AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I whip my head to Brian. “A talk about what?”
“Nothing.” Mark’s reply is quick. Too quick. He retreats behind his desk.Coward.
I turn my attention to Brian, breaking down his resolve with my angriest angry eyes. “What talk?”
He shrugs, his guilty smile on full display. “Nothing,” he says, rushing me out of the room with both hands on my shoulders. “Mark and I need to chat, sis. See you later.”
Before I get too far with a protest, the door slams in my face.
“Argh.” I stomp my foot. I still need my check. Maybe if I’d taken Anita up on that lunch, I wouldn’t be consumed with hangry rage. Between my hunger and my period, there’s only one solution: full-blown annihilation. Crazed, I plow down the door, guns blazing.
“Why’d you hang up on me?” Brian asks Mark.
“What?” I glare down my enemies, Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Asshat, trying to make sense of why Mark’s dick and my vag would ever come up in their conversation.
What the hell?
When Anita asked me about Mark, did I say,“Me? With the dildo of the century? Not even if my vagina was on fire and his dick was the only way to put it out.”Wait, that came out wrong. And of course, I didn’t. At least, not with my outside voice.
Instead of being a half-decent person, Mark clasps his hands and cocks his head in that arrogant way he always does. “Remember our little talk about knocking, Jess?”
It’s as if his balls are begging to be kicked so hard, they lodge in that vacant space where his brain should be.
Fire licks at my good senses. I’m so ready to hand him that perfect ass of his on a platter, but the second I open my mouth, he adds, “I’d hate to see you lose your job for something as trivial as manners.”
Stunned, I stare.He’d really fire me over this?
And what about Brian? Instead of standing up for me, my idiot big brother is just standing there. Like a big, dumb oaf, he’s doing nothing but warning me with his eyes and a slow shake of his head.
Brian’s right. I know he’s right. He’s leaving in a few days and taking this worthless sack of shit with him.
I should stay calm because I don’t want this job, I need it. And not even for the money. Without it, I’m more or less alone. Rex is stationed in New Jersey. Close, but never close enough. And Cade is away in some god-forsaken part of the world that feels as unreachable as the moon.
Tears threaten fast. Too fast. As soon as he says, “Well, what do you know? Even choir girls have manners,” no-holds-barred atomic anger wins.
I see the stack of checks on the desk, miraculously in alphabetical order. Mine’s right on top. I snatch it up and stuff it in my pocket.
“Go to hell, Mark Donovan.” And once again, when faced with the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, my brain snaps in two, and I do the unthinkable. “I. Quit.”
Pulse racing, I rush out of the room, determined not to cry like a girl or beg for my job. How did today end up like this?
I should’ve spent today planning the sendoff of the century for the brother of the year. Instead, I’m stuck spending the better part of it finding a new job and hating the both of them.
Asshat, one.
Choir Girl, zero.
CHAPTER3
MARK
Afist of fucking titanium flies from out of nowhere and slams me square in the chest. “Ow.” My tone is purewhat the hell?
It’s true, I know better than to pick a fight with Jess. And I am technically the grown-up. Well, with her being eighteen and all, I guess she’s a grown-up too. But I swear to God, that woman gets under my skin like lava-coated chiggers. Or maybe it’s the guilt.
Brian and I know the price of his extended leave. It was a deal with the devil. Saying our next mission will be dangerous is like saying the Pope sometimes prays. There’s a good chance we’ll never see our families again, and the last thing I needed was to face off with Jess and her big, blue, soul-searching eyes. Hell, I can’t even bear to look my mother in the eye.
Guns blazing, Brian lays into me. “You fire my sister five days before our next deployment?”
