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“Can I get a bottle of water, Minnie?”
Minnie smiled wide and crouched down in front of the fridge. She grabbed a bottle and set it in front of me. “Are you sure you should be here? You haven’t even been out of the hospital a day.”
I waved my hand at her and twisted off the top of the bottle. “I’m more than fine. I took a two-hour nap when I got home, and now, I’m good to go.”
“I just was surprised to see you walk in because the last I heard was you were taking a couple of days off to rest.”
I rolled my eyes and took a long drink. “Who did you hear that from?” I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and twisted the cap back on the bottle.
“Monk called right when I got here to let me know.”
Of course, it had been Monk to make that decision for me. “Well, I’m here and I’ll be here for the rest of the week.” I couldn’t take a couple of days off with no notice. I had taken days off before, but I had done it after making sure someone would cover for me and I had completed anything only I could do.
I had to write up the schedule for next week, and I also needed to take inventory of the bar because I had to place my booze order in the morning.
No one could do either of those things for me.
“Just take it easy, yeah? We don’t want you to land back in the hospital again.”
Minnie was sweet to worry about me, but I was fine.
“I’ll be in my office. Holler if you need anything, yeah?”
Minnie nodded. “Will do, boss lady.”
I rolled my eyes at the lame nickname. One time two years ago, Barracuda had called me “boss lady,” and it had stuck with the girls who still worked here. Minnie was one of them.
I made my way back to my office and sat in my chair.
Even though it wasn’t that long ago, it felt like it had been a lifetime since I last sat in this chair. That was fucking trippy.
I made my way through half of the schedule when shouting came from the front of the house. I wasn’t even out of my chair before Monk was in my doorway looking pissed as fuck.
“What in the fuck are you doing here?” he roared.
I reared back. “Excuse me?”
“What are you doing here? Are you hellbent on hurting yourself even more?” he demanded.
Excuse me? I rolled my eyes. “I’m hardly hurting myself by working on the schedule and taking inventory of the bar.”
He shook his head. “You aren’t doing anything besides getting on the back of my bike and getting your ass back in bed.”
It was cute how Monk thought he could tell me what I was and wasn’t going to do. “I have things to do here, Monk. You can run back to the clubhouse and let me do my job.”
He slammed the door shut behind him and stalked to my desk. Standing over me, he laid his hands flat on my papers and leaned down. “You can use this bitch attitude of yours with your girls from the club, and hell, with whoever else you want to, but you’re not going to act this way with me. You got lots of fucking demons and baggage, Mitzy, but I know this is all a fucking act with you. If you push everyone away, you don’t have to worry about being hurt again, right?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I think this conversation is meant for people who actually know each other, Monk. From where I’m sitting, that is not you and me. I could count on my fingers the number of times you and I have actually had a conversation before today.” I leaned toward him. “You only know what I want you to know.”
“So you’re saying I need to get to know you, huh?” He grabbed a chair and plopped down on it. “I can get behind that fucking wall you’ve got up.”
Nope. That was not what I was saying at all. “No.” No.
“No, what?”
I rolled my eyes. “No, I don’t want you to get to know me.” I didn’t want anyone to get to know me. I was content with the way my life was. Everyone thought I was a bitch, and they kept their distance. Perfect.
He kicked out his feet in front of him and rested his hands on his head. “Well, that’s tough shit for you because I’ve got a duffle bag in your spare bedroom at your house that says differently.”
“You were in my house?” I demanded. Who in the hell did Monk think he was?
“I saw you grab it from under the mat today, babe. And even if I hadn’t seen you do that, it would have taken five seconds to find the fucking thing.”
“I’ll move it when I get home.”
He laughed and shook his head. “It’s not there anymore.”
“What do you mean it’s not there anymore?”
“You really think I would put it back?” He shook his head. “That’s my key now, babe. I’ll be needing it.”
“You will not be keeping it. You will give it back to me.”
Monk scoffed. “I’m going to do that as much as you listened to me when I told you to stay home.”
“You never told me to stay home,” I snapped. Again, not like I would have listened to him. “And I’m a grown woman who can do whatever the hell I want to.”
“Look, Mitzy, it’s gonna be a whole hell of a lot easier if you just accept the fact I’m gonna be around until we get this shit figured out.”
“There is no shit to figure out, Monk. I don’t know why you think you need to barge in like some knight in shining armor to save me.” I laid my hand on the desk. “I don’t need saving.”
“I’m here to keep you safe so you don’t need saving.”
This man was infuriating. “I can also keep myself safe.”
“You keeping yourself safe is overdosing and ending up in the emergency room?”
“That was an accident!” I screamed. Fucking hell. I didn’t know how many times I needed to tell him I was fine and last night was a fucking fluke that wasn’t going to happen again. I pulled open my desk drawer and reached for the bottle of pills I had grabbed from the girls dressing room last night.
“What’s wrong?” Monk asked.
My eyes dropped to the open drawer. They weren’t there. The bottle of pills I had dropped into the drawer after taking two, was gone. “Someone was in my office.”
