Cocky Prince

by Jules Barnard

  His gaze narrows. He parts his lips to say something, and my cell phone buzzes. A half a second later Adam’s cell phone buzzes too.

  He breaks eye contact and reaches in his pocket. I grab my purse and reach for my phone, because if we’re both receiving messages, it’s probably something important.

  The text is from Bridget, along with a series of images. For a moment, I don’t know what I’m looking at. “Is that a cucumber…in her…? Oh. Ohhh!”

  “Son. Of. A. Bitch.” Adam shoves his cell in his pocket and storms from my office.

  Holy shit. Bridget said she had an important email to get out. She’d seemed nervous when she realized I was looking over her shoulder. But it’s been half an hour since then. Maybe what she was doing is related to this?

  I rest my hands on the desk, blinking in disbelief. Why would she…? Doesn’t matter. It’s done.

  I check the text message again. She sent it to everyone. All upper management. But no clients, thank God. We can contain this.

  I pick up my desk phone and dial IT. “Remove it from the server. Now!”

  “Already on it,” the support guy says, his voice sounding anxious.

  My next call is to security. “This is Hayden Tate in human resources. I need you to escort an employee out. Yes, she’s being fired.”

  Or at least she will be. I’m assuming that’s where Adam was headed.

  What Bridget did—even if it was a mistake—no, just no. Beyond inappropriate. And a serious case of sexual misconduct. This is no slap-on-the-wrist situation. Particularly so soon after the assault charges brought on by an ex-employee on company property. Bridget’s actions are cause for immediate dismissal.

  I head for her office and hear Adam’s voice from down the hall.

  “What were you thinking?” His tone is calm. Chilled. Not the hard-edged voice he used on me earlier, which I interpreted as pure Hayden frustration. This voice is scarier in its iciness.

  Adam would never hurt Bridget, but I rush down the hallway anyway.

  “I’m sorry.” Bridget’s voice quavers as I round the corner to her office. “It was an accident. It was only meant to go to a few people.”

  Bridget is standing in front of her desk, her face pale as she desperately clicks through her phone. “I must have typed a name wrong and auto-correct filled in one of the lists. I can’t believe this happened.”

  “Why are you sending explicit images to employees to begin with?” Adam says. Bridget’s mouth clamps shut. “Answer me,” he growls.

  She lowers herself into her chair and looks away. “It’s a side business.”

  Whoa. Suddenly the attention Bridget’s been receiving from Blue’s male contingent—even the shy men—makes sense. I thought it was because she’s a nice person.

  Boy is she nice. She’s so nice she’s sending them smutty images of herself.

  “This is not a strip club. You understood the conduct I expected of you?”

  “I did.” She sounds desperate now, and she’s wringing her hands. “It was a mistake, Adam. It won’t happen again. The others—the managers—they were open to it. Well, as long as I kept it discreet…”

  Oh, I’m sure the managers of Blue Casino were open to her side business. Dirty bastards. I feel sorry for her, but damn, this is not something we can sweep under the rug.

  “Pack your things. You’re fired.” Adam turns and brushes past me, so angry he doesn’t even look my way.

  Bridget peers over pleadingly. “Can you talk to him? I don’t want to lose my job. I really thought it was okay—as long as nothing like this happened.” She looks down, her face pained.

  I shake my head. I like Bridget, but there is no way I can get her out of this. “What you do on your own time is your business, but Adam is right. You’re at work. Regardless of whether you sent the images to a select few who…wanted them, this sort of thing isn’t allowed during work hours. You get that, right?”

  She closes her eyes, then reaches for her purse. She looks around her desk and grabs a plastic box, removing the business cards from inside. “I’ll just take these.”

  Tucking the cards in her bag, she glances past my shoulder. “You called security?”

  I turn around to see a guard standing behind me, just past the door. “There are forms I need Bridget to sign,” I tell him. “Afterward, I’d like you to escort her out.”

  “I’m not a threat,” Bridget says.

