“Yes. It’s a little thing where I perform chores I don’t want to do for a few hours, and people pay me for the pleasure.”
“I’m aware. I also have one of those. What happened to yours?”
It would be easy to tell the truth. Get Em in trouble and introduce her to the boy who’d scared me while she gleefully stuffed condoms in my locker. But I’ve got enough on my conscience without adding new items.
“The Kuzmanics downsized. No biggie.”
“Can they do that without notice?”
I smile at the insistent tone of his voice. “Careful. Nowyou’resounding like a lawyer.” He growls and mock bites my throat. “I’m on a casual contract, so if they don’t need help any longer…” I trail off into a shrug.
“How much?”
I arch an eyebrow. “I’m not letting you pay my rent.”
“So, move in with me.”
“That’s still you paying my rent.”
“Nah, my dad’s footing the bill for all of this, whether or not he approves.” He links our fingers, kissing each knuckle on my right hand before venturing to the left. “Can’t you just get another job?”
“Not really. It took me ages to find this one. I don’t have any skills, which basically knocks me down to minimum wage, but I also have restricted hours and need to keep half my Saturdays free, which shuts me out of most retail offers.”
I fall silent when I remember that Saturdays are my own for the foreseeable future. Zach must read my face, because he squeezes my hands and drops to steal another kiss.
“You could turn that fans app into the real deal, easily enough,” he suggests. “I bet you could turn it into a profitable site without too much effort.”
“When you hire those lawyers, definitely tell them that suggestion and see how well it flies.”
“What? It’s legal.”
“So’s getting drunk at six in the morning and staying like that all day. If I did that, they wouldn’t let me near my sister, either.”
“What moral authority set up these ridiculous rules?”
“The ones who’ve been exposed to what bad influences can do to children for far too long.”
“Pfft. You turned out okay.”
“I’m unemployed, about to be homeless, and wagging school to spend the day in bed with my boyfriend.”
“See? Couldn’t ask for better if I tried.”
Zach collapses next to me, finally releasing my hands only to lift my tee over my head and cup my left breast in one hand, using the other to prop up his head so he can watch my reaction.
I could best describe it as enthusiastic.
“If you need a legitimate job…”
“Yes?”
“I could put in a good word with my boss.”
Zach hasn’t told me about his work, but I found out enough while researching Robbie to know that’s a non-starter.
“Working for the mafia isn’t any better than getting into porn.”
He smiles, then bites his lips to hide it. “I don’t see the downsides to either of those, but you know the mafia is like an Italian thing, right?”
