Not that it seems he has anyone to be faithful to, but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he did.
Shaking off the thoughts, I remind myself that I don’t care about Cash. He’s my employer and that’s it. End of story.
“I didn’t want to interrupt you and Taryn,” I explain, hating the waspish bite to my tone. I soften it a bit with, “Marco showed me everything I needed to do anyway. No big deal.”
“Marco, huh?”
Is it my imagination or is there some venom in his voice now?
“Yeah. He’s great.”
He humphs and then pauses for a second before continuing. “Taryn had some concerns she needed to address with me before tonight, which is why I’m calling you.”
I’m relieved. Instantly. And I hate that I am. It irritates me. But more than that, now I’m worried. This call seems ominous.
“Is there a problem?”
“Look, I’m not the type to beat around the bush or to get involved in petty rivalries, so I’m just gonna be straight with you. Taryn isn’t particularly interested in training you. She doesn’t have a specific reason; she just isn’t. I won’t tell you what I think it is, because it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I want you working at Dual. I know you need a specific shift. If she can’t work with you, that’s her problem and she can find something else that might make her happy.”
“So, what does this mean? What are you saying?”
“Well, when given those options, Taryn decided that she’d rather stay. So, I’m leaving your training up to you. If you want Taryn to train you, she will. If not, then I’ll do it.”
My pulse speeds up just thinking about spending so much time with Cash. And in such close quarters.
“Can’t Marco train me?”
There’s a protracted pause before Cash answers. When he does, his tone is clipped. “No. That’s not Marco’s job.”
My mind is racing with a thousand thoughts, not the least of which is that it makes me smile to think Cash might be a tad bit jealous of Marco.
“I don’t know what to say. I mean, I don’t want Taryn to think I’m backing down from her. I’m not going to let her run me off. But at the same time, I don’t want to put her in a bad position if she’s got a problem with me.”
“Her job is not to like you, it’s to train you. You aren’t putting her in a bad position.”
My hesitation is minimal. Regardless of my feelings on the issue with Taryn, I know it won’t bode well for me if I let Cash train me. I just don’t trust myself around him. Not completely anyway.
“Then I’ll let her train me.”
“Okay. But if she gives you a hard time, I want you to come to me immediately.”
“I will,” I agree, having no intention of doing any such thing. No, I’ll have to sort out things with Taryn on my own. We’ll either learn to get along or learn to work with someone we hate.
I drag a hand through my tangled hair. I hope it’s the former rather than the latter. Working with someone who hates me will be stressful in a big, big way.
“She’s asked off for tonight, so you won’t have to work again until next weekend. Unless you want to pick up an extra shift Wednesday night when she works.”
Actually, I need the money. And my classes don’t start until 11:00 on Thursday, so I could probably swing that, as long as it doesn’t become a habit.
“Wednesday’s good. I can do that.”
“Good,” he says. I think I hear a smile in his voice. I’m glad he didn’t take it personally that I don’t want to be trained specifically by him.
I bet his ego is so big he didn’t give it a second thought.
“Well, if there’s anything you need, give me a call. I’ve always got my cell phone with me.”
“How did you get my number anyway?”
“Some ass**le named Nash.”
“Asshole?”
“Yeah, ass**le. Don’t tell me you don’t think he’s an ass**le!”
I laugh uncomfortably. “Um, no I don’t think he’s an ass**le. He’s always been nice to me.”
“Of course he has. You’re gorgeous. What man wouldn’t be nice to you?”
“Plenty.”
“Assholes, all of them,” he teases.
“They’re ass**les, too?”
“Yep.”
“Is everyone an ass**le today?”
“Yep,” he repeats. “Word of the day toilet paper.”
I laugh, genuinely this time. “Is that right?”
“Yep. You don’t even want to know what yesterday’s word was.”
“I’m sure I don’t. It would probably make my ears bleed.”
His voice drops into a lower, softer range. “No, but it would probably make you blush.”
I pause. My face feels warm, but pleasantly so. It occurs to me that, no matter how much I avoid him, no matter how wrong I know he is for me, he is going to be nearly impossible to resist.
Dammit!
“Enjoy your day, Olivia. I’ll see you on Wednesday.”
With that, he hangs up, leaving me lying bonelessly on my bed, lost in thoughts of what it would be like to stop fighting it.
********
I hear voices as soon as I get out of the shower, which is unusual. Marissa’s screech is easily and disturbingly identifiable. The raised voice that surprises me, however, belongs to Nash. I creep to the door and crack it the tiniest bit, turning my head and pressing my ear to it.
You are a shameless, creepy eavesdropping hussy.
I stifle a giggle. Apparently I don’t cut myself any slack. I pulled out the hussy card.
“You can’t just spring something like this on me at the last minute! I already made plans and I don’t even have a new dress!” I can tell she’s still trying to keep her calm, which is a testament to how much she likes and, therefore, tries to deceive Nash. I’m not sure how much she’s actually deceiving him, though. It would be interesting to see how long he’d stick around if she started showing her true colors.
“If I’d known I would be back, I would’ve said something sooner. I wanted to surprise you.” Nash’s voice is raised only enough to speak over Marissa’s loud whining.
“Well, now what am I supposed to do? I can’t cancel on Daddy. He’s already—”