Saint James, Elle - Unbridled and Unbound [The Double Rider Men's Club 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (21 page)

“It was a loan,” she said dispassionately. She closed her eyes and willed him not to say the words she knew he was about to utter.

He put a sealed letter on the front edge of his ornate desk. “This is a bill for the full balance on that loan. I’ve subtracted the amount of your final check from the total for your convenience. You won’t be issued a final check. Furthermore, I want you to take note that the due date is in promptly thirty days. If you do not pay the full amount, as stated in the contract you signed, we will bring charges against you in a court of law on the next business day.”

Stella had reached her capacity for bad news for the day. “I don’t have that kind of money, or I would have already paid the loan back. I expected to pay it off over the next three years.” She plucked the envelope off his desk managing not to touch the offensive piece of furniture.

“Well, I suggest you find a way to get it. We are a law firm, and we will prosecute to the full extent that we can.”
Bastard
.

Short of selling her ova to a donor bank, if she even qualified, Stella couldn’t even think of a way to come up with the full balance of the debt she still owed. And she didn’t want to give up her unborn children for any payment owed this bloodsucking, not to mention cocksucking, place. Not ever. She’d have to find another way.

She tried one more plea. “Please don’t do this, Mr. Fuller. It’s a mistake. Have you talked to Claudia today?”

“No. I won’t talk to her. She has a soft spot for you and is apparently blind to all your unlawful activities. You’re fired. Clean out your desk. I’ve already called security to escort you out of the building. Good day, Ms. Gilbert.”

He sat back down at his massive, overcarved desk, and dismissed her as if she were no more important than a crap-eating fly he’d swatted out of his food.

Stella exited his office without another word. Fingers numb around the envelope containing a huge five-figure balance she couldn’t afford to pay, Stella resisted the urge to scream in utter frustration. When the son of one of the named partners was convinced she was a big problem child, ne’er-do-well, and had faked documentation to back his claims, it was difficult if not impossible to defend herself. Why even bother?

Not only wasn’t she going to get reimbursed for her car repair by the company, they also wouldn’t be supplying her salary any longer, either. And even had the unmitigated audacity to demand money from her in a bulk sum she’d counted on another three years to pay back, or face prosecution.

Bastard
.

Claudia the Bitch had managed to surprise her this morning. She’d morphed into Claudia the Coward. The whole “being late” today so as not to have to deal with a problem employee wasn’t usually her style. If she’d known Mr. Fuller was going to fire her, Claudia would normally have positioned herself ringside in the front and center seats so as to watch the carnage firsthand. Usually, at the first drop of blood in the company pool regarding anyone getting axed, Claudia circled the hapless victim and claimed first bite. Like a vulture at the top of its hierarchy, she got to feed first on any sufferers.

Odd that was all Stella could think of in the wake of so much disaster at an epic scale regarding her life. Claudia had uncharacteristically missed out of her big chance to humiliate her one last time. Was it possible that Claudia had no knowledge of her being terminated today?

A security guard escorted her to her desk with a cardboard box to quickly grab her meager personal belongings. She then had to do a walk of shame through the halls of a business she’d worked at for almost five years, past reception, and to the main door exit.

Before she crossed the threshold, she told Abby Hilliard over her shoulder to tell Claudia she was on her own. She would currently be unable to cover her during the meeting starting in two minutes in the Colorado conference room.

A wide-eyed Abby started dialing the phone before looking away in obvious shock. Appropriate to the essence of the day she was having, the agent from the rental company was just entering through the front doors of the law firm.

He smiled as if grateful not to have to hunt her down. “Hey, thanks for meeting me at the door, I’m running late. I just need for you to sign this”—he held out a clipboard—“and to get your keys.”

Fuck. He was about to take possession of her rental car? Really?

“I thought I had one more day.” Stella really tried to keep the whine out of her tone and knew that she failed miserably.

The driver sighed, pulled out the rental agreement and flipped to the second page. Pointing at a microscopic line in the center, he said, “It’s right here. Pick up on the twenty-eighth. That’s today.” He scanned her from head to toes suspiciously. “Do you have the keys handy?”

Fuck
. She’d read the date wrong. Eights and nines were so deceptively similar in fine print. And with that discovered number change, Stella didn’t even have a car anymore. Keys dangling from her fingers still holding her box of personal possessions, she couldn’t exactly lie about it. “I need a ride home.”

His dubious expression prompted her to resort to drastic actions. She begged him for a ride home so she wouldn’t have to call a taxi. She was pretty sure she couldn’t afford one at this point anyway. The driver’s exasperated expression at first made her wish she’d worn more comfortable shoes. He glanced at her box of personal effects again. Perhaps it was the desperate look she must have on her face, but he agreed to take her home.

Stella glanced at her watch as the driver pulled onto her street. She hadn’t even been at work a full hour and now she was on her way home.

A despondent thought crossed her mind as she’d promised to drive over to the ranch for a quickie at noon with Tyler. They’d had a serious discussion over the weekend regarding any future relationship, because while she enjoyed being with them, it was never intended to be a permanent thing. She was unsure if she wanted to continue.

