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“Wow.” He’s sipping on his third glass of wine by the time I’m finished talking.
“Yeah.”
“Wow.” His beautiful face crinkles with a frown as he stares at somewhere past my shoulder.
“Yeah. I told you. You don’t want me watching your kid.”
“So you need a job that pays good money, or you need a way out of your lease.”
My stomach free falls. “There’s no way out of the contract. I paid first and last month’s rent when I signed the lease. The rest of my savings went to fix the car. I’ve got one month of the apartment paid for, but my problem now is the other eleven months I signed for.”
“But you won’t need the apartment at all if you’re going to live here for six weeks. I could try to help you break the lease. I doubt I’d get your first and last months’ rent back for you, but you at least won’t be on the hook for the entire year. You could spend the next six weeks here, finding something smaller, more reasonable, that you don’t have to meet strangers from the internet to help you pay for.”
I mean, he’s kind of making sense. But my pride doesn’t want me to back down. I wanted that fancy apartment, I saved for the fancy apartment. I was responsible enough for the fancy apartment. I don’t want to lose it just because my car is a drama queen, and my old boss is a vindictive asshole.
“Take the six weeks. Work for me. Regroup. I’ll pay for your food while you’re here, and since you’re staying here you won’t need to pay for rent. You can take all the money you earn and put it into savings, and you can spend those six weeks trying to find something for you to do that doesn’t involve sitting for my kid.” He shrugs. “Sounds like a win-win to me.”
I can’t find the downside. Other than being in a confined space with Thor and not being able to strip him naked and ride him like a bucking bronco.
“You don’t work at the club every night. Why would I stay here when you’re going to be here anyway?”
“I work during the day too. Some days it’s just two hours, some days it’s four or five. But I think the more hands we have around here the better. Like I said, I’ll need help getting him to and from school, putting him to bed, meal times.”
He studies my face for a long moment. “It’s just six weeks, Adi. I don’t expect you to be my live-in maid. I’m pretty good about keeping my shit clean and tidy. If it doesn’t work, then you can find somewhere cheaper to live that won’t make you look like you’re going to puke every time the conversation comes up.”
He’s not wrong. I do feel nauseous every time I think about the fact I have to get so much money together.
“How would you break the contract?”
He taps the side of his nose in a move that draws my attention to his kissable lips. “I know people.”
If he could get me out of the contract, and in a position to put my dream home on the backburner again until I can figure my shit out without me having to serve time in prison, I’m here for it.
The person who texted me earlier to meet up about moving in together has gotten a little weird.
And by weird I mean he sent me a dick pic, and I had to block him.
I’m backed into a corner. Maybe six weeks will be enough time for me to find something, and if not, it’ll be a six week cushion where I’m not freaking the hell out about how I’m going to pay for an apartment I had no business signing.
I still can’t think of a downside. I’ll be able to tell my parents I got a job, I got out of my lease agreement, and I don’t need anything from them. That in itself is almost a bigger win than not being on the hook for thousands of dollars.
And I’ll have a roof over my head, a few bucks in my pocket, and food in my tummy.
His lopsided smile tells me he knows he has me. “Strictly professional.”
I try to mask my disappointment, but I’m not sure I’m all that successful. I’d love to play with him again, but I get it. He has a child now, someone who depends on him, and his entire home life has been turned on its head. He needs things to remain purely business, and maybe he wants that as well.
Either way, I need the job, the money, and the place to crash, so I extend my hand to him and nod. “Strictly professional.”
CHAPTER10
Thor
Addison finally said yes.I’m not one hundred percent sure what swung it for me, but I don’t think offering her an extortionate amount of money wasthething that sealed the deal. And it sure as shit wasn’t my Colgate smile.
It happened when she was applying for the part time position advertised in the window at Brew’d Awakening. I told her she didn’t need an additional job, that I’d pay her more than what was fair for a short term position but she seemed determined. I guess when you’re on the clock for a six-week position you want to start lining interviews up to pick up the torch.
That said, I also neglected to tell her that Mom won’t be able towalkfor four to six weeks. Depending on how her recovery goes, it could takemonthsfor her to be fully healed. Six weeks is not only a conservative estimate, it’s hopeful. At best. Uncertainty, anxiety, fear, you name an emotion, it’s mixing together in my body like some melting pot of feels.
