Devastated (Anger Management, #1)(5)

“What the hell are you talking about?” Hunter snapped as he reluctantly stepped back when Ryan gestured for the officers to enter the house.

“Clear the house,” the prick said in a smug tone that dared Hunter to argue.

“Don’t even think about it,” Ryan said before the idea of tossing the smug bastard out on his ass had fully played out in his head.

“I have two hours, Ryan,” Hunter said, scowling at his best friend.

“No, you don’t,” Ryan said quietly as he pulled out a piece of paper, the same paper that Hunter had received two weeks ago when he’d been released from jail. “It’s twelve o’clock.”

“That’s bullshit,” Hunter said, sure that his court orders had stated two o’clock and if he could remember where he’d put the damn thing, he’d rub it in the bastard’s face.

“You need to have this house cleared out and your assistant here in five minutes or they’re going to take you to jail,” Ryan said, starting to look a little nervous as he looked around the open foyer for anything that resembled an assistant.

“She’s around here somewhere,” Hunter said dismissively while he watched with real regret as the bimbo that he’d been planning on losing himself in was escorted out of the house.

“Where is she?” Ryan whispered.

With a sigh, Hunter shoved past the line of partygoers bitching and whining as they were led to the door. He stuck his head outside and when he still didn’t see her, he shrugged. “I told her to come back in two hours. No big deal.”

“Actually, Mr. O’Mallery, it’s a very big deal,” the Prosecutor started to explain, definitely sounding smug, Hunter decided, as he debated whether a year in jail was worth breaking the little prick’s nose.

Probably not, he decided as he settled on sending the little prick a murderous glare instead.

“If she’s not here at exactly twelve o’clock then you’ve failed to meet the conditions of your house arrest,” the smug bastard said with relish, already gesturing to one of the officers to arrest him.

“You can’t be serious,” Hunter said, shooting a glance over at Ryan to find the man reluctantly nodding in agreement.

“Fine,” Hunter said, sighing in aggravation, “I’ll be right back.”

---

“Expiration is…” Kylie mumbled as she searched the Snickers bar that she’d found lodged beneath her seat for an expiration date, “February 2010.”

Worrying her bottom lip with indecision, Kylie contemplated eating the candy bar that was nine years past its expiration and obviously a parting gift from the last person who’d owned this car. She normally wasn’t big on sweets, especially expired ones, but since she hadn’t had a chance to eat anything since lunch yesterday, it was now fair game. She was starving and willing to take a chance on what was most likely going to end up being an adventure later when the candy bar finally settled in her stomach. She’d either end up desperately searching for a pharmacy to get her hands on some antacids or begging a doctor at the emergency room to kill her.

For a moment, she remained kneeling between the back-passenger door and the car as she contemplated the risks. When her stomach released another vicious growl, she decided that a night in the emergency room was well worth the risk. The fact that the candy bar was no longer an attractive light brown, but a hard-white plastic should have changed her mind, but sadly, it didn’t.

Her mouth was practically salivating at the thought of that hard-white plastic-like substance crumbling and crackling on her tongue. She opened her mouth and was just about to take a small bite to savor the questionable treat when she suddenly found herself yanked up off her knees and thrown over a large and somewhat familiar shoulder. It actually concerned her that she’d realized that her precious treat had fallen out of her hands and broken into a hundred tiny pieces on the sidewalk before it registered in her mind that she was once again being manhandled by her new boss. Before she could force her food-starved mind off her ruined meal, he was snapping at her.

“You’re late!” Hunter growled, as he shifted her on his shoulder.

Kylie opened her mouth to point out that she’d actually been five minutes early when he started jogging, taking away her ability to speak as she was forced to clench her teeth together and close her eyes while her empty stomach protested rather violently at being bounced around on the obscenely large shoulder.

“Since we have a minute,” Hunter said, easily jogging and not sounding out of breath as she prayed that she wasn’t about to lose whatever was in her stomach all over her new boss’s back, “why don’t we go over the rules?”

“Can it wait until-” Kylie started to suggest only to get cut off abruptly, which in retrospect was probably a good thing since talking while upside down didn’t agree with her head, or her stomach for that matter, and only increased the likelihood of making a memorable first impression.

“Rule one, show up on time or don’t show up at all. No excuses,” Hunter said, and since she actually agreed with that rule, she didn’t argue. Not that she really could put up much of an argument at that point, but she fully planned on explaining a thing or two to him once he put her down and her world stopped spinning.

“Rule number two, no bitching,” he said, sounding irritated as though she’d already committed the offense and she fully planned on arguing that one later, much later, she thought as she squeezed her eyes shut even harder while she prayed that she didn’t pass out.