Monk stood and loomed over me. “What are you talking about?”
I tipped my head back to look at him. “I put the bottle of pills in my drawer, but it’s gone now.”
“I thought you said you grabbed the pills from the dressing room?”
“I did, and then I put them in my desk.”
“You brought the whole bottle of pills in here?”
I rolled my eyes and shut the drawer. “Also known as me putting them in my desk, Monk.” I opened the drawer on the other side. “Maybe I put them in here.” Empty.
Monk pulled out his phone, swiped a couple times, and put the phone to his ear. “Playboy?” he called. “I’m at the club. Specifically in Mitzy’s office.” He paused and ran his fingers through his hair. “When you gave all of the pills to the cops, did you give them a bottle from Mitzy’s desk?” Monk’s eyes connected with mine as he listened to Playboy. “Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”
He ended the call and put his phone in his back pocket.
“Well?” I asked.
Monk shook his head. “Playboy said he didn’t give the cops any pills from your desk. The only ones he gave to the cop were from the dressing room.”
“Is he sure? I mean, someone had to have grabbed that bottle. Maybe the cops searched my office without you guys knowing.” And if they hadn’t, then someone had managed to grab the bottle of pills from my desk between me taking them and the police showing up.
Monk sat back down. “He didn’t take them, and neither did the police. They didn’t search your office or the club. Playboy gave them the pills and that was it.”
Holy shit. “I don’t know what exactly that means, Monk, but it doesn’t seem good.”
“It means your ass is not out of my sight until we figure out what the hell happened to that bottle of pills and who took it.”
The words to tell him to go to hell were on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t get them out. Up until now, I hadn’t believed Monk when he said that someone had tried to hurt me last night. Without that pill bottle in my desk where I had put it, doubt was fogging everything. “Maybe one of the girls took it because they had a headache?” I suggested. I was really grasping at straws to not think something sinister had happened to me.
Monk stared at me.
Yeah, that was pretty far-fetched. How would one of the girls know I had stashed the pills in my desk?
I was suddenly afraid, but I did the thing I always deferred to when I was scared. “I’m fine, Monk. I can take care of myself.” Build my wall a little higher and throw the lock on the gate.
He sighed and tipped his head back to look at the ceiling. “You are so fucked up, Mitzy, but for some reason, that’s why I like you.” He angled his head back down. “I don’t want to control you or tell you what you can and can’t do.”
“Hmph, you could have fooled me.”
“But I will do exactly that if you start acting like there isn’t danger out there and you’re not taking care of yourself.”
“I don’t need a keeper, Monk. I get it. I’ll be careful.” I did get it. I didn’t know who or why, but someone had tried to kill me.
“When you’re at the club, one of the guys will be with you. When you’re at home or out, I’ll be with you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Do you really think I’m going to be hunky dory with this? I’m not some fragile little girl who needs someone watching her every move. I’ve been through hell, and I came out on the other side, Monk.”
He leaned forward. “I know you have, Mitzy, and that’s exactly why I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you again.”
I clamped my lips together. The urge to tell Monk to fuck off and I didn’t need him was strong, but I knew that would be a lie. Until I figured out who had tried to hurt me, I did need him. “When I’m at the club, I don’t want any of the girls to know you guys are keeping an eye on me. When I’m home, I’m not going to be Ms. Homemaker making you meals and shit. I eat takeout ninety percent of the time, and I sleep late. I’m not changing my life because some asshole has it out for me.” If we were going to do this, it was going to be on my terms.
“Whatever you say, Mitz. I just need a bed to sleep in, and I’ll be fine.”
I eyed him warily. “I still question why you think you need to do this, but whatever. I have too many other things to worry about than if you’re trying to get in my pants or something.”
A loud, boisterous laugh barked from his lips. He stood and loomed over me. “Trust me, Mitzy. I would have gotten in your pants with or without some psycho trying to kill you.”
“You’re a liar,” I spat.
He shook his head, laid his hands on my desk, and leaned in ‘til his face was mere inches from mine. “I’m as shocked as you are by that, but it is what it fucking is. I’m gonna figure out who wants you dead, and then you’re going to be mine.” He straightened. “Jinx is out front. He’ll be here as long as you are and then follow you back to your house.”
“What if I don’t go home?” The urge to rebel against anything Monk wanted me to do was strong as hell. Nothing he was asking for when it came to my safety was irrational, but I just didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of doing what he wanted.
“He’ll follow you wherever you go, Mitzy.” He winked and slid his sunglasses from the top of his head over his eyes. “But you and I both know I’ll be waiting for you at home whenever you get there.”
He strutted out of my office and left the door open.
“You could have at least shut the door,” I shouted. I sprang up from my chair and slammed the door shut.
Monk’s loud laugh sounded down the hallway.
“Ahhhh!” I screeched. That man was beyond infuriating. I ran my fingers through my hair and took a deep breath.
The sooner we figured out who had tried to hurt me, the sooner he would be out of my life.
No one ever stuck around, and Monk wouldn’t either.
*
