Much to my disappointment, he smoothed my hair and murmured for me to go back to sleep.
When four fifteen rolled around, I was still wide awake. I slipped out of the other side of the bed, grabbed the clothes I’d planned to wear today, and tiptoed into the hallway to use the other bathroom. I don’t know why I thought it would be quieter than the one in the master; I blamed my still-sleepy brain.
From there, I went to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. While I sat and waited for it to brew, it dawned on me that I’d have to wake Edge to take me to the dining hall. Once I had a few sips of hot coffee, it also dawned on me that he’d said we’d do something about Susan yesterday, and we didn’t.
I did remember him saying she probably had a dead battery. Likely, he didn’t want to spend the money to buy a new one. I could understand that. Later today, I’d try to figure out how to ask Tee-Tee if I would be getting paid or if I’d been given the job at the dining hall in order to earn my keep.
I put my face in my hands. I hated being so dependent on another person. While I hadn’t made a lot of money at the bar or the diner, what I made was mine. I’d used it to rent an apartment. It was crappy, but like the money, it was mine. When I removed my hands to take another drink of coffee, Edge was standing right in front of me.
“Jesus,” I screeched. “You scared the crap out of me.”
&nbs
p; “Sorry. I’m used to moving about quietly.”
“Why? Do you get some kind of perverse pleasure out of startling people?”
He smiled. “It has more to do with what I do for a living, and I can assure you, there’s no pleasure in it, perverse or otherwise.”
“Why do you do it?”
He walked over to the coffeemaker, poured a cup, and took a sip. “God, woman, even your coffee is amazing.”
I smiled. “Thanks, but you didn’t answer my question.”
“You and Grinder would get on well.” He shook his head. “Forget I said that.”
I drummed my fingers on the counter.
“Right. Well, I do it because there are a lot of evil people in the world.”
“And you see it as your duty to rid the world of them?”
“Something like that.”
“Sorry you had to get up so early.”
“Early?” he asked, looking at his cell phone.
Like with my car, it annoyed the piss out of me that I didn’t have one. I rested my chin on my hand. This was my life now, and I better damn well get used to it. The idea that I’d ever make money again, let alone enough to fix my car or pay for a phone, was laughable.
“I’d give a hundred pounds to know what you’re thinking.”
“If you mean that, I’ll tell you.” I shook my head. “Just kidding.”
I swear I barely blinked and he was standing right in front of me again. He reached out and grasped the back of my neck. “Tell me.”
“I was kidding. God.”
“If that’s true, tell me.”
Now he was pissing me off. “I need to go to work. If that’s what it is.”
“What does that mean?”
“No one mentioned an hourly rate. I assumed that maybe I was working off my debt.”
Edge took a step back. “What debt?”