  “No, of course not.” My voice is kind, sincere. “This is standard in these situations.” Though, come to think of it, I doubt Blue Casino has encountered a naughty selfie breach before.

  Bridget’s head drops, but she follows me to my office and fills out the forms I pull together. They’re basic termination documents, and even though Adam was responsible for hiring and firing her, I doubt Blackwell would want to risk her position not being properly closed. She was hired as a regular employee, after all.

  The best part of my job is offering a position to an excited and worthy candidate. The worst part is letting someone go. I want to know Bridget will be okay. I want to ask her if she can go back to her old job, but that will only open a window for her to negotiate her position back, and that’s not something the company can afford. Instead, I say nothing, my insides balled in knots as Bridget follows the security guard out of my office.

  Maybe this is better for her. Bridget was involved somehow with the Bliss suites, and now she won’t be around when all of that goes down.

  I walk Bridget’s termination papers over to payroll, and make my way to Adam’s office. His door is always open, but not today.

  I knock twice, so hard my knuckles smart with the impact.

  “Come in,” he calls.

  His back is to me when I enter, his broad shoulders and lean legs silhouetted against the window. “Come here to gloat, Hayden?”

  “You bastard.”

  He slowly turns. “Excuse me?”

  “I hate letting people go. It’s your fault I had to send that poor girl home.”

  His mouth twists in a wry smile. “That poor girl sent out inappropriate images to the entire management team. And you didn’t let her go, I did.”

  “Maybe, but you didn’t see her hands shaking as she filled out the termination forms, or watch her walk away with her elbows pressed to her ribs, escorted by security. I don’t like what she did, Adam. Of course not. But you brought her into Blue. You were responsible for mentoring and guiding her. How could you let this happen?”

  Maybe it’s not fair of me, but I can’t help directing my anger at him. Adam knows what’s going on at Blue, and he’s allowing it to happen. It sounds like some of management even supported what Bridget was doing, up until she got caught. Adam may not wear the Blue Star ring, but he’s involved. He’s responsible for this.

  He lets out a sigh and leans against the windowsill, his fingers pressed against his forehead. “It’s been a long day. Can we discuss this later?”

  I’d like to know exactly what he’s been up to and why he looks so drained, but I also know Adam is determined to keep everything a secret. To the point he was willing to wager with me to prevent me from discovering the truth. I have double the information on the suites that I had yesterday, and I can wait a little longer to discover the rest.

  “I expect you to smooth things over with Blackwell,” I finally say.

  He drops his hand, his expression weary. “Already done. ‘No harm, no foul,’ were his words.”

  “How could he not… Oh, forget it,” I say irritably, and turn to leave.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” he says from behind.

  I look over my shoulder.

  “It’s not true. Blackwell may not care about what happened today, because it didn’t harm the casino, but I do.” He glances out the window. “I take full responsibility for having to fire Bridget, no matter how wrong she was.”

  That’s more than I expected from Adam. I thought he’d brush this off the way he does everything
involving Blackwell.

  His gaze falls on me, dark and fixed. “I’ll be at your house Saturday to fulfill that bet I owe you. Be ready.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Adam

  “You look like crap,” Jaeger says.

  I loosen my tie and walk across the pavers, meeting him at the door to his woodshop. If it weren’t for his knee injury years ago, Jaeg would be a professional athlete right now. Instead, he makes dainty wood art. I give him a hard time for his choice of profession, but I gotta admit, he’s a talented son of a bitch. When I feel like doing something with my hands, I head over to Jaeg’s to saw shit up. It takes the edge off. But tonight I just need his tools. “Not possible. I always look good.”

  Jaeg snorts and moves to the saw table. He’s wearing work gloves and there’s sawdust in his short brown hair. I obviously caught him in the middle of a project. “What brings you here?” He blows wood dust off the table. “You need a board and saw to vent your frustrations?”

  “Can’t. Don’t have time. I’ve got to go back to work.” I glance around. “I came by to borrow a few things.”

