Page 12 of York

He also remembered that she didn’t like to get messages at work. He’d left her one there too, and she said that he wasted her manpower by having someone answer the phone for him. If he really needed to speak to her, he should come to the shop. But not to expect her to stop doing what she was doing to talk to him. She had a job too.

He thought his sister was a real bitch. She could be nice sometimes but not all that often. When he had to talk to her face to face, she was snarky and rude. He couldn’t believe that she would give him a hard time when all he wanted was some money once in a while.

Knowing she had it would piss him off too. She never treated herself to a fancy meal or a good time. She was forever saving her money for a rainy day. He supposed that if he did the same, he’d have some money too and wouldn’t need to borrow it from her, but life was too much fun to put money away.

Going back to his apartment, he decided to watch a little television before going to bed. While he didn’t know where Rose was, he had a feeling that she was out someplace shopping for food. The only thing she had to spend money on was something for her to eat, and he didn’t understand her sometimes. Never, as a matter of fact.

Going up to bed at eleven, he put his clothing out for tomorrow. He found that if he did that, he had an extra twenty minutes before he had to leave for work. It was games he played with himself to see what he could do to leave for work later and be on time too. Sometimes he’d cut it too close and would be about a minute late. But he’d fix that by not clocking in. He’d just forget; he’d tell them. It worked every time. So long as he didn’t do it too often. Like once a month would get him into trouble.

Getting up the next morning, he’d still not heard from his sister. Wondering what her beef was, he texted her and asked her to call him. When that didn’t get an answer, he decided to go to work by way of her shop. Surely she’d be there, and he’d get his money and some answers. On the way to work, he had a mishap and couldn’t stop. Making it to work on time, he was there in plenty of time to clock in. Christ, he hated working and wanted to get out of it as soon as he won the lottery. However, he never played, so that wasn’t going to happen, he joked with himself.

At lunch, he had a message from Rose. She was really busy but would call him at four. That’s when he got off work, so that was a good thing. He really wanted to go out to dinner tonight, but he couldn’t with his card behind. Stupid Rose was getting to be undependable, and he was going to have to point that out to her when he saw her.

By the time four rolled around, he was exhausted. Today had been a long day in that the warehouse where he worked was getting fall items out, and a lot was going to each store that was on his list. Just as he was ready to go home to take a nap, his cell phone rang. It was his undependable sister calling.

“Where have you been?” She told him that she had dinner with her new family and had gotten home really late. “What about the business? It says that it’s under new management. How are you supposed to be working if someone else is running the place?”

“I sold it yesterday. Donnie wanted to buy it forever, and I wanted to get out from under it. I made a good deal for him, and now I’m going to be a woman of leisure for a while.” He told her that he needed two hundred bucks that his credit card was past due. “I can help you this time, Phillip, but no more. I don’t have a job anymore, and I can’t be bailing you out all the time.”

“You’ll figure out something. I just need enough that I can get caught up. I had my card denied last night and that was embarrassing. Also, you’re supposed to change my oil on my car. If you’re not working anymore, how am I supposed to get that done for free?” She told him that he’d just have to pay for it from now on. “That’s not fair. You’ve been my saving grace on that for so long that I don’t want to have to pay for it. Come on, help me out. I’m your brother.”

“A brother who has a good job that doesn’t have time to do his own oil change.” He said it was nasty. “Wear gloves like I do when I do it for you. I’m not going to do it.”

“If I come by with the stuff, will you do it then? Of course I’m going to expect you to repay me for the supplies to do it. I’m already behind on my credit card.” She told him no. But he knew her better than she knew herself. She’d do it if he showed up for her to work on his car. “I’ll be by your place on Saturday. That way you can get it done and take me to lunch too. You must be rolling in the cash about now with the sale of the garage and all.”

“I’m not rolling in anything. I have myself a nice savings account, and I have a husband now that is going to need me to be there for him.” He asked her when she’d gotten married. “I’m not yet, but I will be tomorrow. We’re going to go to the courthouse to get it done so that there is no fuss. You can come if you don’t have to work.”

