Page 30 of Whips and Chains
I shook my head, letting him know I had it under control.
Because I did. Levi, Whip, and X didn’t approach me again, but the three of them tailed us the entire way.
Nyah kept shooting nervous glances at them, but the looks I threw back were more like murderous glares. We reached Mrs. Sinterro’s cottage-style house and knocked on the door, calling out to her, but when she didn’t answer, I let us in with the keys she had provided to Francine. The guys all followed us up the path, like they were the third, fourth, and fifth members of our cleaning crew.
I shut the door in their faces and locked it.
Nyah relaxed just a bit with the locks engaged, us on the inside of the house, the men on the other. “I know you said to ignore them, but who the hell are they?”
I moved to Mrs. Sinterro’s laundry closet and pulled out her Hoover and mop bucket. I didn’t even know how to answer that.Were they my friends? My boyfriends? My merry little band of psychopaths?
Okay, I definitely couldn’t call them that without terrifying Nyah further. She probably already thought they were my stalkers, since that was exactly what they were acting like. She would likely report this to Francine, which would be the nail in my coffin with her, I was sure.
I tried to distract her with cleaning instead. “They’re harmless, I promise. They’ll get bored and go away. In the meantime, we have cleaning to do. So the routine I was taught is kitchen and bathrooms first so the cleaning products can soak in if needed. Dust, vacuum, mop, and then we’re out the door. And we need to move fast because Francine doesn’t like if we take longer than two hours per job. An hour for smaller houses like this one.”
Nyah rolled up the sleeves of her work shirt. “Got it. I like a challenge. I can start with the bathroom if you like.”
I blinked, surprised she would offer to take a bathroom. Most wouldn’t. But then, I’d done exactly the same thing when I’d had my training day. I’d desperately wanted to make a good impression on Josie, the cleaner who had trained me. I’d really wanted her to report back to Francine that I was good at my job, and a team player, so I’d get a lot of shifts.
That clearly hadn’t worked out too well for me. Maybe I hadn’t made the good impression I’d been hoping for. I’d never gotten a chance to ask Josie since she’d quit a few days after I’d started. Had I talked too much? I’d tried to be friendly, but maybe she’d found that annoying? I sighed, hating that I was always so concerned with what other people thought of me, even months after it had taken place. I wished I could just not care, but that had never been something I could do.
I smiled at Nyah. “That would be great. I’ll start in the kitchen, and we’ll meet somewhere in the middle.”
She popped an earbud in and went off to the bathroom with her supplies, while I made my way into the kitchen. Mrs. Sinterro was a little old lady who liked to cook. She cleaned up after herself to the best of her ability, but there were always spaghetti sauce stains on the stove top and breadcrumbs all over the countertop. I moved a couple of dirty plates to the kitchen sink and got the hot water running.
It wasn’t part of my job to do her dishes, but I always did. And I didn’t tell Francine, because she would have charged her more.
Mrs. Sinterro’s kitchen overlooked her backyard, with overgrown grass growing up around old bits of junk that had been left out there to rust, and a broken wood picket fence that wouldn’t keep out bunnies, let alone anything else. The thing was hanging on for dear life, and a stiff breeze probably could have knocked it down.
I frowned at it, lost in thought of how I wished I could get it fixed for the sweet old lady who always left me cookies wrapped in plastic as a thank you for helping her keep up with her place. But with no money and even less handyman skills, all I could really do was what I was already doing.
It sucked, because I knew Mrs. Sinterro didn’t have any children to help her. She’d been single all her life, and now she was closing in toward the end of it, there was nobody to support her.
This would probably be me one day, I realized with a start. I’d always pictured Toby by my side in our old age, even if he ended up with someone. But now that was never going to happen. God, did Devin even know? Did Toby’s parents? Was it on me to tell them all?
I didn’t want to think about that. I didn’t think I could.
Something popped up on the other side of the window, and I stumbled back a step in shock.
X’s stupidly handsome face beamed at me, all white teeth and wide grin.
I put my hand to my heart, then groaned when I realized I was getting soap suds all over my shirt. “Oh my God, X! Go away!”
He cupped a hand around his ear, acting like he couldn’t hear me.
Though I doubted that was true. Mrs. Sinterro’s crappy old cottage was probably made of the cheapest, thinnest materials you could build a house from, and it was old and run-down enough that there were plenty of gaps and cracks for sound to travel through.
I opened my mouth to complain, but he held up a finger, telling me to wait. I frowned, but did, washing dishes while he pulled a notepad and a black Sharpie from behind his back and scribbled something on it, before turning it around to show me.
It read,I’m sorry.
I sighed.
He held his finger up again and then scribbled some more.
The second time, his note said:You’re awesome.
I just stared at him, because what was I supposed to say to that?
