Page 44 of Romeo

Even so, she had a goal, and no one was going to derail it.

Not even Roger Smith.

She was determined to get what she wanted, despite him and his asshole ways.

It didn’t takeher twelve minutes. It took her over an hour to get all the disgusting toilets cleaned inside and out. “Gross” didn’t even cover it. She now had the utmost respect for people who cleaned for a living. They certainly weren’t getting paid enough to scrub piss covered floors or toilet seats. Or to pick up questionable items off the floor.

Once again, she sat in her car in the now empty parking lot while staring at her closed place of employment and contemplating her life choices.

After she finished with her assigned task and walked out of one of the bathrooms, she almost smacked right into Roger. Apparently, he’d been inspecting her work.

He was the asshole-ist asshole in a world filled with assholes.

It had been on the tip of her bleeding tongue to tell him that.

She didn’t. She swallowed it back down, squeezed past him, grabbed her things, and walked out the front door with her head held high since it was never smart to reveal your weakness to a narcissist.

She waited for him to call her back or complain about something she’d done. To make her do it all over again. He was lucky he didn’t.

Actually,shewas lucky she could keep her thoughts contained. As difficult as that was.

She sat in her Toyota Highlander while he closed up and locked the front door. She sat in her car as he walked to the spot reserved for him near that front door. She sat in her Toyota as he slid into his Porsche.

And she remained sitting in her vehicle as he drove out of the lot without even a glance in her direction.

If looks could kill, his Porsche would’ve exploded with how hard she glared at it.

The clock on the dashboard said it was only a few minutes away from five-thirty. Her day was supposed to be done at four. Would she be paid for that extra hour and a half? Of course not. Be a few minutes late and get docked pay. Stay late and her time was a donation.

She wasn’t sure how much longer she would last at Smith’s. But it also wouldn’t look good on her resume if she job hopped.

Or couldn’t get a good reference.

Or was lied about.

And she was pretty damn sure if she told Roger to takethis job and shove it, then he’d make up all kinds of stories about her.

She grabbed her phone out of the center cup holder and pulled up her contact list. She scrolled until she found Zeke’s number.

Maybe some time with her friend would help get her out of her miserable mood.

After three rings, she expected it to go to voicemail.

It didn’t.

A female answered on the other end. “Yeah?”

Yeah?“I’m looking for Zeke.”

“Who’s this?”

Maddie pulled in an irritated breath. “A friend.”

“He’s busy with anotherfriendright now. You’ll have to wait your turn.”

She wasn’t stupid enough to ask what he was doing with that “friend.” She could guess. Especially since he was too busy to answer his own phone.

“Who’s this?” she asked the woman.

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