Chapter Seventeen

After pouting a little about not being allowed to sit in John’s lap, I settled into the chair he gave me, and pretended to play on his phone. He’d made a show of letting me know that the data was off, and I took that to mean there were rules in place about communicating with the outside world during the business meeting.

I wasn’t as interested in the business itself as I was in the men’s reaction to me. I was rather pleased with myself, and aside from John’s sudden kiss—which left me breathless for real—and the awkward mention of my sister—I cursed myself for that—I was certain that I played my part to a tee.

Seeing the three girls there, dressed in ass-baring skirts and spiked heels, intimidated me for just a minute. And I felt inspired to channel my inner goddess.

I’d recalled the time I’d sneaked into Jeannette’s room and tried on one of her club outfits. The dress was short, with a scooped neckline. It hugged my curves, showed off my legs, and made me feel years older. When I looked in the mirror, I went from feeling like the usual beige I was to the vibrant, multihued version of myself I could become.

She caught me, of course. She came into the room as I twirled my fifteen-year-old self around, basking in the idea that I looked so good.

“Hey!” Jeannette hollered. “Take it off.”

I turned to her guiltily. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she was stumbling even though it was the middle of the day.

“Why?” I replied defiantly. “If it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for me.”

My sister threw her hands up. “Nothing about my life is good enough for you.”

Something in her voice—the combination of defeat and desperation—made me soften. I peeled the dress off and slipped my jeans back on.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly.

But Jeannette was already passed out on the bed. I was going to toss the dress down beside her, but as it slipped through my fingers, its alluring sparkle drew me back in. At the last second, I grabbed it and hid it in my closet. And when things started to get really bad with Jeannette, I would pull it out and look at it, knowing somewhere underneath my Plain Jane exterior was that bold, sexy girl.

I took that remembered feeling, held onto it tightly, and transferred it into my interactions with John’s associates.

If I hadn’t been so terrified, I might’ve actually kind of enjoyed it.

I was also curious about the dynamic between these men and John. His business associates, he’d called them. If I had to guess, I would say that while John was somehow in charge, most of the guys in the room didn’t answer directly to him. With the exception of Leo, they were too standoffish for me to think they worked closely with him. Maybe the card game was a pretence for something else, too, although I didn’t know what. Then again, maybe it just gave them something to do.

I started up another game of Mahjong on John’s phone, and only half-listened to what was going on in the room.

“What’re the numbers looking like?” John was asking. “You have my payments?”

“Things look about the same. I’ve got most of it, even though you’re two days early,” Leo replied. “You want details?”

John nodded and gestured at the money man. “Get them, Gary.”

He was young, and dressed in a business suit. He pulled out a briefcase and glanced nervously at me, then around at the men in the room.

“Are you sure you want to do this with her here?” he asked.

There was a flurry of movement, and then John punched Gary square in the face with no warning. I held in a gasp. Even though I had been watching him overreact for over a day, the sudden and violent act caught me by surprise. None of the men even blinked as Gary covered his now bleeding nose. Leo pulled a napkin out from somewhere and handed it to the younger man.

“I think you fucking broke it!” Gary howled.

“Serves you right,” Leo muttered.

“Have I ever given you permission to question me?” John demanded.

“No,” Gary whimpered.

“Have I ever even given you a reason to?”

“No.”

“Do you like your job, Gary? Do I pay you well? Would you make this kind of money at some downtown accounting firm?” John asked.

“No, I—”

John cut him off. “I’ve been going easy on you because you’re new to the business. But I think I’ve been going a little too easy. Maybe on everyone.”

I tapped furiously on the phone’s screen, and avoided looking up.

“Gary—and anyone else who has a concern—has a choice,” John announced. “He can treat Cass as an extension of me. He can say anything in front of her he would say in front of me unless I say otherwise. I will personally vouch for her. Anyone who doesn’t like it, can leave. Now.”

Leo was the only one who glanced my way. His eyes were on me, and he was likely wondering if his boss had been blinded by his interest in me.

All of the others just shuffled uncomfortably and avoided looking at Gary.

But no one left.

“Somebody clean up all this goddamned blood while Gary gets the numbers out,” John commanded. “And somebody else tell me what the Hell these girls are doing in here in the middle of a business meeting?”

“You brought your own girl in,” a familiar voice pointed out.

I looked up. It only took me a second to place the man. He was Ramirez, the discredited doctor who had put in the IV port while I’d been passed out in John’s car. I hadn’t noticed him at the card table before, and I assumed he had come in after.

“Doc.” If John was surprised to see him, he gave nothing away.

“He says he’s marrying this one,” Leo said.

“When?”

“I’d do it now, if I could,” John replied.

My heart jumped in my chest, but I refused to look up.

“We can do that,” Leo stated.

John laughed. “Are you an ordained minister now, Leo? Casinos and churches?”

I stopped fiddling around on the phone, and was listening intently. All of the eyes in the room focused on me.

“Nobody needs a church to get married anymore,” Leo said easily. “In fact…I keep the paperwork in my filing cabinet for impromptu occasions like this.”

“You do not,” I said with what I hoped would pass for a spontaneous giggle.

“Oh, but I do,” Leo told me seriously.

There was the briefest of pauses and then John was pulling me to my feet.

“All right, Leo. Say the words while Gary gets the papers,” he commanded.

He met my terrified gaze with a wink. My head swam, and from somewhere in the thickness of my mind, Leo laughed and called out some words that vaguely resembled wedding vows. Then there was silence.

“Well? Do you?” John asked me.

The men laughed, and John nudged me.

“Are you kidding?” I heard myself say. “Pass up on the opportunity to land this guy? With all of you as my witnesses? The mere possibility of alimony alone is worth it.”

“So you do?” Leo wanted to know.

“I do,” I replied.

John planted a quick kiss on my lips and shoved a piece of paper at me. I signed it woodenly and plopped myself back in my chair.

“All right,” John said. “Now that all that’s settled, let’s get back to work so I can take my wife on a proper honeymoon. And ask the girls to go. They don’t need to know the intricate details of my business.”

“These are Monato’s girls,” Leo told him. “And he’s not a guy I want to insult.”

I felt my heart stop.

These are Monato’s girls?

I glanced up at them and then back down at my hands.

“They were a gift,” Leo said not-quite calmly.

“Is that right?” John replied angrily.

“Monato was here, John,” Leo told him. “We’re a little worried.”

I braced myself for another punching session, but John just looked at him. Then he stood up and paced the room for a minute before making a sweeping gesture and shouting, “Go! If any of you want to get paid, get out! All of you except Leo.”

Everyone scrambled out, and John turned to me. His eyes flashed with a mix of anger and worry.

“Did I tell you to stay?”

“You didn’t tell me to go,” I countered.

He stalked over to me with his hand raised and I lifted my chin defiantly.

Try it, my expression said, but inwardly I was cowering. It was the first time John had directed his supposedly fake anger toward me, and now that I had seen some of what he was capable of, I was scared.

I gasped as he came toward me with his palm open. Even if there had been a way for me to get away fast enough, I couldn’t have moved. I was frozen in my seat. He reached back and swung with full force. Then he stopped, just an inch from my face. I waited, motionless, with my heart pounding so hard I thought he could probably see it through my shirt. He leaned down and his eyes were apologetic as he kissed me gently on the mouth. He lingered there for a moment. His lips were soft, and tempting, and I automatically reached my arms up and wrapped them around his neck. He made a small noise in his throat as I pulled him closer.

Leo coughed, and John let me go.

“And that is why I need you to wait in the other room,” John said loudly.

I was too out of breath to argue.