Protecting Her Heart (Seals Security Book 3) (6 page)

He stormed past Monica into Laney’s office, ignoring her good morning. He  slammed the door behind him and stood staring at Laney. She raised an eyebrow and her eyes narrowed on him in a way that would have made him wary if he wasn’t so pissed off. His sister could be mean when she was riled and he was man enough to admit he was usually cautious about pissing her off.

“Where is the fucking background check on Evie?” he demanded, his nostrils flaring as he stood with his arms crossed over his chest. Laney, who’d been hunched over working on a handwritten seating chart, leaned back, folding her hands in front of her on the desk watching him carefully.

“Well, good morning to you too, big brother,” she said sarcastically.

“Laney, I want that background check so call them and demand that they send it over to my private fax in the next ten minutes or we’ll stop using their company.”

“Wait, why are you suddenly so keen to see the background check? I thought you liked Evie and she was doing a great job?” Laney asked, her look questioning.

Luke ignored her question and sliced a hand through the air. “In ten minutes, Laney, and not even a second longer,” he growled angrily. Luke needed to know if Evie was living in her car and if someone was threatening her and he needed to know
now
—not later.

“Geez, I got the darned thing two days ago. I just forgot to send it over to you so there’s no reason to be an asshole,” Laney muttered. Opening her desk drawer, she drew out a two-page report and held it out to him. “But if she’s done something you aren’t happy with, you should consider that she’s the only competent assistant you’ve found in eight months before you fire her.”

Luke snatched the report from her hand, pissed that she hadn’t sent it over right away. His jaw ached from the way he was clenching it so hard.

“I’m not firing her, Laney. I just want to see the damned report,” he growled before he turned and stormed out. He headed to his office, seeing Evie sitting in her chair when he entered.

“Morning,” she called out to him, her smile bright.

“Hold my calls,” he barked as he stomped by her and slammed his office door.

Luke moved to his chair, plopping down in it. With every line he read his anger grew until he was crumpling the paper into a ball and throwing it into the trash. He let out a growl and ran his hands through his hair. He needed to get his anger under control before he called Evie in here to talk about her living situation or he was going to say something he’d regret.

Evie had gotten a raw deal from her father and then from the asshole who’d been her boss before him. Firing her without two weeks severance was just cruel and it was likely why she’d been unable to pay for her apartment and lost it. When he’d seen the amount she’d been paid, it had set his teeth on edge and now he sat here and tried to control his fury at her former boss—not to mention her father—but he was not managing it well.

Carson Dalton couldn’t hurt her anymore with his coldness or his indifference to her plight. Luke slammed his fist into the edge of his desk, hearing the loud creak of the wood as it protested. That
fucking bastard
should be behind bars for what he did to all the people whose money he swindled. Not to mention that leaving his wife and child to deal with the fallout was particularly heartless and proved he was a low-life.

As for Grady, he was beyond angry with her former boss for treating Evie in the manner that he had. To take advantage of someone in a situation like hers was a dick move and Grady had used it to his advantage for years. It was like kicking a
damned
puppy. Men like Grady made him want to rip out their internal organs just because he could. He let out a growled curse and decided he had a new hot button and she was sitting in his front office, likely wondering what the hell had crawled up his ass this morning.

“Evie, can you come in here please,” Luke’s voice buzzed through the line she’d just answered. Damn, she really hoped he wasn’t going to be an asshole all day. She’d learned in the last weeks that he was an easy boss to work for most of the time but when he was in a mood he tended to be difficult. Nothing like Mr. Grady but still not a peach to work for when he decided to be an ass.

“Yes, I’ll be right there,” she muttered reluctantly into the phone before replacing the receiver.

When he stormed past her he was angry over something and it didn’t bode well for her day being a good one. She was not in the mood for him to yell at her again after the already eventful morning she’d had. She stood, rubbing her hand along her skirt to smooth it out before steeling her spine to try and soothe her nerves. His curt ‘hold my calls’ in response to her voiced good morning was unusual. Whatever had put a bug up his ass made her wish she could just take a sick day. Sighing, Evie took a step towards Luke’s office. Might as well get on with. Not like he would be in a better mood if she took her time following his order.

With her morning already shaping up to be almost as bad as the day she was fired, she wasn’t looking forward to entering Luke’s office. Rory’s mom, Vicki, had hit her car with a bat this morning because she needed to get out and Evie’s car was blocking hers. It didn’t matter that it was three in the morning and Vicki was too drunk to drive anywhere. Apparently she had run out of gin and thought she needed more. Rory ended up going to the store at four just to keep her mom from ending up in jail for driving under the influence.

