Impact (Iron Orchids Book 3)

by Danielle Norman

  “You just keep being my sweet girl, and if you want to sing, then sing.” And that future Regina from Mean Girls can go fuck a duck. Of course, I didn’t say that part. “Come on, my crazy girl.”

  “Mom?”

  “Yes?” Bee’s voice held a slight apprehension, and for a second I wondered if I had been too mean about Tawney. I never wanted Bee to be afraid of me. “What’s up, bug?”

  “Tawney’s mom and her aunt are always at the school. Do I have an aunt?”

  “No, bug. I don’t have any sisters.”

  “How about brothers?”

  “Nope, none of those either. It was just me. Now it’s just you and me.” And Bee had no idea how much better off she was. Sure it was nice having people around when they wanted something because they were nice to you, but at any moment they could change the rules to the game and you’d be left heartbroken and destitute. I’d protect Bee’s heart as long as I could.

  “Is there anyone that could come to my show?”

  God, that crushed me, but I needed to think about this later, not now. “Umm, yes, me. What do I look like? Captain Obvious?” Bee let out a chuckle. Good, I had her emotions going in a different direction. “You know that I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Let’s go grab some dinner.”

  Chapter 7

  Damon

  I had just taken a seat at the table to eat some oatmeal and pulled my iPad over in front of me. Yes, I’d promised myself that I would only do work and not look in on Katy. Yes, I broke that promise within five seconds of making it. I told myself it was because I was concerned for her safety, but who was I kidding? That curvy blonde kept occupying every corner of my mind, turning me into a peeping Tom.

  I gotten into a routine with this being part of it and me being part of her life. In the morning it was getting Bee ready for school, during the day it was learning about Katy at work. At night, it was seeing the two of them relaxed as they interacted with each other. Watching the two of them was seriously fucking with my psyche. Suddenly, having these two people part of my world was intriguing. And I discovered that I had a protective side. I was determined to get Katy to open up, every time she came near me, I felt something, and it wasn’t just in my dick. But I couldn’t help them if she didn’t trust me and confide in me, how else could I explain my knowledge of them not having a place to live?

  Once I’d made it into my office, I set my laptop bag on my desk, determined to Google apartments for rent when my phone dinged.

  John P: We have a problem.

  Me: What the fuck now?

  John P: Just got word that our shipment of pavers won’t be in this week.

  Me: Can we work around it?

  John P: We’ve already worked around it when they called last week and the week before.

  Me: Why the hell am I just now finding out about this? Fuck. I’m calling you.

  I pressed the phone icon, and he answered immediately.

  “You’ve had so much going on, I’ve been working this day and night. They are a month past due. It’s the final thing. Now we’re facing a completion penalty.” I heard John’s trepidation in every word.

  “How many houses?”

  “Thirty.”

  “You mean to tell me that we have thirty houses that we will be paying a daily late fee for because of some fucking pavers? Why the hell don’t we have someone else set up to bring them in?”

  “They’re coming from Mesa, Arizona. At this point, we’re going to pay fees every way we turn.”

  “Get into my office, now.”

  “I’m almost there.”

  I hung up and slammed my phone down, thanking God for Otterboxes.

  “Katy,” I shouted.

  “Sir?”

  I took in her appearance as she stood in the doorway. She was wearing her usual black skirt, but today she wore this green shirt thing—I didn’t know what it was called—that sort of wrapped around her and made her boobs look great, really great. Shit, I hadn’t even said good morning to her yet, and any thoughts of trying to get her to open up had just vanished with my sanity in that one phone call.

  “Can you please pull all the companies that we’ve ordered pavers through at any time? Plus get me all the information for the order of pavers that was due to be delivered to the Windsurf subdivision. I also need the purchase orders for each of the unfinished homes in Windsurf.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  She turned and disappeared back into her office as I shoved my hands through my hair. Thirty homes, and a penalty of one hundred dollars per day, it was going to add up fast.

  I printed a list off of all masonry and stone supply stores within a two hundred-fifty mile radius and all Lowes and Home Depots. My printer was running at Mach speed, but at this point, it was either power through this or pay three thousand dollars a day until this half-assed company finally delivered the fucking bricks.

  The slapping of shoes alerted me to John’s arrival.

  “Grab those papers off my printer and have a seat.” I pointed. “Katy, how much longer?”

  “Fifteen minutes.” Her voice sounded winded.

  “Hurry, please.”

  I grabbed a tablet of paper and jotted down notes as John and I discussed time and workforce once we finally received the shipment. When Katy slid into the seat across from my desk, she also had a notepad. It was as if she knew exactly what to do.

  “First, let’s add some pressure on this company.”

  “I’ve tried,” John snapped.

  I wanted to punch him, how dare he snap at her, she’s just trying to help. I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “I know you have, but that doesn’t carry the same weight as the message coming from the last name Christakos. No offense, but let’s be honest, Damon and George are the final say. If he calls, it will give us a better idea.”

  “You have the number?” I asked, and Katy slid me a piece of paper.

  “Those are our last purchase orders with their company. We give them quite a bit of business.”

