Page 31 of Confessions of Pain
“Travis, don’t be an asshole,” I warned. “You need this job. Your family needs your paycheck. This isn’t a game and you damned well don’t need to be picking teams. We’re all on the same team.”
I could tell I might as well have been talking to a wall. His shit-eating grin was in place. I was in trouble. Travis was going to be in trouble. Shit.
And now more trouble was two feet away from both of us.
“Travis said you would be able to get the machines up and running again, Kelsey. Titus says the simplex machines are the most important right now, so it’s pretty urgent.” Gabe took a deep breath and added, “I wanted to let both of you know that we have Barb calling all the mechanics back in, and they’ll hopefully be ready to start back to work no later than Wednesday of this week.” He paused. “Well, at least the ones we didn’t lose to other jobs.”
First of all, I found myself surprised that Gabriel knew Travis’s name because I was almost certain it wasn’t Travis who shared it with him since he was…uh, yeah, Team Kelsey. Secondly, I was pleasantly surprised that one of his first actions at the helm of Morganston Textiles was to try and get at least some of the employees on layoff back to work again. Of course, that was probably because he didn’t want to have me around any longer than absolutely necessary.
“Sure. It won’t be a problem,” I finally answered, hating myself for sounding so fucking breathless when answering a stupid manufacturing question. I knew it was something I would just have to get accustomed to because whenever Gabriel was around, I struggled to breathe. Then, in a moment of stupidity, I added, “Sorry I was late this morning, sir. I got…distracted.”
For a few enjoyable moments, I literally floated on air as I watched a faint blush stain his cheeks. A quiet gasp escaped his lips, and I could see his heart trying to punch out of the cage of his chest cavity. I’d just convinced myself that I hadn’t been mistaken earlier that morning when I’d thought he was looking at me like he still wanted me. His next words slammed that fucking door shut.
“Well…I’m sure it won’t happen again. Mistakes aren’t worth repeating. Let’s get those machines running again. If Titus understands your production schedule, the simplex order is due to ship to the customer in two weeks, and we aren’t even halfway finished knitting it yet.”
“Yes. Of course,” I answered, feeling like the biggest fool of all.
“Oh, and Kelsey, your desk is in my office upstairs—Wayne’s old office. After you get the machines running again, you need to come up so we can review your new responsibilities.” He turned to walk away and then turned back to me. “Don’t keep me waiting.”
I opened my mouth to respond and then slammed it shut again. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever for me to keep allowing stupid shit to fall right out of my mouth. Pride and confidence were never my strong suit and both had just taken a blow straight to the balls. Going forward, I would just keep my mouth shut and my head down. Whatever Gabriel had planned for me, I would take it. I’d earned it. The stupid-ass fucker inside of me kept whispering,‘maybe he’ll take you back then.’
“Asshole,” Travis grumbled, just loud enough to make sure Gabriel heard his comment.
“I heard that!” Gabriel called without looking back at us.
“I meant for you to,” Travis called out in a sing-song voice that proved my point that he didn’t have one filter in place and would eventually end up losing his job. I’d had some control over Wayne when it came to who he let go and who he kept. I clearly had no control over Gabriel. Nothing. Everything we’d once shared was nothing more than a memory in my heart that wouldn’t fucking go away.
Three hours later, my head was pounding and my arms and hands were coated in a thick layer of machine grease. My back ached from bending over the machine for entirely too long and my thighs were quivering from the strain. Oh, and I was starved since I’d missed breakfast and lunch didn’t look like it would happen anytime soon. I’d put off going upstairs and facing Gabriel for as long as I could without it looking too obvious. I stood up and arched my back, stretching the aching muscles.
“You got it from here, Travis?” I asked. He’d been hovering nearby the entire time, switching from watching me to watching the catwalk above us. I’d refused to even glimpse in that direction. If I had, I would probably have lost a finger or two in one of the machines I was working on.
I nearly yelped when I felt someone wrap their arms around me and squeeze tightly. Hot breath tickled the back of my ear and I heard a male voice whisper, “Don’t panic, boss. It’s just me. Listen, I don’t know a hell of a lot about how you boys get nasty in the bedroom, but I’ve got some ideas on how the mechanics work. I’m just gonna hold you tight and do a little bumping and grinding on your ass, okay? Don’t go getting the wrong idea or anything.”
