Page 11 of Dark Endures

She’s outrageous. Truly outrageous. Which deserves an answer in kind? “I’m doing a study on them to figure out if they’re really human or robots disguised as men to fool us into thinking human men all look like that.”

“You do that. But remember, no matter how tough they look, they bleed like any other man, so take care not to play games with them.”

Who does she think I am? Maybe her eyes are a little cloudy, affecting her vision. I’m by no means an ugly woman, but I’m not a heartbreaker either. My mother plays games with men, not me. “You don’t need to worry about that.”

“But I will until you’ve settled in. I suggest you do that quickly.”

Settled in? Me? “I won’t be here very long. This is just a temporary job.”

She laughs and leaves me standing in front of my new job.

Odd.

Hopefully, there’s someone inside waiting for me that isn’t—

“Morning, Mindy.” Canyon grins.

Of course, it’s him. “Morning.”

“How did you wake up this beautiful?”

“Not your best line.” Especially since mornings and I usually don’t get along.

He shrugs. “But you’ll spend the morning thinking about me.”

“That’s doubtful when I have all those snakes to play with.” I step into the elevator behind him.

“Do you really like snakes that much?”

Why lie about something like that? “Yeah, I do.”

“You’re strange.”

I chuckle. “Thank you. I think.”

“Do you want to have lunch with me?”

Not even a little bit, though a laugh or two might be nice. “I can’t. I need to get back to work after this training session.”

“Huh?”

Thankfully, the elevator opens. Leaning against the oddly placed desk is a man around my age, maybe slightly younger. He appears to have the potential to join the Hot Guy Squad eventually, but currently, he’s edging towards nerdy hot. “Hello. You must be Otto. I’m Mindy.”

“Hi. Um.” His gaze goes to the floor as a blush steals up his cheeks. “I’m…Um…Otto.”

“Thanks for agreeing to train me.”

His Adam’s apple bobs up and down. “No problem. Let’s…Um…get started.”

***

“You really did that?” Otto lifts a purple python out of its cage.

I need to hurry up and learn all the names of the snakes. Not that they care much what I call them. “On a dare.” It was high school, enough said. “You haven’t done anything crazy in college?”

He shakes his head. “I was too busy working and studying to do anything.”

“You still have a chance in vet school.” Sweetie slides off of me and into her now clean cage.

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