  I wanted to lean over and kiss her. She came in here with everything that I could possibly need.

  I picked up the phone and dialed, placing it on speaker so both John and Katy could listen.

  When all was said and done, somehow the company found a way to promise our delivery by Monday, but that wasn’t the most impressive part; it was Katy. When I was finished speaking with the owner, I explained that my assistant was going to take down all of the details. But it was her attention to detail that was impressive.

  “Okay, I just want to clarify. You are the owner of Mesa Rock and Stone?” Katy’s voice was level.

  “Yes.”

  “And you guarantee the delivery of the pavers for thirty homes by Monday, May twenty-third, no later than noon eastern standard time? You do understand that there is a completion clause of one hundred dollars per day, per home?”

  “Your boss explained that. Listen, we’ve got everything?”

  “No, sir. I just need you to verify one more thing for me.” Katy loudly shuffled a few pieces of paper.

  “Please note that at twelve o’ one on Monday we will hold you responsible for any penalties we incur. And at such time, we will begin finding other sources for the pavers.”

  “This is over a one-hundred thousand dollar order, and we’ve already invested a substantial amount.”

  “Correct, sir, and according to our contract that order was supposed to be delivered on what date?”

  I had a hard time fighting back my shit-eating grin.

  “Thank you so much. I look forward to meeting your delivery people personally and inspecting the shipment.” Katy hung up and stuck out her tongue.

  “Umm, you have an evil streak, you know that?” I shook my head in amazement. “By the way, John, this is Katy. If you haven’t guessed yet, she’s my new assistant.”

  John held out his hand, his mouth in a wide smile. “Marry me. Handle all the shit with these contractors for me.”

&nb
sp; Katy let out a laugh and tapped the wedding band on his hand.

  “Ahhh, damn.” John snapped his fingers as if he’d been caught even if it evident he’d been joking. He was the same age as my father and had been married as long my parents had.

  Katy let out a giggle and blushed. Hell, I couldn’t remember ever seeing a girl blush.

  After John left, Katy and I got back to work.

  “Hey, it’s lunchtime. Want to go pick us up something?”

  “Sure.” Katy scooted her chair back then reached for her purse. “What would you like?”

  “Anything, I’m not picky.”

  “Ever had Lillie Pearl’s BBQ? I’m assuming you haven’t, it’s a hole-in-the-wall kind of place. But I swear it’s so good, it’ll make you want to slap your mama.”

  “I haven’t heard that saying in forever.”

  “Well, I have an eight-year-old, moms do everything. Your mama wears combat boots. Your mama is so fat, even Dora can’t explore her. You get the picture.”

  “I remember my fair share of those, but most of them weren’t ones that I should have been saying.”

  “Oh, she’s said those as well, and I about pissed myself laughing.” Katy threw her hand over her mouth. “Sorry, that was rude. Let me go get lunch, and we can continue this later.”

  Katy left, and I absolutely could not wait for her to return. It was the first time I’d seen this playful side of her. I wanted to know more about her and how in the hell she learned to handle business. Tonight, I’d figure out something to help with her living situation. Even if she stayed in the model home a little bit longer.

  But when Katy came back, so did the ice queen. We sat at the table in my office and ate. Determined to try and thaw the ice, “Oh my God, where did this come from?” I asked, trying to cover my mouth, which was full of beef brisket.

  “Do you know where Conroy road and Turkey Lake road intersect?” She licked her fingers, and I instantly felt it in my crotch.

  I couldn’t talk, I only mumbled. “Mm-hmm.”

  “Lillie Pearls is on one of those little side streets.”

  “I think my patronus just turned into barbeque.” I grabbed a napkin as I choked, having realized what I had just said. “That sounded stupid.”

  “That sounded hysterical, I can’t wait to tell Bee, hmm, tell my daughter. I hadn’t pegged you as a Harry Potter fan?”

  “My nieces Harlow and Gianna are into Harry Potter, and we have this stupid game whenever we like something. Kind of like a, I can top that.” I took a swallow of my Coke. “This is one of those places that had I known about it, I’d be saying, your mama is so fat that when she stepped on the scale, it said to be continued . . .” When that only got a slight smile from her, I changed tactics. “I noticed that you didn’t have any pictures of Bee up in your office yet. My last secretary had them plastered everywhere.” I made sure to use Bee’s name since I was still trying to figure out why she’d corrected herself when she’d said it last time.

  She stiffened at my question. “I like to keep my personal and professional lives separate.”

  “We have no clue what that’s like around here. I’m Greek; personal has a way of seeping into everything.”

  Chapter 8

  Katy

  Twisting the top onto my bottle water, I set it on my desk. I’d moved all the papers to the corner and laid a napkin out. It had only been a week, and I was in love with this job. I loved coming to work, but more than that, I loved looking to the future. I could see the possibilities, the life that I was going to be able to give Bee, the life that she deserved.

  Opening my lunchbox, I set my sandwich on the napkin and opened the bag of chips, quickly popping one into my mouth. The crunching echoed in my ears and seemed to be louder than necessary for a fuckin’ chip. That was when it hit me, the crunching of dreams and crashing of lives were just as possible.