“I have to work. You did that on purpose, didn’t you? Getting married just when I need something from you.” He started his car to go to where she’d been living to talk to her face to face. “I’m coming over. Have the money ready for me, and it had better be in cash. I don’t have time to try and figure out a way to cash your checks. Besides, the banker told me that you can only take out as much as it’s written on the checks. Did you know that?”

“I did. Why are you trying to take more money out of my account when I write you a check?” He said that he had all her information on the checks that she’d given him. “That is all you’re getting if you try that again. I might just have to give you cash from now on so that you don’t try anything stupid again.”

“I was only going to take out an extra hundred off the check. You can afford it.” She said that she couldn’t. She saved her money for something important. “What could be more important than your brother? Answer me that?”

She didn’t say anything, and he took that as a yes; nothing was more important to her than him. And that’s the way that it should be. He realized for a second that he knew nothing about his future brother-in-law. Asking her, she told him who she was marrying.

“Nah, you can’t marry one of the Malone men. They got money. And taste. What would he want to do with you?” She thanked him and told him that they loved one another. “I don’t believe you. You’re having fun at my expense. Just tell me who you’re really marrying tomorrow, and I’ll get a kick out of you saying you’re going to be a Malone. Come on, don’t tease me.”

“I really don’t care if you believe me or not. I’m marrying York Malone in the morning at the courthouse, and you can show up or not. But I’m not going to put up with you calling me unworthy of marrying him. I have enough problems with self-esteem as it is.” He told her that he was sorry, but she had to be lying to him. “Whatever you want to believe, Phillip. I know what I’m doing. I’ll have the money for you tomorrow night. You can come by my new house then and pick it up. But I’m not going to be bailing you out again. Just because York has money, doesn’t mean that I’m going to be giving it to you from now on.”

“You go on believing what you want. I know men like him.” She told him she was hanging up. “Just so you know, I’m not going to believe it. You’re probably working for him or something. That’s it, isn’t it? Come on, Rose. We both know that you’re not going to be marrying him no matter what.” The phone went dead, and he got a big kick out of the fact that rather than tell him the truth, she’d rather not talk to him.

Phillip knew better. He might be younger than Rose by a whole year, but that didn’t make him less smarter than her. He had street smarts and was going to have to save her from herself when he saw her. She’d be there; he had no doubt about that, but there was no way that she was going to be marrying any of those men. They’d eat her alive.

Making his way to the house so he’d know where to go tomorrow, he did see her old beater out front. That made him know that she was just working for the man and not marrying him.

Just as soon as he saw her, he was going to have to make fun of her. Thinking that she could marry someone like one of the Malones was just stupid. Besides, he’d heard that they weren’t even human. Not that he cared about that, but he knew that his sister was going to be teased about this for the rest of her life. To think that she was going to tell people that she had married a Malone was just stupid on her part.

~*~

Rose was pissed off. Her own brother thought that she wasn’t worthy enough to marry York, which made her see red. York came around the corner from the living room, and she asked him if he thought that she was good enough to marry him.

“Where did that come from?” She told him what her brother said, not leaving out anything. “So he’s coming here tomorrow? Good. That’ll be good on both our parts. I’ll make him believe you.”

“What are you planning to do to him? You’re not going to kill him, are you?” He laughed; she loved to hear his laughter. It was so strong and happy sounding that she wanted to make him laugh even more. “Are you going to bite him? I think that would make him believe that you’re a vampire but not that I’m going to be your wife.”

“Leave it to me. I’ll make him understand that we’re wed tomorrow morning and things will be great. As for the two hundred dollars, there is cash in the safe in our room that you can use that for. There is no point in taking it from your own account when that money is there to use for that sort of thing.”

“I might do that.” She already had the credit cards that he’d had made for her, and she also had a dress maker coming to the house on Friday to make sure she had a few gowns to wear when they went out. He had to go to functions for the family, and she would be at his side. She even had her own hairdresser in the mansion so that she could look her best daily. Rose was enjoying this pampered life. It had only been a few days, but she was enjoying herself a great deal.