Page 157 of Positively Pricked
"Anyway," Charlotte continued, "you'll never guess what she told me."
With more than a little trepidation, I said, "What?"
After a long, dramatic pause, Charlotte said, "You weren't the only one who was fired."
My stomach sank. "So Naomi lost her job, too?"
Like an idiot, I'd assumed that Zane would've been satisfied with only gettingmefired. Turns out, I'd been giving him far more credit than he deserved.
Crap.
I was almost afraid to ask, "Was anyone else fired?"
"Nope," Charlotte said, sounding annoyingly cheerful. "Just the two of you."
I glanced toward the door to my hotel room. Was I seriously going to hang out with that guy? I wanted to. But Ialsowanted ice cream for dinner every night.
Absently, I mumbled, "Well, that's good. I guess."
Charlotte laughed. "Youguess?"
I sighed. "Well, knowing Zane, it's a wonder he didn't have everyone fired, huh?"
Because he was just that awful.
What the hell was I doing?
"See, that's the thing," Charlotte said. "It wasn't him at all."
I did a mental double-take. "Wait, what do you mean?"
"Imeanhe wasn't the one who complained."
"Then who did?"
"Well, according to Naomi, it was some guy named Robert Hunt."
I sucked in a breath. "You mean Bob?"
"So you know him?"
"Not really. But I know who he is…except, from what I saw, he seemed like a pretty nice guy."
Charlotte gave a snort of derision. "He wasn'tthatnice. Get this. He stiffed them on the catering bill."
I winced. "He did?"
I couldn’t help but recall listening from inside the van as Bob complained about the cost of the party. At the time, I'd been worried he might not pay. But soon, I'd gotten so distracted by my own troubles that it completely slipped my mind.
In hindsight, it made me feel just a little ashamed.
On the phone, Charlotte was saying, "And it gets worse. Wanna guess who he blamed, for not paying, I mean?"
Knowing what I overheard, I actually had a pretty good guess. I said, "Zane?"
"No," she said. "You."
"Me? Why me?"
