Page 34 of All I Feel

“Excuse me?”

“Tessa is off-limits to you.”

He narrowed his eyes on me. “I don’t take orders from you, man. You have no idea what Tessa and I have.”

“Had.What you and Tessa had. And it couldn’t have been anything that special to you since you were fucking your ex nearly the entire time.”

“I’ll talk to Tessa whenever I want.”

“And I’m telling you to rethink that. You fucked up. She’s no longer interested. And I’m not going to allow you to fuck with her head. Steer clear.”

“And if I don’t? What are you going to do?” he countered. “You think I’m afraid of Tessa’s best friend’s brother?”

I shrugged. “I don’t care if you are or not. I’m telling you that you aren’t going to like what happens if I find out that you’re harassing her.”

“Did you just threaten me?”

Pushing off his desk, I said, “Threat. Promise. Look at it however you want. Leave Tessa alone, and you won’t have anything to worry about.”

“Do you know how many people in powerful places I know in this town? I could make your life a nightmare.”

“You think I care about your lawyer buddies and judges?” I smirked. “You aren’t the only one who knows people in powerful places. And the people I know aren’t the kind you want to mess with.”

With that, I turned and walked out without waiting for a response. I could only hope this moron would heed my advice.

TEN

TESSA

“So,you mentioned you were planning a vacation?”

I was back in the thick of it and grateful as ever. It was early Monday morning, and I’d arrived at work, eager to get things back to normal. That involved chatting with my clients, as I usually did.

“Yes, we’re still working out the specific dates, but it’ll likely be sometime in October.”

“Any idea where you’ll be going?”

A laugh filled the air around us. “South. I need warmth and sandy beaches. Probably somewhere along the Gulf Coast.”

I looked up from where I’d been focused on Georgia’s nails and smiled. “Not a fan of the cold, I presume?”

She shook her head. “Nope. Not at all.”

“I don’t blame you. I prefer the warm summer months myself.”

As I returned my attention to her nails, Georgia said, “I’m looking for a place that doesn’t just have summer months. I want to go somewhere that’s warm all year long. But I’ve got to manage to convince my boyfriend we need to move. So far, he’s refused.”

“Well, it’s a big decision. Can you both do that with work?”

Before Georgia could respond, an exasperated sigh filled the air as a body fell into the chair beside the table where I was working. I glanced over to see Lark had joined us, and I had not a question in my mind why she was sitting beside me.

The two of us had arrived at the salon at the same time this morning, and while we took a few minutes to run through our opening duties, I began sharing details of what had happened with Ryan yesterday. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to finish telling the story when her first client arrived. Before Lark took her client back for a facial, she shot me a look that indicated the conversation wasn’t over.

It appeared now that her appointment had ended, and her next one hadn’t arrived, she planned for our conversation to continue. I ignored the look she was sending my way and shifted my attention to my client. “Georgia, this is Lark. As a new client of mine, you might not be aware that she and I are best friends, and we work out of this salon together. While I do makeup and nails, she takes care of people’s skin.”

Georgia offered a nod and a smile. “It’s lovely to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Lark leaned forward in her seat, eyes pinned on Georgia. “Do you have a best friend?”