Luckily I could never fancy someone so sure of themselves. Garry was a little shy and he still ended up doing the dirty on me. A guy like this must have a different woman every night.
‘Fire away, Poodles.’
Poodles? Really. Why does he feel the need to call me that, dammit? All I need is this idiot winding me up twenty four seven.
I square my shoulders and attempt to be professional.
‘Mr…’ shit, I can’t remember his surname.
‘Breen,’ he adds for me, a sweet yet mocking smile on his face. He knows I’m out of my depth. He can smell the fear, like a pit-bull.
‘Breen,’ I repeat with a nod of my head. ‘Right, I’ll need to ask you some questions.’
He rolls his eyes. See, right there is exactly why I should never employ this guy. He has no respect for anyone.
‘Did you bring a CV with you?’ I ask, trying to sound as official as possible.
I look up to see him staring at me incredulously. ‘Do I have to have a CV for working in a boozer?’
‘Yes,’ I snap. I just have the overwhelming urge to pummel him in the face. ‘I need to know about any previous experience.’
He nods. ‘Well I can tell you that. I’ve worked all me life in The Dog and Duck.’
‘Our rival pub?’ Ella asks, her forehead puckered.
I shoot her a quick calm down look. It is the only other pub in town.
‘You mean from turning eighteen, I assume.’
‘Sure,’ he says with a shrug like he finds me annoying.
‘Can I get a reference from there?’ Not that I actually want to speak to that man Fergus ever again.
‘Probably not.’ He smiles, as if keeping a secret. ‘You see, the reason I left is a bit of a sore point.’
So he is the irresponsible dickhead I had him down for.
‘Set the place on fire, did you?’ I snarl, a smile edging my lips.
‘No, actually,’ he retorts, looking like he wants to stick his tongue out at me. ‘I just fell out with the owner.’
‘Oh.’ Finally something I agree with. ‘Well, I can understand that. The man’s an arsehole.’
‘Hey, don’t speak about me Da like that!’
My mouth drops open. ‘Your Da? Oh, wait, do you mean your dad? He’s your dad?’
‘Yes.’ He nods, as if it’s no big deal. ‘He’s my dad.’
He’s the rivals son. What the hell is going on here? I call bullshit. This is such a set up. He’s clearly been sent here to spy on us.
‘So you expect me to believe that the rival pub owners’s son wants to work here?’
He frowns, as if not understanding why that would be a problem. ‘Yeah.’
Ella puts her hand on her jutted out hip. ‘So you’re not being sent here as a spy?’
‘Jesus, no.’ He sighs, like we are massive pains in the arse. ‘I’ve fallen out with me Da and I need a new job and place to live. This place kills two birds with one stone. I could do this job with my eyes closed.’ He looks to me. ‘Far better than you and that fairy sister of yours.’
‘Hey!’ Me and Ella shriek in unison. I’m the only one allowed to call her a fairy.
‘I’m not going to give you the job if you’re just gonna slag us off the whole time.’
He sighs heavily, suddenly appearing tired. ‘Look, I need a job. I guarantee you’ll go through every eejit in the town and I’m your best bet.’
God, I hate how he’s right. Plus, I did like how he tried to protect us when Chef—ex Chef—lost the plot. I hate to admit it, but it would be nice to have a man around. Just in case anything happened. Booze and people can be a terrifying combination. Garry used to turn quite nasty after too much to drink.
‘All I ask is that I have Tuesday nights off.’
I look to Ella. She folds her hands over her chest and shrugs. I can’t believe I’m going to hire this tool.
‘Okay, fine. The jobs yours. But I warn you now.’ I stick my finger at his chest. ‘If I find out you’ve been feeding information back to your dad I’ll kill you. They say a woman scorned and all that, well they’ve never been scorned by a Bellerose sister. Let me tell you, you don’t want to find out.’
Ella shoots warning devil eyes at him.
He puts his palms up in defeat. ‘Consider me warned.’
‘And no bringing women home.’
‘Fine,’ he forces out through gritted teeth. He sighs, as if pulling himself