Devastated (Anger Management, #1)(8)

His parents had been too busy with their fucked-up marriage to notice him and his teachers were always relieved when he didn’t show up for school. Hunter did what he wanted, when he wanted until he was seventeen and convinced his parents that they’d all be better off if he left home. He’d appreciated the fact that they’d pretended to care and even put in a little effort to try and convince him that they wanted him to stay. But, in the end, they’d simply agreed that there was no real future for him at home and signed the papers so that he could join the Marines.

It was probably the smartest and dumbest thing that he’d ever done in his life, but it made him the man that he was today. Unfortunately, it hadn’t helped with his temper. If anything, his years in the Marines seemed to have honed his anger into something that he could use to push himself harder and faster so that nothing and no one could fucking touch him.

At times, Hunter felt invincible, and other times like now, when he’d fucked up his life once again, he felt like the biggest fucking loser alive. Pushing away those negative thoughts, because he knew that they wouldn’t do anything but hold him back, he grabbed a pair of gym shorts, socks, and his running shoes and got dressed.

Five minutes later, he was in the home gym that he’d set up last week, running on the treadmill and going numb as he pushed himself through his routine. He ran five miles on the treadmill, lifted weights for thirty minutes, and drank a protein shake he’d grabbed from the mini-fridge as he headed back to his room. After a hot shower, he changed his clothes, headed downstairs and frowned when he spotted the cute little thing that he was stuck with dragging a large black trash bag towards the front door.

Hunter noted that her hair was a mess and that her clothes were wrinkled and stained with God only knows what as she continued to drag that bag down the hallway through the surprisingly clean foyer. There was still damage to the walls, but he hadn’t really expected miracles. Actually, he hadn’t expected much at all. He’d figured that she’d throw a fit, bitch and whine, and say the hell with this job and split.

Okay, so if he was actually going to be honest with himself, he’d admit that he’d completely forgotten about her and his asinine orders for her to clean the house. Hunter stood on the stairs for another minute wondering if he should tell her that the cleaning crew that he’d hired before he’d decided to throw his farewell to freedom party would be here in less than two hours to clean the house from top to bottom and fix any damage the assholes that he’d invited into his house had caused last night.

As he watched her struggling to drag that overfilled trash bag to the door that had to weigh more than she did, he simply shrugged and headed towards his office, reminding himself that he really didn’t fucking care if she’d wasted her entire night cleaning up after him.

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She could not afford a ten-thousand dollar fine…

She could not afford a ten-thousand dollar fine…

She could not afford a ten-thousand dollar fine, Kylie kept chanting in her head as she watched the cleaning crew that her new boss had apparently hired to clean after the party set to work to fix the damage to the walls as several of the staff took a mop to the floor that she’d already scrubbed while others polished the doors, stairs, and trim that she’d spent the entire night cleaning. She was exhausted, hungry, and filthy and it was all for nothing, she realized with a pathetic groan as she walked past the workers who apparently didn’t think much of her cleaning job and headed for the front door.

Feeling numb, Kylie opened the door, walked outside and kept going until she found herself sitting behind the steering wheel of her car, tempted to say the hell with it, drive away and take her chances with his lawyer, but she knew that she couldn’t go, thanks to that ten-thousand dollar fine that she’d been thinking about all night. That contract couldn’t be legal, could it? God, she hoped not, because she really wasn’t sure that she could do this. When he’d first told her to clean the disgusting mess that was his house, Kylie told herself that it was part of the job and something that she was just going to have to suck it up. For the money that they were paying her, she could handle a little grunt work and miss a night of sleep.

She’d mentally prepared herself for the job ahead, telling herself that she could handle anything that he threw at her. That was until Kylie realized that he’d been screwing with her. He’d given her a job to do that he’d already hired professionals to handle and he’d done it without blinking an eye.

The man was cold-hearted, she realized, as she started the car, put it in drive and found herself driving in the opposite direction of his house. She should go back, thank him for this wonderful opportunity before she explained as politely as humanly possible, of course, that she had an aversion to assholes and would really appreciate it if he released her from her contract without putting a huge dent in her savings account. But something told her that he would just find something pointless for her to do, like clean the floors with a toothbrush or iron his socks and underwear.

The sad part was that Kylie would do it because she didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t afford that fine, but more importantly, she didn’t have anywhere else to go right now. It would take her weeks to find a new job and, in the meantime, she’d either have to sleep in her car or spend what was left of her savings after she paid the fine on a cheap motel room and live off ramen noodles.