Tobias beats me to it by answering first, “She’s staying at the storage lockers a block from here.” He turned me in! Tobias’ eyes dare me to try and lie, I know better than to try.
How does he know though? I've been so careful. No one knows, not even the manager as it was a weekend, and I hadn’t even had a chance to tell him that my car needs to be stored there.
My hands turn clammy, and a bead of sweat runs down the back of my neck. Has someone turned on the heater? I’m panicking, my heart rate rises, and I hear the pounding inside my head. I’m about to be fired. I’ll lose the last piece of normalcy left in my life. Then what? I don’t know what I will do. File bankruptcy maybe? Try and get a job at Costco. Every answer isn't enough. I can never pay my debt back at another job.
“I’m sorry, please don’t fire me. I need this job.” My words sound pathetic and desperate. But I don’t have a choice, they are.
If I lose my job, I’ll have nothing. Maybe they should fire me. I just wish they would speak instead of staring at me. They make my anxiety go through the roof. I know what is coming, just get it over with already. Rip that band-aid off quickly.
“We aren’t firing you, Imogen. We are just disappointed you didn’t say anything earlier. We could have helped sooner.” Theo scolds me.
I drop my head in my hands, and relief floods through me, making me giddy. I’m not going to lose my job! But how can they help? I got myself in this situation, I can get myself out of it. I don't want help. They need to let me be, I can handle this.
“I promise I won’t trespass again.” I do my best to take back my professional persona. They both stare at me like they think what I’m saying is absurd. I suppose it kind of is, who lives where they work? Not a normal person, but hey I never claimed to be normal.
“No, you won’t. I spoke to Tom who said you would refuse any help, so I took it upon myself to not give you a choice,” Tobias informs me. He too has returned to his business self. I stare blankly at him, trying to understand.
"I don't understand," I blurt. Okay, I lost the whole professional thing but this is really weird! I’m getting seriously weird vibes from both men and I don't know how to handle it.
“You won’t be staying at the storage locker either. Actually, there is no longer a storage locker. I have told him to not let you back, and I took the liberty to move all your belongings to your apartment,” Tobias continues.
“I don’t have an apartment?” I tell him, confused. Where has he taken my stuff?
“I have moved you into our apartment building. You will be staying on the floor below us. This is nonnegotiable and if you don’t accept our help, I will fire you,” he replies. He folds his hands over his knee like the matter is solved.
Why would Tom say that to them? They are dangling my job above my head like a carrot on a string.
I cross my arms across my chest, defiant. This is absurd. I have barely had any contact with them outside the workplace, and now they are telling me I have to accept their offer of help to keep my job. Why the sudden interest in my life? Did Tobias follow me after work on Friday? I just can’t wrap my head around how he knows where I moved to.
I don't have a choice at the moment. “Fine,” I say through gritted teeth. This is so degrading and embarrassing. I have never accepted a handout, and it’s killing me inside that I’m being forced to.
Tobias nods, accepting my answer. “Theo will take you home and help you unpack. I will see you in the morning.” He chuckles for some unknown reason. I raise an eyebrow at him. Theo motions for me to follow and I do. Walking into the foyer, Theo grabs my handbag that I keep under my desk and helps himself into it, fishing out my keys.
“We will go get your car from the storage locker, then head to your new apartment.” I roll my eyes at him but follow anyway. What else can I do? The elevator trip down to the ground floor is silent, I don't want to speak to him. When the doors open, Theo grabs my hand and pulls me towards the exit. I must admit I like his big hand holding mine. Weird, it is a little chilly. I would have imagined it to be hot. He keeps rubbing circles into the back of my hand while he tugs me along.
He walks through the park cutting through the woods taking my short cut towards the storage facility. Has he been this way before? I can’t really picture Theo in his suit just marching through here, and what possible reason would he have to walk through the woods to a storage facility in the first place? It is literally the only thing there on the other side of the small forest.
He moves too fast for me, I jog to keep up with his long strides. When we come to the mesh fence, he stops. He sniffs the air for a second. I observe him closely, it is such a strange thing to do, but if it’s a tick, I don't want to embarrass him. I open my mouth to tell him where the entry is, when he spins around and strides towards the broken bit of fence. He pauses and runs his fingers over a piece of wire that sticks out. The same wire that slashed me open. I’m filled with the desire to find a pair of wire clippers and kill the thing for causing me all this trouble. It doesn't make sense but I have nowhere else to vent my rage.
“I take it this is where you received that cut?” Theo questions, pulling me from my violent wire-ripping daydreams. I nod to his question, but stop, how did he know that? I can barely see any blood on it. Shaking my thoughts out of my head, he pulls the mesh aside and I step through the opening. He pauses, grabbing that bit of wire and snapping it off from the fence like it is a stick. Huh, maybe my blood weakened the wire or something? Not wanting to be left behind, I hurry to catch up again.
