“Is that Gray Jones?” I ask, and Pippa pauses, her eyes fluttering in annoyance as she glances behind her and quickly puts the mirror face down on the cabinet.
She blinks, licking her lips, and leans back in her chair. The little huff of laughter she makes is worse than any response she could have given.
Is this bitch laughing at me? Seriously?
“Gray Jones is one of our most discerning clients,” she says, her perfectly manicured nails coming to rest gently on her stomach. “You’re not his type, Jacqueline, trust me.”
And just like that, I can’t keep my mouth shut any longer.
I know I need this job, but nobody on this earth is telling me who I can or cannot fuck.
“Excuse me?” I snap, and I can tell from the triumphant look on her face that she was goading me deliberately. Well, I’m not going to disappoint her now. “You think he wouldn’t want me? Men aren’t that complicated.”
She scoffs. “He has a certain requirement when it comes to his escorts, and you,” she eyes me coldly, “are not it.”
“Oh my god, you’re full of yourself,” I say, rising from my chair, and catching her off guard. Her eyes widen with surprise as I point my finger at her.
“You sit here in your ivory tower and watch those perfect photocopies of women come in one by one and send them on their way. I guarantee in a year your clients will be bored with the obedient little know-it-alls and they’dkillfor someone like me.”
I stand at my full height. “I’m everyone’s type,Pippa,and Gray Jones would be lucky to fucking have me.”
I spin around, stalk out of the room, and close the door behind me as I saunter out past the other women.
That must have been the quickest interview in the company's history.
It’s only when I get down to the sidewalk and pull out my phone that I realize I just blew my only chance of helping my brother.
My shoulders drop, and I look up at the sky as heavy black clouds release their load on me and a torrential downpour begins.
By the time I get home, I’m soaked through, pissed off, and tired. I’m annoyed, not only with Pippa and her bitchy attitude, but also with myself.
Even with Scott’s life on the line, I couldn’t just suck it up and be polite. I had to assert myself and let her know I was just as good, if not better, than all the other women they hire.
As I walk down the shitty street where I live, I realize how ridiculous it was even to bother applying at a place like that.
The steps up to my house are littered with trash bags that my brothers haven’t bothered to take all the way down to the street for pickup. Something, probably rats, has been ripping one of them to shreds, and there are remnants of pizza all over the steps.
What millionaire would want someone who comes from a place like this in his bed?
I burst through the front door, glaring at Ben and Seb, who are playing video games on the couch.
“Did you deliberately leave shit all over the steps for me to slip on?” I shout, as they both sit bolt upright and turn to face me.
“Whoa, what are you doing home so early? I thought you had a meeting,” Seb asks. He’s wearing a stained light green hoodie with a hole under the arm, his hair mussed, eyes bloodshot. God knows what they’d been up to all night, but it’s never anything good.
“Why is there shit everywhere?” I ask, as Ben rises to his feet.
Ben and Seb are my younger brothers, both with dirty blond hair, brown eyes, and long, lanky limbs. I love them more than life, but they also drive me completely nuts. They’re total fuck ups and never do anything without being asked twice.
“You think I want to sound like mom every goddamn day?” I bark at them as they both scratch their heads, glancing at each other warily. “You think I want to be the bitch who’s on your asses the second I get in the house? I don’t want to live like this either, and I’m sick of cleaning up after both of you. Get your shit together, throw out your trash, and get a fucking job!”
I storm up the stairs, but my bag slips down my arm and onto the floor, ruining my dramatic exit as I stoop to throw everything back in.
I’m so sick of this life.
Flynn and I are by far the most capable and sensible of our siblings, but he’s never around these days. He was always the “dad” of the family, since our real one got locked up, and I quickly became the de facto mom.
I fucking hate it.
