I begged for a paper sack from one of the line cooks, shoved my burger and fries inside, then ran out.
The address was across town.
I shouldn’t have bought that burger. Now I definitely don’t have money for the subway.
I checked the time and took off at a fast walk; I couldn’t afford to be late. Literally. But the lure of a big paycheck and potentially my big break spurred me on, unfortunately not fast enough.
“I’m going to be late. I should have just put an Uber ride on my credit card,” I rasped as I ineffectively jogged the last block to the address.
I dragged myself into the lobby and doubled over, panting.
“Can I help you?” the receptionist asked, sounding slightly disgusted while I wheezed and sweated in front of her. “Do you need an ambulance?”
“I’m here,” I gasped. “I’m here for an assistant job at suite 8300.”
“No, she is not,” a deep, angry voice said.
I peered up through the sweaty, tangled tendrils of my hair to see Beck looming over me.
“You can consider yourself fired, Tess.”
9
Tess
“Fired?” I said loudly. “Already?”
I regarded Beck, willing my chest to stop heaving. “You really do shoot your load quickly.”
His brother and COO of Quantum Cyber guffawed beside him.
“Shut up, Walker,” Beck snarled.
“You called your assistant here to babysit your girls?” Walker snickered. “Does Greg know?” Walker looked over to another gray-eyed, blond-haired man who was stalking over to them.
“Guess not!”
His girls?Beck had children—illegitimate ones? I longed to text Maeve and Holly and see what the tea was.
“She’s not my assistant,” Beck said stubbornly. “I fired her.”
“You better unfire her,” Greg said, “because you’re not going to have some random temp girl watch Annie and Enola. Since Tess was your assistant, she’s already completed a thorough background check.”
“I don’t need her; I’m going to hire a nanny,” Beck replied.
“And until you do, you are not leaving the girls with a potential axe murderer,” Greg said. He pointed to the elevators. “Upstairs.”
I followed the brothers, pulling my bag of burger breakfast out of my purse and eating a few fries while the Svensson brothers squabbled in the elevator cab.
I whistled when the elevator let us off on the eighty-third floor.
“This is way nicer than the Quantum Cyber office.”
“Of course it is.” Greg smiled at me.
Beck seemed even more annoyed.
I plopped down on one of the couches in the lobby while the guys went back into the office.
