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Bradshaw Mercer strolled out of the hallway behind Jessie, looking as rich, polished, and pristine as ever. When his gaze met mine, his smile grew.
"Good afternoon, everyone." He nodded pleasantly, breaking his gaze with me before looking at all the others as if he were some kind of honorable businessman.
My eyes narrowed. I still wanted to hurt him. Bad. Even more so now than ever. But if he thought he could control me by buying the bar where I worked, he better try to come up with a better strategy. I would drop this place so fast . . . Except I had Eva, Julian, and Skylar to think about. I wouldn't be able to support them on just the garage salary alone. What if I couldn't find another job somewhere else? What if—?
Damn, he was good, I'd give him that.
"My name is Shaw, and yes, I'm technically your new boss, although I've already hired an assistant to run the day to day management. You'll be receiving all your instructions directly from her." Stepping aside, he swept out his hand to the figure who I suddenly noticed waiting in the shadows behind him. "Patricia? Would you care to introduce yourself?"
When Mrs. Garrison stepped into the light, my jaw dropped. Quinn, Noel, Ten, and I instantly glanced toward Mason.
Gray eyes swirling with murder, he threw up his hands. "I quit."
But as soon as he turned away, our new supervisor smirked after him, her eyes gleaming with triumph. "Not so fast, Mr. Lowe. If you quit, I'll relieve these four gentlemen here from their duties right along with you."
My stomach dropped as Mason ground to a halt. He turned back slowly and glared at her before swerving his tortured gaze to us guys. His eyes begged us to let him go, while ours begged him not to get us fired.
"Fuck it," Ten was the first to answer. "If you need to break out of here, then go. I can find a new job."
Noel closed his eyes and muttered, "Shit." We all knew he couldn't lose his income. He was living with a woman who was still looking for work, and now he had three siblings to take care of on top of that.
"I . . . I just signed a six-month lease on my apartment," Quinn said in a small voice. "But I . . . oh, man. I understand if you have to . . . Whatever you need to do, Mason. It's okay."
Mason glanced at me. He knew exactly who I had to support, and he knew who he had to support. Gritting his teeth in a snarl, he turned back to Mrs. Garrison and glared at her. He was going to stay.
She smiled smugly. "That's what I thought."
She started talking to the crowd as a whole, explaining a bunch of bullshit no one cared about. As she blathered on, detailing her new duties as our direct supervisor, I slid my gaze back to Eva's father. He was watching me—a small, smug smile twitching around his mouth.
I'm not sure what his game was, if he was doing this to get revenge because I'd hit him, or if he wanted to draw his daughter away from me, but I was used to being the underdog, the one always forced to bow to superiors. He had another thing coming if he thought this was going to spook me.
Mason was spooked though. He vibrated as he glowered at Mrs. Garrison. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she'd come into Forbidden and tried to convince him she was pregnant with his baby. God, so much had happened since then.
Eva had happened.
Eva, the woman I couldn't lose, no matter what.
My stomach churned with unease.
Mrs
. Garrison dismissed us a few minutes later, reminding us our new work policies would soon show up on the board in the break room. Mason didn't move, so Ten, Noel, Quinn, and I stuck around too, backing him up for . . . whatever he may need.
With a pleasant smile, Mrs. Garrison sauntered toward us.
"Why are you doing this?" he demanded, his voice low and deadly. "And how'd you get hooked up with him?" His gaze sought Eva's father before he turned back to her.
She grinned. "What? Are you jealous, darling?"
"Hardly. I just wanted to give him my congratulations in case he's the one who put those bruises on your neck."
Her eyes turned dark and troubled as her fingers found her throat, where I spotted dark fingerprints I hadn't noticed before.
If he'd done anything like that to Eva when he'd molested her, I'd—fuck, I couldn't kill my boss. I would go to jail.
But, oh man, it'd be worth it.
Leaning closer to Mrs. Garrison, Mason lowered his voice. "Too bad I didn't know you were into that before. I wouldn't have stopped squeezing."
