"Let's call it a carrot and a stick."
The carrot would be something nice. The stick, not so much.
His gaze narrowed. "What kind of carrot?"
Funny he wasn't asking about the stick. But eh, that would come later. "The carrot," I explained, "is this. I'm gonna give you a nice little bonus for something you should be doing anyway."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"Not firing Chloe."
"Who says she's gonna be fired? I've got half the girls out with the flu. I can't be firing anyone." Under his breath, he added, "Not yet, anyway."
"Uh-huh," I said. "How aboutafterthey get better, and there's no more flu?"
He glanced away. "I dunno. I haven't thought that far."
Like I believed that. "Uh-huh," I said again.
"And Chloe," he said, "she's got a mouth on her."
Yeah, she did. A nice one. Her lips were soft and full. And she knew how to use that mouth, too. But what did that matter? The way it was looking now, I wouldn't be getting anywhere near Chloe, or that mouth of hers.
God, I was a losing it.
The way it looked, so was Keith, but not in the same way as me. Apparently, he'd gotten over his initial fear and was working himself up into a nice little hissy-fit. "Get this," he was saying. "One time, she comes intomyoffice and tells me to fuck off." He snorted. "Me! And I'm her boss."
I knew Chloe. If she told him to fuck off, he probably deserved it. What had the guy done to her? And who'd put him up to it? Brittney?
Remembering why I was here, I pulled out my wallet and started peeling off some bills.
He eyed the money. "You're serious?" He licked his lips. "I thought you were just saying that."
"You thought wrong."
He shook his head. "I don't get it. If it's a money thing, why don't you just payherinstead?"
Because Chloe wanted nothing to do with me. That's why.
If I could, I'd make all her problems go away. I'd buy her a house. I'd buy her a car. I'd pay off her student loans and anything else she might owe. But I couldn’t. Because she'd know who did it. And she'd think I was buying her, like the prostitute I'd accused her of being.
But I wasn't here to explain myself to this idiot. So all I said was, "If I were payingher, I wouldn't be payingyou.Now would I?"
He was practically salivating now. "Good point," he said, reaching for the cash. A thousand bucks, all in hundreds. When he tried to tug the bills away, I didn't let go.
"First," I said, "let me tell you about the stick." I leaned closer. "If Chloe hears one word about this, and I mean one single word, whether from you or anyone else, I'm going to pay you a little visit." I smiled. "And your medical bills? Well, let's just say they'll cost a lot more than a thousand bucks."
In the end, he took the money. Then again, I hadn't expected anything else. And if he was smarter than he looked, he'd keep his mouth shut.
I was liking my odds. And not because of the carrot.
I spent the next few days trying like hell to push Chloe out of my mind. But no matter what I did, I couldn’t, because everywhere I looked, I saw her face – not for real, but in my mind.
On the home front, Bishop was starting to drive me crazy. He wasn't leaving. And instead of the annoying hard-ass, he was turning into some kind of nursemaid, giving me worried looks when I wasn't looking.
And the knives were still missing.
I didn't bother to replace them. Whatever. I wasn't spending a lot of time in the kitchen anyway. Without Chloe, even steak had lost its flavor.
