Temping Is Hell by Cathy Yardley Read Free Book Online Page A

not worrying about anyone else.
    Yagi finally backed down, looking disappointed, if not surprised.
    “I warned you—hard decisions are coming. This may be one of them.”
    “Just clean him up,” Thomas said, staring at Pablo Escrima’s unconscious form. Then Thomas’s cell phone rang. He checked the screen, noticing it was one of the Fiendish vice presidents. “Yagi?”
    Yagi paused, one eyebrow quirked.
    Thomas took a deep breath. “I’ll think about it,” he said, then answered his phone. “Joel. What can I do for you?”

Chapter Four
    That evening, Kate answered her cell phone as she carefully navigated Alameda’s surface streets. Driving wasn’t her strong suit, so she considered ignoring the call, especially since she couldn’t manage driving and checking the cell phone screen to see who it was. Still, she thought it might be her brother, asking where his truck was, so she figured she’d answer it via her Bluetooth. Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission, she reasoned—he did store the thing at her parents’ house, after all, and she wasn’t taking the bus to this particular destination. “Hello?”
    “You’re going where ?” Prue yelped.
    Kate gripped the steering wheel tighter as Prue’s voice shrieked through the cell phone headset she rarely used—for just this reason.
    “It’s a work thing,” Kate hedged.
    She’d texted Prue that she was going to be late, and when Prue had asked the reason… Well, obviously Kate should have lied. Too late now.
    “And I’ll be by right after, I swear. This shouldn’t take long at all.” Kate paused. “Actually, I’ll be by right after I hit Costco.” She needed to pick up some Ho Hos, she realized. And some bottled water, and some energy bars. If the guys weren’t getting lunch or breaks, she wanted to make sure they were at least getting some kind of food.
    God, you’re such a den mother.
    “Tell me you’re not going to hang out with that skeevy, nasty little douchetard.”
    “Didn’t I just say it was for work?” Kate sighed, pulling up to the dilapidated Victorian in a seedier part of Alameda. “Listen, I’m here, and I don’t want to leave my brother’s truck in this neighborhood for too long after dark. He’ll kill me if I get it stolen. Let me just cut a deal with Tad, and then I’ll be right over.” She bit her lip. “I really, really need to talk to you.”
    “I’m at Thalossa,” Prue grumped. Then she paused. “You okay? You sound more stressed than usual.”
    Kate thought of Slim and the guys slaving away in the basement. They hadn’t left for the day. They’d just kept on working.
    Thomas couldn’t possibly know about that. He’d seemed so warm, such a down-to-earth guy for someone so rich and lofty. He had a nice smile, too, and he joked with her and listened to her, even when she’d insulted his company right to his face. A guy that mellow couldn’t be oppressing workers’ rights in his own basement.
    Could he?
    “I’m still figuring stuff out,” Kate said as she squeezed the truck into a parking space on the street between a hooptie tri-colored Ford sedan and a pimped out low-rider, “but I’ll tell you what I know. I’ll be at your apartment as soon as I can.”
    “Just one question—does the douchetard still live with his mama?”
    “See you at Thalossa, Prue.” Kate clicked off, then walked up the broken concrete path to the front door. It was September, and the air was definitely getting chilly.
    Tad “Tadpole” Stimes was one of the best computer guys she’d ever met. Considering her dating experience when she went to Berkeley, that was saying something. Prue had often joked Kate attracted more nerds than Comic Con.
    Kate and Tad had been lab partners in high school. For whatever reason, she’d taken pity on him, agreeing to go to Winter Formal, and since then, he’d kept the flame of unrequited crushdom burning undiminished. She’d seen him occasionally around the East Bay, and