was a serious advantage. It was also a really good thing that the Dragon Lady liked her. I might even get away with the story. But, as I went to close my door, I realized that my keys weren’t in the bowl on my dresser. I tried to think back to the night before. Where had I left them? I ran back inside, and searched my clutch and a purse that I sometimes used. But it wasn’t in either of them. I closed my eyes and thought back to the night before. Then, it hit me. The story was not going to go over well because my keys were in Julian Porter’s suit jacket. I was so screwed.

  A quick call to the super let me know that I was going to be paying thirty dollars for a set of new keys. Shit. I ran downstairs, and got into my car. Luckily, I didn’t keep my car keys and my apartment keys on the same ring. He said that I’d be able to get back in later this afternoon. At least it was handled. And hopefully that meant that I wouldn’t have to see Julian again. Not after the embarrassment that I brought on myself this morning, after he had asked about my twin sister’s picture. I had unceremoniously kicked him out on his ass. And it had killed me to do it. Julian had seemed like such a nice guy, but I couldn’t let guys get close. I feared the exact thing that he did, asking questions
about Leia.

  My twin sister that had been missing for the past three years. The person that I never talked about. I couldn’t, it hurt too much. It was my fault she was missing, or rather, that she had run away. Or something, I didn’t know. No one knew about her. But Julian had pulled that out of me in just one date. He was dangerous, and I couldn’t bear to see him again. But, when I arrived at the office, my day just got even worse.

  “Skye, so glad you could join us. I was sorry to hear about your cat,” the Dragon Lady addressed me in front of several interns, including Sloan whose eyes were looking at her notebook as she scribbled furiously. The Dragon Lady must’ve just finished giving some type of dictation, and Sloan was always on top of things. But the look on her face and the fact that her eyes did not meet mine told me that this was much worse than I’d anticipated.

  “Yes, ma’am. Fluffy was a great cat.”

  Her deep red lips curled into a devilish smile, and I knew that I’d been caught. “Fluffy, was it? I swore Sloan said it was Snowflake.”

  We hadn’t developed our story enough, that was the easiest way to get caught in a lie, to not to have your details straight.

  “Oh no, that’s just what Sloan called her. She was all white. I mean, before she got sick.”

  Her lip lifted away from her disgustingly white smile. I could tell she was annoyed, but I thought if I could just dodge her and let her continue on her way, I would be fine. But she had other plans.

  “I would like to see you in my office.” She extended her hand toward the back of the building, even though everyone in our department knew where her office was. It had glass walls so that you could see her reaming out whoever she had in there at the time. It was all part of her power trip.

  “I’ll just set my things down at my desk.”

  “That won’t be necessary. Just follow me.” She turned on her heel, and I watched as her pencil skirt flicked as she walked away from me. I looked at Sloan, and she rolled her eyes mouthing the words I’m sorry. I was sorry, too. I was not in the mood, especially in my hangover fog, to deal with the Dragon Lady, and her crap today. But I didn’t have another choice. To defy her was to possibly get thrown out the window. And we were on the eighth floor, so, pretty much, you’d be dead.

  I dutifully followed her into her office, passing Deidre’s desk as I did so. She gave me a quick thumbs up as I walked past her. She obviously didn’t know about my three-hour late indiscretion. Or my small Julian issue from the night before. The Dragon Lady walked behind her desk, and sat down, folding her hands in her lap. So, this was going to be one of those quiet I’m so disappointed in you speeches. Well, at least she wasn’t screaming, so that was something. It would certainly help with my headache.

  “Sit. Please, it’ll make this more comfortable.”

  For her, or for me? “Thank you, ma’am.”

  I took my jacket off and placed it over one arm as I sat down. At least I looked put together now, much better than the toga sheet earlier in the morning.

  “I had a lovely conversation with Julian Porter this morning. It appears you did quite a good job last night. He’s going to sign the contract.”

  “Really?” I asked incredulously. I had just kicked the guy out of my apartment that morning. I thought for sure that I had lost the contract. I definitely thought he would never want to see me again.

  “But he doesn’t feel like he should be working with you.” Bingo. Definitely didn’t want to see me again.

  “Why’s that?”

  “I think you know why,” she said, sneering. She opened the drawer next to her, and pulled out a set of keys, setting them on the desk with a thunk. I immediately recognized them as my own. “He dropped these off for you this morning, at eight o’clock, when you should have been here for work. I assume you know what they belonged to.”

  Yep. I was screwed. “They belong to my apartment.”

  She smiled at me in a sickening sweet way. “And, why would Julian have the keys to your apartment? Did you leave them at dinner last night?”

  I chewed on the inside of my cheek, trying to come up with a lie, but it was futile. There was no way I was getting out of this one. “He was at my apartment last night. That’s how he got my keys.”

  She put her hand on her chest in fake surprise. “But, Skye! You know our policy about fraternizing with potential or current clients. It’s right in your contract.”

