Things Money Can't Buy (Discontinued)

Chapter 13

~*~

For the past week, all my free time was spent researching ways to make money. Evan had called me a few days later to tell me that his bail was set at $50,000. I knew the amount for bail would be a lot, but that was definitely a bit more than expected.

After telling our Aunt Laura about the situation, she was left in a state of shock. She wasn't willing to put her house or car up for collateral for a bail bondsman, which was understandable considering her family. Finally, she agreed to contribute a few thousand dollars, but she didn't have the means to give more.

In other words, I was mostly alone in getting this money. Every fiber of my being wanted to get my brother out of prison, so the idea of not paying his bail didn't even cross my mind. 

Twelve years ago, when my dad was first arrested, we didn't have the money to pay his bail. It took almost a year after his initial arrest for him to be sentenced. The idea of my brother sitting alone in a prison cell for that long was unsettling, especially if he didn't need to.

There were a lot of possible ways to make money on the side, but it would be a slow way to get there. To start, I began selling things online. Maddie offered to do people's makeup, and she would give me the earnings that she got from doing that. I found an online tutoring job to do over the weekend. Being an Uber driver was another thing I looked into, but I was still waiting on the approval for that. In addition, I was putting all the extra money I had into my savings account. Given my situation, I was doing the best I could.

This past week had been so hectic for me trying to make money that I hadn't even really spoken to Jason. When I did see him, my brain decided to replay the image of him so close to me, staring at me like he wanted to devour me. It made me uncomfortable, so I kept trying to ignore the image.

As usual, Jason kept asking me for coffee everyday. Not in the mood to deal with him, I'd send him an eye-rolling emoji in response, get his coffee, drop it off in his office wordlessly, and go back to work. During any down-time at work, I was on my phone, trying to set up all these different ways to get money.

It was the beginning of the following week when some drama ensued in the workplace.

While doing some of my work in the morning, Natalie suddenly rushed out of Jason's office in tears. It wasn't my business at all; after all, I'd barely even spoken to her before, but something in my gut told me to go check on her. Some people wanted comfort when they were crying, while others wanted to be left alone. I didn't know how she was feeling, but I came to the conclusion that it couldn't hurt. 

Assuming that she went to the women's bathroom, I looked there first. Natalie was standing there, looking at herself in the mirror. She was trying to fix her makeup since her mascara was giving her a raccoon eye.

She looked surprised to see me and let out a sob. I didn't even have to ask her what was wrong because she instantly started to talk.

"Mr. Bennett demoted me," she explained, sounding choked up. "This whole assistant thing was a trial-run. He said it wasn't working out, so now I'm back to front desk. I don't know what I did wrong, and he wouldn't tell me."

"What a dick." The thought was meant to stay in my head, but I accidentally said it out loud. Thankfully, it seemed to cheer her up.

Natalie chuckled. "It seemed like he didn't like me from day one. I don't know why he kept asking you for coffee when I wasn't busy. "

I sighed. "I don't know, either. I wish he wouldn't have."

Her face was puffy and red. She wasn't just tearing up: she was full-on sobbing. I felt so bad for this poor girl and how Jason had hurt her like this. At that moment, my gut had a strong urge to punch him in the face.