Fire & Brimstone (Neighbor from Hell #8) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,85
that it wouldn’t be too much longer before Rebecca came back with that mischievous little smile of hers and took up the reins once again.
“I miss Rebecca,” one of the waitresses mumbled, which normally would have pissed him off, but since it let him know just how miserable his staff was without her, he let it pass.
Well, he let it pass without making her cry.
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t have treated her like shit,” he drawled as he glanced down at the clipboard in his hands.
When she didn’t say anything, he took that as a win. They knew they’d fucked up by treating her like shit and now they were paying for it. Then again, they were also seriously contemplating quitting because Rebecca wasn’t here to act as a buffer between him and the staff any longer. For the first time in five years they were on the receiving end of his full temper.
A few days ago they’d realized just how important Rebecca had been in keeping his control issues in check, and so had he. Rebecca had annoyed him, teased him and driven him out of his fucking mind while taking the brunt of his attention so that he didn’t drive his staff insane. Now that she was gone, temporarily, they realized just how important she was.
They also missed her and regretted their bullshit treatment of her. He knew that much from overhearing them talk anytime he walked past the break room. They’d made as assumption about their relationship and not only had it bitten them in the ass, but it had almost cost them a valuable friendship. He said almost because he knew that over the past couple of days they’d all taken turns sneaking off to apologize to her and begged her to return.
Since it helped with his end game, he allowed it, but once she came back he was going to have to make sure that they understand that he didn’t give second chances.
“Mr. Bradford?” Jon, his newly promoted supervisor, said, getting his attention. “There’s another one on hold for you.”
Nodding, he held the clipboard out to Jon and ignored the collective sigh of relief. “Can you take over?” he asked, shooting a glare at his staff that looked a little too happy to see him go.
“Yes,” Jon said, stepping into the room to take over.
Promoting Jon had been a good idea, he decided as he walked to his office. He was well respected among the staff and was a fair man. He was also more liked than Adam had been.
Closing the door behind him, he sat down behind his desk and picked up the phone. “Can I help you?”
“Is this Mr. Bradford?” the woman on the other line asked.
“Yes, it is. How can I help you?” he said, sighing as he leaned back in his chair.
“I’m calling for a reference for one of your employees, a Miss Rebecca Shaw. Do you have a moment to answer some questions?”
Smiling, he answered, “Yes, yes I do.”
Chapter 42
“Mind moving your fat ass off my notebook?” Melanie asked around a bite of Hostess chocolate pie.
Sighing heavily, Rebecca shifted to the side, grabbed the notebook and threw it at the insensitive bitch.
“Thanks!” Melanie said cheerfully as she leaned over and picked the notebook off the floor where it had landed after hitting her in the arm.
“You’re welcome,” she muttered moodily, knowing that she was being a bitch and not really caring.
“No luck today?” Melanie asked, finishing off the last bite of her delicious looking pie and making Rebecca hate her to the very core of her soul.
She really missed being able to binge on junk food during times like this.
“No,” she said, still wondering what she was doing wrong.
She knew that her resume wasn’t going to land her a position as a CEO, but it should have been enough to land her a few interviews. So far, she hadn’t received one single call and she doubted that today would be any different.
“You could always work for me,” Melanie said, offering her a pity job, which was sweet.
“You don’t need me,” she reminded her annoyingly helpful best friend as she picked up the remote and selected an oldie but goodie.
“Nightmare on Elm Street? Really?” Melanie asked, shaking her head in disgust as she grabbed another Hostess pie and took a bite.
“I need it,” Rebecca muttered pathetically as she sat back and settled in for a long night of pretending that she wasn’t staring at her phone and waiting for it to ring.