Evie didn’t know how the woman hadn’t already been arrested for a DUI because she knew this wasn’t the first time Vicki had gone out in the middle of the night to get more alcohol. It was a miracle she hadn’t killed anyone yet. It broke Rory’s heart that her mother was such a broken person from a disease that she wasn’t willing to get help for. Rory had tried more than once to get Vicki into a rehab program or AA but her mom wasn’t willing to get better and until she was, there was no help for her.

Shaking off thoughts of her horrid morning, she opened the door and entered his office. Luke was sitting at his desk with a dark scowl on his face as he watched her walk closer to sit down in the chair across from him. Evie felt a little nervous seeing the scowl and the way his eyes tracked her as she moved across the room. She waited, sitting in the chair with her hands folded in her lap. Her heart pumped loudly in her ears and her insides trembled as she watched him warily. She shifted in the seat trying to get comfortable under his intense scrutiny and just when she thought she would shake apart, he spoke.

“Tell me, why are you living in your car?” Luke casually asked.

Evie felt her cheeks heat and she glanced down at her feet trying to figure out how to answer that question. She was immediately embarrassed that he had discovered her sleeping bag in the back seat of her car. All the drama this morning with Rory’s mom meant that she hadn’t had time to store it in the trunk like she’d been doing for the last five days.

Evie certainly didn’t want to explain her tragic circumstances to her boss. It was bad enough that she was living in her car in the first place. She knew that it wasn’t an ideal situation but at least Vicki’s driveway was safer than the motel she’d been looking at. It wouldn’t be for very long; she’d be able to save the down payment for an apartment in a few more weeks. She didn’t really think it was any of his business why she was living in her car anyway. She was at work on time and she did her job well so it shouldn’t matter, should it?

“It’s temporary,” she stated firmly, expecting that to be the end of this line of questioning.

“It’s temporary? That’s your answer? You’re living in your car, damn it,” Luke roared, his eyes shooting fire as he slammed his hand down on his desk. Evie jumped a little and felt anger flow through her at his outburst. How dare he act like her living situation was in any way his business.

“And it’s none of your
damned
business,” Evie snapped, her hands curling into fists in her lap.

“None of my business? You’re my—” Luke began but she interrupted him.

“I’m your employee and that means where I live isn’t your concern as long as I show up on time and do
my job
.” Evie wanted to get up and storm out but the way she was talking to him was already borderline insubordination and she couldn’t get fired. This job was the only way she would be able to stop living in her car because it was definitely not a permanent solution to her current situation.

“It is my concern, Evie. It’s not safe and if you get arrested for parking somewhere that you shouldn’t, it’s going to be a PR nightmare for our company if it gets out that our employees are paid so little that one of them is actually living in her car,” Luke gritted out, anger evident in his every word. 

  “It’s only for another few weeks and I’m parking in a friend’s driveway so there is no chance I will be arrested for parking illegally,” Evie told him, some of her anger leaving her. She realized he was right, it would make his company look bad if anyone found out and knew she worked here. 

“Why can’t you stay with the friend then? They’re okay with you living in their yard but not their house? What the hell kind of friend is that?” Luke asked, his eyes narrowing.

“Look, not that any of this is your business but Rory is staying at her mother’s and Vicki won’t let me stay at her house. She will, however, let me park my car in the driveway and use their bathroom. If the city hadn’t decided to knock down the building we were living in to build another damned mall, I wouldn’t be living in my car in the first place. I don’t have first, last, or security to pay for a new place yet so I don’t have much of a choice unless I want to stay on the wrong side of town where the pay per week motels are.” Evie leaned back in the seat, her body feeling stiff and her back aching from the tension in her shoulders.

“And the dent in the passenger door of your car, where did that come from?” Luke demanded.

“Again, it’s not something I want to share with you. I won’t be arrested and no one knows I’m living in my car.”

Luke stared at her for a long moment, his eyes narrowed and his lips in a tight line. “Look, I know a place that will take only one month’s rent and it’s in a secured building that the company does the security for. I’ll get you the contract before the end of the day,” Luke told her as if she had no say in the matter before dismissing her. “Now, bring me the Donaldson file please.” 

“You do know that you can’t pay my first and last, right?” Evie demanded because she knew that there wasn’t anywhere that didn’t require all three before a person moved in.

“I won’t be. It’s an apartment building that is part of the charity we fund and it allows victims of abusive relationships with nowhere to go to live there without the normally required deposits. There is normally an application that’s filled out by an abuse shelter but I can get you a place there without one,” Luke said in a voice filled with exasperation.

