Incident 2 Common Sense, Where Art Thou?
Ross wasn’t one for seizing the day. He preferred poking at it with a stick. Still, as Glenn walked him to his car, he felt life presented an open window right now. A window that might close if he didn’t take advantage of it.
So, he slowed his footsteps, buying himself a few seconds to think.
Glenn—attentive and observant man that he was—immediately turned and gave Ross a worried sweep of his golden eyes. “Are you well?”
“Stop asking how I’m doing. You know damn well I’m tired, hungry, and need three peppermint schnapps delivered by puppies.
” Ross passed a hand over his face. Alright, brain, work for a while longer.
Five minutes, max. He needed to make a decision, and his gut instinct was to take Glenn’s job offer of personal assistant.
Ross could lay out the logical reasons for it, such as the amazing pay and the schedule flexibility that would allow him to finish college.
And all that would be true. But the tipping point was tonight, when he had been in trouble and Glenn had immediately run to the rescue.
Working with people who honestly cared about him was a game changer.
He’d be a fool to pass that up. “Glenn. I think I need to do an interview with you.”
A bright smile overtook the man’s face. “No, no—no need for an interview.”
“I,” Ross emphasized, “want an interview with you. Because I need to know what the hell this job entails.”
There was a protest on the tip of Glenn’s tongue, but he visibly bit it back. “I suppose that is a valid point. Very well. On the morrow?”
“Tomorrow works fine. What time?”
“Shall we say, evening? Sometime after seven o’clock.”
“Sure.” Ross would have a chance to sleep and get his feet back under him that way.
He desperately needed both. Dealing with firefighters, cops, and burning workplaces sure took it out of a man.
And Ross felt off-kilter, his equilibrium disturbed—an uncomfortable feeling he hoped a round of sleep would restore. “Text me the address?”
“I will.” Glenn regarded the little, silver Honda Civic. “This is your vehicle?”
“Yeah.” It was an absolute beater of a car, with more dings and paint chips than could be counted.
If someone hit the car, Ross wouldn’t be able to tell.
But it ran faithfully and he didn’t owe a dime on it, which was why he wasn’t really interested in getting a new one.
“Looks like it came through the fire undamaged. Thankfully. Alright, see you tomorrow.”
Glenn opened the door for him in a display of bygone manners. He wore a very sincere expression of…something Ross couldn’t quite define. “Sleep well, Ross.”
Caught a little off-guard, Ross took a second longer than he should to respond. Had anyone ever opened a door for him, ever? That courtesy didn’t jibe in the hectic, modern, every-man-for-himself world he lived in. “Thanks. You too.”
Then he slid in, starting the car. Glenn closed the door with a solid whump, and Ross backed out of the parking lot. Time to head home. And sleep—god, did Ross ever need sleep.
He hoped asking for an interview was the right call. Ross still had no idea what this job entailed other than staying up most of the night and wrangling supernatural creatures. The interview would at least give him the basics of the position.
And a chance to back out if he needed it.
Stifling a yawn, he drove on autopilot to the apartment he shared with his brother.
Levonn was up for once, scratching his belly and yawning in the kitchen as Ross came in.
His older brother was a little taller than he, topping at six foot even, but they were a carbon copy of each other in looks otherwise.
Same taupe skin, apple-green eyes, and crazy-curly dark hair that defied all gel and mousse products.
Levonn embraced his hair by letting it grow and taming it into poofy man-buns.
Ross cut his down to the skin and didn’t bother doing anything else to it.
Seeing him come in, Levonn frowned at him. “You’re in early.”
“Gas station burned down to the ground,” Ross reported wearily, toeing his shoes off and sticking them in the miniscule shoe cubby next to the door.
Levonn spluttered, whirling to face him. “You okay?!”
“Yeah. As you can see. I wasn’t in it when it burned down,” Ross said half-truthfully.
None of his family knew about his interesting supernatural visitors every night.
He wasn’t sure how to tell them when all of them were very much straight shooters.
He’d told a little of Glenn’s offer to Levonn but couched it in a way so his brother could wrap his head around it.
Whistling low, Levonn rocked back on his heels. “Damn, little brother. You just can’t seem to catch a break.”
