I clasped my hands behind my back. “Guess he remembers your name.”
“Can it, Becca,” he said flatly.
The woman grinned before she turned around. “Testing her for what?”
JoJo walked over to me and placed his hand on my lower back. “The two of us knew one another as young adults and I wasn’t sure she was capable enough to take on this job. She was a bit of a slacker in high school.”
I clicked my tongue as his hand burned against my clothing. “I didn’t do well in English.”
JoJo rattled off my sins as an adult. “Or Science. Or A.P. Psychology. I wanted to make sure she was capable of the workload despite being the young woman I used to know.”
Bonnie’s eyes volleyed between us. “I’m sure that’s what it is.”
JoJo’s voice grew hardened. “Is there anything else you’d like to question? Or do you not remember when I told you a week ago, to bring your grievances to me and leave Miss Rebecca out of it?”
She threw her hands into the air. “What the hell am I supposed to do if all of her work is always late? I’m missing the life of my grandchildren for this job, and it never used to be that way. Not until you hired the likes ofher.”
JoJo chuckled. “And if you aren’t careful, she’ll have your job.”
Bonnie rolled her shoulders back. “As your accountant, make sure her work gets done accurately and is in on time. You already owe thousands of dollars in late back taxes because she doesn’t know how to pick up the pace.”
“And if you recall, Miss Bonnie, I had to hire someone to help pick up the slack because you couldn’t deal with it.”
“Because you kept giving me work that is beneath me!”
JoJo stepped in front of me and clasped his hands behind his back. “You’d do well to remember who you’re talking to.”
Bonnie bucked up to him. “And you’d do well to remember that we can’t have every woman you hire folding in this office because of the slightest amount of pressure. Either she’s up for the job, or she isn’t. But, hiring weak-willed and weak-minded women only makes the rest of us women look just as bad.”
And just as I stepped out from behind him to defend myself, JoJo nodded his head. “Of course. You make very good points.”
I balked. “What!?”
JoJo nodded toward Bonnie. “Give us a moment.”
She looked over at me before she scoffed. “Useless.”
And the second she stormed out of my office, JoJo whipped around on me with eyes glowing with anger.
“Why in the world are you angry at me!?” I yelped.
JoJo gripped my arm and pushed me against my desk. “The hell were you thinking, attempting to sass my accountant like that?”
I ripped away from his grip. “Touch me again like that and I’ll report you the way I should’ve reported Tommy.”
He winked. “If you didn’t report him, you certainly won’t report me.”
I hated that I liked his attention. “I’m not weak and I’m sure as hell not stupid. So, if you’re honestly testing me and you still want me working here? I suggest you cut it out.”
“And if I don’t?”
I shrugged. “Then, I quit, and you don’t get your revenge on my sister.”
His face paled. “What?”
I shook my head. “Did you really think I wouldn’t figure it out?”
It took him a second to process what I had said, but when it registered, he gripped my arm again. He pulled me into a corner of my room where no one could see us before he jammed my back against the windows that lined the back wall of my office.
