Perfection (Neighbor from Hell #2)(7)

Nope.

Stupidly she thought that they'd appreciate finding out where their money was going. She never expected them to show their appreciation by giving her a raise or a promotion or anything. She wasn't delusional after all, but she had hoped that they would relax their rules a little bit so that going to work wasn't so damn stressful, but really she should have known better.

Telling her immediate supervisor, who in turn let everyone know that one of the partner's wives was stealing from the company was a dumb move. She should have gone with her original plan and anonymously sent the file, but she hadn't thought the information would have been taken seriously unless there was an actual person behind the complaint. She should have known that Mr. Sands would take it out on her.

Now she was facing a future of living out of a car, again. Granted her car at this very moment was rapidly filling up with water or being vandalized and might not be livable come morning.

"Zoe," she heard Trevor say through the wall.

"Go. Away," she said into the pillow, unsure if he could hear her and really not caring. She had enough problems without adding his bullshit into the mix.

"I'm really sorry," he said louder.

She didn't bother answering as she lay there, hoping he would just give up and leave. Of course he didn't.

"I'm really sorry," he said, again.

Frustrated that he wasn't going away and angry with herself for crying, she rolled over onto her side and demanded, "For what? For being a jerk or for calling me fat?"

"Hey! I didn't call you fat!"

"What the hell would you call it?" she snapped back.

After a short pause he muttered something before saying. "You're right. I'm an ass**le."

"At least we're in agreement about one thing," she said.

"Look, I'm trying to apologize here. Could you cut me some slack?"

She thought that over for a minute. "Are you going to give me back my pizza?"

His answer was a snort.

"Fine. Whatever. Keep the pizza," she said, half expecting him to offer to share it at least.

"Thanks," he said brightly, and she could have sworn it sounded like he was eating, but she couldn't really tell through the wall.

She grabbed Mr. Cuddles, the teddy bear she'd had since she was two, and absently ran her fingers over his worn little ears and button nose.

"So?"

"So what?" she called back, throwing a confused look at her bare lavender wall.

"So what the hell happened to you today to set off that little breakdown?" he asked as she heard a familiar hissing sound. Yup, he was eating her food and drinking her Coke, she thought with a resigned sigh.

"You don't think the shit you pulled was enough to set me off?" she asked, rolling onto her back and placing Mr. Cuddles on her stomach.

"No. Not really," he said easily.

"I just had a bad day at work," she said, wondering why she was talking to him.

"Is that why you said you had to move out?" he asked with what sounded like a mouthful of food.

She snorted. "You don't think the crap you pull is reason enough?"

"Nope," he said with absolutely no hesitation.

Zoe rolled over onto her side, hugging Mr. Cuddles tightly in her arms the way she used to when she was a little girl spending her first night in a new foster home. Even after all these years it still brought her comfort.

"So?" he asked, still eating her damn pizza. It should piss her off, but after everything she'd gone through today she discovered that she really didn't care and didn't have much of an appetite anymore.

"I was fired if you must know so I won't be able to pay you rent past next month," she said, sighing heavily.

"What did you do?" he asked shamelessly, reminding her of the women who gossiped at the beauty salon.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fucked up big time, huh?"

She titled her head back to glare at the wall, wishing she could glare at him instead. "I didn't screw up!"

"Fucked up. I said f**ked up," he sighed heavily as if reminding her somehow pained him.

"Same damn thing," she said, still glaring.

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is."

"Nope," he said, making the word pop.

She growled. "You know you're annoying, right?"

"Yes," he said unconcerned.

"You were dropped on your head as a child, weren't you?"

"Once or twice," he mused. "Now, you were telling me how you f**ked up and got fired," he prompted.

"No, I wasn't," she said, frowning.

"Are you sure? Because I distinctly remember you saying, 'Let me tell you how I f**ked up, Trevor' and then stopping only to tell me that I'm the best landlord that you've ever had."

"Oh yeah, you rock," she said dryly, her lips twitching despite herself.

"I know," he said on a long drawn out sigh. She couldn't help but roll her eyes. The man truly was arrogant. Not that she could blame him with his chiseled bad boy good looks, killer green eyes and a body that didn't exactly hurt the eyes.

"So?"

"So what? I'm sleeping. Go away," she grumbled, not exactly in the mood to recap one of the stupidest things she'd ever done.