by Jenn Hype
Get it together, man. She’s an employee, not your girlfriend.
I punched my guilt in the throat and forged ahead.
“You get one shot. You mess up, just once, and you’re out of here. The hours are long and I won’t take it easy on you. You’re so damn determined to work for me, then you better step up to the plate. You hear me?”
For a woman who seemed to thrive when challenging me, I expected a fight. Or in the very least a glare or an eye roll. Assuming anything where Blake was concerned was a waste of fucking time though. The seductive little enigma always did the opposite. Like launch herself at me and wrap her arms around my neck in a giant hug. A hug that ended before I had a chance to even wrap my arms around her. Not that I wanted to or anything. Just saying I wasn’t given the option, dammit.
“I promise, Mr. Jade, you won’t regret this.”
A genuine smile lit up her face. My hands fisted at my sides so I wouldn’t do something ridiculous like grab her hand and yank her back to me. I also kind of felt like an ass for telling her to call me Mr. Jade when every other employee called me CJ. But it was better to keep professional boundaries, though, right?
She shuffled past me but stopped at the doorway. “You have a chocolate chip scone in the top right drawer, as well as a banana and a bottle of water. Your mom said you’ve been getting muscle cramps in the evenings from your long hours and strenuous workouts, so that will help.”
“Did she tell you that yesterday?”
Blake laughed. “No, silly. I text her this morning and asked her what you liked to eat and drink in the mornings so I could butter you up. She also emailed me a list of things I needed to do to help you maintain your health.” My face must have conveyed how horrified I was with the whole situation because Blake smiled and shook her head. “Don’t worry, my mom is the same way. I think it’s sweet that she still looks after you even though you’re an adult. Anyway, I’ll let you get to work. Liam asked me to help with something this morning, so I’m going to go find him. I already programmed my cell phone number into your contacts, so call or text me if you need me to run back here for something!”
I fell back into my chair and ran my hand through my hair. Why was it that just a few minutes near Blake left me feeling so drained and empty?
Sitting up straighter, I shook the mouse and woke up my computer. A few hours of focusing on work and I wouldn’t feel so disconcerted. Putting my energy into something productive, something I could control - that’s what I needed. Not hyper little redheads with tempting lips and distracting curves.
No, that was the last thing I needed.
CHAPTER FIVE
BLAKE
“The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four people is suffering from a mental illness. Look at your 3 best friends. If they're ok, then it's you.”
- Rita Mae Brown
“This is all so devious and underhanded,” Michelle whispered conspiratorially.
“You don’t have to whisper. He’s not here,” I whispered back teasingly.
Momma Rose was sitting to my right, Michelle across from me. The two empty seats on my left were reserved for Clara and Josi, who were due to arrive any second. They were both CJ’s younger sisters, with Josi being younger by three years and Clara by five.
Rose snickered. “Mothers learn to be devious early on. It’s the only way we get our children to do anything. That only becomes more true as they get older.”
“Not true,” Clara argued as she strolled towards our table. It was the first time we’d met in person, but I’d been texting both sisters since Rose gave me their numbers and had seen photos of them, so I recognized Clara right away. She kissed her mom on the cheek then took the seat next to mine. “I was always obedient and did as I was told.”
A snort sounded from behind me. I turned to see Josi approach. “Yeah, right. You were the worst of us all. Got away with more too since you were the baby.”
After hugging Rose, Josi took the seat next to Clara. I made quick introductions, my insides turning a little warm at how comfortable I felt with both of them already. Michelle tossed out a quick hello then quickly turned the conversation back to scheming.
“So what are you going to do next? Do you guys have an evil plan drawn up? Oooh, do you have a lair? Every villain needs a lair.”
“I’m not a villain!” I shouted, startling the waitress I hadn’t seen approach.
We placed our drink orders and dove into the bread basket the waitress had brought us. I’d have to do a whole extra workout later to burn off the carbs I was about to consume, but it would be worth it.
