“I don’t understand,” I blurt. Okay, I lost the whole professional thing but this is really weird! I’m getting seriously weird vibes from both men and I don’t know how to handle it.
“You won’t be staying at the storage locker either. Actually, there is no longer a storage locker. I have told him to not let you back, and I took the liberty to move all your belongings to your apartment,” Tobias continues.
“I don’t have an apartment?” I tell him, confused. Where has he taken my stuff?
“I have moved you into our apartment building. You will be staying on the floor below us. This is nonnegotiable and if you don’t accept our help, I will fire you,” he replies. He folds his hands over his knee like the matter is solved.
Why would Tom say that to them? They are dangling my job above my head like a carrot on a string.
I cross my arms across my chest, defiant. This is absurd. I have barely had any contact with them outside the workplace, and now they are telling me I have to accept their offer of help to keep my job. Why the sudden interest in my life? Did Tobias follow me after work on Friday? I just can’t wrap my head around how he knows where I moved to.
I don’t have a choice at the moment. “Fine,” I say through gritted teeth. This is so degrading and embarrassing. I have never accepted a handout, and it’s killing me inside that I’m being forced to.
Tobias nods, accepting my answer. “Theo will take you home and help you unpack. I will see you in the morning.” He chuckles for some unknown reason. I raise an eyebrow at him. Theo motions for me to follow and I do. Walking into the foyer, Theo grabs my handbag that I keep under my desk and helps himself into it, fishing out my keys.
“We will go get your car from the storage locker, then head to your new apartment.” I roll my eyes at him but follow anyway. What else can I do? The elevator trip down to the ground floor is silent, I don’t want to speak to him. When the doors open, Theo grabs my hand and pulls me towards the exit. I must admit I like his big hand holding mine. Weird, it is a little chilly. I would have imagined it to be hot. He keeps rubbing circles into the back of my hand while he tugs me along.
He walks through the park cutting through the woods taking my short cut towards the storage facility. Has he been this way before? I can’t really picture Theo in his suit just marching through here, and what possible reason would he have to walk through the woods to a storage facility in the first place? It is literally the only thing there on the other side of the small forest.
He moves too fast for me, I jog to keep up with his long strides. When we come to the mesh fence, he stops. He sniffs the air for a second. I observe him closely, it is such a strange thing to do, but if it’s a tick, I don’t want to embarrass him. I open my mouth to tell him where the entry is, when he spins around and strides towards the broken bit of fence. He pauses and runs his fingers over a piece of wire that sticks out. The same wire that slashed me open. I’m filled with the desire to find a pair of wire clippers and kill the thing for causing me all this trouble. It doesn’t make sense but I have nowhere else to vent my rage.
“I take it this is where you received that cut?” Theo questions, pulling me from my violent wire-ripping daydreams. I nod to his question, but stop, how did he know that? I can barely see any blood on it. Shaking my thoughts out of my head, he pulls the mesh aside and I step through the opening. He pauses, grabbing that bit of wire and snapping it off from the fence like it is a stick. Huh, maybe my blood weakened the wire or something? Not wanting to be left behind, I hurry to catch up again.
I walk over to my car, which is still sitting in the garage inside. I turn to retrieve my keys, knowing I’ll have to use my last twenty dollars in my account to put fuel in my beast. I’ll just have to survive on water until payday. What other choice do I have? I turn around with my hand out, and wait.
Theo cocks his head to the side, examining my car. “This is what you drive? It has more dents than a golf ball.” I roll my eyes at him and snatch my keys from his hand. Unlocking my car, I walk around to the passenger side. Theo follows and watches as I frantically try to clean the passenger floorboard.
I toss clothes and empty bottles of liquor over the seat and into the back. When I finish, I stand back and motion for him to get in. I’m tempted to bow like he’s some prince, but my side hurts too much for that kind of childish behavior.
“What?” I snap when he just stands there staring. He’s probably never taken a ride in a vehicle like this. So what, it’s his fault about this entire situation. Him and Tobias both are determined to ruin my life and I can’t do anything about it since they hold my job captive.
He shakes his head and climbs in. The seat is scooted all the way forward and his knees are nearly pressed to his chest. He pulls the lever to slide the chair back but grabs the wrong one and is thrown backwards with enough force for his head to bounce off the headrest and he’s stuck in a reclining position. I snort, laughing at his unamused face.
He looks funny enough crammed into my tiny car. But this? This is comedy gold. I’m loving every minute of it. He cocks his eyebrow, not finding the funny side. I slam the door and walk over to the driver’s side and hop in. Theo adjusts the chair and finally manages to get the seat to slide back, giving him enough room to put his legs down. Regardless, he looks squished in my Civic and everytime I glance over, I chuckle to myself.