  I have no idea what Hayden wants me to build this weekend, but I figure I should grab tools while I can spare a minute. I’ve got the basics at home, but Jaeg invests in the good stuff. I play with his gear whenever I get the chance.

  Working with power tools takes me out of my head and relaxes me. Which is why, despite the load of work I have at Blue, I don’t mind paying off my bet to Hayden this weekend. Matter of fact, in some twisted way, I’m looking forward to it.

  “I’m beginning to wonder if I should have taken the job at Blue,” I say. “Maybe I should quit and cut my losses.”

  The pressure at work continues to build. I knew Bridget’s background. I could have laid down better guidelines when I hired her, like Hayden said. But I didn’t. I assumed Bridget understood that a side business selling images of herself in compromising positions to lonely coworkers was not acceptable. Ingenious, because she obviously established a nice little following, but not appropriate.

  Obviously that sort of thing needs to be spelled out to some people.

  I asked around. Paul confessed to knowing what Bridget was up to. He figured it wasn’t hurting anyone, so he didn’t say anything. I suspect he was receiving the images as well, considering I found him in her office handing over his business card along with the rest of the douchebags we work with. I wouldn’t be surprised if Paul had received some sort of kickback for keeping quiet, dirty bastard that he is.

  According to Paul, the guys at work were thrilled to shell out money for Bridget’s naked photos, when they could have easily viewed that sort of thing for free online. Bridget in her prim and proper secretary attire by day sending them updates of her after-hours activities was too tempting to pass up.

  Jaeg sets down a measuring tape, his brow furrowed. “Cut your losses? What are you talking about? You never quit. Unless it comes to women—then all bets are off.”

  I drop onto the leather couch in his workshop and rest my elbows on my knees, my head in my hands. “I might need to change that philosophy. There are people at Blue who make the depraved billionaires at Club Tahoe look like upstanding citizens.”

  “It’s casino life, what did you expect?”

  “I get that, and I’m no saint.” Jaeg makes a sound in the back of his throat and I shoot him a halfhearted glare. “It’s more than that. I don’t trust these guys, which is tough, because I want my job. My father pressured me to take it, like he normally does, but it’s worked out, you know? There could actually be a future there. Especially now that there’s no conflict with Club Tahoe. The old man has done a one-eighty on me. He’s been calling, and has even expressed remorse for holding the trust fund over my head all these years.”

  “Seriously?” Jaeg turns around and stares. He’s spent time with my dad. He knows what the man is like.

  “Not in so many words, but he admitted to holding me back.” I chuckle. “Supposedly, he’s been calling my brothers too. I’d love to be a fly on the wall during those conversations. The old man must be going through some sort of midlife crisis. Admitting he was wrong to me is one thing, but strained doesn’t begin to describe the history he has with my brothers.”

  Jaeg leans against the table, his head tilted down. “I remember.”

  My friends witnessed plenty of shouting matches between my brothers and my father when we were growing up. The fights usually led to Hunt, Bran, Wes, Levi, or some combination of the four storming out of the house and not returning for several days.

  “Levi said the calls have been so awkward he actually felt sorry for the old man.” I shake my head. “But all of this is beside the point. I’ll figure out what to do about Blue. In the meantime, I lost a bet. I need to build something for Hayden this weekend.” I glance at the wall of tools. “You mind if I grab a few things?”

  Jaeg scratches his jaw, his gaze zeroing in on my face. “Why are you making bets with Hayden?”

  I made the bet to protect Hayden and keep her away from the Blue bastards we work with. The irritation in Jaeg’s voice doesn’t sit well. “What’s the deal? Are you playing big brother again? Or is there some other reason you don’t like the idea of me spending time with her?”

  His jaw shifts. “I don’t like what you’re implying. You’ve had a difficult day, so I’m going to let that one slide. But just in case it’s not clear, Cali is my life. Hayden is a friend and someone I don’t want to see get hurt.”

  “Sorry.” I scrub my face and shake my head. “I didn’t mean it that way. You’re right; it’s been a hell of a day. I know what Cali means to you.”

