Josh places a hand on my arm and Tate just smirks.
“Word gets around, Slade.” I look at Josh as he speaks.
What the fuck is going on? Just how much does Tate really know about us? Has Josh told him everything? Or has Tate really been that close to us the entire time?
I turn my body to face Josh. “May I speak to you?” I urge, heading to the living room, not even waiting for his answer.
I move to stand in front of the fireplace since it is the farthest spot from the entryway so no one can hear us. “What the fuck are you doing?” I try to say quietly but fail.
“I’m trying to keep you out of trouble.”
“From who?”
“Sam.” He takes a step back, letting out a sigh. “You’re looking at the picture all wrong, Slade.”
“Well, then by all means, tell me how I should see it,” I say sarcastically.
Josh looks up at me. “You think Tate wants to take Sam away from you.”
“And you don’t think so?”
He shakes his head. “This is a chance for Sam to have a part of her past. She has no family.”
“We are her family,” I state, referring to everyone in this house besides Tate.
“Have you asked her why they used to be so close?”
I shake my head. “And she hasn’t offered that information.”
He stands there for a few silent seconds. “Listen, I’m going to try and explain this to you without pissing you off,” he offers slowly.
I raise an eyebrow and he releases a long breath. “Sam seems very happy to have Tate back in her life. To have someone besides Courtney that she has happy memories with. She does not look at him the same way she looks at you, but if you push Tate away, you may lose her. Are you willing to take that chance? Wouldn’t it be easier to let him into our group, where you can keep an eye on him while you also keep Sam happy?” He takes a step toward me and lowers his voice. “You want to marry this woman. Don’t fuck it up because you feel threatened by someone that may not be a threat at all.” Then he turns around and stalks out of the living room.
He’s right. I’ve had no other reason to be worried besides my own notions that Tate wants her. Maybe I will feel better if I just sit Tate down and talk this out, man to man.
“Slade.” Angel enters the living room with her green eyes wide.
“What?” I ask as my eyes quickly inspect her body to make sure she’s okay.
“Did you check the garage? All my mother’s stuff is out there.” She doesn’t even wait for me to answer before she takes off in a mad dash toward the garage door.
I enter behind her, and she starts looking over the boxes that are still stacked along the far wall of the garage.
She turns back with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. “I need to go through these next week.”
“Why?” Courtney asks, coming up behind me.
“Well, I just remembered that I didn’t see my parents’ wedding rings when I went through everything at her house. They have to be packed in here somewhere.”
I turn away from her before I give myself away.
Shit!
I never thought about her looking for those. What am I going to tell her to make her think they are back at her mother’s house safe and sound, so she doesn’t spend all her time looking for them or think they are lost? I look up to see Tate standing before me with his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face.
I turn back to face Angel. “Come on inside. We will look for them later.”
Everyone turns to stare at me like I just told the biggest white lie in the world. Thankfully, Angel doesn’t notice the looks everyone is giving me and walks inside, that frown still on her face.
We all gather in the kitchen as Angel starts making lunch. We repeat the story of our night about twenty times while being asked a hundred more questions. I wish I could record it and just play it when someone asks.
*****
“I have to get ready for work,” Angel announces, heading out of the kitchen.
“You’re not working today!”
We all turn to face Tate as he stands with his arms crossed over his chest. If he hadn’t have repeated the same words I told her earlier, I would have been mad.
“I have to,” she snaps. I lean against the counter and take a sip of my beer. The fact that she’s pissed off at Tate and not me makes me happy.
“The bar can live without you for a day.”
Her mouth falls open and she looks to me. I shrug. “I already told you earlier you were not working today.”
“But—”
“Actually,” Holly interjects timidly, “when Micah told me what happened this morning, I immediately called and got someone to cover your shift, Sam.”
Angel lets out a puff of air when she looks at Holly. I can tell she does not like the fact that everyone wants her to stay home today. “That was nice of you. Thank you,” she says, trying to act appreciative.
The girls strike up a conversation about the work schedule for next week, and I look over at Tate. The feeling of happiness is now gone. What if he had a part in last night? I mean yeah, I said I had enemies, but for one to come after me right after he shows up… is it a coincidence? That’s just something I’m going to have to find out.
I turn to face him and speak quietly. “You seem to know everything about me and Angel. So, I’m guessing you know where I work?”
“Yeah,” he answers just as quietly.
“Why don’t you come by tomorrow? Say around one?”
He looks at me hesitantly. “May I ask why?” He takes a drink of his beer.
“We need to figure out who was in this house, and two heads are better than one.”
He gives me a small nod and I lean back against the countertop with a smile on my face. That’s not the only thing we are going to talk about.
*****
SAMANTHA
We said goodbye to everyone around seven last night. Although I had slept in late, I still feel exhausted.
The girls and I talked about work and having a girls’ day sometime this week. The guys put up the board over the window and Slade took them on a walk-through of the house after they all insisted on looking around for themselves.
