Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Her face was flushed. “What a . . . a bitch!”
Well. Strong words from Gracen.
“What happened? Did someone hurt you?” Victor demanded. “I’ll kill them.”
“No, no, I’m fine.” Gracen patted his knee. “Thank you, though. It was a library. Nothing bad happens in libraries.”
Regent liked that she felt secure enough in her world to think that. He didn’t like the idea of the women in his life feeling fear or being upset.
However . . .
“Bad things can happen anywhere,” he told her gently. He’d be doing Gracen a disservice if he let her think that anywhere was truly safe.
“Not that anything will ever happen to you,” Victor said
“Well, I guess that’s true,” she said, addressing Regent, “since it doesn’t seem to be a nice place to work. At least, not for Jilly.”
Regent stiffened, his protective instincts rising. “What’s going on? Is she at risk?”
He’d go in there and pull her out himself. Fuck, he knew his instincts were right.
“Not physical danger,” Gracen said, biting her lip. “And I don’t think we have any evidence of bullying, per se. But I saw her boss speaking to her, and the way she berated her . . . it just wasn’t right.”
“What did she say?” Regent asked.
“Well, it wasn’t really what she said but more the way she said it. She spoke to Jilly like she was a naughty child. Being spoken to like that all the time would start to wear on someone . . . it would make them feel like maybe they were useless. I can imagine what it’s doing to Jilly’s self-esteem. I did catch her sneaking several peeks into books she was meant to be shelving.”
He remembered she loved reading. The times he’d seen her when she was younger, she’d often had a book with her or was sitting in a corner, reading. Once, her father had taken the book from her, yelling that she needed to get her head out of the clouds and be useful.
That fucking bastard.
“How did she look when her boss was berating her?” Victor asked.
“Resigned. Maybe a bit sad.”
Fuck.
He didn’t like the idea of her being sad.
“What are you going to do next?” Gracen asked.
That was the problem. He didn’t know. “I need to speak to her again.”
“I don’t think she’s going to come out and just tell you,” Gracen said.
“Why not? Friends share their worries and concerns, right?”
“She’s your . . . friend?” Victor asked, looking skeptical.
“What? Are you implying I can’t have friends?” Regent asked.
“He’s not implying that at all,” Gracen protested.
“That is exactly what I am implying,” Victor said.
“Victor!” Gracen lightly slapped his chest. “That’s not nice.”
“Yes, not nice at all,” Regent said. “Jilly is a friend.”
“That’s why you’re so concerned about her?” Victor asked. “Because she is a friend.”
“Exactly.”
No matter how attracted he was to her, acting on that would only lead to disaster. What if they slept together and she grew attached to him?
It could get messy.
No. Best to stick to friendship.
That was all they could be to each other.
“I didn’t realize that friends spied on their friends,” Victor said.
“Of course you didn’t. Since you’ve never had friends.”
“Hey! Victor has friends.” Gracen frowned at Regent.
“No, I don’t,” Victor replied. “And I still think you’re going beyond friendship. You shouldn’t be spying on her.”
“I agree,” Gracen told Regent gently. “I wouldn’t spy on Sammy like this.”
“You wouldn’t care if Sammy was being bullied?” Regent asked.
“Of course I would.”
“Then what would you do?” he asked.
“Get her to talk to me about it?” Gracen suggested.
“Which is just what I’m going to do. We’re going around in circles. I’ll speak to her about this.”
“And if she won’t talk to you about it?” Gracen asked.
“Then I suppose I’ll just have to take care of things myself.”
But no matter what, Jilly wouldn’t have to put up with her bitch boss for much longer.
7
Her house had an extra security light.
Jilly stopped and stared. Then she rubbed her eyes, positive she was seeing things.
Why was there another security light attached to her house? It was eight at night. She was tired, her feet hurt, and tomorrow, she had to work at the library until five and then at Sexy Sins all evening.
She felt . . . worn thin.
Soon, she’d be able to give up her second job. The problem was that it was her first job she was starting to hate. When Margaret had just been a coworker, she’d been able to cope. But now that she was Jilly’s boss . . .
The old bat was insufferable.
If only there was a job where she could read all the time, she’d be set. Unfortunately, she didn’t think she would be paid to read and review books.
Well, you could give up the library work. Live on the money you make from Sexy Sin.
No. She’d taken that job to pay off the debts Lowell had racked up in her name. It wasn’t permanent.