Page 5 of Bean

“You have to ah…to stay. Until they bring your things down. I’m so sorry, Jare.”

This was torture.I’d just been fired.I’d been escorted out of the place I’d worked for ten years.And now I wasn’t allowed to save my pride and just leave?It wasn’t like there was anything in my desk I even wanted.

I clicked the button on my key fob and slid into the driver’s seat. I looked to the right and saw the divorce papers on my seat, and another laugh scraped up my throat. Oh my god, I was divorced and now jobless? Did it get more pathetic than that?

I would have given anything not to be alone in that moment. I could call my best friend, but I didn’t want to pull Ivy from her job. Maybe my brother? Andrei was currently at my townhouse taking measurements for the kitchen renovations, and he would probably drop everything to be here.

But I wouldn’t do that to him either. Hell, I hadn’t even told him my divorce hearing was today because I didn’t want to put that burden on his shoulders. I wanted to prove I could handle this myself.

Something he probably would have punched me for, but he’d obviously find out about this later, so the decision was made. I would do this alone.

“I’m staying until I know you’re safe to drive,” Tanya said firmly, leaning against the open door. Right, I wasn’t actually alone. My boss—my former boss—had a front-row seat to my breakdown.

I probably looked like a hot mess. Hell, Iwasa hot mess. I was a middle-aged man heading toward fifty who now had no job, no husband, and no real house to live in until my townhouse renovations were finished. I was in a rental, but that was a far cry from being a home.

I laughed again, then sniffed loudly. “Fuck. This is not my day.”

Tanya sighed quietly. “Being fired isn’t fun, but?—”

My voice wobbled as I spoke my next words, “I just got back from divorce court.”

Her jaw snapped together with an audible click, then she cleared her throat. “You and Gio…?”

I hadn’t said anything to anyone at work because, frankly, it wasn’t their business. I liked Tanya, but she wasn’t a friend. Not really. She was a colleague. I worked in a sea of corporate assholes who were often quietly racist and homophobic in calls with me because I seemed straight enough, and I was rich enough that they assumed I was a bigoted safe space.

And half the time, when I attempted to explain I was not the right man for that kind of shit, they assumed I was joking. It was rarely worth the fight, but a small part of me wished I’d at least gotten a last day. I could have gone in there as No Fucks Jarek and told several people exactly what I thought of them.

Which was probably why they had their escorting-out policy.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked, cutting into my swirling thoughts.

I shrugged and sat back. My eyes were hot, and I was pretty sure the next words I said would make me cry. But fuck it. Who cared? It wasn’t like I had a reputation to maintain anymore. “It wasn’t worth it to talk about my drama.”

“Yeah, but if I’d known?—”

“What? You could have held them off for a few weeks?” I scoffed and swiped at a few stray tear tracks. My throat felt thick and hot, and I swallowed heavily. “I have a severance package. A good one.”

“You do,” she confirmed.

“I can take a little time off and wallow. I can, I don’t know, hit up that cute little bar near the pier—the one with the rainbow bear carving—and meet a hot, young twink.”

“Sounds nice,” she said. I had no idea if she meant it. I had no idea if she actually cared. She was here, which was something, but I had a feeling she was more concerned about company liability if she left a man in my state.

I heard footsteps off in the distance and knew it was Scott. Fuck, I did not want to see her assistant. He was such a smug little weasel. I can’t believe I was fired and he was still here.

“Hang tight. Let me grab your stuff.”

I could have kissed her. “Thanks.” I swallowed again, the lump in my throat even thicker as I watched her turn the corner. She was back a few moments later holding a file box, and I wondered where the hell Scott had gotten that because we didn’t use paper files.

“This should be everything. Want me to throw it in the back?”

“Go for it.” My voice cracked and she looked at me before opening the door and setting it down.

Part of me wished she had thrown it. I wanted to throw it. I wanted to smash everything in there. Was there anything worth keeping? A few photos of Gio I wanted to burn in an effigy—though I did like the frames—a few books that were easily replaceable, my laptop that I kept at work because that was the only thing I used it for.

“Jarek—”

“I’m gonna go,” I said.