Caged

[Eight]

"Okay, I get where you're coming from Ashlyn, and I do believe you." Jace said as he sat back in his office chair, causing a displeasing squeak due to it's many years of use. "You need to be careful around him though. He may only be the temporary manager when I'm not here, but he has connections to the owners."

I knew this was true, it's how he scraped by the managers training, but I wasn't going to admit to something that I didn't do. His accusations were downright wrong. "Please don't fire me, Jace." With my eyes cast down to the dark carpeted floor I twiddled my thumbs together nervously. I didn't dare look at him. I didn't want him to see the tears of fear and upset that were swimming in my eyes. 

With a small amused smile on his face, Jace stood up and made his way around to the front of his desk. "I'm not going to fire you Ashlyn. I just told you that I believe you."

"Y-you're not?" I asked, to which he replied with a small shake of his head. 

The amount of relief this small gesture gave me was overwhelming and I let out a deep breath. Without even thinking, I was out of my seat with my arms wrapped tightly around Jace's neck. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how relieved I am."

I must have had my arms around his neck too tight because it sounded like he was choking on his next words. "I think once you let me go and allow me to breathe I'll understand the relief."

Oh God. I let go immediately and stepped back. A deep shade of crimson rose up and gave my pale freckled cheeks some colour. "I'm sorry." Well this meeting turned from incredibly nerve wracking to incredibly awkward all in the span of twenty seconds.

"No. It's fine, really." Jace also had a blush on his cheeks as he said this and I knew it was for the exact opposite reason that I was blushing.

I had probably just made his crush on me much worse. I really wish he had a crush on someone other than me. It was really awkward to work with him when he was staring at me, and I didn't want to keep hurting him by not returning his feelings.

"You can go and finish your shift now." He walked to the other side of his desk and tore up the incident report that was written up about me. He must be feeling a little awkward too now, because he was refusing to look at me and was sending me away.

Jax was waiting for me when I came out of the office, leaning against the wall. "What was that all about," he asked, pointing his thumb over his shoulder towards the office.

"John wrote up a report on me." I was in a bad mood when Jax had picked me up after my shift so naturally he had to be told every detail. 

He pushed himself off the wall and pulled me to the counter. "He didn't fire you did he?"

The concern in his voice warmed my heart. It felt nice to have someone who cares. "Nope, thank goodness. Could you imagine what my mum would do and say if he had fired me?"

I didn't even want to think about it. Me having a job was the only thing that kept us both going. If I didn't have a job, then I'd have no money for food, bills, rent, and no money to pay for her alcohol, drugs and nightly outings to the pub.

Those latter ones mentioned were her top priority of course. As long as she had those, she didn't care about anything else.

I did care, though. Not only did my income keep me alive and off the streets, but it paid for my Uni education. That, was one of my two vices. Studying and coffee. 

I was struggling to keep up with my course fees though. Not to mention everything else. So I was considering the option of finding a second job. Not that I had much time for it.