Page 31 of The Gentleness of Rage

“That sounds awful,” I exclaimed, feeling sorry for the unknown woman.

“It’s been hard on all of us. Silvie’s special to Rage. She stuck by us through the war to get clean and everything. Silvie’s like a sister to most of us. It’s rough on Apache because he blames himself for getting her knocked up, which is what caused the issue. Silvie’s been in a wheelchair since her last kids were born. We’re hoping this will ease the pain and she’ll be able to walk again,” Ezra continued.

“That’s awful.”

“Yeah. Anyway, you get off. Pick up the stuff tomorrow, and I won’t touch shit. Do you have enough filing cabinets?”

“No idea. We’ll soon find out!” I replied, and Ezra laughed.

“Go on with you, Jaelynn. You’ve worked hard today,” he said and looked out of the dirty window as he heard bike pipes.

That was also on my to do list, cleaning and sprucing the office up when the paperwork was done. Ezra needed somewhere nice to bring clients.

Ezra’s office was set in a yard where it was all chained off with electric fencing signs. He had a lot of heavy equipment and two portacabins. Ezra and I shared an office with a small bathroom and kitchenette in ours. The second held models and pictures of his work. It was like a display case for customers to view. Honestly, it was a pretty good idea.

Despite the fact this was a working yard, it was neat and tidy, with several large sheds for handheld equipment. I’d discovered that this was Ezra’s own business and not a Rage-owned one.

“Looks like you’ve got company,” Ezra drawled as the door opened and Slate entered. “Jaelynn’s just finished. She’s all yours!”

“Cheers, bro,” Slate replied and offered me a grin. “Fancy a drive and food?”

“I’m not dressed for dinner,” I said, looking down at my jeans and tee. Slate had told me to dress casually and wear boots because accidents were always waiting to happen.

“You look perfect to me,” Slate complimented me.

“But I’ve got to go shopping, that’s why Ezra’s letting me leave early,” I replied.

“No, it’s not. I told you to scat,” Ezra interjected, looking like he was thoroughly enjoying something, but I’d no idea what.

Slate looked to the heavens and sent Ezra a warning look.

“No, I won’t take advantage of you!” I exclaimed, and Ezra opened his mouth.

“Say a word, and I will break your neck,” Slate growled out, and Ezra winked.

“I’m going shopping, and then I can meet you,” I said to Slate, confused.

Were these two telepathically speaking or something? They were confusing the hell out of me.

“I’ll come with you. I’m done for the day,” Slate replied and shot Ezra a warning stare. Ezra’s chuckles followed me as I waved bye and left.

“What do you need?” Slate asked.

“Office equipment. I’ve made a list, and Ezra gave me a one-thousand-dollar budget. That’s far too much, although files are expensive,” I muttered.

“I’ll take you to Silvie’s place. Damn woman goes apeshit in there,” Slate said. “Follow me.”

???

I couldn’t believe it when Slate pushed the cart around the officer supply store. I was in heaven, but he had to be bored. Slate kept throwing in stuff that I looked at. I was only picking up the bare minimum.

In the end, he turned to me. “Babe, get whatever cute shit you want. Ezra can afford it. And if he doesn’t like it, then he should do his own filing. Ezra wouldn’t have given you his card if he didn’t expend you to spend. We’ve all seen what the old ladies can buy in this store. I’m sure we keep the fuckin’ thing open,” Slate stated, and a member of staff laughed.

“We get Rage in here at least twice a week,” she said as she moved away.

I gave in to temptation and went nuts and ended up with bags of stuff. I had four large boxes of files for the cabinets and a machine that let me print labels. Slate rolled his eyes, but it was great. The final purchase was an expensive coffee maker. Ezra had a kettle and a jar of coffee. Not acceptable.

“The clients will thank you,” Slate said as I stocked up on tiny, long-life cartons of milk and sugar sachets.

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