“Tell me about it,” Ross sighed, and slung himself into one of the barstools, eyeing the coffee machine hopefully. “That ready yet?”
“Not yet. Hold your horses. So, what are you going to do? I mean, do the police think you had something to do with it?”
“No. It’s pretty obvious I didn’t. There’s a fire trail leading straight up to the gas station.
And one of the warehouses nearby, their security camera caught an angle that shows there was no one in the parking lot when it went.
I’m in the clear, although they’re baffled on what caused the blaze to begin with.
” Ross felt weary down to his bones, but it was nice talking to his brother about this. They’d always been pretty good friends.
Unlike he and their sister.
“What are you going to do?” Levonn repeated in worry. “I mean, you’re always welcome to live here, you know that. But it’s going to take time to find another job, and you’re not really any closer to saving up for school than you were when you first moved in.”
“Unfortunately true. College is damn expensive. But I do have a possible lead. You remember the job offer I received?”
“From that guy who wants you to be his personal assistant?” Levonn gave him a glance askance as he fetched two mugs.
The sink was full of dirty dishes and those were the last two clean mugs available.
Ross took a look around the kitchen and found it was in its usual disarray. He made a note to clean up later.
“Yeah, that. I have an interview set up for tomorrow.”
Levonn poured two cups and handed Ross’s over, as black as his soul, which he needed after tonight. “Uh, I thought you weren’t sure about that, though.”
“He properly explained the job a bit better. Really, what he needs is someone to stay on top of the paperwork and stuff life generates. Most of his employees are bad about that sort of thing. I’d be there to help keep his life straight.”
“Huh. But why hire you for it?”
“Most of his employees are…interesting characters. Oddballs, really. He likes that I can manage them smoothly and still get the task done. Really, it’s still weird.” Ross shrugged, as there was no pretending otherwise. “But I’d like to give the job a chance. For one thing, it pays well.”
“Yeah, you said, but how well?”
“Salary is seventy-five a year.”
Levonn choked on his coffee and had to pound a palm over his chest to clear his lungs. His eyes bulged, nearly coming out of his head. “You fucking serious?!”
“I promise it isn’t prostitution or drug-running,” Ross said dryly, well able to read the expression on his brother’s face.
“You sure about that?”
“I’m still shaky on the finer details, but that’s what the interview tomorrow is for.
But he did mention it came with my own place, because I’ll need to be nearby to run errands and stuff.
And he’s sworn he wants me to go back to school, finish my degree.
He’s one of those bosses who believes in educating his employees. ”
Levonn scrubbed a hand over his face. “I suddenly don’t feel awake enough for this conversation. So, you’d be moving out if you took this job?”
“Yeah. That okay?” Ross had to check, as he did pay the utilities on the apartment right now.
His brother didn’t actually need that financial help—Levonn was a welder, so he made good money—but Ross hadn’t felt right with the idea of living off his brother’s charity.
Still, a notice to your roommate was the polite thing to do.
“It’s okay by me, as long as you’re not feeling the pressure to move out. I know the place is a bit cramped with both of us here—”
“Two men in a one-bedroom will feel that way,” Ross agreed amiably.
“—and neither of us have exactly an easy time getting lucky because of it—”
Ross snorted. His dry spell had nothing to do with sharing an apartment with Levonn. He just had dismal luck finding men who were both attractive and available.
“—but you’re welcome here, you know that, right? I’d rather you be here than somewhere that’s, you know, creepy as hell.”
“I know.” Did hungover vampires, cheating werewolves, and sleep-deprived wizards fall into the ‘creepy as hell’ category?
Ross couldn’t think of them as such. They were just strange and amusing to him.
He did appreciate his brother’s support and concern, though.
It was nice to be loved. “The interview tomorrow will tell me if this will work out well or not. I’ll need to run the suit to the dry cleaners. Do you have anything that needs to go?”
“Yeah, the comforter could use a wash.” Levonn scraped a hand over his face again, his palm rasping against the morning bristle. “Just promise me if anything—and I do mean anything—doesn’t feel right to you, you leave. Don’t be polite, don’t make excuses, just get up and walk out. Promise?”
Ross drew an X over his heart with one finger. “Cross my heart.”