Page 47 of Positively Pricked
Curiosity got the best of me. "From who?"
His gaze shifted to the guard shack. "From someone who wasn't supposed to be here."
Obviously, he couldn't mean the guard. So who was he talking about? For some reason, I couldn’t seem to let it go. "Yeah, but who?"
I'd barely finished the question when a car – coming frominsidethe neighborhood – sped up to the guard shack and squealed to a stop, not in the parking area, but on the side of the street.
I recognized the car immediately. It was the same little sports car I'd seen passing me a few minutes earlier. Sure enough, the now-familiar brunette emerged from the car and slammed the car door shut behind her.
She stalked to the guard shack and went straight for the door. She twisted the doorknob and gave a hard tug.
Nothing happened.
"Hey!" she hollered through the door. "I know you're in there! Open up!" When nothing happened, she raised her arms and started pounding with both fists. "Hey, jackass!" she yelled. "You owe me! You fucking liar!"
I looked to Zane, wondering what he'd do. But the way it looked, he wasn't going to do anything, except eye the woman with barely concealed revulsion.
I whispered, "Shouldn't we tell her? You know, that her boyfriend's gone."
Slowly, his gaze shifted to me, and his eyebrows lifted just a fraction. "Boyfriend?"
Heat flooded my face. Okay, I didn'treallythink they were boyfriend-and-girlfriend, but I wasn't sure how else to put it.
I gave a loose shrug and mumbled, "Or whatever."
At this, Zane looked like he just might smile. But he didn't. Instead, he turned back to the guard shack and watched as the woman stalked to nearest window and pressed her face to the glass. She cupped her hands around her eyes, as if to better see inside. What she saw, I could only imagine.
I whispered, "Do you think he locked the door?"
Zane gave a tight shrug. "Probably."
I couldn't help but wonder why. As a responsible safety measure? Or as a final "screw you" to Zane for giving him the old heave-ho?
That reminded me of something. I asked, "And how could you fire him if he didn't even work for you?"
"Easy," Zane said. "Two words. 'You're fired.'"
"But won't someone get mad? I mean, what'll happen? You know, with the people hedoeswork for?"
"Nothing," Zane said. "They'll piss and moan, and I'll tell them to fuck off. End of story."
It suddenly struck me that this was pretty much what he'd done with my job. After all, I hadn't worked for Zane directly either, and he'd still gottenmefired, even if he hadn't bothered to do it personally.
The jerk.
At the guard shack, the woman was yelling again. "I know you're in there! And just so you know, that merlot sucked ass!"
In spite of everything, I wanted to snicker. In my book,allmerlot sucked ass.
At the guard shack, the woman stopped yelling and looked around. I knew the exact moment she spotted us, because her eyes widened to epic proportions, and she smiled so big, it was almost scary.
Next to me, Zane muttered, "Fuck."
I looked from Zane to the woman and back again. I felt a slow, evil smile spread across my face. I lifted my hand and hollered out, "Yoohoo! Over here!"
Under his breath, Zane said, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Why, introducing you, of course."
