“Sure,” Trevor readily agreed.
Zoe worried her bottom lip as she ran her fingers over Mr. Cuddle’s head. After a few minutes, she said, “A few months ago, I came across some inconsistencies in one of our audit programs. For the past few months, I’ve been following a money trail and yesterday I discovered that it led straight to one of the owners’ wives.”
When he didn’t say anything, she continued. “I told my supervisor, who told everyone else, so the owner actually heard the news secondhand before I was able to file my report this morning. He was angry to say the least, but I didn’t think that he was going to be mad enough to fire me.”
“Clearly, you were wrong,” Trevor mused.
“Clearly,” Zoe repeated dryly, again wondering why she was talking to him? Oh, that’s right, because she had absolutely no one else in the world to talk to and she was probably on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
“So, what are you going to do now?” he asked.
“I thought you were going to leave me alone after I told you.”
“I lied.”
She sighed. “I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do now.”
When he didn’t say anything for a long time, she’d figured that he’d finally left. Even though it had been nice to talk to someone, Zoe couldn’t help but feel relieved. She didn’t want to sit around thinking about how she was going to fix her screwed-up life. There was plenty of time to do that tomorrow. Right now, she wanted to pull on her favorite Red Sox tee-shirt, go to bed, and forget this mess, at least, for a little while.
“Look, there’s this job in the office at my uncle’s construction company,” Trevor suddenly announced, breaking the silence. “I can’t guarantee that you’ll get it, but they’re pretty desperate for help. The pay is pretty good and so are the benefits. If you’re interested, you could swing by in the morning and I could put in a good word for you.”
She couldn’t help but feel a little touched. “Why would you do that? You don’t even know me.”
“Well,” he said, yawning loudly, “you could use the work, my uncle needs the help, and you don’t piss me off as much as my other tenants do.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling slightly less touched.
“And as a thank you for hooking you up with a job, you’ll return the favor by ordering pizza from Black Jack’s at least once a week for me,” he said, sounding quite pleased with himself.
She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at that announcement even as her curiosity got the better of her. “How exactly did you get banned from a pizza restaurant?”
“Hey, don’t judge me! Those bastards had it out for me!”
Chapter 4
“Aw, fuck,” Trevor muttered when he opened the fridge to grab his lunch only to remember that he didn’t have one. He forgot to go to the store last night. “Damn it.”
Looked like he was hitting the coffee truck today, Trevor realized, sighing heavily. They never stocked it with enough food. He grabbed his tool belt and hardhat and headed for the door, already in a pissy mood at the prospect of starving. His only hope was that his cousins and uncles bagged their lunch today so that he’d have a chance at getting a decent lunch today. He hated competing with those greedy bastards for food, especially his uncle, who wasn’t above kicking everyone’s ass for a damn cupcake.
It was kind of pathetic, Trevor thought as his stomach rumbled, liking the idea of a dozen or so cupcakes for breakfast. Perhaps, he’d stop by Mary Lou’s on the way to work and pick some up.
He stepped out of his apartment, trying to be quiet and not wake up his little tenant. It was kind of funny how after last night, he was more conscious of all the noise he made. Before last night, he honestly hadn’t given it much thought. He quietly closed the front door behind him and scooped up her newspaper so that he could check out the picture highlights from last night’s game. He carried it to his truck, deciding that he’d be more considerate in small steps. Halfway to his truck, he paused and frowned as he watched some asshole reaching inside Zoe’s car.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Trevor demanded, moving his ass. The man noticeably startled as he stood up. He took one look at Trevor and dropped the armful of CDs he was stealing before he took off at a dead run.
“Don’t let me catch you around here again, asshole!” Trevor called after him, wishing that he had the time to go after the piece of shit.
He walked back to his truck and threw his shit inside. He slammed his truck door shut, wincing when he realized just how loud it was. He hoped that he didn’t wake her up since he had a pretty good idea that she’d stayed up most of the night pacing.
There was a lot more shit in her life besides losing her job going on and he had no interest in finding out about any of it. It was bad enough that he’d actually asked about her work drama, but that had only been because he’d felt bad about what he’d said. He didn’t want or need to find out about any of the other shit.
He walked over to her car and cringed as he picked up her CDs. What kind of sick bastard listened to Phil Collins? God, this woman needed more help than he thought, Trevor mused as he collected her CD cases and tossed them in her car. A dark frown crossed his features as he took in the soaked driver’s seat and the open window.
What in the hell was she thinking leaving the window down last night? Trevor wondered as he looked down at his watch. He didn’t have time for this, but he couldn’t just leave her car here knowing that bastard might come back.
With a resigned groan, Trevor walked back to the house and let himself in. He knocked on her door only to knock on it again a moment later when he didn’t hear anything. He was just about to run up to his bedroom to see if he could wake her up through the wall when her door opened.
“Zoe, I-Oh, God!” Trevor shouted, clutching his chest and stumbling back.
