Chapter 4

"Delivered her safe and sound boss." Calcius casually walked up to the screen desk and dropped into one of the chairs facing the man.

"Good job." His voice dripped with sarcasm. Calcius didn't respond. He simply pulled out his phone and typed away. So much for the camaraderie she was expecting.

"I figured you'd come after all." He said with a smirk.

Faith huffed and folded her arms. What could she say to that?

"I take it you don't think I'm a kidnapper or rapist anymore then."

Cassius snorted. The man eyed him. Calcius didn't look up from the screen.

"How would I know?" Faith scowled at him.

"So let me get this straight, you still aren't sure that I'm not a kidnapper or rapist yet you came all the same?"

Again, she didn't answer.

"You're more interesting than I thought."

"You didn't give me much of a choice! My manager was going to fire me, remember?"

"So?"

"So!? So!? I need that job, you assh*me."

He seemed taken aback by her outburst. "Why not just quit?"

Faith shut her eyes and clamped her hands over them. "You--you are so arrogant." She stuttered angrily.

"Not all of us can afford to leave our jobs. We don't all own ten-story buildings or have secretaries or have bodyguards or whatever the hell Cassius is or have tables that are tablets!"

"Cassius?" He looked over at his bodyguard. "You're on a first-name basis already?"

"That is what you could pick out of all that?" She gaped at him.

"What? I'm just saying...that was fast." He shrugged. Cassius just grinned without looking up from his phone. "Anyway, are you going to stand there all through this meeting?"

"Is this how you organize your meetings? Threaten people to show up."

"Yes." He said it simply. Faith's eyes widened. He burst into laughter. "I'm kidding, little lady."

She could understand why he called her little lady. She couldn't even be mad at that. At merely 5'5, both of these men towered over her.

Faith sighed heavily. "Why am I here?"

"Because I'd like to offer you a job."

Faith's ears perked up at that. "A job? Here?"

"Here?" He barked a laugh. "Of course not. Aren't you in like your first year of college?"

Faith glowered again.

"Anyway, you see, I recently returned to college--"

"He's a dirty dropout," Cassius cut in.

"You didn't even go to college at all!"

"Exactly. Means I'm not a dropout."

"It means you're worse than me."

Faith watched their exchange with narrowed, disbelieving eyes. What in the six-year-old banter was going on here?

"You were saying!" She cut in.

He turned his attention back to her. "I was never good at studying, and I'm even more rusty which is why I need to employ a tutor."

"If you're not good at studying, how did you get into Barbell?"

"The same way half the students did? I bought my way in, of course."

Faith eyed him in disbelief.

"Heard about the new swimming pool arena in the school?"

Faith nodded. She'd heard about it alright. It had been top news at the school. It was the social hotspot of the school for a few weeks.

She just hadn't had the time for frivolous side activities between her jobs and studying.

"I donated that to the school. They let me in quite easily after that."

Faith felt a headache coming on. She rubbed the sides of her head with her fingers to relieve the pressure.

It was best not to think too deeply about what he just said. She already knew quite a number of the students were mega-rich kids who bought their way in.

She just didn't need to have the information tossed in her face like that while she was struggling so hard to stay despite being the top entrant.

"So, you want me to be your tutor?"

"Yes. I asked around and heard that you got the top score and I only want the best. Nothing serious, just the main subjects; Advanced mathematics, Calculus, Algebra, some science courses."

"You didn't need to bring me all the way here to ask that. I could have given you the answer back at the cafe. Not interested. I'm too busy to tutor you."

She turned to walk out the door.

He jumped to his feet and rushed around the table to stop her. "Wait! Busy with what?"

"Geez, I don't know, maybe with the three jobs I'm working? Or with my own studying? Take your pick."

He huffed. "And here I thought it was a major issue."

Faith felt her eyes begin to twitch. In how many different ways was this man going to dismiss her struggles? Surely, he couldn't come up with any more ways.

"What I'm trying to say is, I told you I was offering you a job, didn't I? I'll pay handsomely."

Faith eyed him. "How handsomely?"

He went back to his desk to grab a pen and paper, scribbled something across it and handed it over to her folded.

Faith opened the paper and peeped at what he wrote. Her mouth fell open. $8,000 was scribbled across the paper.

"For the year?"

"The year?" He seemed genuinely confused. "That is for each month."

Faith felt her knees go weak. This was twice way more than she got from all her jobs combined.

With this, she could easily quit all her jobs and even have some money left over to send home.

"Are you okay? You look a little white."

"Yeah, you kind of do." Cassius chipped in, finally looking up from his phone.

"I need to sit down."

"Finally." The boss said, circling around his desk to take his seat again. "I did tell you to sit at first, didn't I?"

"Shut up, Devlin. She looks like she's going to faint."

Faith barely registered that he just told his boss to shut up or that the boss, whom she thankfully now knew was named Devlin, only huffed in response.

Faith sat down next to Cassius. She took a few steadying breaths. They waited in silence for her to comport herself.

The silence didn't last long. "I don't need to call you an ambulance, do I? That won't be a good look for me or the business."

"I'm fine," Faith assured him. When she was sure that she was breathing properly again, she opened the paper slowly and peeked at the figure again. Yup, she was not mistaken.

"So what do you think?" He asked impatiently. "Can you take the job?"

Faith folded her hands in her lap and smiled. She registered that the smile was much the same as the one Anthony gave to this same man earlier but she didn't care. She only had one thing to say;

"When can I start?"