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Ira shrugs his wide shoulders. “I’m just doing my job,” he says before disappearing back inside.
Protecting the Botsford family.
That’s his job.
I smile as a taxicab stops by the curb.
CHAPTER 46
OLIVER
I flex my hand, testing the pain in my bruised knuckles. It has been a long time since I punched somebody in the face. It’s not something I particularly enjoy doing, nor do I actively encourage it as a problem solving method, but with Ian Botsford, I happily made an exception.
Paige was right.
The guy is a dick.
I check my phone again. No returned texts or calls from her. I wish I knew what was going on up there. Graham told me to go down to the bar and wait, so that’s what I’m doing while the board of directors decide my fate. I didn’t consciously mean to sit down on the same stool as I was sitting on four years ago when I seduced Paige Landon, but I guess it’s the perfect coda to my life at the Botsford Plaza Hotel.
It’s taking a while up there. Honestly, I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.
An ice pack drops onto the bar next to my half-empty beer. I look up to find Doc the bartender standing there, his black sleeves rolled up to reveal tattooed symbols down his right forearm. Hearts and diamonds. Clubs and spades.
Viva Las Vegas.
He smiles. “Rough day?”
I pick up the pack and rest it on the back of my hand. “It started out okay,” I say as the cool touch whips up my forearm. “Woke up in a pretty lady’s bed.”
“Nice,” he says.
“Got breakfast. Then, I came to work, and I punched a Botsford in the face in a room full of my peers.”
“Hayden?” he says, assuming.
“Ian.”
He nods. “My second choice.”
“Now, I’m sitting here waiting to find out how deep in the shit I am, but I don’t care about me. I care about her.”
“Yes,” Doc muses. “Her.”
“I should have listened to her,” I say. “I looked at her and her big, beautiful eyes, her wide hips, and those... pencil skirts, and I...” I blow out, vibrating my lips. “I blew it. I ruined both of our lives.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I have no idea what’s going on up there, and it’s killing me inside.”
“Yes, it is.”
“You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”
“Buddy, I just got here,” he says.
I chuckle. “Sorry, Doc. I didn’t mean to unload on you.”
“All part of the job.” He grabs another beer from beneath the bar and pops the cap off. “Second one on the house.”
