Page 41 of F*ck You

14

Lee

The next few days passed in a blur. I managed to fix the screen door on my own, which I was insanely proud of. I didn’t want to bother the guys, as they were picking up some extra lessons and tours since the area was being overran with damn tourists, and I didn’t want to wait until they eventually did have time. They were exhausted in the evenings, and the last thing I wanted to do was add even more of my problems to that, because everyone knew I had problems galore going on over here already.

Once the door was fixed and my fingers were bandaged up from my many attempts to get it right, I sat back and looked at my job well done. That fucker at the store probably didn’t even own a toolbox, unless it was for decoration to make his cock look bigger. I doubted it even worked. I should tell him about my accomplishment if I ever saw him again.

I’d told everyone in my phone to leave me alone, and I wasn’t going to tell them where I was. Luckily, I didn’t have enough family to even care, and the few who did care understood I needed some time to myself and would come around when I was ready. They weren’t exactly in my life on a normal basis before, so this wasn’t anything relatively new to them.

Todd continued to blow up my phone, and I texted him to fuck off before blocking his number. I was still waiting for him to shut off the cell, but for some reason he hadn’t. Maybe next time I went into town, I would look into getting one.

As if in response, my phone buzzed, interrupting my admiration of my hard work. Without giving it a chance to buzz again, I groaned and threw it at the wall where it shattered before falling to the floor in pieces.

“Fucking hell.” Guess I was going to get a new phone sooner than I thought. I didn’t use it much anyway, if anything I left it on vibrate and rarely actually carried it around with me. Things should be a lot more peaceful now.

Changing into some new work clothes I’d bought since I seemed to be working nearly every day, I put my long hair in a ponytail and walked the distance to the Rhodes’ boat. Mr. Rhodes was there to greet me, and when I saw Giana standing there talking to him, my blood began to boil. Why couldn’t this bitch just stay out of my way? She was fucking everywhere.

“What do you want?” I greeted her, as I stepped onto the boat, completely forgetting my boss was right there next to her. He cleared his throat and I flinched. “Sorry, let me rephrase that.” I squared my shoulders as I faced her full-on. “What the fuck do you want?”

“Natalee—”

“No, sir, it’s alright. It’s how we greet each other because we’re such good friends like that.” The smile on her face was large and showed a full row of teeth that I was tempted to knock out. I seriously considered it, but I decided against it because I would probably lose my job if I did, and she wasn’t worth it.

Instead, I smiled innocently and nodded in agreement, even going so far as to wrap an arm around her shoulders in fake solidarity. “That’s us, the best of buds.”

I fought back the vomit that threatened to erupt and kept my smile firmly in place until Mr. Rhodes nodded and continued on as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

“Alright, so anyway, Natalee, I’m going to need you to work this weekend, there’s going to be a boat party that I will need some extra hands for.”

I nodded. “You can count on me. I’ll be there.”

“Great. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go tend to another location. I’ll be back later on to check up. Giana, thanks for stopping by.” Checking the time on his watch, he cringed and rushed off with a quick wave.

As soon as he was out of sight, I squeezed my arm around her so that my forearm was in front of her throat. I leaned into her as I growled, “So, bestie, how’s it going?”

She scoffed and threw my arm off of her, smoothing her little pink sundress with such ferocity, it was as though I’d messed up her entire wardrobe with permanent wrinkles. “Please. I have somewhere else to be.”

With a flip of her hair, she sauntered off the boat. “Byeeeeee,” I called after her, before turning around and getting to work, trying to forget about the odd encounter.

I knew I was never great at making friends, but I really didn’t know what I did to offend her so much. I knew she was after one or both of the guys, but they seemed to have no interest in her, so there didn’t seem to be a point in worrying. I only hoped it stayed that way.

Grabbing some rags and a bucket of soapy water, I began cleaning everything I could and then mopped down the deck. The sun was blazing today, and I was probably sweating enough to be able to clean the deck with that alone. I bet the beaches would be even more crowded. It was what I loved about having a condo on the beach—tourists couldn’t set up their chairs and umbrellas in front of them and had to stay behind their line. The only way anyone else could be there was if that was where a surfing lesson or something was taking place.

Cleaning up and placing the supplies back where I found them, I locked up the boat with my new key and headed out. It felt like the perfect day to go for a swim.

I smiled and nodded at people I recognized as I passed by. It was strange being this damn cheerful, but I was in a surprisingly good mood. I didn’t know if anything could bring me down. But just in case, I didn’t want anything to try to.

Apparently, fate heard my thoughts and decided to throw in a sick twist for fun. My smile faltered when I reached the beach. The blond bimbo was hanging around Larsen, her pink sundress blowing in the gentle ocean breeze. She was all smiles, but he looked rather uncomfortable, and I noticed the way he tilted his body just barely out of reach anytime she tried to touch him.

This bitch was relentless.

Quickening my pace, I strolled up to them all casual like and looped an arm through Larsen’s, smiling sweetly at Giana and pretending I only just then realized she was there.

“Oh, hey, G. I’m seeing you everywhere lately. Pretty good day for a swim, huh?” I flashed her a big toothy smile to make up for the large frown now appearing on her lips.

She tucked some hair behind her ear as she tried to come up with some sort of response. “Yeah, I was just talking to Lars here. We were having a nice conversation.”

Larsen kissed the top of my head, his full attention on me. “Hey, Starfish, how was your day at work?”

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