  Now, I was getting annoyed. “Is that why we hire girls to come meet them instead?”

  She raised an eyebrow at me. “I don’t know what you think you know, but I’ve never paid a single girl to go out on a date or meeting with one of our clients. What they do after is their business. What you do, is mine.”

  We both sat there for a moment, staring each other down, trying to see who was going to make the next move. I was tired of fighting now. I would let her win. I was going to have to.

  “But, actually, it’s not my business anymore. Because you don’t work here any longer.”

  “You’re firing me?” Goddammit! I was hoping I could avoid this, maybe a probationary period or something? God, why couldn’t I have gotten up at a normal time? I could have dodged all of this! Some day, I was going to have to stop screwing up. Some day, but that wasn’t today unfortunately.

  “You violated a very explicit part of our contract, Skye. You should’ve known better. Now, take your keys and get out of my office.”

  “I didn’t even know that was in there!” True, I hadn’t really ever read it, but still.

  “You should have read it more carefully then.”

  I felt like I couldn’t breathe, like all the air had been knocked out of my lungs. I had just lost my job. I’d maybe a month or two of savings to get me through, but I was going to have to find something else, and soon. Today could not get any worse.

  My hands shook as I reached across the desk and took my keys. I knew my head was hanging low as I stood up and walked out in shame. I was kind of a mess. I always had been. But, I had never gotten any serious consequences, until now. Me losing my job was entirely my fault. And the company still landed the client! It just didn’t seem fair. As I reached the doorway of her office, she said one more thing.

  “Skye.”

  I whipped around, hoping that this is all just some bad joke. She could be cruel sometimes... okay, all the time. “Yes?”

  She tapped on her desk, “Please make sure to leave your parking pass with the secretary. You won’t have access anymore, obviously, since you won’t be needing it.”

  I tried to take a deep breath to bite back the tears. It was the second time today that I’d started to cry. And I wasn’t a person who cried often, maybe once a year. The last time I cried was because I fell on the sidewalk after a night of drinking. And, that time, I was even mostly crying of laughter. But not today, today I was just sad.

  Sad little Skye Kellan, the girl with the lost sister, and now the lost job.

  THREE

  I didn’t get a chance to see Sloan on my way out, so I couldn’t tell her the bad news. But I expected her to call me by the time I got back to my apartment. However, when I arrived, all that was waiting for me was my fifty something-year-old super, standing there with my keys, and looking for his check.

  “Funny story, but I actually found them.” Nothing was funny about it, I knew that.

  His large caterpillar-like eyebrows came together, and his hand shot out. “I make keys, you pay me,” he said in broken English.

  “I’ll give it to you tomorrow, okay? It’s just been a really long day.”

  He shrugged his mountainous shoulders, “I add to your rent. You feel better.”

  At least, he was genuine. Just as I entered my apartment, and dropped my keys into the bowl where they should have been this morning, my phone started to ring. I didn’t even look at the screen before I swiped to answer the call. But it wasn’t Sloan, it was Deidre. And she was not exactly the person I wanted to chat with right now.

&nbs
p; “Oh my God! Did you really get fired? I mean can they do that? It’s not like sexual harassment or something?”

  I flopped down on my sofa with the phone next to my ear. I grabbed a blanket from off the top and wrapped myself up, trying not to cry.

  “No. Apparently, there was something in the contract that said that we can’t sleep with clients, or potential clients, or something. I don’t know, but, anyway, I’m in the unemployment line looking for a job now. And you want to know what the worst part is? Julian Porter is your new client! What kind of total shit is that?”

  She lowered her voice to a whisper, “I’m in the bathroom. Everyone is talking about it. As soon as you left, the Dragon Lady was like, “Oh my God, she practically begged for her job. It was so sad.” It was such bullshit. I know you wouldn’t do that.”

  “Beg for my job? No. I had hardly a chance to say anything. She didn’t even let me defend myself! Wait, why are you in the bathroom?”

  She sighed. “Obviously, I can’t talk to you out on the floor. One, you know the no cell phone policy. And two, you’ve been excommunicated, sweetheart. You’re lucky I’m calling you at all. I could get shunned for this and you know I can’t afford that. These are my people.”

  I shook my head. I should’ve known better. Of course they were her people, the same ones that would shun her for speaking to me, classy. I had only met Deidre a couple months ago when I started working at the firm. She wasn’t a true friend, just a coworker I hung out with on occasion. “You know what? Don’t worry about it. You may pee in peace. I gotta go. Bye.” I hung up and turned so that my face was pushed up against the side of the couch. Maybe I could suffocate myself, right here, right now. End it all. At least, then, I wouldn’t have to worry about my rent, or anything else in this apartment. My phone started buzzing again, and, as much as I didn’t want to hear Deidre go on and on anymore about my absence at work, I decided to answer it. What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment.