I did my best not to show how jealous I was of her. She had it all. A great job to be proud of, the sweetest kid, the crew at her back, and the most loyal and loving man at her side. If I was lucky, maybe I’d have one or two of those things in the future. I wouldn’t lay my bets on having it all. I wasn’t ever that lucky.
Dinnerwith the women of the crew was fun and the kids were adorable. The little girl who Mel said started it all was attached to Xander and wouldn’t let him put her down until her daddy stepped in. I was enjoying the chaos, pulled into a game of doctor with Prez’s little girl Zoey, when my phone buzzed. I had to shift awkwardly to pull it out of my pocket and when I saw themessage, I expected a message from Vegas. Instead, the message was from someone I wasn’t expecting.
K:Someone called asking about the company. Thought you should know.
My brows furrowed. Who would be asking about that? And why? As far as I knew, my company was dead and buried. I wasn’t exactly blacklisted, but it was a near thing and no one would come near my company with a ten foot pole. Unless…
S:Do you know who? Or why?
K:didn’t say. But they were really interested in what happened. You aren’t trying to revive it, are you?
Not even a little. I’d put my company on the list of failures I was wracking up and mourned it, but I knew when to back off. I’d only be hurting myself and whoever stuck with me if I tried that.
So who the hell was asking around about me? And why did I get such a bad feeling about it?
24
Vegas
I’d been a little annoyed when I drove out to the casino only to find the paperwork exactly where I told Charlotte it would be. I’d been discussing something serious with Sierra and I could see the hurt in her eyes when I left. The random ass trip also ruined my plans for our date. I should have just told Charlotte to wait until Monday. The paperwork could have been done then. I shouldn’t have left.
“Please don’t be mad at me,” Charlotte pouted, batting her big eyes at me. “I swear I looked there, but I didn’t see it.”
I felt a muscle tick in my jaw, but I held back my retort. I wouldn’t have been so annoyed if I’d been doing anything else. It was just bad timing.
“It’s fine, but I need to get back. I was in the middle of something.”
Before I could even fully turn around, she grabbed my arm, clinging to it and pressing her tits up against it. Before Sierra showed up, I would have been tongue tied and immediately dropped anything to get her to do it again. It didn’t have thesame effect on me that it used to. Not after what happened with Sierra the other night.
“Don’t go. You’re already here. We might as well get this done together. Two people are more likely to catch mistakes than just one.”
“I can’t,” I shook my head. “I was with Sierra. We were discussing something important. I’ll look it over on Monday.”
“Discussing what?” she asked, her grip tightening to keep me where I was.
I debated whether or not I wanted to tell her about the house. She flipped her shit when she found out Sierra was carrying my kid. I didn’t want her losing it again. That would only drag out my time here when I wanted to be elsewhere. Charlotte could be something of a livewire when she wanted to be. And if she stormed off and left work, I’d be stuck here covering her shift. Maybe I needed to look into hiring a floating manager to cover shifts when one is out.
“Are you… mad at me or something?” she asked quietly.
I was going to remind her about my policy of not working on my days off, but when I saw her bottom lip tremble, old feelings made their way to the surface and my chest tightened. Just because I was moving on didn’t mean I needed to be cruel. She didn’t do anything wrong.
Biting back a sigh, I turned to face her, making sure my face showed nothing but a patient smile. “No. I’m not mad. I promise. Just a little distracted.”
“With what? Sierra?”
Was I imagining the hint of disdain in her tone or what I just overprotective of the woman carrying my kid?
“Her. And the baby. I don’t have a lot of time to prepare, and I’m pretty sure neither of us have thought to buy furniture and shit yet. If I’d known earlier, I would’ve had more time, but–”
“It’s seriously messed up that she didn't tell you sooner,” she grouched. “She just shows up and expects you to drop everything for some kid. Are you sure its even yours?”
I’d never gotten pissed at Charlotte before, not even when she did a few no shows a few months back without warning. I’d always given her an excuse. But I couldn’t abide by her talking shit about Sierra. I wasn’t sure what her problem was with her, but Sierra hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Yes, Charlotte. I’m sure. Did you need anything else? I need to get going.”
I wanted to storm off, but her grip on my arm tightened and pulled me back. I wasn’t so much of an asshole to jerk away and hurt her or something, so I was forced just to stand there, silently seething.
“I’m sorry. I didn't mean that. I’m just worried about you.” She stepped around me, showing me the sincerity in her expression. “You’re right, you got no warning and I think its a little unfair, that’s all. I don’t want someone to take advantage of you. I care about you.”
