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I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I don’t know if Wade and Harley are single, but you wouldn’t like them. Especially not Wade. He’s a mega asshole.”
“Ooh, I like a grumpy alpha-hole. Maybe I should apply for a job there.”
“You should! I’d love to work with you. I’m sure Buck would say yes if I told him I wanted a permanent assistant.”
“That would be nice, but I don’t want to work for Buck. I want to work for Grumpy Wade.”
“You’re a glutton for punishment.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
A presence looms at the end of the hallway where I’m pacing, and I stop short, my eyes going wide at the brooding face of Wade, staring at me.
“So I’m an asshole, huh?”
Swallowing hard, I make an excuse to say goodbye to Presley and hang up.
“What can I help you with, Wade?”
His brother stands there, arms folded, with thunder in his eyes.
“I was just coming to tell you that the test starts now, and you have to have something to show us by the end of the day. You can do the kitchen or the parlor. Your choice.”
It takes me a minute to parse what he’s saying. “Test?”
He scoffs. “There’s a reason you haven’t signed a contract yet. This is probationary.”
“Probationary? That’s news to me.” Now I’m just repeating things like I’m too clueless to live. Which is exactly how I feel right now.
“Sorry that your boyfriend…I mean, your supervisor didn’t tell you. This week is probationary. If you do a good job in the kitchen or the parlor, we’ll keep you on for the rest of the job. Provided the Wood brothers are unanimously agreed that you did well.”
I squint at him, severely confused at more than one Wood brother. One has taken it upon himself to move all my shit. The second one is giving me orders.
He is also a co-owner, so…I guess I have to do what he says?
“You’re saying I have to finish a room by the end of the day? But I’ve only just finished my shopping list. I don’t have my own warehouse to pull from.”
Wade looks like he’s won some sort of competition and feels good about putting me in my place. “You could have started earlier. In fact, I came to your office around 1 to brief you on the test, but you weren’t here.”
We both know why, and that fact makes my cheeks heat.
The truth is Wade has won already. I’m going to fail, and he knows it.
On the other hand, I’ve faked it this far. Might as well continue pretending and go out with a bang.
“Both the kitchen and the parlor will be ready by EOB,” I say, using the only corporate abbreviation I know, jutting out my chin at him.
He chortles and swaggers away, calling out, “Good luck. You’re gonna need it.”
With a knot in my stomach, I charge back to my office to make phone calls. Fortunately, I know most of the junkers in town on a first-name basis.
But first, I text Buck. Remembering how he said he would be busy with contractors today, I don’t want to bug him with a phone call, though this is pretty urgent.
Me: Did you send movers to my house to get my stuff?
Buck answers immediately: Yep.
Me: Buck!