“Ya know, now that I think about it,” I said around a mouthful of bread. “We really should have a lair. That would be pretty badass.”
“Agreed,” Clara chimed in. “Is there a store that sells lair-specific stuff? Like, what does one put in their lair, exactly? For some reason all I can picture is a sex dungeon.”
Soda shot out of Michelle’s nose.
“You need to lay off the BDSM books, little sis,” Josi said with a shake of her head.
Rose tsked. “Girls, we are not villains. Our motives are completely altruistic.”
Maybe Rose’s motives were selfless, but mine? Not so much. Unless I was misremembering the definition of altruistic.
Luckily I had a sister who had the nerdiest party trick ever. “Michelle,” I said flatly, giving her a knowing look as if to say you’re up. She perked up, getting that annoying excited look in her eye that always happened when she was about to geek out on someone.
“Showing a disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others; unselfish.”
Everyone but me stared at Michelle with wide eyes. She blushed under the scrutiny and shrugged, looking down at her plate.
“Wow. Can she do that with any word?” Clara asked me as if Michelle weren’t sitting right across from her.
I shook my head. “No, she knows really random shit, too. Like the origin and original meaning of words and phrases. When she’s really uncomfortable, she’ll start reciting facts without anyone asking. It’s hilarious to watch.”
A piece of bread hit me in the forehead. Michelle grinned evilly at me. I smiled back while popping the weaponized food into my mouth.
“Seriously, let’s get back to the topic here,” Michelle pleaded.
“Okay, so do you have a plan?” Josi asked, echoing Michelle’s earlier question.
I marveled again at how easy and right things felt with these three women who’d only been a part of my life for such a short period of time. With Rose, I’d immediately felt a sense of belonging. I hadn’t expected it to extend to her daughters as well, but they were all so down to earth. And so unlike the majority of people I’d come across since moving to New York. Ya know, friendly… And they took in Michelle just as quickly as they had me. I felt myself on the verge of forcing everyone to group hug.
“You should get Liam to help us,” Clara suggested.
Josi laughed. “You just want to involve him because you have the hots for him.”
“Uh, yeah. Have you seen the man? He’s the quintessential bad boy, with his dark hair a little too long and that perfect amount of scruff. Paired with that sexy leather jacket he always wears? Phew.” Clara fanned herself.
“He’s a man-child,” Josi argued. “He and Malcolm never stop pranking each other. The one time I went to see CJ, I unknowingly walked into the middle of a Nerf war. They had all the desks turned onto their sides and had set up teams. They thought I was CJ coming back from a meeting, so the second I opened the door, they all attacked. And let me tell you, those little foam darts freaking hurt when being drilled at you from only a few feet away.”
“Were you pissed?” Michelle asked.
Josi shook her head, smiling ruefully. “No, of course not. I pretended to be, though. Yelled at all of them and demanded they clean up their mess before their boss came back. They all apologized and some of them looked genuinely afraid.”
/>
“Did you ever let them know you didn’t really care?”
Josi looked at me. “They figured it out. Every year mom has a cookout for all of the employees at her house, which took place a couple weeks later. I waited until they were all sitting down at the big picnic table, about to eat their food, and then I turned the hose on them.”
Clara was laughing so hard she was clutching her side. Rose wore a small smile, but her eyes danced with humor, the affection for her daughters obvious.
“They were so pissed,” Clara said between wheezes.
“Yeah, I mean, it did ruin their food. They weren’t too happy about that.”
We were all still laughing when our food arrived. Conversation moved to more of a get-to-know-you territory while we ate, but didn’t take long to veer back to the main reason we’d gotten together.
“So seriously, what’s the plan here? You going to join in on the pranking with Liam and Malcolm?”
I shook my head at Clara. “I love pranks as much as the next guy, but if it was enough to provoke CJ, it would have worked a long time ago.”