As soon as my head hit the pillow my eyes were closed, but not for long. Slade was not as tired as I was and had other things in mind that included handcuffs and a vibrator. I think he was trying to distract me from our crazy day, and it didn’t matter how drained I was, I was not going to turn the man down. But my ass sure is dragging today.
As I park at work, I hear my phone ringing in my purse.
“Crap,” I say trying to dig it out of the bottom. I figure it is Holly wondering where in the hell I am. The alarm company stayed longer than expected, but I was glad they were able to come a day earlier than scheduled. I thought they were just going to put in a keypad, but oh no. Slade had to order some big bad state of the art security system, which took them over an hour to install.
I finally find my phone and pull it out of my purse only to drop it on the floor. After saying a few choice words, I grab it and answer without even looking at the caller ID.
“Hey, I’m about to walk in,” I say as soon as I put the phone to my ear.
The only sound on the other end is silence. “Hello?” I ask. When no one answers, I pull the phone away from my ear to look at it. I sigh when I see it’s a blocked number again.
“You have the wrong number!” I yell, frustrated, trying to put stuff back in my purse.
“No I don’t,” comes a very familiar voice.
I stop dead in my tracks as I try to place the caller’s voice. The first time I heard it was on the other end of the phone line the first time I called Slade. Then the same voice showed up at my work and slashed Nadia’s tires.
Jessica!
“How are things going?” she asks like we are best friends.
“What do you want, Jessica?” I say, affecting a
dead tone to my words.
“Oh, you remember me,” she squeals happily. “I was just calling to let you know it’s going to happen.”
I inhale a deep breath, not really wanting to hear what she has to say, but my curiosity wants to know what bullshit she has come up with. “What’s going to happen?”
She laughs a little and it makes me want to throw this phone like the last one I destroyed. “Slade cheating on you,” she states as if it’s obvious.
I remain quiet as I try to decide how to take this conversation. I know Slade is not going to cheat on me. If there’s one thing I have trust in, it’s our relationship.
She laughs again, getting my attention. “You really think he can be faithful? Why would he only be with you when he could have any woman he wants? The only difference between Slade and Jax is that Jax was a careless idiot. Slade knows just what to say to keep you believing him.”
“Listen,” I say, ready to end this conversation. “First, quit calling me from a blocked number. If I really wanted your number, I’m sure getting it wouldn’t be hard. Second, quit trying to get me to believe Slade will cheat on me. It’s not going to work. Give it up already. He wants nothing to do with you. Give up and move on!” I snap.
“You think you know him, but you don’t. You’ll see,” she singsongs before hanging up.
I shake my head and get out of the truck. Even though I don’t believe her, the situation still pisses me off. This is the last thing I want to deal with right now.
Trying to get Jessica out of my mind, I walk inside and decide I need to have a good shift at work.
As I’m pulling cases out in the freezer, Holly walks in. “Sorry I’m late. Slade had this high-tech security system installed today and the guys were taking forever.”
She laughs a little bit. “I thought that was tomorrow?”
“They had a cancellation. So I had them and the glass company there at the same time.”
“Well, at least it’s all done.”
As she turns to walk out, I think of my phone call with Jessica. “Hey, do you have Jessica’s phone number?” I ask.
Holly turns slowly, a scowl on her face. “Why would you want her number?”
“That blocked number that called me a few weeks ago. It was her.”
Her eyes go wide. “How do you know? It was blocked.”
“She just called me again but this time she actually spoke to me. It only took me a few seconds to recognize her.”
“She’s such an idiot.” She gives a little laugh then she looks at me seriously.“You don’t think it was her, do you? The one that broke into the house?”
“No. She’s not that brave. Hell, she’s calling me with her number blocked for Christ’s sake. That was her third time to call and she just hung up when I answered the first two times.”
“True.” She pulls her phone out of her back pocket. “I do not have her number, but let’s check Facebook.”
Five minutes later, we find her Facebook page and we get lucky that it’s not private and she has her phone linked to it, giving us her number. Some bitches can be so stupid.
“What are you doing?” Holly asks as I pull my phone out.
“I’m saving her number to my phone.” Once I add it, I hold it up to show her what I’ve saved her under.
BITCH!
Holly throws her head back, laughing. “That’s awesome!” she says between her snickers. “What did she want anyway?” She bends down to pick up a case of beer and starts to walk out. I follow after her, doing the same.
“To tell me Slade is going to cheat on me.”
She stops so quickly I almost run into the back of her. She spins around to face me. “Sam. You know that’s not true.”
“I know, and I told her just that. That’s why I wanted to save her number. I didn’t believe her shit, so I know that she will continue to call me.”
She nods. “Did you mention how you know she slashed Slade’s tires?”
“No. That would be pointless and I didn’t want to have to talk to the bitch any more than I already had.”
