And the strangest thing greeted me then. Because their closets were empty. No clothes. No guitars. No Alpha Prime. Completely gone, as if the men had never been in the suite.
The trickle of nervousness down my spine was turning into an overwhelming flood. Trembling with cold fear
, I paced around the room, my knees trembling. Bats instead of butterflies battled in my stomach. Grabbing a robe, I ran through the suite one last time in case I missed something. My fears were confirmed. And faced with nothing but more emptiness, I dashed through the connecting door to my own room.
Everything was where I left it.
My clothes, the clipboard with notes for the rest of Alpha Prime's schedule, and the official things my men needed help with.
My alphas. They’re still mine. Right?
Nausea rose up in my throat. Right then and there I thought I was going to be sick. My suspicions had rung true. They had found a new girl, and wanted to leave me with my parents in Brooklyn.
No. Keep it together, Katy. Just chill.
Suddenly, I had a realization. There was someone that could help me: Helena.
She would know what was going on.
In the rock stars’ main bedroom, I grabbed my phone and stumbled to the bed where I'd happily and freely given myself to them. The sheets still smelled like us, the incandescent pleasure mixed with true emotion. So what was going on?
With quivering fingers, I dialed Helena on FaceTime.
Come on, come on! Answer me!
It took forever for her to pick up. Finally, the middle aged woman’s face popped up on the small screen, lips pursed in disapproval. Desperation killed all of the politeness that I usually had.
“Helena! They're gone! There isn’t another show scheduled. They didn’t wake me!” I squeaked in a panic. “Do you know where they went? I-I have to find them!”
A tear fell into my mouth, salty and sour. Impatiently, I wiped it away and waited for her to tell me what was going on.
“Yes, they are gone.” That was all she said.
Helena sat in some sort of office but not the one I interviewed in. A big painting in shades of white and grey took up the space behind her form. Her face was all made up, perfectly done as usual. Her lips gleamed ruby red like the Joker’s smile.
Shock shot through my heart, making me blink and stare. What was going on? The realization that Helena wasn’t surprised stole my ability to think clearly.
“What do you mean they're gone?” I croaked. “Th-they have a show I didn’t know about? Can I get a flight there?”
Hope made the words begin to tumble ceaselessly. But Helena’s reply was swift and cold.
“The three men known as Alpha Prime have left Manhattan, and they have left you. Your services are no longer needed.” Her voice was like ice. “You will receive your severance check via direct deposit.”
A shiver took over my whole body as quivering fingers almost dropped the phone.
“They left me?” I hated how pathetic I sounded but it was impossible to stop. “Why though? They don’t want to keep me around?”
“Apparently not.” A flash of something crossed her face, something that I couldn’t read. “I’m sorry, but your services are no longer needed. Again, a severance will be paid and I’m sure you’ll find it very generous.”
But I didn’t care about money anymore. I cared about my heart, and how it’d been stabbed through the center.
“Oh. I see.” I stared at the screen until my eyes blurred, unable to swallow past the lump in my throat.
And unbidden, the phone fell from my hands and hit the sheets. They were really gone. An icy wind blew through me. Suddenly, I felt like I was slipping and sliding on a desolate and abandoned sheet of ice. A place nobody wanted to make a home. A place everyone eventually left. A sob erupted from my raw throat.
Didn’t I mean anything at all to them? I thought they cared about me, at least a little bit. Maybe I wasn’t the hottest girl but surely, our shared experiences meant something.
And why would they leave me after the perfect night we had? It just didn't make any sense. Or maybe I was too stupid to get it.