Rose nodded in agreement. “Spend two minutes in the same room as Blake and CJ and you’ll understand. All she has to do is breathe and he’s already like a stick of dynamite at the very end of its fuse.”
“Gee thanks,” I muttered sarcastically.
Rose chuckled and bumped my shoulder with hers. “That wasn’t an insult.”
“Sure sounded like one.”
“Speak of the devil,” Clara murmured.
Raucous laughter and conversation filled the air. The way Clara’s eyes gleamed with mischief, it was easy to discern who exactly had just walked through the doors.
“Blakey-poo!” Liam yelled just before his hands came down on my shoulders. He squeezed my muscles so hard I flinched. That earned him an elbow to the stomach.
While he was recovering, Malcolm stepped up and I introduced him to Michelle. I saw the appreciation in her eyes as she slowly looked him up and down. What was interesting was the way Josi practically bared her teeth at Michelle’s blatant perusal. I started to wonder if something was maybe going on between Josi and Malcolm, but he barely even acknowledged her. And she didn’t look all that happy to see him.
Trailing behind Liam and Malcolm were three guys I hadn’t had the chance to meet yet. Granted, it was only the end of my second day. Rose had text me earlier and invited me to dinner at a little Italian place nearby. Michelle had a rare free moment and we’d already had plans for dinner, so Rose instructed me to bring her along for a strategy meeting.
A meeting my new coworkers were now crashing.
“Let me guess,” Liam drawled. “You’re all gathered here today to plot the demise of my boss.”
My head jerked up in surprise. What the hell? How could he possibly know that?
Beside me Rose laughed. She placed a hand on my arm. Like she was trying to keep me from doing something crazy. I was too stunned to do much of anything.
Liam smiled smugly. “Momma Rose invited us.”
I bit back a grin. He’d used the nickname I’d given Rose. Stupid, maybe, but it made me feel special. Included.
“Calvin, Drew and Big Willy,” Malcolm said quickly, pointing to the men standing behind him. “They’re pawns here to do our bidding.”
“Tell me, Malcolm. Do you ever plan to move out of the frat house and become a real adult? Or will you forever be hazing your men from your self-appointed throne?”
Josi’s smile was straight up wicked, but Malcolm looked unaffected by her words. So unaffected, in fact, that he didn’t even bother responding. Instead, he nodded at his minions, who all hurried to get chairs to add to the table. The five guys took seats, squeezing into our table until we were packed tightly like pickles in an overstuffed jar.
“I have an idea,” Liam said, leaning forward conspiratorially. “So tomorrow morning…”
I grinned widely as I listened to his plan. Honestly, I didn’t know CJ well enough to know if any of the suggestions tossed around would work, but I was happy to go along for the ride.
After all…it was the first meal I’d had since moving to New York where I wasn’t either by myself, with Michelle or forcing my hunky-slash-hostile neighbors to eat with me. The people surrounding me might have been there because I was a player in a game, but their motives for helping their friend were noble, and they never once made me feel like an outsider. Maybe I wasn’t one of them yet, but I would be. I could feel it.
-
“So who all knows what we’re doing?” I asked Liam while I finished taping my hands up. Usually when I sparred, I’d use boxing hand wraps, but mine were still packed in a box I’d been too lazy to open up after dinner last night.
We were in the basement level of Jade Securities I didn’t even know existed. You had to go out a door marked for emergencies only and down a small flight of stairs to find it. I hadn’t thought to snoop through random doors that looked to be exit only.
As instructed, I got up at the ungodly hour of four in the morning to meet Liam and prepare for our day’s curriculum, which involved me and Liam boxing. I still didn’t fully understand why that was a big deal and would bother CJ, but I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to kick someone’s ass at boxing. Obviously Liam thought he was going to have to teach me a few things. I could have pretended not to know anything so the first punch I landed was a surprise, but I would have felt guilty. Apparently my knowing how to tape up my hands was clue enough for him.
“No punches to the face,” he said warily. “Can’t have you damaging my money maker.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re a security guard, not a model.”