What. The. Fuck.
“Yeah, I’m having a difficult time figuring out what therightidea might be, Travis. What the hell are you doing? Oh, and if you don’t take your hands off me in about two seconds, I’m going to kick your ass. That’s how I get nasty on the production floor when somebody pulls an HR nightmare on my ass.”
Travis laughed softly but didn’t let go. “First of all, you couldn’t kick my ass if your very life depended on it. Secondly, the right idea is to make the new owner jealous. He’s been pacing that catwalk like a hungry lion caged right next to the tasty-looking gazelle. I’m not lying to you, man, his eyes have been locked on your ass the entire time.”
The thought thrilled me, even though I knew it shouldn’t. Travis was mistaken. Like he’d said, he didn’t understand the nasty that went on in the bedroom for guys like me. The look in Gabriel’s eyes was hate, not lust.
“Okay, let me clarify. If you don’t take your hands off me, Jax will kick your ass.”
Just as I suspected, he stepped away immediately, holding his hands up like I’d just pulled a gun on him.
“Don’t be tossing around hostile threats like that, boss. I was only trying to help. Jealous fucking is awesome between men and women. It’s got to be the same for guy-on-guy action, right?”
I turned around and said, “You couldn’t sound more stupid right now if your very life depended on it, Travis. You touching me is not going to make Gabriel jealous, trust me. Not only can I not make Gabriel jealous, but there isn’t going to be any guy-on-guy action with him either. Just drop it.” I started to walk away and then added, “Please, Travis.Drop it.”
Travis huffed out a curse word and answered, “I don’t like how he looks at you, boss. I don’t like what I heard about him. Hell, I don’t like a damned thing about him, and I don’t think there’s anything you can do to change my mind. It’s my job on the line, not yours. Stop worrying about me, okay? I can handle myself.”
“I can too, Travis. I don’t need a knight in shining armor to defend my honor here. Let it go.”
“We’ll see.” His eyes looked toward the catwalk again. “Either way, I think you need to hurry up. His Royal Highness doesn’t look like he’s going to return to his throne until you join him.”
“Keep the machines in operation. They don’t shut down for anything, not even breaks. Stagger the schedule so somebody is available to keep them running around the clock. We’re behind schedule and this is the fabric we submitted for those military contracts we bid on. We can’t afford to fumble. Those military contracts are the only hope for this company’s survival.”
“Got it, boss.” His eyes strayed upward again and this time, he offered a mock salute to Gabriel. To me, he said, “If you need help, yell. He might be big, but Jax is bigger. I’ll put his number on speed dial.”
I laughed. “For a minute, I thought you were going to volunteer to race upstairs to my rescue. I should have known you would call in Jax for that shit.” I shook my head and started toward the bathroom to try and clean up. I’d already started the morning off like shit, facing Gabriel in nothing but my underwear. I didn’t want to be covered in machine grease for the second encounter.
Inside the bathroom, I squirted some Cherry Bomb onto my palms and started scrubbing with vigor. My hands, with years of experience, worked around the wide leather bracelets encircling each wrist. This morning, with Gabriel back in town, the bracelets stood out even more brazenly than normal. They were thick, starting at the base of my hand and going about four inches up my arm. They were locked on with a small lock…which I didn’t hold the key to. The tiny latch, made of platinum, was strong but not so strong that I couldn’t remove them if I ever took a notion. Their significance was more visual than anything.
As clean as I was going to get, I finally quit scrubbing and dried my hands and arms. One glance in the mirror told me I looked as horrible as I suspected I looked. Exhausted. Lost. Dark circles under my eyes. Bloodshot eyes. All in all, a shitty look. Not the way I’d looked in all my fantasies of when Gabriel returned home to me. Fuck it. How I looked didn’t matter. To me or Gabriel.
I tossed the paper towel in the overflowing trash and made a mental note to clean the restrooms before I went home for the day. Yeah, Wayne dismissed the cleaning crew about six months ago too. I’d been cleaning them since then. I didn’t feel comfortable asking the remaining employees to take on more responsibilities without more pay just because Wayne needed to add a fucking swimming pool. Anyway, Jax said staying busy was good for my mental strength, so I stayed busy. Cleaning the restrooms helped keep me focused on something other than how shitty my life was.
