Chapter 2

Nikki

“No, no, fuck this, no!” I stood on my feet immediately. How on earth could I have missed it? Something felt odd texting the photos. How on earth did I go to Chad’s thread instead of Tom’s?

I picked my phone up to see what could have caused the misunderstanding. I slapped my forehead when I realized how. Chad had texted me a message that conveyed a reminder to check my email so I could edit the attachment he had sent.

This was the end. I knew I had to go check my closet to find my apron so I could get it dry-cleaned for Pizza City. I was about to toss my phone out of my hands when all of a sudden, something fascinating caught my eye. The message had been delivered, but it had not yet been seen by Chad. He must have put his phone away right after texting me, and that meant there was still a chance to stop him from viewing a picture with such content, which could and would cost me my job.

It was twenty minutes after midnight, but still, I brought my phone out to dial Tom. About a billion messages that required confirmation on whether or not I had changed my mind and decision filled my notifications bar. This wasn’t the time to regret stuff.

As expected, he didn’t answer the phone. A panicked me dropped the phone and decided that pacing around the room would offer me a solution.

Deciding I had no way to get myself out of this with assistance from a third party, I concluded that I would be going to Chad Bush’s house and accessing his phone to get rid of the photo before he woke up.

***

I hopped on my old bike. Who knew it would ever come in handy in its existence? I had on my pajamas, and I couldn’t care less. After ensuring that my house was locked and that my key was safe in my pajamas’ pocket, I got ready to leave.

If anyone had expected anything, it was that I had no car. I barely made enough to keep up with paying my bills, and getting a car was definitely not on the list of fun things to do.

Chad’s house was quite a distance from mine, and if I could pedal fast enough, I would get there in an hour. That meant that by two in the morning, I would be at my boss’s house, with barely any hope that he had not seen my stupidity-endorsed act.

To tell the world of my devastation would be an underrate of how I truly felt.

I knew there was only one way out of this. After all, what would be would be, but then, I would rather lose my job trying to save it than sit back and give up on hope.

***

When I said house, I was wrong. Chad Bush was clearly royalty beyond expectations. He lived in some fucking mansion. I gaped at the large source of shelter standing tall in its foundation and staring back at me.

I gulped and got down from my bike, feeling exhausted and out of breath. I had never been at Chad’s. I only knew where he lived because I had a direction map on my phone installed for just emergencies, and if this wasn’t emergency enough, I honestly could not tell what was.

It was at that point that I knew I was in hot soup, barely figuratively. I had not thought things through. If there was any fire hot enough to burn my job, this was it. For one, Chad was an influential man, and he, more than any soul I had met, priced security over many items.

With the look of things, like bees in their hives, top security would flood the entire place. Although, from my view, the mansion was dimly lit with night lights, and it seemed empty. That gave me another sense of logic. Chad cherished his privacy. And if he applied that sense to his personal life, then he definitely had no security.

That was just my fucking way to make myself feel consoled. I wondered how I was going to manage to get through things without being noticed. I wasn’t completely unprepared for any sort of stoppage. I had my business identification card with me, and there was nothing a little white lie would not fix.

Without wasting any more time thinking, I pulled my bike to a corner and rested it against a wall.

I started at the huge gate. I was not a tall or short person, and I had no idea what heights were, but that was definitely one long gate. I placed my hand akimbo and wondered how I was going to get over and into the building with a giant obstacle.

“Eureka!” I whisper-yelled to myself. The gate was fancy enough, but it was made of horizontal metals that connected each vertical row to the other. I placed my feet on the first steps and my hands on the steps I could attain in my fully stretched size and began the climbing phase.

I didn’t know how long it took, but I got to the top eventually. I turned around and placed my feet on the steps, but this time, in the building. My heart was equally trembling along with my limbs. “Don’t look down, Nikki, don’t look down.” I was pleased with myself, but knowing the stubborn bitch that I was, it was almost as if my subconscious had responded, ‘Yeah, I’m definitely going to look down.’

With that, my eyes followed the gate to the floor, and I let a loud shriek out. On their accord, my limbs left the gate, and I was soon crashing to the ground. It was a fall I doubted I would survive, but I hit the ground with my butt. I didn’t know the human body, but I was sure that whatever bones were in that region had been flattened further, worsening my flat-ass situation.

I stood to my feet, ignoring the pains in my glutens, letting my mission override any hurt.

Barking dogs from a distance began to sing their praises to the sound of the stranger, me. Following their barking alert were the flashlights that filled the environment. I was wrong with the ‘no security’ aspect.

Quickly, I dashed out of what I assumed was a sight and hid behind the trees that lined what seemed to be a road that led to the main house. I gulped and rendered a silent prayer requesting a favor.

I raced behind the trees that created a linear pattern that served decorative purposes and headed for the side of the house.

A few men walked toward the gate in scrutiny, but I managed to escape their gazes, thank God.

***

After thirty minutes of tiptoeing around the house. I got inside the main house. I had only attempted what seemed to be luck, but the door was unlocked. The only reasonable explanation was that Chad kept it open in case the security had to get him out in emergency situations but other than that, no one else was welcome in and that self-proposed theory proved me right about his security and privacy appreciation.

In my opinion, that was a crazy idea because I had literally just gotten in here without being armed.

I shook my head and ran up the stairs as silently as I could attain. There were two floors after the first floor, and from the staircase, I could see that the last floor had numerous doors. What caught me about how large the second floor was, was the fact that it possessed only one door.

I hurried and made my way there. I turned the doorknob, and not surprisingly, it bugged and came open without a creak. The perks of expensive doors.

I gasped when I saw the size of the room. It was almost three times the size of my apartment, possibly more than that. Fear gripped me at the consequences I had to bear from being caught in the act.

I hastily looked around, and as dark as the room seemed, light sources being from two tiny red lights that rotated around their axis, making the room seem magical, I spotted Chad lying in bed shirtless but with a huge blanket hugging his waist and lower limbs.

An unidentifiable woman was lying next to him, and she was sprawled naked. Eww.

My thoughts were distracted when I noticed the phone sitting by the bedside drawer. I smiled and crept up to it. Without pause, I grabbed it and made the longest run of my life. Fate was honestly working with me on this because as soon as I got out of the house and made my way back to the gate, it was left open by the memories who must decide to deepen their scrutiny.

I jumped on my bike, and pedaling away, I laughed ‘sinisterly’ and yelled as loud as I could, “So long, suckers!” Of course, that was after I had ridden twenty minutes away.

***

I unlocked my apartment and walked straight into my room, feeling worn out. I barely had a few hours until it was time to leave for work. I hopped on my bed and side, pulling out Chad’s phone. The first glance at it made me furrow my eyebrows, it was not the black one he always had. As funny as it was, he only used one phone, at least, that I was familiar with.

I gulped, knowing there was trouble in paradise. I unlocked it, and alas, the image in front of me was a woman I knew fairly well.

I had taken Rebecca Black’s phone.