Calix, I decided, as I eyed his tattoo-free forearms.
He watched the whole scene play out with cool detachment.
“Say something, you selfish prick!”
His tongue came out in a slow sweep, as though the louder she got, the less inclined he seemed to engage. But God, I wanted him to. I wondered if his voice was as hypnotic in real life as it had been on the radio, or maybe what had held me captive had been synthesized. They could do amazing things with technology.
Despite that, or perhaps because of it, I held my breath as his lips parted.
“I’m redeeming your card. From this moment onward, you do not know the name Goats and Vandals. If I see you again, I’m not responsible for what happens.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees as the bluster drained out of the woman all at once. Her arms coiledaround her thin frame as though trying to hold herself together, and she stared at his impassive face for a long moment. When nothing altered in his posture, she crumbled, then she turned and strode out the front door.
“Holy smokes, Tater-tots, please tell me that boy looks as good as he sounds.”
With a guilty startle, I rushed out acall you laterto Ma and shoved my cell into my purse as a pair of steel-blue eyes swung toward me. One perfectly shaped brow arched as he took his gaze on a lazy up and down, assessing whether I was of interest. On completion of his sweep, he smirked, full lips twisting into something not quite warm enough to be amusement.
Heat pooled low in my gut, and I prayed for the continued integrity of my panties. So I did the adult thing and flipped him a double bird.
He barked a laugh that made my clit pulse and flashed a full set of pearly whites, then disappeared back behind the red doors.
“I think he likes me,” I told the receptionist and received an eye roll for my trouble. Clearly, we weren’t destined to be best friends.
Her loss.
I clicked my tongue, feeling awkward as the silence grew stifling.
Click
Click
Click
Clock
Surveying the band posters around the room, I wondered if all of them were represented by the record label. It seemed like a lot, but who was I to judge? Despite what my resume said, I knew nothing about the music business except what I could find on Google during the car ride over here.
Clock
Clock
Click
The receptionist cleared her throat loudly, and I paused, mid-clock.
Oops.
Pursing my lips to keep from falling back into the tongue-clicking, I retrieved my cell from my purse and noticed the invoice Ma had sent was on the screen.
That’s a lot of zeros.
Who knew live-in nurses were so expensive? Shit, there was no other option. Ineededto get this job.
“Ms. King.”
I glanced over at the receptionist who was looking at me as though I had shit in her coffee cup.
“Mr. Whelan will see you now.”
