I kept my expression blank as I pointed at the screen with my pinkie. “Working.”
“I can see that,” he replied, undaunted. “What are you workin’ on?”
Swallowing a sigh, I put my styrofoam cup down. “I’m working on the employee welcome packet.”
“Sounds borin’ as hell.” His fingers tapped off the wall. “You doin’ anything after work?”
Oh no. My gaze flicked up, and yep, he wasn’t looking at my face at all. His eyes were zeroed on my chest like they held the answers to life. “I have some things I need to do this evening.”
His gaze didn’t move. “A couple of us are goin’ out to Saints down the street. If you change your mind, you should come.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I waited another second, and when his gaze remained fastened to my chest, I cleared my throat.
Rick’s eyes flew up and he had the decency to look a little embarrassed to be caught ogling. Pink flooded his tan cheeks. “So, yeah, what you workin’ on again?”
I had to wonder how well Rick did his job. Luckily, he and his wonder twin weren’t in the office a lot. Normally they were in the gym, securing new memberships or off lifting weights or something. “I’m working on the employee handbook,” I reminded him with a hopeful glance at the phone.
“Ah yeah, borin’ as shit right there,” he repeated.
If I could have had any superpower at that moment, I would have chosen to make my phone ring on command.
“I don’t know why they hired you to work up here,” he went on, and I slowly raised a brow. “I mean, shit, you’re hot as hell.”
I started debating how weird it would be if I just, I don’t know, slammed my face into my keyboard.
“If they had you down on the floor, we’d sell a shit ton of memberships, especially to the guys.” He laughed, a high-pitched squealing sound, and I now contemplated the face into computer screen method. “Seems like a waste, havin’ you hidden up here. It’s obvious why you were hired.”
I blinked and glanced up at him. “Come again?”
He winked, and my hands curled into fists. “Anyone with two eyes knows it’s because of how you look, so it seems like a waste to have you sittin’ up here, doing borin’ shit. We could use someone like you on our team.”
Shock struck me speechless as I stared at the guy. Did he seriously just say the only reason why I was hired was because of my appearance? Like he legitimately said that to my face?
“Hell, it made sense why the last chick was up here. She wasn’t much to look at, if you ask me. Shit, though, hopefully you don’t end up like her. Anyway,” he said, smacking his hand down on the cubicle wall as he backed away. “If you change your mind, we’ll be at Saints. I’ll buy you a drink.”
I’d rather get stuck at an airport during a snowstorm.
Rick ambled away, obviously feeling very confident about our conversation, while I turned my gaze to the screen. The words blurred as I stared at the computer. Numbness was like ice in my veins. I knew, without a doubt, I wasn’t hired because Mr. Browser thought I was pretty. I was hired because I had a 3.8 GPA when I graduated. I was hired because I aced the fucking interview. I was hired because I was qualified.
Placing my hand on the mouse, I clicked on the screen and shook my head, dispelling the thoughts the conversation with Rick had left behind. Well, almost all of them. Who was the girl who had this position and what the hell happened to her?
Chapter 4
The black and white pointed heels with the dainty bow on the back were absolutely darling, but they were brutal. My poor toes were pinched and I was sure almost all the skin along my heel was missing.
Contrary to popular belief, beauty should not equal pain, and no matter how cute the shoes were, they were not worth the stinging bite of pain every time I took a step.
I tossed those suckers toward the back of my closet and slipped on a pair of flats that my feet welcomed. Wiggling my toes, I lifted my hands and ran them through my hair.
My first two weeks at Lima Academy had been exhausting, but in a good, fun, and productive way if I didn’t count the run-ins with the Steroid Twins. They were jerks—relatively harmless jerks—but they were easy to ignore for the most part. Especially since I’d learned to be quicker with the pretend phone calls when I saw them enter the offices.
Every day there was some form of grunt work that involved me navigating the congested streets of Philadelphia either by foot or car to track down something Mr. Browser just had to have. But I was also learning, and the excitement of the new job was nowhere near wearing off, even if most of the guys on the sales team were total assholes who spent more time staring at my ass or breasts than working.
Swallowing a yawn, I closed my closet door and gave my bed a long, lusty look. I started toward it but stopped myself. Last night I had sat down around eight in the evening, for a few minutes, and ended up passing out, sleeping straight through the night.
I was not falling for that trick again.
Besides, I wasn’t exactly sleepy per se, just weirdly tired. I really hoped I wasn’t coming down with a cold or something. The last thing I needed was to potentially miss work for being sick, and because of that, I knew I should be staying in that night and resting, but I was bored out of my mind. And it was Friday night.
And I missed my girls.
For now, I Skyped with Yasmine and Denise, two girls who’d been with me my entire college experience, whenever we were free, which wasn’t as often as I liked. Yasmine had moved to Atlanta and Denise was in Baltimore, which was too far from here. Once I was situated, I wanted to make a little trip to see Denise.
Grabbing my purse, I headed out to my car. Truthfully, I was feeling way too lonely and I needed to get out. Back home, there was always someone to hang out with or someplace to go, and I really hadn’t connected with anyone here.
Well, except Nick, but that wasn’t really a long-term connection. At least not yet. Who knew, though? We could become friends, but I wasn’t going to meet anyone sitting in my apartment, marathoning all the seasons of Supernatural.
Mona’s parking lot was pretty packed, and as I headed in, I wondered if Nick was working . . . and yeah, I also wondered if he had plans later. That last thought brought a smile to my face.
Music and pool balls clanking off one another greeted me as I stepped through the door. Grateful I didn’t wear anything heavier than a cardigan, since it was rather toasty inside, I moseyed on around two guys and approached the bar.
I saw the girl with the glasses first—Roxy. She’d changed the color of her glasses and the streak in her hair. Tonight, both were blue and they matched her shirt. A laugh burst out of me when she turned, and I was able to read what was on her shirt.
A BARTENDER KNOWS HOW BAD HEAD IS.
The other guy, the one with the short bronze hair and military written all over him, was also behind the bar. If I remembered correctly, that was Jax, the owner. Near the well, Roxy was working; I squeezed myself in between two stools.
Only a few seconds passed before her bespectacled gaze drifted past me and darted back. Surprise widened her eyes. “You came back.”
What an odd statement.
Roxy whirled toward the owner and shouted, “She came back!”