Evie watched him suspiciously for a long moment before she spoke. “Look, I can’t take an apartment in that building when someone else could need it because they’re being hurt. I will find my own place in a few weeks.” Her chin tilted and she stood, ready to head out to get the file he’d asked for.

“Stop,” he growled at her back. “You will not be taking one from anyone, they’ve got six open at the moment so you living there won’t hurt.”

Evie glanced over her shoulder to see that Luke was standing near his desk, his hands resting on the top with his lips compressed into a hard line. She wasn’t trying to be difficult like he obviously thought she was; it was just that she didn’t want to owe him anything.

“I still feel bad because it’s taking something from a charity that would normally help women and men in need when I’m able to do it on my own in a few weeks,” Evie told him, unwilling to budge on the subject.

“There is another option,” Luke said, running a hand over his hair.

“And that is?”

“You could take one of the apartments the company owns and we can take first, last, and security out of your paycheck over the next few months,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck as he watched her.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. You don’t even know if I’ll get past my ninety-day probation and you’re offering me an apartment? Will I be in the same boat as I am now if I don’t make it past the probation period?” Evie asked, watching his face darken again with another scowl.

“No, damn it, you won’t. Besides if the work you’ve done in the past two weeks is any indication, then you’ll have a job here after ninety days. You already have me almost caught up on everything and it’s only been three weeks. If you decide that you don’t like working here, you can keep the apartment. The only reason we have them at all is because Tina was living in the building a year ago. I had the building secured and bought it so I felt she was safe living there,” Luke told her before adding, “Now, I need the Donaldson file please.”

Evie realized she was being dismissed and nodded curtly before she headed out the door to her desk. She sat down, wondering what she should do. Should she take the apartment and have Rory move in with her to help pay for what was likely an expensive apartment? Or should she refuse? Evie suddenly remembered being startled awake by the slamming of a bat on her car door this morning at three am and decided there really wasn’t much of choice. She would have to take the apartment and hope that Luke didn’t decide to snatch the place away if things didn’t work out.  

“Wow, how the hell did you swing this place for only seven hundred a month?” Rory asked as she looked around the apartment after bringing up her first box.

Evie smiled because she’d thought the same thing the first time she’d seen it but Laney had explained that the building’s other tenants funds had already paid this place off so they could set the rent at whatever they wanted and still make a profit. They’d intended to use the open apartments as housing when they brought the men they’d hired for the Texas office in to train them. She protested again thinking she was taking advantage but Laney said they still had five more just like this one only with three bedrooms instead of two. She tried to have them raise the rent after seeing the place but Laney had nipped that in the bud quickly.

Evie had agreed only because she’d seen that the two siblings weren’t going to take no for an answer. They wanted to help her and they were determined to do so. She’d given up trying to argue with either of them after two days. Evie was starting to realize that Seals Security really was like a family instead of a job. If you worked hard for them, they would bend over backwards to help you. It was kind of nice considering how she’d been fired from her last job.

“I know, it’s amazing, isn’t it. I can’t believe I get to live here. The best part is the building is secured like Fort Knox.” Evie let out a little giggle.

“No, the best part is I get to live here too,” Rory crowed, almost jumping up and down in excitement at the prospect. “Now which room is mine?” she asked, a huge grin on her face. Laughing, Evie took her down the hall to the bedrooms.

“I don’t care which one you want. They both have amazing bathrooms in them and there’s a little office too so you can work on your paintings in there. It will be like a little studio. No more painting on that tiny porch,” Evie said as she opened the door she was standing near with a flourish.

Rory looked like she was going to cry. “I’ll take the room closest to this one then because I will be up late to paint. You know how I get.”

Evie hugged her friend before whispering, “Good because the bathroom in the largest room has a whirlpool tub and it’s the one you didn’t choose.”

“Now, wait a minute, you brat! You didn’t tell me that,” Rory said laughing.

“Nope, and on purpose too,” Evie crowed

“Meany,” Rory muttered but her laughter let Evie know she wasn’t really mad.

“I let you choose. You’re the one who got hasty and didn’t inspect the rooms first.” Evie walked with her to the room she was talking about, showing Rory the bathroom and letting her turn green with envy before she showed Rory her own room. They were both headed into the living room when the doorbell rang.

“Who could that be?” Rory asked, looking confused.

Evie had no idea because no one knew they lived here yet. Maybe it was a neighbor who wanted to say hello? Unsure, she went to the door, peeking through the peephole to see Laney standing in the hall.