Page 136 of Broken Daddy

“Why?”

“Because he’s your boss. He could fire you. If I’d spoken to Aaron like that, he wouldn’t just refuse to let me have a lunch break, I’d have been out of a job. You should speak nicer to Kent, I bet he’s a much better boss than Aaron. The dick.”

It felt good to call him that out loud instead of just in her head.

“He would refuse to let you stop for lunch?” Hayes asked in a low voice.

“Yeah, if I broke anything or if I spent too much time talking or daydreaming and not working then he’d say I owed him the time and I’d have to work through. Although, I didn’t care about that as much as the fact I wouldn’t get the food he was supposed to give me for every shift.”

“What?” he whispered.

“I got a meal at the café and one at the bar. There was never much food at home. Well, actually, that depended on whether Derick was around or not. When he was home, he’d get the munchies and eat everything he could find. Anyway, I was always in a rush, there was never much time to eat. It could be a long day if I didn’t get fed at the café and had to wait until my night shift.”

Hayes started swearing. “That motherfucking bastard. He’s just lucky I’m busy right now because when I’m not, I’m going to make his miserable life utter fucking hell.”

Um. Okay.

She shouldn’t feel a rush of pleasure at his words, but she couldn’t stop them.

“He really is a nasty little man,” she agreed. “I wish I’d been able to tell him where to shove his job.”

“Probably the same place I’d like to shove my boot,” he grumbled. “But he’ll wait. And don’t worry about Kent. He knows he was being a dick.”

He was?

“He seems to be having delusions, though. Do you really think he’s all right?”

“Yeah, baby. He’s fine. The person we really need to discuss is you. Poor baby, did you fall out of bed?” he murmured.

He tried to lay her down, but she stiffened. Okay, now she really, really had to pee.

“I didn’t fall out of bed.” She didn’t know how he could seriously think that. “Can you put me down?”

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” he said with confusion.

“No, on my feet,” she managed to get out through gritted teeth.

Oh, this was going to be bad.

So bad.

She’d never had the best bladder. Holding on had always been a struggle. She’d often get into trouble at school for rushing out of class even though she had been told to wait until the break. And at the café, she’d have to rush off to the toilet, causing Aaron to lose it.

Mac had always been more understanding.

In the end, she’d stopped drinking as much. But that caused its own problems. Like dizziness and fatigue.

It was a delicate balance.

So she was doing rather well to hold on this long. However, her body was letting her know that it had had enough.

“On your feet? Not happening. You need to go to bed.”

Oh God. He was going to make her explain. “I have to pee!”

“You have to pee?” he repeated. “Why didn’t you say so? Where’s your catheter?”

She gaped up at him. “Gone. Why? Were you planning to reinsert it?”