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But someone must have been looking down on me because Tommy was nowhere to be found.
“Annie!” I jumped at the sound of Ezra’s voice booming across the empty office. “Can you come in here for a second.”
I was in a daze as I walked into his office. My mind hadn’t quite caught up to the fact that I had just been fired, which was actually not that bad considering that I’d committed a crime, and I could have been arrested for it.
“How was your Sunday?” he asked, his voice friendly.
For a moment, I wondered if he was screwing with me. Had this been a plot to destroy me. Why was he standing before me in a dark gray suit looking like he just stepped out of a GQ magazine.
Saturday, we’d spent several hours together, chatting and laughing. It had been oddly nice, and I’d let my guard down. Now, I wondered if he took advantage of it. He’d promised that he would take care of my background issue, but now, I was fired.
“Annie?” Ezra asked. His brow was knitted in concern as he walked towards me. “You’re pale. Are you okay?”
His concern sounded genuine, but I knew men could be great actors.
I blinked away the tears that formed. “I’ve been fired,” I said, my voice sounding hollow in my ears. “I need to gather my things and leave.”
“What? No one told me you’d been fired.”
I watched him carefully. I felt as though I were operating outside of my body, and I couldn’t figure out if he was lying to me or not.
“I guess they wouldn’t,” he said, after a pause. “Technically, I hadn’t put in the paperwork to bring you onto my team.”
I crossed my hands over my chest. I felt as though there was a chill in the air, and I was trying my best to bring some warmth back into my limbs. “Why didn’t you put in the transfer?” I asked. “You told me that you would handle this.”
My tone was accusatory, which was unfair. Ezra didn’t owe me anything. Sure, we’d shared a few things with one another, but that was it. He didn’t know me, and I didn’t know him. We were basically strangers.
“Annie, I’m so sorry.”
I wrinkled my nose. I didn’t want his pity. It was almost worse than getting fired. Almost. Getting fired was going to lead to a lot of different problems for me. Ones that I couldn’t currently consider.
“It’s fine,” I said. “I need to gather my things. I don’t want HR to send security after me.”
“Where will you go?” he asked.
I shrugged. I didn’t have a plan. I also didn’t have any money. I was living paycheck to paycheck, barely scraping by as it were. Losing the job would likely make me lose my position in the temp agency. I had no idea who else would hire me. And while I knew Julia cared for me, she didn’t have much more than I could.
“I should get going,” I said, turning on my heel. I had every intention of leaving and never returning.
“Wait!” Ezra called out.
Sighing, I stopped. “I really have to go.” I was starting to get worried that security would come after me.
“I may know a way to help you.”
“I don’t need your help.” I wasn’t entirely sure what kind of man Ezra was. The tabloids wrote a great deal about his sex life, and his mother’s family sounded like greedy assholes. But he’d been kind to me in the three weeks that we’d worked together.
Ezra shook his head. “You do.”
I didn’t like the condescending tone of his voice. “What makes you think that I need your help?” It was a challenge, and after I said it, I wished I could take it back. I didn’t need my failings to be laid bare in front of me.
“You’re barely making it.”
I opened my mouth to argue with him, but snapped it shut as he leveled a stern look at me. “Don’t lie to me. There’s no point in it.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I told him. “I’ve been fired. The time for helping me has passed.”
Ezra moved so that were on the same side of the desk. “I have a proposition for you. One that would help both of us.”
