She’d piled up a bunch of items on the desk, thinking to move them to drawers. Next she’d tackle the books, since Gerri had a wall of shelving made for them.
“I’m going to get as much done as I can today.”
Gerri nodded with a grin. “Wonderful. I’m stepping out for a little while. I have to meet my godson for lunch, but you do whatever you need to in here.” She glanced around the boxes. “Stay away from anything marked ‘IDT.’”
She picked up a stack of books and moved them to the table by the shelves. “Okay. I’ll be here.”
“Don’t feel bad if we don’t get enough done today. At least you got started. Things should pick up now that you have.”
She loved that Gerri helped match curvy women with shifters—shifters who loved curves. It looked like things weren’t going to work out with James. She might consider asking Gerri to match her. As it was, she’d gone on four dates with James and had fallen asleep on two and zoned out on the others.
He had to be the most boring man she’d ever dated. But he was nice. Heck, even James’s voice tended to make her sleepy—not that they were exclusive or anything. She’d made it a point to tell James she wasn’t ready for anything serious and wanted to keep the door open for either of them to date someone else they might feel more strongly about.
At first, James objected, but eventually he gave in and agreed. She was glad, because their last date had been the worst so far. She didn’t see them going on many more.
Gerri had been gone for all of ten minutes when Bella’s attention was drawn back to the tablet on the table. How in the hell did it turn on? She knew better than to touch it. She did. But did she listen to the voice saying stop? No way. She was too interested.
She rubbed it all over, looking for anything to press or pull. Nothing. The glass felt different. Not smooth like most screens. It was bumpy, with a strange feel to it. She pressed at the bumps, wondering how anyone could look at that screen and see clearly.
Suddenly, the screen turned a bright blue. Oh, shit. She scrambled, trying to get the damn thing to shut down, but nothing worked.
“Oh, no, no, no, no,” she groaned. “I’m not usually the person who gets fired on the first day for being nosy.” She rubbed the screen again, but the light only grew brighter. “Turn off, you stupid machine!”
Instead of turning off, words flashed on the screen, and a voice sounded from somewhere.
“Active communication, ready. Proceed?”
Fucking hell. Was the damn thing making calls without her knowledge? Fuck. Gerri was so gonna kick her ass. Tally had warned her. She was one of those people who didn’t beat around the bush. “Be careful with getting into trouble with Gerri. She won’t hold back. She tells it like it is.”#p#分页标题#e#
Great. Now she’d be the one having to tell Gerri she’d broken her machine.
“Active communication ready. Proceed?”
“No!” she screeched. “Turn off and stop trying to communicate, you stupid piece of shit. Nobody here wants to talk to you.”
“Incoming communication. Would you like to listen now?”
For crying out loud. She was sure it’d end up being her first and last day on the job. After this, there was going to be no way she could salvage the day. She searched the box she’d found the machine in, hoping to find directions and maybe a way to turn it off.
A loud beeping sounded from the tablet. She couldn’t figure out how to shut it up. The thing got louder and louder. She ran, almost tripping on the carpet, into the other apartment and shoved the tablet under a sofa cushion. It muffled the noise but didn’t stop it. Her heart raced, and her fingers shook.
She’d managed to catch her breath when the door opened and Gerri walked in.
“Ah, fuck!”
TWO
Gerri raised her brows before they sharply drew down. “What’s that noise?”
She clutched at the cushion, willing the tablet to shut up with her mind. “Um, what noise?”
Gerri blinked and glanced down at the seat cushion. “The one coming from my sofa.”
“I...uh...don’t hear anything,” she mumbled.
“Honey, I probably have the best hearing in this entire building. Do you really want to go with that answer?”
She sighed and picked up the cushion. The blaring noise made the apartment vibrate. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with this thing,” she yelled over the noise. “I can’t get it to stop.”
Gerri rushed forward and picked up the tablet, did something to the screen and the thing went silent. “It’s an alarm. It means the call was urgent.”