For the last several hours, I’d been part of a secret society behind the scenes, and I loved it. I especially loved having a little thread to Wallie. Even though we couldn’t talk to one another, I could at least hear his voice every once in a while, and I had no doubt he felt the same way.
Several hours later, I was starving and in need of a break. I hadn’t had anything to eat in hours, and one of the kitchen staff slipped me a plate of my favorite pasta with a blush vodka sauce and shrimp. I carried it to the employee lounge so I would have some privacy and quiet while I ate.
I was halfway through my plate when I set it aside and retrieved my mail from my purse. The letter from the bank sat on top, and I winced as I stared at it. Crap, I forgot about that, again.
With a sigh of dread, I tore open the envelope. As I read the letter, my heart dropped, and the food that I had just eaten began to agitate wildly in my stomach. No! They couldn’t do this!
The bank was now demanding payment in full. They were giving me ninety days to clear the account, or it was going to be sent to collections.
I was only twenty-nine years old. I didn’t want to have a collections notice on my credit history! I’d never be able to get a really good job, or go back to school, or get a better car, or buy a house. How did they think I was going to pay this back in ninety days—ninety days! They had to be kidding!
Tears raced down my cheeks, and my stomach gurgled as I glanced around the room. There was only one thing I could do. There was only one way I could make enough money to even get a quarter of that amount together, and that was to dance full-time.
I dropped my head into my hands and cried. I only allowed myself a few minutes of tears before I forced myself to suck it up and went to find Ty.
He was standing in the back hallway, outside one of the private rooms.
“Hey, Ty, I know you’re on guard, but I need to talk to you.”
It was obvious as he looked at me that he could see I’d been crying. He immediately got on the coms and called for someone to take over for him at the door. Once Bruce showed up, he led me back to his office at the rear of the building and closed the door.
I’d been inside Ty’s office a few times. It wasn’t large, but it was nice. There were several television screens on the walls to the right of his desk, and I knew that he sometimes sat there and watched what was happening inside the club while he worked on other tasks. He had two leather chairs across from his glass and chrome desk and a pile of papers stacked on one side beside a portfolio.
Instead of sitting behind his desk, he took the seat beside mine. “What’s going on, Reba?”
“I hate to ask this, but can you ask Mr. Monroe if I can move full-time to dancing?”
Ty looked a little taken aback by my request and blinked his bright blue eyes my way a few times. “I thought you were trying to get away from dancing?”
“I am—I mean, I was,” I hesitated. I had always been a private person, but if there was anyone I could trust, it was Ty. “Something just came up, Ty, and I need to make as much money as I can, quickly.”
His dark brows dropped low over his eyes. “Are you in trouble?”
Tears blurred my vision at his concern, and I cursed myself. “No, it’s my student loans.” I explained to him about the letter from the bank and that I had gotten so far behind because I had been helping my father while he was dying.
“And how much do you owe?”
“Over a hundred grand.”
He whistled. “Shit, Reba, there is no way even working full-time that you can make that much in ninety days.”
“I know, but maybe if I pay a large chunk of it off, they will give me an extension, or I can bring it down enough that I can get a loan from another bank for the rest.”
Ty leaned back in his chair and sighed wearily as he put his chin onto his fist. “And you have no other options?”
“Trust me, if I did, I would have tried them first. I was just thinking earlier tonight that I loved doing the hostess position and was going to ask if I could do that part-time instead of dancing, but that will never give me the money I need. The only thing I can do is go full-time dancing. That way I’m making tips and the thirty dollars an hour. I only make eighteen an hour plus tips which is maybe one-fifty to two hundred a night with my waitressing, but that’s enough to cover my household bills and keep enough in the bank for emergencies, but if I was making twelve dollars more an hour, plus getting the tips for dancing, I could really make a dent in the debt.”
“Yes, you could.” He dropped his head back on his shoulders and stared at the ceiling. “What about Wallie?”
I froze. “What about him?”
Wallie was undoubtedly going to freak and be pissed because there was no way we could be together now. I couldn’t go around lying, and he wouldn’t want to do that either. I was stressed over it after just one night together.
Ty lifted his head and gave me the you-aren’t-fooling-me look. “I know you were at his place last night, Reba.”
Should I deny it? God, I hated lying. “Did you follow me?”
“Yeah, actually I did.” I glared at him. “Hey, don’t get pissed at me. I’m trying to protect you both. You know exactly what happens if you get caught. I knew this was bound to happen sooner or later. I was just hoping it would happen later.”
“So if you knew, why did you even ask?” I retorted.
“Because I wanted to know if you would lie about it or not.”
“There is no use in lying. It happened. You were right. It was bound to happen. We were like two trains on the same tracks, and we were bound to crash into one another, Ty. We did. It’s over now. I have to take this position, and that doesn’t leave me any other choice, so when you ask me, ‘What about Wallie?’ I have to answer, ‘What about him?’”
His left eye twitched the slightest bit as if he hated hearing me say that, and quite honestly, I despised myself for even allowing the words to come out of my mouth, but this was my life, my problem, and I needed to deal with it. If Wallie was still around in a few months when this was behind me, then I could see if there was anything salvageable.
“Alright, let me check with Quinn and see if he’s available.” He went around his desk and picked up the phone. After pushing a button, he waited only a second before he spoke. “You have a moment?” After a brief pause, he nodded.
After he hung up, he waved his hand for me to stand.
“Does he even know what this is about?” I asked as I approached him.
“He knows that you and I are coming to talk to him.”
“How does he know I’m coming?”
Ty pointed to a camera in the corner of his office. “He sees everything.”
I was shocked. “I thought he trusted you.”
He laughed. “Remember when I put the earpiece in your ear, I said it was for your own protection? Well, that camera is for my own protection, as well as his.”
“Ah, got it.”
We arrived at Mr. Monroe’s office, and Ty put his thumb to the biometric scanner next to the door. It beeped, flashed green, and then the door opened. I’d never been inside Mr. Monroe’s office before and if I hadn’t been so upset about why I was here, I would have been excited to be inside the inner sanctuary of this amazing man.
“Ty, Ms. St. James, what seems to be the problem tonight?” Mr. Monroe was seated behind his desk; his neatly trimmed beard appeared a bit darker than usual, but that was probably because the lighting was dim. He had a fireplace off to the side that cast a warm, shimmering glow, and there was another bank of television screens, about twice as many as Ty had, on the opposite wall. I’d noticed that there was a seating area on the far side of the room, but I’d forced myself to keep my attention on Mr. Monroe and not drool over his furniture.
“Reba would like to request to switch from her waitressing position to full-time dancer for a few months,” Ty answered as he took a seat opposite Mr. Monroe and pointed to the other chair for me
. I bustled around the luxurious piece of furniture and quickly sank down.
It wasn’t until I was seated that Mr. Monroe turned his attention to me, his caramel eyes studying me. “Why the change? I was under the impression that you preferred to work in the lounge serving the customers.”
“I do prefer that.” I paused. “May I be blunt, Mr. Monroe?”
He nodded. “I would prefer that.”
“I hate dancing. I like to be around people and talk to people and flirt with them and have fun. Yeah, I’m good at dancing, and yes, I have a body that works on stage, but I’m not a fan of dancing. The only reason I am asking to do this is because I have two huge student loans that are going into default, and they are threatening to send them to collections if I do not pay them off. I’m too young for my credit to be screwed up for years.”
“How much is your debt?”
“Just over a hundred grand.” I expected him to laugh or roll his eyes, but his expression didn’t flinch.
“This might seem rather personal, Ms. St. James, but since you work for me, and you want to dance for me, and I know quite a bit about my dancers, is there something I need to know about you and why you can’t seem to handle your finances properly?”
“I dropped out of school about eighteen months ago when my father fell gravely ill. For about six months, I cared for him before he died, but while I was caring for him, I couldn’t really work, and every penny I had saved went to paying bills. Since I had dropped out of school before I got my degree, I had to start paying my student loans back immediately, and at first I was, but then they started getting a bit behind, and then it was one thing after another.” I paused. “I swear, Mr. Monroe, I’m actually a responsible person. I live in a tiny three-hundred-square-foot, one-room apartment, and every extra penny I make goes to the loans, but it’s just not enough and now they want it all.” Somehow I managed to keep my voice from shaking while I fought off another round of tears. The last thing I needed to do was to break down in front of both of my bosses.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Ms. St. James.”
“Thank you, Mr. Monroe.”
“So that’s why you want a temporary change to full-time dancer?”
“Yes.”
“Do you really think you are going to be able to make that much money in that short of time?”
“No,” I shook my head and the bun on top of my head wobbled. That was just par for the course. “I know it won’t even come close, but maybe I can get it low enough that I can qualify for a loan for the rest, or they will see I am willing to work hard to pay it off and not send me to collections.”
Mr. Monroe studied me for so long that it was difficult not to fidget. “Mr. Wellburn said you did a really good job tonight as hostess. Do you have any interest in doing that in the future?”
“Actually, Mr. Monroe, I was going to college for hotel and restaurant management, so, yes, I would like to do that—or something more like that for you and the club. I would love to be able to help you with anything.”
“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind.” He glanced at Ty as he leaned up to his desk as if he were about to dismiss me.
“Mr. Monroe, I need to tell you one more thing.”
He cocked a neatly-manicured brow that was so sexy that if my heart weren’t already stolen, I might have fallen in love with the man on the spot.
“I slept with Wallie last night. That was before I knew about this whole major medical bill thing changing, and I was actually going to come in here today and tell you that I wanted to leave the dancing for good, but then this happened and well, crap, I’d already slept with Wallie, and I can’t take that back.”
“You know the rules.”
“Yes, I know the rules, and he knows the rules, and neither of us will break them again. I promise, I swear. It was a one-time thing, and I take all the blame. It was my idea, I followed him home. He didn’t even invite me, I just followed him home.”
He leaned back in his chair and considered me carefully. Again it took all my willpower not to squirm under her watchful gaze. Finally, he stood and came around the desk. “Ms. St. James,” he held his hand out and I stood and took it, “I will give you the dancing position for the time you requested.”
