Page 60 of In The Trenches (Owens Protective Services)

“I’ll walk with you,” he answered, leaving no room for argument. I almost told him I didn’t need the assistance, but then I noticed he hadn’t stopped watching our surroundings. Was someone else really out there? Maybe he had seen something I hadn’t.

My nerves were getting the better of me, and the only way I knew to help that was to talk. “Can I buy you another cup of coffee?”

He laughed slightly. “I should be asking if I can buy you another shirt. I hope you’re not on your way somewhere important.”

“I was actually going down to the diner to see if I could get a job.”

I could feel the weight of his stare as we continued to walk. “The other night you said you had to go to work. They didn’t fire you, did they?”

“No, I just…left for personal reasons.”

“Well, I doubt the diner is hiring. Most businesses are shut down right now. We’re diverting power from generators, but it wouldn’t be enough to run the diner.”

I stopped with a sigh. What was the point in continuing to walk if they weren’t open? Maybe I should just consider picking up and moving out of town. After everything that had happened over the past few days, it didn’t seem like the city wanted me here.

“Look, if you need a job, I might be able to help.”

My eyes snapped to his face as I warred with my emotions. Relief, disbelief, but most of all…hope. “What kind of job?”

“It’s not much. We just lost an employee not too long ago. She was sort of our janitor.”

“That’s perfect,” I said in a rush. “That’s actually what I did at my last job.”

“Really,” he answered, that fact taking him by surprise. “Where was that, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Um…it was a research facility.”

“And you cleaned there?”

“Yes, at night.”

“Were you the only employee?”

I was almost going to not answer, but these were sort of standard questions. “No, there were a few other girls that worked there also.”

He nodded again, but looked almost uncomfortable. “Look, I really hate to ask this, but I do run a security firm. Can you tell me why you left your last job?”

Because my boss turned into a psycho? Because something bad went down there and I didn’t want to be involved? “The hours were really cut back with the power outage. I just didn’t see it working out long term, especially since nobody knows how long this will last.”

“Fair enough. Do you want to come back to the office now and look around?”

“Wait, we haven’t talked about hours or pay.”

“Well, hours are pretty much whatever works best for you. We have men in and out of training all day long. All the offices need to be cleaned, but since we’re a security company, there’s always someone in the building. Honestly, I would feel better if you worked days. I don’t like the thought of someone like you there all alone.”

“Someone like me?” I asked, cocking my head in question.

“Well…untrained. Everyone that works at my company is highly trained in hand to hand combat, as well as with weapons. And since you were taking a self defense class, I’m guessing you’re not trained in either.”

He had a point, and I hated that I was considered a liability, but that brought up a second point. “You don’t actually have people come after you at your business, do you?”

“No,” he laughed. “Nothing like that, but better safe than sorry.”

“I guess,” I said with a frown. “Um…I just have one other question. I sort of lost my ID and I know I need one to work, but I haven’t had time to get a new one. And now with the power outage—”

He waved me off. “Don’t worry about it right now. It’ll be a long time before anything starts working again, and then there’ll be a backlog of things that businesses need to catch up on. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. But then I’m going to do a deep dive on you.”

“A what?”

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