She turns back around and continues to walk and I trail behind. We spend the next ten minutes stocking beer in both the front and small back bar.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you that you are training someone today,” she says as we head back over to the main bar.
I groan and she laughs. “It will just be for a few hours.”
“Who is it?”
“Jeremy. The guy that you said you didn’t like,” she teases with a smile on her face. I frown at her happiness. The last thing I want to do today is train someone. “You won’t have to do too much training,” she explains. “He has been a bartender for the last two years. He is only going to work behind the bar. Since he knows all the drinks all you have to do is show him where we keep everything and how to work our computer system.”
“That’s it?” I ask skeptically.
She nods. “Yep.”
As I walk behind the bar, I hear the back door open. Moments later Jeremy comes into view. I don’t know why, but just the look on his face has me taking a step back from him. His arms are covered in tattoos just like Tate, but Tate’s are tribal work whereas Jeremy’s are scary looking skulls, one even has flames coming out of the eyes. Another one has a dagger through a skull with blood dripping off of it.
I’m not one to judge someone by the art displayed on their body, but do you ever just get a bad vibe from someone? I get it from him, and it could just be because he pissed me off the first time I met him. Whatever the reason, I’m going to have to suck it up because now he and I are going to be working together.
“Hello, I’m Jeremy.” He reaches his hand out to me.
“I know. I remember you,” I reply flatly.
He smiles, and it’s that same cocky smile I remember annoying me that night at the hotel bar.
“Sorry, I forgot that I met you when I came in to get an application.” The sly smirk he has on his face tells me he’s lying through his teeth.
“No. I was talking about the first night I met you.” The smile falls off his face. “You were our bartender at the hotel.”
He stares at me with an expressionless face for a few seconds and it just adds to my unease toward him. He slowly schools his features and looks me in the eyes. “I’m surprised you remember me. Your boyfriend got you pretty drunk that night, but you did seem like one of those uptight chicks who needs a few drinks to loosen up.” Then he spins around and walks off toward the back bar where Holly is standing.
Once I pick my jaw up off the floor, I place my hands on my hips. What the hell was that about? If he remembers me from that night, then why did he act like he didn’t know me when he first came into Larry’s looking for a job? Why did he wait for me to mention it?
“So, Holly said you are training me today,” he says as he walks back over to me, that cocky smile returning.
I just stare at him before I let out a long breath. It’s only for a couple of hours I repeat over and over in my head, but I’m sure as hell not going to be nice. He thinks I’m uptight. I’ll show him uptight.
“That’s the plan,” I state coldly as I start to walk toward the back room. I stop and turn to see him standing there staring at my ass. “You know.” I cross my arms over my chest as I turn my body to face him. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, unless you want to get fired.”
He smirks and it makes his lip ring bounce a bit. “You can’t fire me.”
I take a couple of steps toward him and point my finger at his chest. “I can do whatever the hell I want. So, don’t push me.” I don’t know how true that statement is. Holly is the one who pretty much runs this bar. I’m sure if I stomp my foot and throw a fit she would let him go.
“Whatever you say,” he says, sounding bored.
I square my shoulders. “Come on. I’ll show you what we do to set up.” I turn around, once again giving him my back. I try not to turn around and slap him when I get the feeling he
is checking out my ass again.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SLADE
“Slade,” Rose’s voice comes over the intercom.
“Yes?” I answer, finishing up some notes I need for court tomorrow.
“You have a Mr. Tate here.” Of course he shows up three hours late.
“Send him in please.” I quickly put the papers in my drawer as my door opens. I link my fingers together and place them on my lap as I sit back in my chair.
Tate steps into my office and Rose shuts the door behind him. He just stands there as he looks around my large office. “Please, have a seat.” I gesture to the chairs that sit in front of my desk.
“I’m guessing I didn’t come here to talk about the break-in.”
“We can, among other things.”
He continues to just stand there. “What was so important that you needed me to come to your office?” he asks, finally looking at me.
“We need to discuss a few things.”
“Samantha,” he states.
I nod my head and gesture once again to the chairs in front of me. He takes a few steps further into the room and sits, leaning back, mirroring my posture.
“You seem to know so much about me, Tate. Yet I know nothing about you,” I say flatly.
“It’s not like I made assumptions. I just gathered the facts, and the fact is that you use women.”
“If you’re referring to my past. Yes. I fucked around, but I assure that is no longer the case.” I have never denied the way I used to live my life.
“You’re saying you’ve changed?” He pulls his eyes from mine to look at the picture on my desk of Angel and me at the first Rams game we attended. She has her legs wrapped around my waist and her arms around my neck as I give her a piggyback ride.
“Yes,” I say simply.
“I find that hard to believe,” he snorts.
“That’s funny. Because I feel the same way about you.”
“How so?” he asks.
I sit up and place my forearms on my desk. “I think you have other intentions regarding Angel.”
“You think I want her?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
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