I flopped into my seat and forked up the pasta creation in front of me, but I was so mad that I couldn’t even get any into my mouth. I threw my fork back down and growled. “These guys are the worst pains in the asses I’ve ever come across. If they aren’t trying to embarrass me, they’re trying to break my back with the amount of work they give me.”
“So, quit if you hate it so much,” Darren answered. Besides, I’m the one who writes your list of chores. Maybe it should be me you hate.”
He had a point. However, writing a list didn’t make him an asshole, not like that little, redheaded jerk face.
“I can’t hate you. You’re just doing what you’re told. Just like me.”
Darren made a huff of confirmation.
“As far as quitting,” I glared down at my plate, and my lower lip poked out on its own accord, “I would if I could. However, jobs aren’t that easy to come by with my track record.”
I wish Rayne had been lying, but he hadn’t. I’d like to say that it was the jobs. Each job I had gotten from the temp agency had been one piece of shit assignment after the other. But to be honest, it was me. When I first lost my cushy job and started at the agency, I’d been picky. Too picky. I turned down too many good jobs because I thought I was better than that.
I’d been wrong.
Now, I counted my blessings for this job. The pay was reasonable even if it didn’t come with health care or dental. However, I could afford to save for any mishaps with what I saved from living at the job. It sure beat the hell out of living in my car. More comfortable too.
I turned my attention back to Darren. The company wasn’t half bad either, the couple of jerk face masters aside.
“So, I heard.” Darren inclined his head. “Living in your car, huh?” He raised his brows at me, pity in his eyes. “It takes quite a bit to drive someone to those lengths.”
I shrugged, stabbing at my noodles but not really trying to eat them. “Not really. It made sense with the lack of funds to pay for an apartment.”
“What about your parents?” Darren asked, surprising me. This was the longest conversation I’d ever had with Darren. The fact that he was even asking me about myself was a miracle. Usually, he was trying his best to get me out the door or back to work.
“They’re not here, and even if they were, I wouldn’t go back to them.” I left it at that, not wanting to go into my family history.
“So, you’re here on your own with no family to look for you?” Darren asked a bit strangely. “That’s not a safe place to be for a young woman.”
I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. “I can take care of myself.”
Darren snorted. “That I can’t believe.”
We continued to eat in silence after Darren’s condescending remark. I wanted to argue that I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself, but the memory of how easily Drake had overtaken me. How close I’d been to letting him take me up against his bedroom door.
I wasn’t a large woman. I wasn’t petite either. If it came down to brute strength, I couldn’t hold my own against even Rayne, the smallest of them. Though the thought of Wynn overcoming me wasn’t an unpleasant thought, I wouldn’t want to be at the mercy of that brat.
Darren took both of our plates before I could offer to clean them and then disappeared into the dining room. A few low voices came from there, and I was half tempted to see if my employers were there. What did they eat? So, far I hadn’t seen them get anything remotely close to food besides Rayne’s bottle of red crap.
Suddenly, Darren showed back up in the kitchen. His eyes landed on me, and he stiffened. “You should go to bed. The masters have some visitors tonight, and they don’t want to be disturbed.”
The tone of his voice told me there was no room for argument. The voices in the dining room got louder, and there were laughter and some moaning noises. Suddenly, I wanted to be back in my room.
As I scrambled up the back stairs, my face heated. What kind of people was I working for? Nymphomaniacs? Maybe one of those BDSM kind of groups?
They did want to be called Master.
Whips and chains came to mind as well as the image of Antoine in some assless leather pants. My body shivered deliciously at the thought. I could totally see any of them being into that kind of stuff.
I paused at my bedroom door and was half tempted to head back down, but Darren’s warning look before had taken all my courage. Turning the knob, I ducked inside just as a loud cry of ecstasy filled the house.
Yeah, I was going with sex-addicts.
Laying in my bed that night, I had a hard time sleeping. All I could think about was what was going on downstairs. Eventually, after several hours of tossing and turning in my lovely sheets, I climbed out of bed and inched toward my door. I pressed my ear to the wood of the door and listened.
Nothing.
Opening the door, I poked my head out into the hallway. When I didn’t hear anything, I stepped out of my room. I stood there for longer than I should have, waiting for something or someone to attack me or whatever it was that Darren and the rest had warned me against.