Dominick had left town this morning on a short business trip, so Stella had returned to her apartment to change clothes. Tyler had invited her over for a “nooner” if she wanted, and promised to have food available so she wouldn’t have to cook. She’d promised to be there but only had at best an hour and a half to “have lunch” to which he’d salaciously agreed to keep the eating only to her pussy if she was good.

He didn’t mention anything about permanent or future relationship, just free time to have a sexual romp. She’d promised to be there. Now she didn’t have a way to get there, having already established she could no longer afford taxis. Besides, she needed some time alone to figure out what in the world she was going to do now. And how she was ever going to pay that enormous amount of money back in thirty days.

She’d have to remember to call him and decline his sexy offer. At least until she could figure a way out of this mess.

Stella exited the rental car as quickly as possible in light of the driver being slightly impatient, slung her purse over her shoulder, and carried her “personal stuff” box in front of her as she trudged to her apartment. The skies above now clouded as another snowstorm was predicted for later.

The coming blizzard might be the best thing. She had food. Perhaps she’d hole up and hibernate for a few days. She was numb from the previous hour of her life. If she couldn’t have a do-over for this morning, then she needed time alone. She needed to consider her options. Did she even have any? None came immediately to mind as she crossed the sidewalk to her building. She decided the best idea for her immediate future was to curl up on her sofa, watch television in her pajamas, and contemplate what on God’s green earth she was going to do next.

Unused to being home at this hour on a weekday, Stella trudged upstairs to the apartment she’d shared with her mother before she was moved to different accommodations. She found it hard to believe nearly a year had gone by since her mother’s death.

After pacing the floor, crying over a cup of tea, and searching for every available asset she owned, which wasn’t much, she finally turned her phone off. Then she turned her cell phone off. Her emotions were on overload. Fearful a call, even from a salesman trying to change her phone plan, would send her into a terminal crying jag from which she might never recover.

She was better off secluding herself from the world at large. She lost herself in mindless morning television.

The knock at the door startled her and peeking through the eyehole surprised her even more. The landlord waited outside.

Crap.

The rent was due tomorrow.

Double crap.

Without looking at her checking account balance, she knew she had enough, but not much more than a month’s rent residing there. Friday would have been payday for all her other bills, but not anymore. Imperative though was keeping this apartment. She’d have to be up to date on her rent in order to negotiate and sign a new lease next month.

Stella opened the door with a fake smile in place, hoping Mrs. White’s eyesight was poor enough to miss her bloodshot eyes and been-crying-for-hours-at-my-sad-life face.

Her landlady’s familiar white-headed, hunched-over shape only half filled Stella’s door space.

“Hi, Mrs. White. How are you today?” Stella asked in an overloud voice. The poor dear was very hard of hearing. “Are you here to pick up the rent?”

The old woman scrunched her face as if confused for a moment, then shook her head.

“Hate like the dickens to do it,” she eventually mumbled. A stapled set of papers in one arthritic hand, which Stella hadn’t noticed before, suddenly lifted to Stella’s eye level. “I’m selling the apartments. Gonna retire to Florida. Rent’s paid to the end of next month, which is when you hafta be out. Your mama didn’t have a deposit on file after all these years, so we’re square. Make sure you get all your stuff out in time, or you’ll lose it for sure. The new owners are bulldozing the place the day after.”

What the hell?
She didn’t know many of the residents and in fact hadn’t seen many of them recently. Probably because they’d all had advance notice.

The apartment had been her mother’s before she’d had the stroke that eventually led to her being put in a nursing facility. The one that had cost so much and caused the enormous bill now looming over her head.

Stella took the paper from her and scanned it quickly. The top was her lease agreement, which ended in thirty days. The second was a notice of intent to sell the property to a California-based group intending on leveling the aging apartments to put up expensive, mountain-view condos.

“Mrs. White, you can’t be serious. How am I going to find another place to live, not to mention move all my stuff, in just thirty days?” The rental market was brutal in this area lately. She’d heard stories at work about inflated capacities, and six-month waits for even crappy places to live.

Her landlord wobbled back and forth from one orthopedic-shoe-clad foot to another for a bit, then steadied herself and said, “Didn’t I tell you last year?”

Stella resisted the sincere urge to roll her eyes in disbelief. “No. I would have remembered.” Why today of all days?

“Oh.” She looked confused for a moment, then smiled as if she’d had a memory come suddenly back in her mind. “I know. I told everyone else when your mama died. I guess I forgot to tell you since you were sad and grieving. Sorry.” She turned away and started hobbling down the hallway.

Stella tamped down her aggravation and carefully closed the door, proud she’d had the fortitude not to slam it hard enough to rattle in the doorframe with the crescendo of aggravation she felt.

No car.

No job.

No apartment.

Huge looming debt she
couldn’t
pay.

Court action pending if she
didn’t
pay what was owed.

Life spiraling out of control in too short of a time to take in all the badness at once, Stella simply shut down. She left the television on, crawled into her bed still fully clothed, and sobbed until she didn’t have moisture left in her body.