Page 3 of His Rules

“If you’ll excuse me, I have another engagement.” I moved away from her, pushing through the other reporters who immediately started barking questions. I couldn’t care less if my behavior seemed rude. I wasn’t put on this earth to please anyone but myself.

The next few days would be extremely busy. Drake owed me one and I intended on making him pay for having to deal with this bullshit.

Besides, my partner would tease me relentlessly regarding the useless award.

The cheap plastic trophy would be tossed in the trash the moment it arrived.

Now I had work to do. Fuck the rest.

Kacey

Wanted: Financial Analyst to work with a grumpy CFO. Duties include taming the savage beast and enduring verbal contentiousness. Must be good with numbers.

The help wanted ad placed on the job notification board still cracked me up. The position sounded more like being a glorified assistant, but it had certainly caught my eye.

I’d been standing in front of the full-length mirror for almost fifteen minutes. Time wasted and that wasn’t like me. I leaned forward, checking my reflection to ensure I didn’t have on too much blush and that my eyes were lined flawlessly. I’d forgone an ultra-dark pencil, instead picking a subtle shade of green, which brought out the luminous look of my eyes. Every hair was perfectly in place in the exquisitely coiffed bun. Utter perfection.

Not.

But the look would certainly do.

I was finished with crying, throwing tantrums, and drinking myself silly. It was time to regroup and move on.

Out of the city. What was I talking about? Out of state. I couldn’t stand another day of catching Nathan and Cherry sucking face in the breakroom. A clean break was the only way I had a chance of healing.

I’d made myself two promises, the first being that I’d never look back. The second was that I’d swear off men for at least a year to establish a new position and to save money for my own home. I was sick of living in cramped spaces with dingy, filthy alleys as a ‘prime’ view. I was done with crime and drug deals right outside my door.

And I was totally finished with arrogant assholes who truly believed because they had money, they could treat everyone like a lower being.

Sighing, I opened my mouth, fingering the corners to make certain the twenty-four-hour stain was exactly where it was supposed to be. With my stylish white blouse and charcoal jacket, I looked both professional and conservative. That’s exactly what I was going for. I had to wow the woman interviewing me.

Backing away, I shifted my hips back and forth, grinning as I flicked my gaze to the rest of my outfit. Sweatpants and fuzzy slippers. Pink slippers to be exact. A gag gift from my mischievous best friend back home. She knew I loathed the color, yet here I was wearing them. Well, with this being a Zoom call interview, I could at least feel comfortable with half my body.

I checked the time before fluffing my hair. Five minutes. Five full minutes to worry over how well the interview would go. I wouldn’t say getting a job in my hometown would ultimately change my life, but it beat the high cost, high crime, and high entitlement New York offered.

Besides, I was going nowhere fast in a dead-end job with no chance for promotion since Barbie had stolen it. This was the jobI wanted, even though I’d already had a phone interview with one other.

St. Louis. Here I come.

It wasn’t like I had a boyfriend to keep me here. My dating life had been abysmal at best, men sensing I wasn’t the kind of girl who accepted bullshit. Then Nathan had come along. Being blinded wasn’t my best attribute.

Even if I had to wait tables and live with my father for a few months, I’d made the decision to leave and I was sticking to it. Before I sat down, I grabbed a cutesy little hanky scarf I’d purchased for myself, folding the rich silk just so before placing it in the breast pocket of my jacket. Who said men were the only ones who could pull off the look?

My phone chimed the alarm I’d set, a reminder to sit my butt down in the chair in front of my computer. I already had a bottle of water waiting for me in case I experienced a coughing fit, which is what I usually did when I was super nervous. There was a specific reason this interview had turned my butterflies into a stinging swarm of hornets.

The money.

At twice what I was making in New York and with the cost of living in St. Louis roughly half, it was like getting a quadruple raise. I grinned at the thought, easing into the chair and pressing my finger on the trackpad. The meeting had yet to start. At least I was ready and on time.

I plastered on a smile as I waited. After what had to be a half hour, I checked my watch. Less than five minutes had passed. But still no blip indicating the meeting was about to begin.

When another five true minutes had passed, one of my worst attributes began to weave its ugly way to the surface. I had no patience. None. I was the kind of woman to prepare days, even weeks ahead. I was painfully early to every event, often pissing off the host. I was extremely organized, never leaving a single piece of paper on my desk when I left for the day.

One of my favorite expressions was ‘failure to plan on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on mine.’ And I’d used it more than once. I glared at the screen as I drummed my fingers on the surface of my tiny desk that I’d crammed against the wall next to my closet. An onslaught of honking horns right outside my window further frustrated me.

After another two minutes, I cracked the water bottle, taking a gulping sip. As my luck would have it, Ms. Bennett opted for that very moment to appear on screen. I spit out the entire sip, narrowly avoiding splashing it all across my laptop screen.

She wasn’t young, but wasn’t old either, as it was impossible to tell from her pinched face. “Ms. Taylor?”

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