Page 93 of Locke

I looked up at him, swallowing another curse because what the fuck, man? His green wig looked ridiculous. “Yeah?”

“Yes,” he corrected icily.

I blinked hard. “Yes?”

“I’d like a word with you.”

“Okay.”

I got up.

Quickly running my fingers through my hair, I made sure it was tame. I crossed the small room and to his desk. By then, he’d shuffled his chair back so that I got to see the entire view of him from across the desk. I grabbed a nearby chair and situated it in front of his desk before sitting down. I was doing what I could not to look directly at him. It was just—fucking disturbing is what it was. I’d take the Batman costume any day of the week, hands down.

Clasping my hands together, I finally looked up, my gaze settling on his round blushing cheeks. He’d gone the full mile, and there we go—he began to manspread those legs, the outline of his junk on full display.

I smiled tightly. “How’s your morning, Dino?”

His red, painted on lips spread into a smile. “Good. I had to get up at 4 just to get ready.”

“Yeah, I bet. It’s…wow, it’s a lot to take in, Dino.”

“I watched some carnival docos the other day.” He let out a sharp breath. “If I wasn’t so up the asshole with this company, I’d have joined a circus.”

“Oh.”

“My father never agreed to it.”

“That’s awful.”

“He told me real men aren’t Carnies.”

“Yikes, Dino. Sorry to hear that.”

He shrugged, the sound of his rainbow striped costume stretching because it was clearly too tight on his giant gut. “He’s dead, and it is what it is. Some other life.”

“Uh-huh.” I looked away. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“Oh, yes,” he leaned forward, his clown face turning tense. “Listen, Kelly, you’ve been really great here to get along with, and we appreciate how hard you’ve been working. Theresa admires you—”

“She’s not in.”

“I told her I’d like a word with you. Gave her the day off.”

“Oh.” Confused, I frowned. “Gave her the day off just to talk to me?”

“Yes.”

“What about?”

“Well, I was starting to tell you, but you interrupted me.”

A spike of irritation went through me, but I kept my face kind. “Sorry.”

He cleared his throat now, seeming to search for words. “As I was saying before you rudely interrupted me, you’ve been a decent worker, and I know you’ve been gaining experience for your PCP, which had me thinking very recently, you know, that perhaps you’ll just move along once you get it, and well, I’m not entirely comfortable investing in an employee that will wind up ditching the company.”

I listened to him carefully, feeling my shoulders slump and my heart slow. I looked around, not meeting his eye anymore as he continued to give me a bullshit excuse for firing me.

“This is Locke,” I whispered now, more to myself than him. He had just removed my last source of income, which meant he was moving fast. Then again, he warned me of that last night: Sometime very soon.

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