Aspiring Nobody

Chapter 5 The deal

ERIN'S POV

Styles shifts in his chair. "I'm here to apologize. If I offended you in any way—"

"If. You were beyond rude."

He nods. "Yes. I was. And I hope you'll accept my apology?"

Ok. Where is the arrogant pig from yesterday, because this agreeable man cannot be him?

He sets his phone on the table. "I'm here to make you an offer, Miss Edberg."

"Well I'm not interested in working with you," I say, "Ever."

A smug grin spreads across his face. "That's a long time." Then he grabs his bottle of water from the table and tosses it from one hand to the other. "But you shouldn't be so hasty, Erin. Not when you still have the damages to my Porsche to consider?" He sets the bottle down on the table. "I suspect it will run into the thousands."

"Thousands!" I gulp. I was thinking a few hundred dollars, but how do I pay him thousands in damages when I can't even afford a bottle of water? Even a bank loan is out of the question since I don't have a job. How could this be happening to me on top of everything else that is going wrong in my life? " He taps his finger on the table. "Maybe you're ready to hear my offer now?"

As much as I don't want to give in to him, I relent. "What offer?"

"Help me sort through the boxes. Then I'll be more than happy to come to some arrangement regarding my car. I'll even throw in a five-hundred-dollar bonus at the end of the job?"

Would he just? "Why would you do that?"

His blue eyes hold mine, "cos I'm a good Samaritan, why else?"

"Bull crap. You're desperate. If you weren't, you wouldn't be here."

He snorts and then leans towards me. "Either you accept my offer or you can expect a bill; one I'll expect you to have paid within seven days."

Damn him, "you're a..."hot pig I want to tell him but I stop myself.

"Yes." he grins. "I no doubt am." He pulls a white business card from his wallet and twirls it between his fingers. "Now, think fast, Miss Edberg. Because I will not be kept waiting. Nor will the bill for my car. The offer stands for today only." He pushes the card across the table.

"What offer," Ryan asks.

Ryan picks the card up and looks it over. How much has he heard? "Why are you giving my sister your business card?"

"Well," Styles points his hand at me as he rests back in his chair, showing the full width of his wide shoulders, the muscles in his neck and that amazing jawline. "I was just telling her a friend of mine is a vet at Taronga Zoo. Occasionally they take on new volunteers."

"Oh," Ryan nods. "And you're about to hook her up I guess?"

Even though the volunteer work at the zoo is a fast, I am thankful Styles didn't tell Ryan the truth; not that Ryan seems to be buying it.

"Erin doesn't have the time to volunteer. She needs an actual job." Ryan's eyes dart to mine. "Unless you plan on letting mum support you for the next five years?"

I pull a face. "Of course I don't. I plan on supporting myself."

"And how do you plan on doing that when you don't even have food in your cupboards. I'm not an idiot, Erin. That's why you've gotten so skinny. Why you wouldn't buy yourself lunch today. You've wasted all your money, haven't you?"