15
***SJ***
Thiswasn’twhatweasked for. We need an e-book on the availability of sperm donors in the states. Your humor was unnecessary and personally offended myself and my business partner. Your services will no longer be needed and we will not be paying for this collection of terrible jokes and awful language. I suggest you take your future employers a bit more seriously, ma’am.
I closed my laptop a bit harder than I meant to and shoved it away.Stupid, stupid me. I flopped myself back on my bed and stared up at a poster of a heartthrob from my preteen years. He stared back at me with a cool, untouchable smile and I was struck with a fit of rage. Jumping to my feet, I reached up and ripped at his chunky highlighted hair until the poster was in shreds on the floor.
“Feel better?”
I looked over at my grandma and sagged back onto the bed. “Not really.”
She strolled into my room and stared down at the poster with a scowl on her face. “I never understood that blond skunk look. In my day, men had painted black hair. A boy I dated once dyed his hair with shoe polish. It looked good until it started raining.”
I smiled and watched as she strolled over in her platform wedges and sat next to me. My grandma was always dressed to the nines. She’d grown up in a different world and she still dressed and carried herself like she was going to be whisked away at any second, but only if her hair was perfectly in place.
Her dress was a collared number that clipped in at her waist and then went just past her knee. Her jewelry was costume, as was her makeup at times, but her hair was a work of art. Permed and teased into a beehive daily, it was a mass of bold white hair that she pinned into place with various pins. The ones in her hair that day had cherries on the ends to match her red dress.
What I loved most about her was her stature. My mom had been delicate. The girls in school had been delicate. Everyone around me had always seemed so fragile. Not my grandma, though.
She was tall and had the shoulders of a professional athlete. She could kick ass any day of the week and she knew it. Most people around her knew it, too. She was a force of nature and getting swept up in her was the warmest I’d ever felt with anyone other than my mom.
“What’s wrong, Sugar?”
I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees, thoroughly pouting. “I lost another job.”
“Those idiots.”
“No, it was my fault. I thought I’d try to put a little flavor in their boring e-book, but they didnotwant that. They let me know that in a rather painful way.” I sighed. “It was the last one I had. The blog isn’t bringing in enough money to support myself with yet. All I want to do is move out of this house and I’m trapped.”
Grandma rubbed my back and tutted at me. “You’re not trapped, Sugar. Say the word and I’ll give you whatever you need to get away.”
“Stop it.” I gently slapped her knee. “I’m not taking your money and I’m not leaving you here to die of boredom with Dad and Reba.”
“Oh, I never said I wouldn’t be going with you. You leave and I leave, too. I’ve paid my dues taking care of that boy. I’ve even paid my dues in letting him pretend to take care of me.”
I leaned into her and sighed heavily. “I love you, Grandma. You are coming with me if I ever get out of here.”
She kissed the top of my head and then stood up. “Duh. Now. Come on. I want to walk down to the pool and I need a cute little lady to walk me there.”
A moment of panic scorched through me as I thought about venturing out into the neighborhood. I’d been in hiding since the night with Barrett, Dominic, and Holden. I didn’t want to chance running into them in the neighborhood.
“Sugar Jane. You may think I’m too old to notice things, but I’m smart enough to understand that the man who mauled your pretty neck a few days ago must live around here.” She tapped the end of my nose with her finger. “There are several handsome bachelors around here. Should I start guessing which one you screwed to kingdom come or will you walk with me to the pool?”
“Grandma!” I let out an awkward scream laugh and jumped to my feet. “Fine! We’re walking to the pool!”
She dusted her hands against each other and straightened her dress. “Alright. Come on, then.”
I grabbed my phone and was just about to tuck it into my pants pocket when it vibrated. Glancing down, I saw I had a text from a number I didn’t recognize.
After opening it and reading it, I saw red. Deciding that walking to the pool with Grandma was suddenly the best idea ever, I now hoped I would run into one of the idiots I’d slept with. I glared back at my phone.
Unknown: Sugar, it’s Barrett. I have a job offer I think you might be interested in. It’s regarding what we spoke about the other night. Let me know when you can meet us.
“Well, you look like you just swallowed a bug.”
I blew out a deep breath and forced a smile. “Nope. Everything is fine. Let’s go on down to the pool. I think I need to cool off.”
“Maybe start by changing out of those sweatpants?”