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“Whatever,” Peyton grumbled.
Every eye in the room turned on her. “You’re still here?” I lifted my brows at her. “Did you think I was kidding? You’re out. No one is going to let you in this club ever again.”
She snorted, still completely confident. To her this was just a game. “You don’t mean that.”
I didn’t try to argue with her. Instead I went to my desk and turned on my Bluetooth system so I could talk to Tiny. I’d asked him to come in to discuss what had happened the night before. The cops were coming later to talk to me and I wanted him, Nate, and Barb in attendance when that happened. “Come walk Peyton out. If she tries to come back in, call the cops. Tell everyone that she’s banned from the premises. If I see her here I’ll fire anyone who allowed her access into the club.”
“On it, boss,” Tiny’s deep voice assured me.
Peyton was finally starting to realize that I wasn’t playing. Neither were the other Bombshells. “You can’t be serious,” she cried as she jumped to her feet. “We have something special here, Harris. I thought we meant something to each other.”
Had she lost her fucking mind? “What the fuck are you talking about?” I’d barely talked to her during the few months she had been working for me. I could barely stand her on the best of days.
“All those dates we went on. You took me everywhere and introduced me to so many people. I thought we were going somewhere.” Tears filled her eyes, but unlike when Lucy cried and gutted me, I was completely unaffected by the sight of the sheen in Peyton’s mud-brown eyes.
“I took all five of you out. I introduced everyone to those people to help get your foot in the door. I played no favoritism and it was only ever business.” There was a sharp tap on my office door and then Tiny was stepping inside. “Don’t go too far, though, Peyton. I’m sure you’ll be cited in the lawsuit Greg York is trying to stick to me. Hope your rich daddy wants to foot the bill, because I’ll be damned if I’m paying out anything for your fuckups.”
Tiny crossed the room and took Peyton by the arm. She shot him a glare and then turned a pout in my direction. “But I love you.” Her chin started to tremble. “I’m sorry, Harris. So sorry. Don’t send me away like this. I’ll fix it and then we can be together again.”
“Get rid of her, Tiny.” I didn’t have time for her crazy ass.
“No. Harris!” Peyton was still screaming as Tiny pulled her out of the club.
“I’ll see you four Thursday night. I don’t want to hear from you or see you until then.” I moved to sit down behind my desk.
The other four Bombshells quickly got to their feet and left the office. As the door closed behind Roanna, my phone started making noise. Seeing Lucy’s face on my screen had some of my agitation fading and a sense of loss filled me as I lifted the phone to my ear.
“I miss you,” I growled as I turned around in my chair and closed my eyes.
“I miss you more,” she whispered, but I could still hear the catch in her voice. Fuck. Was she crying? Just thinking about her tears drove me crazy. “How are things going?” she rushed to ask, trying to distract me.
“I’ve got it handled, sweetness.” I lifted the phone and hit FaceTime, needing to see her face. There was a pause while she accepted it and then I was relaxing even more until I saw her puffy eyes. “Ah, Lu, please don’t cry.”
She gave a strained little laugh. “I’m okay. Really. Just missing you.” She wiped her fingers under her eyes to dry a few tears.
“I’m sorry, Lucy. I’d give anything to be there with you right now.” Fucking hell, I wanted to be there with her now more than I wanted to breathe. My hate for Peyton only doubled as I watched another tear fall on her cheek.
“I know,” she murmured. “I’d have been like this on Tuesday when you left too, Harris. It just came a few days early is all.”
There was another sharp tap on my door, but before I could tell whoever it was to fuck off, it opened and Nate and Barb stepped in with Tiny right behind them. Shit. I wanted to make them go away so I could have just a few minutes alone to talk to Lucy, but a glance at the clock on my desk told me the cops would be there soon.
“You ready for us, boss?” Barb asked as she stepped farther into the room so Nate and Tiny could join her.
“Yeah,” I muttered and turned back to Lucy. “I’m going to have to let you go, Lu.” Disappointment filled her dark eyes, but she tried to smile. “I’ll call you when I get home, I promise.”
She shook her head. “I’ll probably be asleep. I…I didn’t sleep at all last night.”
I wanted to put my fist through a fucking wall. Fucking hell. I’d have gladly given everything up right then to have her beside me. Knowing she would be home with me soon was the only thing keeping me sane. “Then I’ll call you first thing tomorrow. If you need me, don’t even think about hesitating to call, sweetness. I don’t care what time it is. Call me.”
“I will,” she assured me and blew me a small kiss. “I love you,” she whispered before hitting disconnect without giving me a chance to return the words.
Frustrated, I tossed the phone onto the desk and stood. “Let’s get this crap taken care of,” I snapped at my three most trusted employees. “I want to get this dealt with and put it behind us as soon as possible.”
And then I’d be able to focus on the most important thing in my life.
Lucy.
Chapter 19