“I prefer hired muscle aka Superman’s mortal counterpart.”
“Brain damaged glorified babysitter?” I offered with a sweet smile.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Watch it Myers, or I won’t take it easy on you out there on the mats.”
Ignoring his threat, I walked over to said mats to stretch and warm up. We weren’t fighting for real, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t for real pull a muscle. I’d only been half awake when I first arrived, so I hadn’t noticed much about the room initially. Now that I could take it all in, I was notably impressed.
One corner housed a massive old-style bank vault. Liam told me it housed enough weapons to survive a zombie apocalypse. On the wall next to it were a dozen or more tactical vests, helmets, hand-held two-way radios and other equipment I’d imagine could be found in police stations or the bunkers of paranoid civilians. Seriously, there was enough crap to supply a massive FBI raid. Where the hell did CJ even get all that stuff? Was there like, a vigilante superstore?
I tucked that question away for later and moved on. A makeshift gym sat in the far corner of the room. A weight bench, a couple treadmills and a few machines I’d seen at the gym but never used. All of it looked seriously expensive. There were a few machines I didn’t recognize, though and could not for the life of me figure out what they were for.
“Hey!” I yelled for Liam, then jumped out of my skin when he responded from right next to me. “Shit, Liam. Don’t sneak up on people.”
He chuckled.
“What are those machines for?” I asked, pointing to the ones in question.
“Those are custom pieces of workout equipment CJ commissioned based on the needs of the men he hires. Several of them have physical limitations from injuries they sustained during their time serving. CJ always works hard to make sure every employee has the tools they need at their disposal.”
He said the words so matter-of-factly. My heart cracked in two.
I swallowed down the knot forming in my throat. “Is doing all this to him cruel? He seems like a good guy. I’m only okay with all of this if it isn’t something that will hurt him.”
Liam’s expression turned somber. The teasing glint in his eyes was gone, the small smirk he constantly wore nowhere to be found. For the first time since meeting him, Liam look
ed dead serious. It was kinda freaky.
“CJ isn’t just a good guy. He’s the best guy. He would give his life to save someone else’s without hesitation.”
To hear him speak with such conviction made me uncomfortable. I couldn’t tell you why. Intense conversations or emotional moments with other people didn’t bother me. But for the next hour, as more people trickled into the basement and we set everything up for when CJ arrived, the indiscernible feeling kept nagging at me.
When go-time rolled around, I shoved everything else aside. The show we were about to put on was for CJ’s benefit, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have a little fun kicking Liam’s ass in front of all his friends.
“Remember, no shots to the face,” he reminded me, pointing his finger and trying to look all serious.
I winked, faked a jab to his face that made him fall back onto his ass, and fell over myself laughing right along with everyone else.
Damn, this place is fun.
CHAPTER SIX
CJ
“The problem with life is, by the time you can read women like a book, your library card has expired.”
- Milton Berle
As was becoming a normal occurrence, I woke up with Blake on my mind. Correction: I woke up with my plan to get rid of Blake on my mind.
I’d almost decided to let it drop. After all, she’d been proving herself capable. My office looked immaculate for the first time in months, and she’d been leaving me alone for the most part. Which was great. I didn’t need her bothering me constantly at work. Just the sight of her immediately raised my hackles, so her keeping her distance was perfect. Then again, knowing she was in the building but not knowing what she was doing or who she was talking to or when she’d pop up and annoy me again was driving me a little mad. So basically, Blake was a distraction I couldn’t afford.
Reed was my best option in who to choose as an accomplice. A few of the guys would jump at the opportunity to be a part of some nefarious plot, but as loyal as all my men were to me, that applied more to the job. Taking down a woman, so to speak, wasn’t the same thing. They’d most likely end up double crossing me. Assholes. Reed, however, tended to keep his hands clean of the juvenile bullshit that typically went down in the office. Plus he already knew I was digging up information on Blake. He just hadn’t known why.
