Page 49 of Heat & Deceit
She smiles. “Hi.”
Friendly enough so far.
“Did you find the place okay?” Javi asks, using his customer-oriented voice.
“Oh, yes. This is one of my favorite coffee joints.”
“Good.” Javi nods and glances at me. “I thought I’d let Rome start with some background, and then we’ll move into questions. Does that sound okay with you?”
“Oh, um. Actually, I have another interview in twenty minutes. Can we skip to the questions?”
Bold request, but at least we know where her head is at.
“Okay, sure.” Javi glances at me and Ly before looking at the set of questions. “Tell us a little bit about your management experience.”
“The thing is, I’ve never been a manager, but I love the vibe, you know?”
Ly coughs, but I catch the faint laugh he’s trying to cover.
I swoop in with the next question to keep her from noticing. “All right. If someone were to describe your management style, what would they say?”
She twists her lips to the side and hums. “You know how managers are always on your case to get the work done?” she asks me.
“Depends on the person, but I know what you mean.”
“Right, so I’d be the opposite of that. There’s always an obnoxious amount of training too. How hard can it be to make coffee, am I right?”
I bite my cheek and force my eyebrows to stay in place. She seems nice, and while I appreciate her honesty, I think we’re searching for a candidate with a little more experience...and who also knows why training is important. I do agree that some places probably have too much required training, but we need at least a little, or we’re setting up our employees for failure.
About fifteen minutes into the interview, she apologizes and makes her exit without even saying goodbye. Ly chuckles to himself while Javi blows out a hard breath.
I scratch my neck. “Well, I think we found our first no.”
Thirteen
NOVA
A whole week passes where my interactions with the guys are limited. They’ve been busy interviewing new managers and handling business. Though, somehow, they always manage to show up and demand I take a break. Javi makes me a mocha. Rome gives me water—like he’s afraid I’ll forget to hydrate myself—and Ly has snacks waiting. He says they’re his, but I have a sneaking suspicion he brought them in because he thought I’d like them.
What happened with Rome last week was more than embarrassing. I finally got Randal to stop asking me if I was okay. Truthfully, for a minute there, I wasn’t. Curtis used to sneak up on me, and Rome’s sudden appearance provoked a response I hadn’t experienced before.
More presents from my past, I guess.
Did Rome tell the other alphas about the pills too? I doubt Lycus would stay quiet if he knew about that. He’d be all too eager to goad me about it.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out once I stop at the intersection right before Tranquility.
Kiki
How’s life? Everything going okay?
Nova
Hey - things are good. I was actually wondering if you had another dealer I might be able to go to?
Kiki
Why? Did that guy give you a hard time?
