But then Hiro’s voice filled the sudden quiet. “Call him stupid again and see what happens.”
My attention whipped up to him towering over me and the table, leather-covered arms crossed, headset parked over his ears with the mic right up against his twisted lips. He was intimidating to the max. And the look in his eyes? Lethal.
I scrambled for the headset, but he held out his arm, using a single hand on my head to hold me back.Rude.Desperate, I grabbed the cord and pulled it back out of the laptop so I could at least hear.
“Who is this?” the man asked, his voice no longer belligerent but cautious.
“The consequences of your actions.”
“Are you the manager?” he asked. “Finally. Listen, this employee of yours is not only incompetent at his job, but he seems to be deaf, stu?—”
“His hearing is just fine,” Hiro intoned, the even and low tenor of his voice ten times more menacing than a yell would ever be. “And the man you were just verbally insulting? He’s not my employee. He’s my life. You know what happens when assholes like you threaten my life?”
“U-uhhh,” the man stuttered.
“Death,” Hiro deadpanned, dropping his palms on the table on either side of my laptop to lean over the screen. “So, Mr. Frank Hammond of 811 Fairview Terrace over there in Evanston, how about I come over there and introduce myself personally?”
There was silence on the line, and then it disconnected.
Hiro straightened from the computer, pushing the headset down onto his shoulders. Why did it look like it wasn’t heavy at all when he wore it?
“This is your job?” he asked, jabbing a finger at the computer.
I nodded. “I mean, no, not everyone is like that.”
He pursed his lips. “How many?”
“W-what?” I asked.
“How many people are like that to you on a daily basis?”
“I don’t count.” I hedged.
“You’re quitting.” He decided.
Like it was his choice.“No, I’m not.”
“You’re going to be too busy for a job anyway.”
I blinked. “What?”
He nodded. “Between the doctor visits, eye appointments, and the move.”
“That stuff you just said entered my ears but not my brain,” I said, dumbfounded. Then, in a smaller voice, I asked, “Y-you want me to move?”
He sighed. “I bought us a new house.”
We all heard that, right? Because maybe I did have a hearing problem. “What?”
Peeling off the headphones, he dropped them on the table and reached for me. I went because, even confused, I still wanted his touch. Sitting in the chair I’d just fallen out of, he drew me in to straddle his lap. He smelled like leather and outside and maybe a little like exhaust.
“I thought you went to Kieran’s,” I said, sniffing him again.
“What did I tell you?” he asked softly, grasping my chin to lift my face.
I wrinkled my nose. “You told me you were at Kieran’s to see the doctor.” I was going to have to call Haz. He’d have an explanation.
“House rule nine: I won’t ever change my mind.”