  “Care if I join you?”

  I pursed my lips together before I blurted out something that would cost me that part of actually having my dreams come true. Because, truthfully, I didn’t want him to join me. The man made me nervous, he was always fucking watching me. Sometimes, it gave me that Freddy Krueger feeling. Well, Damon wasn’t as scary, but he was just as dangerous. He could do a lot of damage.

  “Have a seat, it’s your company.”

  “I wanted to talk to you about a few things, care if we do it over lunch?” He set a bag down on my desk and pulled out a container. When he opened it, it released the best smell in the world.

  My stomach made a gurgling sound, and I wasn’t starving. I mean, I was hungry, sure, it was lunchtime, but not enough to make that embarrassing sound.

  “Want some? It’s avgolemono soup.”

  Yeah, I wasn’t even going to try to repeat what ever in the hell he just said.

  “Avgolemono. It’s lemon chicken. It’s like chicken noodle. Pops just brought it in with him.” Damon pulled out a second container and handed it to me with a spoon.

  “He just happened to bring an extra container and spoon?”

  “No. He brought that in for you. There’s some pita in here as well.” Damon pulled out a pack of foil and unwrapped it. “Dunk it.”

  I did as he instructed, and then groaned.

  “This is awesome.” I took several bites, totally forgetting about my boring bologna sandwich. “So, what’d you want to talk about?”

  “After the paver fiasco, we’re behind on some things. I need to move more guys over to help with the pavers. I already spoke with Pops, and he’s going to have Jenny handle that, but it will put us behind clearing out the last of model homes in phase three. I figured that stuff could stay in there for a few more weeks anyway. There’s still some wiring to finish before we can even get the final certificate of occupancy.”

  Phase three was where Bee and I were staying. Holy hell. This can’t be true, shit never worked out like this for me.

  “Sound like a plan?”

  “Umm, yeah. Makes sense to me.” I tucked a few stray hairs behind my ear. This meant that there wouldn’t be a hotel, and we would be able to move straight into an apartment.

  “So, you have any plans this weekend?” Damon wiped off his spoon and put the lid back on his empty container as he waited for me to answer.

  “No. Not really.” A nervous silence settled about us before I slipped the lid back on my own empty soup container and smiled. “Thank you, that was really good. I better get back to work.”

  He stood but lingered at the edge of my office. “Hey, I just want to thank you. You’re doing a great job. And don’t think I forgot, accounting processed your bonus, it should be direct deposited into your account today.” Damon gave two raps with his knuckles on my doorframe and headed into his office.

  At five o’clock, I said goodbye to Damon and George and hopped into my car. I couldn’t wait to get Bee, we’d do something special this weekend. I still wanted to go around and look at apartments since hopefully we’d be able to move into one within the month.

  I’d just merged onto I-4 when I saw the familiar Charger three car lengths behind me. I changed lanes, and so did the Charger. I didn’t want whoever was in that car to see where I was going to pick up Bee, so I sped up and surfed in and out of cars. I glanced over my shoulder as I shot through the narrow gaps between cars in excess of seventy-five miles per hour. My Toyota wasn’t going to be able to out run the Dodge Charger so I had to rely on the flow of traffic to help me get away. When the Charger fell back a few car lengths, I cut across two lanes and took the Kaley exit. The lights were short and there were lots of side streets, I knew this area since it was close to the shelter that I’d stayed in.

  Glancing up into my rearview mirror, I pressed my back as hard as I could against the seat back. My elbows were digging into my side. I looked up at the light that had just turned red. No one was moving in the opposite direction. I floored it. Instead of turning onto Kaley, I crossed over it, hit the onramp, and merged back onto I
-4 into Friday rush hour traffic. Moving with the flow, I glanced into my mirror and finally let out a sigh. The Charger hadn’t followed.

  I pulled into the community center and rested my head against my steering wheel. I had no clue who was in that car, but that was the first time he’d ever made it blatantly obvious that it was me he was after. Relaxing my left hand, I wiped it on my skirt to try to get some feeling back into my fingers. I repeated the same thing with my right hand then jumped and let out a squeal when someone knocked on my window.

  It was Carter. It was only Carter. I rolled the window down with a shaking hand.

  “Everything okay?” He crouched and rested his hands on my door.

  I nodded, still too shaken to answer.

  “Why don’t I believe you? Miss Nichols, what happened?”

  “S-some man, I’m not sure who, keeps following me.”

  “Did you get a good look at him?”

  I shook my head.

  “How about the vehicle?”

  “Black, dark windows. Dodge Charger.” My neck ached from the tension of holding it so erect.

  “Anything else you can remember, the tag maybe a few letters or numbers?”

  “No. He’s always behind me. This was the first time he openly followed me. He usually just stays a few cars back.”

  “So, this wasn’t the first time?”

  “No.”

  Carter reached through the window and turned off my ignition and then opened my door. “Why don’t you come inside and sit for a while. I can take down some notes. Is there someone you want me to call?”

  “No, no one.” I followed him inside and sat at a table in the library while I told Carter about the different times I could remember seeing the car.