I walk over to my car, which is still sitting in the garage inside. I turn to retrieve my keys, knowing I’ll have to use my last twenty dollars in my account to put fuel in my beast. I'll just have to survive on water until payday. What other choice do I have? I turn around with my hand out, and wait.
Theo cocks his head to the side, examining my car. “This is what you drive? It has more dents than a golf ball.” I roll my eyes at him and snatch my keys from his hand. Unlocking my car, I walk around to the passenger side. Theo follows and watches as I frantically try to clean the passenger floorboard.
I toss clothes and empty bottles of liquor over the seat and into the back. When I finish, I stand back and motion for him to get in. I’m tempted to bow like he’s some prince, but my side hurts too much for that kind of childish behavior.
“What?” I snap when he just stands there staring. He’s probably never taken a ride in a vehicle like this. So what, it's his fault about this entire situation. Him and Tobias both are determined to ruin my life and I can't do anything about it since they hold my job captive.
He shakes his head and climbs in. The seat is scooted all the way forward and his knees are nearly pressed to his chest. He pulls the lever to slide the chair back but grabs the wrong one and is thrown backwards with enough force for his head to bounce off the headrest and he’s stuck in a reclining position. I snort, laughing at his unamused face.
He looks funny enough crammed into my tiny car. But this? This is comedy gold. I’m loving every minute of it. He cocks his eyebrow, not finding the funny side. I slam the door and walk over to the driver’s side and hop in. Theo adjusts the chair and finally manages to get the seat to slide back, giving him enough room to put his legs down. Regardless, he looks squished in my Civic and everytime I glance over, I chuckle to myself.
Putting the key in the ignition, I turn it over. My car starts and the fuel light turns on. Pulling out, I drive to the closest gas station. Theo glances around my car, studying the loads of crap I have stored in it. He opens the glovebox, well, that’s rude. I try to warn him, but it’s too late. Paperwork that I'd stuffed in there shoots out like a confetti all over him, his lap, and the floor. I snort while laughing again and he slowly turns towards me. Theo holds up the glove compartment door in his hand that’s no longer attached to the car.
I stop laughing and rub my dash. “You have to be gentle with her. Stop going through everything." I want to add he’s being nosy but keep it to myself. He’s still my boss and I’m probably in enough trouble for openly laughing at him twice now.
“Gentle? There is nothing gentle about this car. What did you do to it? It’s falling apart at the seams. I'm surprised it even runs.” He clicks his tongue and shakes his head.
How dare he! My baby has got me through too much to be talked about like that. “Leave my car alone. Hey, I said stop going through my stuff!” I growl as he rummages through the back. Turning back to the front, he holds out a pair of my panties and an empty bottle of vodka. I see red.
“Looks like someone was having fun back there,” he chuckles, swinging them around on his finger. I snatch my panties out of his hand. I seriously consider taking the empty bottle and bashing it over his head. What right does he have to go through my things? My panties! Thank God he didn’t grab a used pair. I can only imagine what Mr. Sniffer would do with that. How could I ever fantasize about this asshole? I jerk the wheel and turn, making my car squeal from the mistreatment but at least I get to see Theo be crushed against the window, his eyes wide at the suddenness of it all. Serves him right! I park by a pump and pop the cap as I scramble out and away from him.
I fill it up, trying to calm myself down, completely ignoring Theo. He can rust inside the car as far as I care. At this point I don't even care if he wants to fire me. He pushed me too far. The tank clicks, letting me know it’s full and I set everything back, prepared to go spend the last of my funds to feed the beast. Hopefully, this apartment of theirs won't be too far that I spend all my income on gas. I can survive on water for one week, but more than that and I'll be the one in the hospital.
Just as I reach the station doors, out steps Theo. “Come on, I paid already. Let’s see if that death trap will start again.” He says, ignoring me and walking past me towards my car. I watch him open the driver side door and slide in and my eye twitches. Maybe I should be grateful he paid for the gas, but his smugness is just too much to deal with after the day I had.
“You don’t know where we are going, hand the keys over.” I look down at my keys clutched in my hand. “I’ll be gentle, I promise,” he says, emphasizing the word gentle and rubbing my car's dash. I throw my keys at his chest, which he easily catches and scramble into the passenger side. The drive to the apartment block isn’t long, only about ten-minutes. So the gas will be able to last a while at least. When we pull up to the front of the apartment block, I gasp.
The place looks like some fancy hotel. All white with beautiful hedges and gardens full of roses. It also has a roundabout driveway with a valet out front.
Theo pulls up next to the man. The guy’s lip curls when Theo tosses him the keys. I feel more embarrassed knowing a stranger is going to see the state of my car. Shit, the panties! I wrench around in my seat and grab the damned things, cramming them into my pocket. I can't find my bag for some reason.
Theo walks over to my side of the car, my handbag slung over his shoulder like he owns it. Reaching towards me, he grabs my hand and pulls me toward the entrance. There’s no other choice but to follow him and see what else awaits me on this horrible day.