“What’s the problem?” I asked, bored.
Inside, though, my heart was fucking rejoicing.
Just seeing her…
God, it did things to my soul.
It did things to my cock, too.
Not that I would tell her that.
We made it a few more steps when she said, “She’s fuckin’ weird, Etienne.”
Frowning, I looked over at Ellen.
“What?”
“You heard me.” She crossed her arms. “She’s fuckin’ weird.”
I turned on my heel and stared at her. “What?”
I was giving her a chance to reevaluate her words. But it was obvious that she wasn’t going to take them back.
“Her. I don’t get why you’re so nice to her,” Ellen repeated, sounding churlish and childlike all of a sudden.
I bit back the caustic reply that almost leapt from my mouth.
Instead, I controlled myself when I said, “I’m nice to her because she’s a nice person. Why are you all of a sudden acting like this?”
I’d met Ellen because she’d come as a recommended person by none other than my sister. And I needed a set of hands to help with getting my business off the ground in Accident.
How Jenna had known Ellen, I didn’t know. But so far, she’d been more than qualified to help me get it started here.
She was my assistant. She’d helped me get plans delivered. She helped me hire new people. She did payroll.
All of these things were things that she did—sort of—at her old job at a vet clinic right outside of town.
When we’d picked my cat up together months ago, she’d said that she’d known Matilda.
What I hadn’t realized was that she held some ill will against her.
I mean, hearing the old ladies of the club members talk about her, and seeing it firsthand? That was completely different.
But her attitude changed anytime Matilda came in the room… her absolute unwillingness to stay in a bar when she knew that Matilda was the one to choose the song… there were so many instances of Ellen’s behavior when it came to Matilda that I finally realized that something wasn’t right.
This wasn’t about her getting kicked out of vet school for some perceived attack on her by Matilda. This wasn’t something that Matilda did or said or how she acted.
“Maybe you should move on to the next jobsite while I handle this one,” I suggested, trying to control my temper.
I needed Ellen. Or, more accurately, I needed someone like Ellen that could do Ellen’s job as competently.
And so far, I hadn’t found that here.
Well, technically I hadn’t been looking for it. But I would be soon if her attitude was anything to go by.
She came to a halt and turned to me. “I’m being serious. She’s argumentative, slow, and does really weird things. Can you tell me why you like her? Because I honestly don’t see the appeal.”
Normally, I could really get behind someone being brutally honest. What I couldn’t get behind was her being so caustic toward someone that I liked—generally liked—and was a good person. Even if she did get riled up easily when I got around her.
Though, the more I was around the two of them, the more I realized that it wasn’t Matilda being mean to me, so much as being mean when Ellen was around, or had been around at one time.
I also knew that she knew that she’d been not only spotted, but caught staying at the jobsite. She’d also moved closer to hear what Ellen had to say. Which pissed me off to no end that she heard the disgusting words.
“I’m nice to her because she’s genuinely a good person,” I said, knowing it’d make her mad. “And I like her a lot. She’s…”
“You don’t have to lie,” Ellen snapped. “Just tell me the true reason you’re nice to her. You feel sorry for her? You think that being nice to her will get you into heaven after you’ve done something atrocious to go to prison for? I’m not dumb. Nobody can like a person like her in real life. It just doesn’t happen like that.”
That had my hands fisting. “I think, instead of you going to another jobsite, that you should just go home. I’m no longer in need of your services.”
She blinked, surprised by my words.
“What?” she asked. “You’re going to fire me over something that’s true?”
“Not a single fucking word out of your goddamn mouth was true, other than you having a problem with her,” I replied through clenched teeth. “I’m not sure why. What I can tell you is, everyone has their issues. You and me included. Everything she does or says isn’t any different than any other person in this world. I don’t like being touched. I hate when people come up behind me. I can’t stand the sound of loud noises. And I certainly don’t like when people talk out of their ass and they have no reason for it.”