Chapter 29 #2
“Hello?” the man bellowed. Then, “Stupid moron can’t even use a phone. How’s he gonna fix my router?”
Hiro made an angry sound, and I dove onto the laptop, hitting the speaker button so I could answer without the headset.
“I’m here, sir. Now that the router is off, we will leave it like that for—” Shit, how long?
My brain was so scrambled. I grabbed the manual and flipped the pages, looking for the section I highlighted to make it easier to find.
“Ah, thirty minutes,” I quickly finished.
“Thirty minutes! Are you out of your damned mind?”
That’s not right. Frantic, I pulled the manual closer to look again. “I mean thirty seconds.” I corrected. “Just long enough for it to reset itself.”
“Well, which is it? Are you stupid? Can you even read—” His tirade cut off suddenly, and I looked around in surprise, panicking that I’d somehow cut off the call.
But then Hiro’s voice filled the sudden quiet. “Call him stupid again and see what happens.”
My attention whipped up to him towering over me and the table, leather-covered arms crossed, headset parked over his ears with the mic right up against his twisted lips. He was intimidating to the max. And the look in his eyes? Lethal.
I scrambled for the headset, but he held out his arm, using a single hand on my head to hold me back. Rude. Desperate, I grabbed the cord and pulled it back out of the laptop so I could at least hear.
“Who is this?” the man asked, his voice no longer belligerent but cautious.
“The consequences of your actions.”
“Are you the manager?” he asked. “Finally. Listen, this employee of yours is not only incompetent at his job, but he seems to be deaf, stu—”
“His hearing is just fine,” Hiro intoned, the even and low tenor of his voice ten times more menacing than a yell would ever be. “And the man you were just verbally insulting? He’s not my employee. He’s my life. You know what happens when assholes like you threaten my life?”
“U-uhhh,” the man stuttered.
“Death,” Hiro deadpanned, dropping his palms on the table on either side of my laptop to lean over the screen. “So, Mr. Frank Hammond of 811 Fairview Terrace over there in Evanston, how about I come over there and introduce myself personally?”
There was silence on the line, and then it disconnected.
Hiro straightened from the computer, pushing the headset down onto his shoulders. Why did it look like it wasn’t heavy at all when he wore it?
“This is your job?” he asked, jabbing a finger at the computer.
I nodded. “I mean, no, not everyone is like that.”
He pursed his lips. “How many?”
“W-what?” I asked.
“How many people are like that to you on a daily basis?”
“I don’t count.” I hedged.
“You’re quitting.” He decided.
Like it was his choice. “No, I’m not.”
“You’re going to be too busy for a job anyway.”
I blinked. “What?”
He nodded. “Between the doctor visits, eye appointments, and the move.”
“That stuff you just said entered my ears but not my brain,” I said, dumbfounded. Then, in a smaller voice, I asked, “Y-you want me to move?”
He sighed. “I bought us a new house.”
We all heard that, right? Because maybe I did have a hearing problem. “What?”
Peeling off the headphones, he dropped them on the table and reached for me. I went because, even confused, I still wanted his touch. Sitting in the chair I’d just fallen out of, he drew me in to straddle his lap. He smelled like leather and outside and maybe a little like exhaust.
“I thought you went to Kieran’s,” I said, sniffing him again.
“What did I tell you?” he asked softly, grasping my chin to lift my face.
I wrinkled my nose. “You told me you were at Kieran’s to see the doctor.” I was going to have to call Haz. He’d have an explanation.
“House rule nine: I won’t ever change my mind.”
I paused.
The pad of Hiro’s finger dragged down the bridge of my nose. “You thought I wanted you to move out.”
Could a heart clench and flutter at the same time? I’m here to tell you it can. Makes you feel like you’re having a seizure. “Well, you said…”
“Not you, Pip. Us.”
Oh, I liked us.
The laptop started ringing with a new call, and I automatically turned to the screen.
Hiro pulled my face back, swallowing me whole with the unspoken secrets in his gaze. “Your attention belongs to me.”
Eyes still locked with his, I reached over and silenced the ringing.
“Good boy,” he whispered, lips flirting with mine. When I tried to chase him for more, he chuckled. “This loft is a lot like me. A ghost. A place to exist but not really live. Nothing in here stays long enough to become a memory. There’s no warmth, no roots, no heartbeat.”
“I like it here,” I told him.
“Because it’s an upgrade from your place. But it’s still not good enough. Not for you.”
“But, Hiro—”
His finger silenced my words. “The second I saw you standing in the middle of this place, I knew. You’re the heartbeat. My heartbeat. A heart can’t live inside a dead body. You deserve more than an empty shell. Besides, our kids need their own room.”
I kissed the finger still pressed against my lips.
“Cute,” he murmured. “Too fucking cute.”
I pulled back. “It doesn’t matter where we live as long as I’m with you.”
“What if it’s right next door to Haz?”
I perked up. “What?”
His white teeth flashed. “Mm-hmm, I knew that’d change your mind. Think I’m a little jealous.”
“You rented an apartment in Kieran’s building?” I asked.
“Negative. I bought the place right across the hall.”
I gaped. “What? When?”
“Like an hour ago.”
“Is that why you’ve been gone so long?”
He chuckled. “Miss me, did ya?”
I nodded.
“That’s the stuff,” he whispered. “But no, that’s not why I was gone so long. Buying a house ain’t that hard. Not when you can pay cash.”
“Cash!” My god, how rich was he?
“Getting your phones took longer. I’ve seen less aggressive behavior on crime documentaries.” He shook his head. “I swear, they smell upgrade eligibility from three miles away.”
“You got me a phone?” I repeated.
Without replying, he stood from the chair.
Automatically, my arms looped around his neck and my legs around his waist. Instead of putting me down, he carried me across the room to grab two bags he must have set on the sofa when he came in.
“Actually, two phones and a smart watch. Some Goldfish too.”