  Jaeger turns and picks up a rag from the table. “Forget about it. I won’t ask what your intentions are toward Hayden, because I’ve already done that. The only thing I’m going to say is you had better not hurt her.” He glances back. “And if you think I’m warning you because I’ll kick the shit out of you, you’re wrong. I might, but it’s Cali you should be afraid of. Mira and Nessa have filled her in on all the shit Hayden puts up with at Blue. Combine that with what happened to Hayden in high school, and Cali will neuter you if she thinks you hurt her.”

  “Duly noted.” Cali is a fiery little thing, and Jaeg’s right. It’s the females I need to worry about. “But I have no intention of hurting Hayden. Believe me, I’m staying far away.” I stand and cross the room to the shelves of tools and other equipment.

  “Doesn’t seem like it,” he grumbles, and glances at the tool I picked up.

  I look down at the jumbo leveler in my hand. “Yeah, well, this is for the bet I lost. Otherwise, I wouldn’t go near her house. You’re not the only person whose shit list I’m on. I don’t like getting on Hayden’s bad side. Gives me a complex to have a beautiful woman hating on me.”

  “Never bothered you before,” he says wryly.

  I shoot him an annoyed look. I don’t need Jaeg telling me how different I am around Hayden. I’ve heard it before, and I’m well aware. But it’s not easy to stay away from her when we work together. What can I say? Her presence is intoxicating and it stuns my brain into stupid territory. But I’ve got this under control. I’ll head to her house Saturday, take care of whatever the hell it is she needs me to work on, and be done with it.

  Jaeg takes in the jigsaw I absently grabbed. “What are you building, anyway?”

  “No idea.” I rub my forehead, a bear of a headache building behind my temples.

  He reaches across the table and tosses a pair of work goggles and a mask at me. “Maybe you should wear protection.” He quirks a brow.

  “Haha.” My voice is flat. But I’m happy Jaeg’s joking about my relationship—fuck, friendship—whatever, with Hayden. Reassures me there’s nothing simmering between them. They’ve both said no, and I believed it, but for some reason I’m extra sensitive where Hayden is concerned.

  She’s a drop-dead, make-you-stupid beautiful girl, and I’m not talking about what I see on the o
utside, which I could easily write an ode to. She’s smart, opinionated, and she’d keep any guy on his toes. I know Jaeg loves Cali, but it’s good to know he’s as hooked on Cali as I am on—

  No one. I’m not hooked on anyone.

  Hayden is beautiful, that’s all. I’m tired and hallucinating.

  “Thanks for these.” I hold up my loot. “I better get back. I’ve got more work to do.”

  Jaeg waves me off. “Yup. Let me know if you need anything else once Hayden gives you your honey-do list.” He snickers.

  “Asshole.” I stumble out the door and drop the gear in the back of the XKR.

  The trunk of my sports car is too small and clean to hold this crap, plus my equipment from home. I’ll switch cars after I return from work. At midnight. Jesus. I can’t wait for the Bliss suites to be up and running. One less thing to have to deal with.

  I return to the office and the place is almost dead. Only security personnel and a skeleton crew remain on the executive floors in the evenings. I’ve seen Hayden here a few times, but she’s not here tonight. Which is good. I don’t like the idea of her working late by herself.

  I send out a few messages regarding luxury features Blackwell wants complimentary in each of the Bliss suites. I’ve hired three out of the dozen or so people on his list of potential bodyguards. Now, because I’m handling every aspect of the hiring, I’m also working with the legal team on very dubious, if you ask me, contracts that have someone on the outside listed as the hiring company for the new employees.

  And on that disturbing note, I rest my head against the back of my chair and check the time on the wall clock. It’s already past eleven.

  I should set up a time to meet Hayden at her place on Saturday. I could text her tomorrow, but I’ll be in meetings all day, and for some reason I feel the need to reach out now. Maybe it was my conversation with Jaeg, or maybe it’s my disturbing desire to connect with her, even if it’s to argue. Either way, I send her a text.