Chapter 25 — April

My head was spinning around and so was the room, I couldn’t even figure out if I was in the apartment or somewhere else, as I got up and then tripped on something on the floor.

“Watch it!” a female said.

“Stephanie?” I asked. I’d just woken up from a bed wasn’t mine, it was Stephanie’s.

What the hell?

“Did I stay over?”

“It depends on your definition of stay over and what time it is now. I don’t even know how I made it back home.”

“Hi,” a man said in a voice I didn't recognize from the living room.

“You must be April. I’m Paul,” he said and the guy was so tall, he made me feel so intimidated and I was straining my neck to look at him or I must have slept on it bad or something.

“I feel awful,” I blurted out.

He laughed. “So you should do. You guys were lucky I came along when I did and my friend works at the club. You were about to be kicked out and with Stephanie’s phone off, I was lucky to find you.”

Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks, the messages, the calls before Stephanie showed up, when I was drinking a little too much sangria. I turned to see her listening and reading her phone and hearing exactly what I’d left in the message.

“He asked you to be his Thursday girl. Oh, we got him now. We so have him.”

Vanessa stood up rubbing her head. “What? We have who?”

“Jeff,” I whispered as I realized I'd made a terrible mistake. I should have told Luke or even asked why he was interviewing. I didn’t and now we were going to have a lawsuit against Jeff. Luke would hate me for it. No more would I have a job let alone a promotion and I blew the one chance I had a chance. This wasn’t the part upsetting me right now. It was more about Luke. He wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me in any department after this and I realized I let my emotions get carried away with me. I wanted Luke more than anything and it didn’t matter what I wanted anymore because it was all officially gone.

“I think I’m going to be sick!” I headed to the bathroom and it wasn’t the alcohol making me feel this way or even the lack of food, but simply the idea I’d probably blown the first chance of love in my life. I was so stupid and I felt like a fool in love.

I’d come to L.A. to get the job of my dreams. I had more than that, I had friends, a place to stay, money and the possibility of a man beyond my dreams. Yet, I knew the shit was about to hit the fan and I wouldn’t lose one of the things, but all of them.