At times, Hunter felt invincible, and other times like now, when he’d fucked up his life once again, he felt like the biggest fucking loser alive. Pushing away those negative thoughts, because he knew that they wouldn’t do anything but hold him back, he grabbed a pair of gym shorts, socks, and his running shoes and got dressed.
Five minutes later, he was in the home gym that he’d set up last week, running on the treadmill and going numb as he pushed himself through his routine. He ran five miles on the treadmill, lifted weights for thirty minutes, and drank a protein shake he’d grabbed from the mini-fridge as he headed back to his room. After a hot shower, he changed his clothes, headed downstairs and frowned when he spotted the cute little thing that he was stuck with dragging a large black trash bag towards the front door.
Hunter noted that her hair was a mess and that her clothes were wrinkled and stained with God only knows what as she continued to drag that bag down the hallway through the surprisingly clean foyer. There was still damage to the walls, but he hadn’t really expected miracles. Actually, he hadn’t expected much at all. He’d figured that she’d throw a fit, bitch and whine, and say the hell with this job and split.
Okay, so if he was actually going to be honest with himself, he’d admit that he’d completely forgotten about her and his asinine orders for her to clean the house. Hunter stood on the stairs for another minute wondering if he should tell her that the cleaning crew that he’d hired before he’d decided to throw his farewell to freedom party would be here in less than two hours to clean the house from top to bottom and fix any damage the assholes that he’d invited into his house had caused last night.
As he watched her struggling to drag that overfilled trash bag to the door that had to weigh more than she did, he simply shrugged and headed towards his office, reminding himself that he really didn’t fucking care if she’d wasted her entire night cleaning up after him.
*-*-*-*
She could not afford a ten-thousand dollar fine…
She could not afford a ten-thousand dollar fine…
She could not afford a ten-thousand dollar fine, Kylie kept chanting in her head as she watched the cleaning crew that her new boss had apparently hired to clean after the party set to work to fix the damage to the walls as several of the staff took a mop to the floor that she’d already scrubbed while others polished the doors, stairs, and trim that she’d spent the entire night cleaning. She was exhausted, hungry, and filthy and it was all for nothing, she realized with a pathetic groan as she walked past the workers who apparently didn’t think much of her cleaning job and headed for the front door.
Feeling numb, Kylie opened the door, walked outside and kept going until she found herself sitting behind the steering wheel of her car, tempted to say the hell with it, drive away and take her chances with his lawyer, but she knew that she couldn’t go, thanks to that ten-thousand dollar fine that she’d been thinking about all night. That contract couldn’t be legal, could it? God, she hoped not, because she really wasn’t sure that she could do this. When he’d first told her to clean the disgusting mess that was his house, Kylie told herself that it was part of the job and something that she was just going to have to suck it up. For the money that they were paying her, she could handle a little grunt work and miss a night of sleep.
She’d mentally prepared herself for the job ahead, telling herself that she could handle anything that he threw at her. That was until Kylie realized that he’d been screwing with her. He’d given her a job to do that he’d already hired professionals to handle and he’d done it without blinking an eye.
The man was cold-hearted, she realized, as she started the car, put it in drive and found herself driving in the opposite direction of his house. She should go back, thank him for this wonderful opportunity before she explained as politely as humanly possible, of course, that she had an aversion to assholes and would really appreciate it if he released her from her contract without putting a huge dent in her savings account. But something told her that he would just find something pointless for her to do, like clean the floors with a toothbrush or iron his socks and underwear.
The sad part was that Kylie would do it because she didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t afford that fine, but more importantly, she didn’t have anywhere else to go right now. It would take her weeks to find a new job and, in the meantime, she’d either have to sleep in her car or spend what was left of her savings after she paid the fine on a cheap motel room and live off ramen noodles.
Why hadn’t she taken that job in Providence when they’d offered it to her?
Because she hated the cold, it was too expensive to live there, and of course, she refused to ever set foot in Rhode Island again, she reminded herself as she took a right at the end of the street. As she drove down the street towards the supermarket that she’d spotted on her way here yesterday, Kylie considered getting herself fired, but she couldn’t risk a black mark on her resume.
Sighing heavily, she tried to look on the bright side of things. At least there was one less day that she had to spend in that house. That was something at least, Kylie told herself as she pulled into the large parking lot of the busy grocery store. She’d survived the night, and with any luck, she’d survive the next 364 days, because there was no way that she was going to allow herself to quit, not after everything she’d done to get here.
In the meantime, she was just going to have to suck it up, try to make the best of things and make this work. She could do it. Hell, she’d been through a lot worse and she’d survived. She’d survived being married to a sociopath for two years, so what was one year working for an asshole?
At least this job promised to be interesting, Kylie told herself with a sigh and a nod, because everything was going to be fine. She’d work her butt off, keep her mouth shut, and in a year, she would move on. She wasn’t happy about it, but she reminded herself that things would work out for her one day. She just had to bide her time, work towards her goals, and stay focused.
Everything would be okay, Kylie told herself, using the same mantra that she’d been using all her life. It had gotten her through worse situations than this. Nothing could be as bad as what she’d survived. Feeling her heart begin to race and her palms getting sweaty just thinking about all the things that she’d worked so hard to forget, Kylie closed her eyes, slowed her breathing and reminded herself that she was free. She had a safe place to stay, a good job, and the knowledge that her life would never be the hell that it had once been.
Chapter 5
He was already bored out of his fucking mind, Hunter realized, as he sat at the large oak desk that Ryan had arranged for him and stared out the double glass doors that overlooked the large in-ground pool that had been the deciding factor for buying this house. Sighing, Hunter tossed his pen on the desk and leaned back in his chair so that he could shift his attention to the ceiling. He needed something to do besides staring at walls all day, he realized, wracking his brain as he tried to think of something to do that wouldn’t bore him to fucking tears.
There was a reason why he’d never bothered buying a house before now, because he couldn’t tolerate feeling boxed in. At least with a hotel he could pack his shit up and leave when it felt like the walls were closing in, but with a house…