“You will?” I shook his hand and stared into his beautiful eyes in awe.
“Yes, I will, but if you break the rules again, both of you will be fired. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir, I totally understand.”
“Okay.” He let my hand go and stepped away. “I like you, Ms. St. James. I have a feeling great things are going to happen for you here.”
“I hope so, Mr. Monroe.”
“Why don’t you go home? Take the rest of the night off. Tomorrow night, you will return and start with the dancers on their schedule. I’ll have Ty get the roster revised to have you shifted in. We might have to rework the schedule for a week or so, but we will find a way to fit you in.”
“Thank you, Mr. Monroe. Thank you very much, but I should stay tonight. I can’t afford to miss any time if I’m going to pay this debt back.”
Mr. Monroe pulled a money clip from his pocket and peeled off a few bills, handing them to me. “Consider this your evening tips. Your hours will be covered. Go home, Ms. St. James, and get some rest. I don’t mean to be rude, but you don’t look your best, and I want my employees to look their best when they are working.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I began to step back away from his outstretched hand.
Mr. Monroe smiled and stepped closer, taking my hand and putting the money into it. “Take it, Ms. St. James. Go home, get some rest, and come back tomorrow night.”
“Yes, sir,” I replied timidly and turned toward the door. When I glanced at my hand, I gawked at the three hundred-dollar bills he’d stuffed into it.
“Ms. St. James,” Mr. Monroe called just before I stepped out of his office. I turned toward him, “I appreciate your honesty tonight, more than you know.”
I smiled at him and then walked out of his office with my head held high. I wasn’t happy that I was going to be dancing, but I was glad that I had been honest and had admitted to what had transpired between Wallie and me. I just hoped Wallie would understand what I had to do and would forgive me for taking the position.
Chapter Ten
Wallie
This morning I’d left my place feeling like I was flying on a jet stream. Tonight, I returned and could barely get my sorry ass up the stairs.
The walls spun and, for a guy my size, hitting that level of intoxication was a hard thing to do. It had taken a serious number of shots to blitz my mind to this extent. Luckily, I had a boss who got it, even if he was in a piss-ass mood tonight, too.
I collapsed on the bed—not caring that I was still completely dressed—and passed out.
When I next woke, I was kitty-corner on the mattress, my head hanging off the side at an odd angle. My neck was stiff when I tried to lift it, and I groaned as a million hammers slammed into my brain. Fuck me!
I rolled onto my back and jammed my palms into my eyes. I hadn’t had a hangover in a decade. Shit, I didn’t think I’d even had a hangover this bad even back then. My stomach rolled and my head continued to pound as I lay as still as I could. The pocket of my slacks began to vibrate, but I didn’t have the energy to retrieve my phone.
I must have fallen back to sleep because the next time I woke up, my head wasn’t pounding quite as hard, although I still had something vibrating in my pocket. I found I could move this time without ice picks piercing my brain and pulled out my phone.
There was no way my eyes were going to work, and luckily I had my phone set to automatically answer when I put it to my ear.
“Yeah,” I grunted.
“I was about to come over and make sure you were still alive.”
“Alive.”
“How bad?” Ty asked.
“Fucking-horrific.”
“Take tonight off.”
&nbs
p; “’Kay.” I didn’t have the strength or willpower to fight with him. I’d never taken a day off in my life, but I was afraid that if I tried to move or spoke any further, I’d be puking my guts out.
“I’ll check on you later.”
“’Kay.” I dropped the phone to the bed and wished I would pass out again. Unfortunately, my bladder had other plans for me, and I slowly rolled off the bed. I tried to get to my feet, and the change in altitude made me sick. Damn, how much did I drink last night?
I ended up crawling into the bathroom and dragged myself up beside the toilet. Standing was difficult, so I set my manhood to the side and planted my ass on the seat.
I crawled back to bed when I was done and had just gotten situated on the mattress when Ty strolled into the room and a smell slammed into me that made my gut begin to instantly revolt.
“Get that shit out of here,” I mumbled.
“Nope, you need to eat the grease.” He disappeared into the bathroom and returned with a towel and then pulled out two greasy burgers and two large fries and set them on the towel beside me on the bed. From the pockets of his jackets, he retrieved two large bottles of vitamin water, the good ones with vitamin B. “Eat that and drink both of these, and you should start feeling better.” He shoved his hand back into a pocket and retrieved a bottle of medicine, dropping it on the bed next to me. “And take two of those.”
“Aw, I didn’t know you cared so much, Nurse Hawkswell.”
He glared at me as he began to walk away. “Watch it, Walters.”
The smell of the food was making me sick, and I figured I was either going to ralph because of the scent or because I ate it. I might as well try to at least get it to soak up some of the alcohol.
I unwrapped one of the burgers and, after the third bite, it began to go down smoothly. The salty fries tasted amazing, and I before I knew it, I’d eaten every bite and had drunk both bottles of water.
Whispers of Winter: A Limited Edition Collection of Winter Romances Page 109
