Page 9 of Black Site

"This afternoon," he's reluctant to tell her.

"Wonderful, then we can go do something fun." She doesn't let his frown halt her enthusiasm.

He growls in answer, "If she's cleared." It's like watching a tennis match. With each lob they take at one another my head goes back and forth to follow the action.

"Of which I have no doubt she will be since you've taken such good care of her these past three days."

"Three days?" I must have heard her wrong. She couldn't have said three days. I try to sit up but once again Jim's hand is on my chest, heavy and ever-present, holding me down.

"Leave." It's a command, one that even Evie has to follow.

She leans close to whisper right before she leaves. "I'll be back soon." She gives my hand a soft squeeze before she rises.

As soon as the door shuts he takes my chin in his hand to steer my attention back to him and his green eyes hidden behind his glasses. Fuck this; I can't afford to be down for three days. I have too many responsibilities to just lie around. My hand wraps around his wrist but it doesn't persuade him to move his hand off of me.

"I have to get up. I have to call the restaurant and the store to tell them what's happened. I can't just not call and not show up for three days."

"Libby," the use of my name has me halting my efforts. "Even if the doctor says you can get up and maybe walk around a little bit you won't be able to go as hard as you did before. There is no way you can work in the diner for a full shift."

"That may be alright for you to say but I have to keep working and being sick or hurt isn't going to help pay my bills so I don't really care what the doctor says I am ‘cleared' for I have to go to work today."

I finally struggle up and clasp the sheet around me. He sits on the side of the bed and gives me that look that makes me want to smack him. It's the look that tells me he's going to try to tell me something to do that I'm not going to like.

"Libby, the store didn't save your position. When we got in contact with them they said that with the season dying down and all of their workers wanting as many hours as they can get they couldn't work around you taking time off and it would be better to just agree that you would take the time off and try to get rehired again in the spring."

The rushing sound in my ears is making it hard to focus. I'm going to be sick. If I don't have that job it's going to be twice as hard to make ends meet and still pay for college for Lexi. I don't want her to have to take a year off; she might not go back if she does.

"Okay, but I still have to go to the diner to let them know I'll be there for..."

"Libby," he ducks his head so that he can look at me eye to eye, "the diner knows what happened as well. They can't wait for you to heal up enough to actually go back to work any more than the gift shop. It's going to take several more days before you have enough strength to stand for long periods of time and even longer before you can do so without hurting."

"Screw hurting, I'll take a hand full of Tylenol and be fine." I'm down two jobs already. No way the inn is going to be presentable enough to work in for a few months so I can't look for help there. All I have is the diner until I find something else to take the two other spots. "I can go in today."

"One, there is no way in hell you are going anywhere today or the next. Two, I am not going to allow you to stand up and fuck around and hurt yourself more than you already have."

He's not going to allow me. That's laughable. "Look, I'm sure you are the type of man who is used to everyone just doing whatever you tell them to do but you have no control over me so you can't tell me what to do or when to do it. I'm not one of your men."

"Actually," his eyes run over me and I have a sinking suspicion that I am not going to like what he is about to say to me. "You are one of my...," he runs his eyes down to where I am clutching the sheet to my breasts, "people now."

"What?"

"I want to hire you."

"No." Fuck him! I came to him trying to tell him what was going on and he not only shut me down, he straight-up thought I was the enemy. "I won't work with someone I don't trust. Surely you of all people can respect that."

His eyebrows go up in a disbelieving look like he doesn't understand how anyone can call his character into question. "You...why the hell do you not trust me?"

His eyes have gone that storm-tossed sea color again. "Because I don't. Look at me," I hold my palm up and wave it at him, "I'm cut in more places than I can count, I almost lost my life because of you, and..."

He puts his finger on my lips to halt my rant, "I'll pay for your sister's college tuition. The whole thing."

Well, that certainly takes the wind out of my rant sails. Damn it. Lexi wants to be a psychologist; she is going to be in school for a long ass time, and yeah she got half of her first year done already in her last two years of high school but I'm still looking at seven or eight more years of college fees and book budgets. What he's offering me is a wonderful opportunity. But nothing comes for free so what does he want out of it? Is he going to make me do something awful like sleep around to extort information?

"I'm not saying yes, but what would I have to do if I did agree to work for you?"

I have to be cautious because it's not just me I have to think about. I don't want to sleep around but...

"Answering phones, in whatever language the person on the phone speaks in when they call, filing stuff, light desk work, translating when or if I go to other countries and need that help. Sound like anything you would be interested in?"

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