Valerie
“Paul, okay, no offense, but I really have to get going on these designs. I’m working a Saturday, and I have a date tonight, so . . . ” Holding my forehead, I glared at my keyboard, and my supervisor stopped talking just long enough for me to sigh heavily. “I know how to use the software. It was a requirement of being hired.”
“Your last renditions weren’t up to par. I just don’t want you to have to do it again.” Lifting my head, I frowned sourly at my boss for a long second as several pairs of eyes watched us none-too-discreetly. He’d called everyone in on a Saturday for no real reason, and we weren’t paid overtime.This sucks. I have more important things to worry about.
“Why don’t you do my job, then, since you know exactly how to make it turn out the way the client wants.” Standing up from my chair, I grabbed my jean jacket off the back and my purse from under my desk. “I quit. I can’t stand you anymore. All you do is talk, and I’m tired of hearing you.”
“Valerie . . . ” Holding up my hand sharply, I downright glared at Paul, and alarm lengthened his features as I tucked my purse under my arm with a huff.
“No. I don’t need you to tell me I’m wrong all the time about simple things. If they’re so easy, you do it. Good luck. I know how to use Photoshop. I know how to layer images. Let’s see how good you do it since you always have to point out that you’re a Certified Adobe Technician, which, by the way, isn’t a real thing. I checked.” He went a little red in the face around his goatee, and I stepped away from my desk, exhaustion dragging my feet. “Bye.”
I was so beaten down by the past few days, and Paul called after me as I stomped out of the office space and into the stairwell. Breaking my phone had been a mistake, I had a burn on my leg from the coffee, and I didn’t want to be here, anyway. I hadn’t slept because all I could hear was that ugly Southern twang, and . . .
“Ugh!” My frustration echoed as I stomped down the concrete steps, and I rubbed the butts of my eyes into my eyes. That jerk had called us so late that I couldn’t even put on any makeup, and I felt as horrible as I must’ve looked after twenty minutes of being told how towronglydo something.
Leaning on the cold wall, I closed my eyes and shuffled to press my back against the blocks, but it did nothing to cool the frustration simmering in my blood. High above me, the stairwell rattled with the shuffling of feet, but I ignored it for the moment to breathe deep, stabilizing breaths.
I apparently couldn’t get laid, and now, I was probably unemployed. This week sucked.
“Valerie, wanna go eat your feelings? It’s on me.” Cracking open my eyes at my sister’s offer, I nodded as she and two other guys came waltzing down the stairs. Natasha smiled at me, but I couldn’t find the energy to return the gesture as she swung her arm over my shoulder. “It’s fine. Paul’s a jerk. It’s a shame because it wouldn’t be a bad job if he wasn’t there.”
“Please, the job would still suck regardless. This wasn’t what I signed up for when I moved here. I found an ad for this place on Craigslist, and they made it seem like this was an app development company that made websites on the side.” Echoing Natasha’s idea from the other day, Marshal shook his head when I glanced over at him. “I wonder what Paul’s gonna tell the owners when he has to explain why three-fourths of his workforce quit.”
“Who cares— let’s just get something to eat right now. Food makes me feel better.” For once, Natasha had a good idea, and we shuffled down the staircase to the ground floor side exit in relative silence. I’d been really angry when I broke my phone, and I hadn’t thought about the consequence, like the fact that I didn’t know Carlyle’s number and couldn’t reach him. We were supposed to go on a date tonight, but now, I had no idea what was going on with that.
“I’m so screwed.” Leaning my head on Natasha’s shoulder, I groaned loudly, and she rubbed my back absently. “What the Hell are we gonna do?”
“I really don’t care right at this moment, Val. I’m just hungry. I’ll feel better after I eat.” My sister nodded more to herself, and a low chuckle accompanied her words from behind us.
“You know, we could always start an app development company ourselves. We’ve got the skills, and now we got the time.” Fred scoffed at that, and I glanced across the road as we hit a crosswalk. “What? It’s a good idea. Apps make a lot of money.”
“You know damned well that we’ll be homeless before we see a single cent, Marshal. Besides, what kind of app would we develop, anyway?”
“Let’s make a horror decisional game.” Groans of foreboding all around, I felt kinda out of the loop for liking that idea, and Fred rolled his eyes out of the corner of my eye. “What! It’s a good idea! It has a direct market—”
“Halloween is in a month and a half, basically. There’s no way we’d get it out in time, and it be good, yo—” Fred’s chastising Marshal fell short when a car pulled up in front of the crosswalk, and confused silence thickened the air. The door popped open, and surprise nearly yanked my brows off my face when Carlyle stepped out. He looked a little haggard, but he still smiled warmly at me to dry my mouth.
“What a coincidence. I was just scouring the city for you, Valerie.” His deep voice wrapped around me wonderfully, and goosebumps pocked my skin as he scanned the people beside me. “You all work together?”
“We did. We just quit. Staged a mass walkout against stupidity and inflated ego.” Carlyle’s expression masked in quizzicality at Natasha’s reply, and my heart fluttered when he reached a strong arm to stroke his jaw. “What’s up with you?”
“As I said, I’ve had a bit of a stressful day myself, and you’re not replying to my texts.” Turning his attention to me, his eyes narrowed as he frowned, and flames licked my cheeks as my heart raced against my sternum. “Do you have a moment?”
“Um . . . yeah.” Taking Carlyle’s hand, I walked a little ways away from my sister and ex-coworkers, and his face drenched in expectation when I faced him. Opening my mouth, my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, and he squeezed my fingers as I searched for the right thing to say. “Okay . . . so, the basic explanation is my mom called me, and I got really mad and smashed my phone because she just makes me so pissed off. The only time she ever contacts me or Natasha is when she wants money, and this time she wanted alotof money.”
Well, that could be true or not— I hadn’t stayed on the phone long enough. I assumed that if the debt was enough to warrant calling ‘family,’ it had to be quite substantial. Carlyle didn’t bat an eyelash at my explanation, and embarrassment stained my cheeks at his steady gaze. The quiet became uncomfortable, and I raked my free hand through my hair to get rid of the tingles.
“Okay.” Confusion knit my brows, and Carlyle nodded in acceptance despite the gravity dragging down his features. “So, you and your sister are out of a job now, correct?”
“Yes.” Hanging my head in defeat, I rocked back on my heels to bluster a hot breath as memories of Paul’s stupid ass flooded my inner eye. “That jerk. If he thinks he can do my job better than me, then he should. I don’t like the job enough to put up with him anymore.”
“I don’t suppose you’d be open to aproposal?” Carlyle practically purred the word, and my abdomen twisted as the sound banished all the horribleness of the past two days. Biting my bottom lip, I pulled his hand to my hip, and desire tightened his jaw when I pressed up against him.
“Does it include a sexy maid outfit?”
“I’ll add it to your contract, not your sister’s.” For the first time in a couple days, I smiled, and a breathless giggle escaped me as Carlyle’s fingers crept around my lower back. “Would you mind if I joined you for lunch?”
“It depends on what you want to eat.” The appreciative glimmer in Carlyle’s darkening gaze ignited the fire that’d sparked at dinner the other night, and he rocked back on his heels to hum thoughtfully. “You can make it a light lunch, and you can come over for dinner tonight.”
“I’ll take you up on that offer, Valerie.” Just before grabbing my ass, he pulled back, and I frowned when he stepped away from me to clear his throat roughly. Desire shimmered in his eyes, but he somehow managed to beat it down to open his mouth. “First, I have a proposition for you and Natasha.”
