Page 33 of One Bad Idea

But she didn't. And neither did anyone else.

Around us, the silence grew and twisted, taking on a life of its own, until I wanted to crawl away and hide. The last twenty-four hours had not been kind. And even the job, the one I'd been so excited to get, was now a total impossibility.

I couldn’t accept it.

I stiffened my spine. No. Iwouldn'taccept it.

Hell, I'd be smarter yet to sabotage it, to make Jax see that I was the worst candidate in the whole world. And then, he could hire his first choice – Cassidy.

Just before coming out here, I'd seenhername on the scattered paperwork. This had revealed a sickening truth. The job was supposed to behers, not mine.

I felt myself swallow.It wasn't too late, was it?

I was still thinking when someone finally broke the silence. It was Jaden, saying, "So, were we taking turns? Or doing you at the same time?"

I turned to stare. I was so lost in thought that it took me a moment to realize that he was referring to that stupid message, the one claiming that the brothers would be sharing Cassidy.

My stare turned into a glare.What a total ass.

From beside me, Jax told him, "Say that again, and you'll be getting a fist in the face."

Jaden shrugged. "Dude, chill. It was just a question."

I was still glaring. What was he doing?Goading his brother on purpose? Or was he seriously that dense?

Now, Jax was telling the redhead, "Yeah. I fired her. And I should've fired her weeks ago."

The woman made a sound of protest. "But—"

"But nothing," Jax said. "If you wanna do her a real favor, you'll go back and tell her that instead of crying on your couch, she should get off her ass and find a job she can handle."

The woman gave Jax a pleading look. "I'll have a talk with her, okay? Just give her another chance. She'll do better, I promise."

"No," Jax said, "she won't, and she's out of chances." His tone left no doubt, especially when he added, "You should know, I've already hired her replacement."

Oh, crap.

I had to undo this.

But already, Cassidy was smiling up at him. "You did?"

When he made no reply, she turned and gave me a questioning look. My mouth opened, but I didn't know what to say. Desperately, I wanted to pull Jax aside and ask him what the hell he'd been thinking.

Too soon, Jaden demanded, "Don'tIget a say in this?"

Jax didn't even hesitate. "No."

Jaden frowned. "And why not?"

"Because you hired the last one, and you did a shitty job."

From the sidelines, the redhead said, "Hey! That's my daughter you're talking about."

Jax turned to look, and his expression softened. "I know. But I'm done. And when you have time to think about it, you'll see it's best for her, too."

But apparently the redhead didn't agree. After a few choice words, she turned and stalked away, leaving a trail of profanity in her wake.

In spite of everything, I had to give her credit for one thing at least. That was some pretty creative cursing.