“I can’t.” Tyler shook her head, moving around Logic. “Take me to my car... please.”
“Yall heard the lady.” Al clapped his hands. “Take her ill-mannered ass to her car.”
“Will you please shut up?” Aria rolled her eyes, following Tyler out the door.
???
On the way to her apartment, Tyler kept her eyes closed in order to keep from throwing up. As bad as she wanted to take a Zoloft, she didn’t. Tyler needed a clear head to handle Dex and her aunt. Both of them could’ve put out statements, telling the truth, but neither of them said a thing. Social media was dragging her. They were calling her crackheads, pill heads, dopefiends, and everything else associated with her being strung out. Someone stitched together videos of her under the influence, stating that the signs were always there.
“Hello?” Tyler answered her vibrating phone without looking at the number.
“Hi Tyler. This is Ms. Jones from the nursing home.”
“Hey, everything ok? Is my mom good?”
“Your mom is fine. I was actually calling about the billing. We went in to charge the card on file and it looks like there’s a problem. It’s never happened before, and I wanted to reach out to you before the staff in the billing department does.”
“Ok, let me see what’s going on and I’ll give you a call back.”
“Sure thing. I’ll be here until 8 tonight and back first thing in the morning,” Ms. Jones assured her.
“Ok, thank you.”
“You’re welcome, dear. We’ll talk soon.” She ended the call.
Pulling the banking app up on her phone. Tyler tried to use her face to log in, but she kept getting an error message. Thinking it was her swollen eyes, Tyler typed in the password, but the account locked her out.
“What the fuck,” she muttered, dropping the phone into her lap. “Aria.”
“Yes?”
“Can you please see what’s going on with my card? It’s on file for the nursing home, but they said it’s declining and I can’t log into the app.”
“I’m on it.” Aria smiled warmly as Shane pulled up to Tyler’s building.
“I’ll be right back.” Tyler hopped out of the backseat before either of them could say anything.
With her hood pulled low on her head, Tyler walked into the building, headed for the elevators. She wasn’t in the mood for small talk, which is why she ignored the bellman calling out her name. When the elevator doors opened, Tyler punched in her code, but the elevator started beeping.
“The fuck?” She frowned. “Can someone come fix this? The rent costs too much for shit not to be working.”
“Uh, Ms. Tyler, I’m sorry, but your name was removed from the apartment’s access list,” the Bellman said, hating that he had to be the one to deliver the news.
“What the fuck are you talking about? This is my apartment!” Tyler bellowed. “Let me up right fucking now!”
“I understand you’ve been living here, but the lease isn’t in your name, and we’ve been instructed to remove your access. I need you to exit the building.”
Again, Tyler was floored, and all she could do was drop her head and laugh. Fighting with a man who was simply doing his job wasn’t going to solve shit.
“I’m sor-
“Save it.” Tyler walked back out of the building.
“Damn, that was quick,” Shane said when she hopped back in the truck. “Let me help-” he paused, seeing the tears fall from her face. “What’s wrong? Where are your things?”
“I no longer have access to the building.” She chuckled with tears running down her face. “I don’t understand what’s going on right now and I’m two seconds away from spazzing out.”
“This is your apartment. What do they mean you don’t have access?” Aria frowned.
