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She turns her head, giving me one of those fake fucking smiles I absolutely hate. “It’s fine.”
“Do you have a car?” I ask, wanting to see if maybe she wants to get out of here for a while.
“You’re not borrowing my car,” she mutters.
“I—”
The knock on the door halts my response, and I grit my teeth. If Rachel pushes open that fucking door, I swear to—
“How’s it going?” Kincaid asks when he pops his head inside the room.
“Mr. Anderson,” Sunshine says as she stands. I hate the nervous way she runs her hands down the front of her scrubs as if she feels the need to make sure she’s presentable for him.
“Can we have the room?” Kincaid asks.
He’s her boss just as much as he is mine, but she still looks in my direction as if she’ll stay if that’s what I want. I nod in her direction, my heart beating a little faster with her consideration. I’m left looking at the door when it closes behind her, having watched her the entire way out of the room.
“I know you don’t know anyone at the clubhouse, but you can’t stay here any longer.”
I frown in his direction.
“Excuse me?”
Kincaid takes a few steps closer.
“If it’s a matter of finances, then I can pay for my own stay.”
I’ve made contact with my bank, and I have plenty of money, more than I actually thought I would have before I called two days ago. I know some of it is from Mom’s estate. But I don’t want to think about any of that right now.
“It isn’t about finances,” he says, dropping his ass into the chair Sunshine just vacated. He turns it a little, the sound of it scraping on the floor filling the room.
We both cringe, and he issues a quick apology before continuing.
“I’ve been asked to pull you.”
“What? I’m being kicked out? I haven’t even been rude to the staff.”
He chuckles. “The staff is the issue. They don’t have a shortage, but an overage. They have people clocking in and going to work that aren’t even scheduled, and it’s been going on for nearly three weeks.”
“Since I arrived.”
He nods. “Someone has been in this room with you nearly every second since you arrived.”
“They have not,” I argue. “I’m not holding up the staff. Sunshine was hired by—”
He holds up his hand. “Someone from the clubhouse has been with you. Cerberus draws a lot of attention.”
“I’ve noticed,” I mumble, feeling annoyed.
“The female staff have been extra attentive, even to those able-bodied visitors. The administrator has noted your progress and feels like you’re ready to be discharged. If you don’t want to come to the clubhouse, which I predicted you didn’t, then you may stay at the house we’ve rented across town to convalesce.”
“So I get the boot because a bunch of horny women show up to work?”
Kincaid chuckles.
“What about Sunshine?”
I can’t imagine just packing my shit and leaving, never seeing her again.
“Do you need her help still?”
I take a little too long to answer.
“Even if you do a little, she’d probably be grateful to keep working for us a little longer,” he says.
“I can pay her salary,” I offer, but Kincaid waves me off.
“All of your bills are covered by Cerberus.”
“I can pay my own way,” I say, more attitude than I’d like coming out in my tone. It’s leftover from a lifetime ago when help wasn’t offered without expectations in return.
“You were hurt while you were working. That makes everything, medical bills included, a club expense.”
He says hurt like I was shot in the line of duty, not like I dropped the fucking ball and some piece-of-shit rapist and murderer got the fucking jump on me.
“I’ll agree to going to the house if she agrees to going to the house.”
“You want me to ask her?”
I shake my head. “I’ll ask her and let you know.”
I want to see how she responds to the request.
“I’ve made arrangements for transport to happen tomorrow morning. I bet you’ll be glad to get some real fucking food.”
I grin at my boss, wondering how close we were before I forgot him.
Chapter 17
Sunshine
I fully expect Kincaid to walk right past me in the hallway and leave, but he stops right in front of me.
“He’s doing well,” I tell him, thinking he’s wanting an update on Brent.
“Can we talk for a few minutes?”
Instinctively I nod, following him out toward the parking lot when he walks in that direction.
I have no doubt I’m going to get fired, and it’s going to suck having to go back inside to get my things.
Emotion is already bubbling inside of me, threatening to spew out in the form of tears and more sobs as if I haven’t cried enough since yesterday.
I’m not afraid of Kincaid. No one in Cerberus has ever given me reason to believe I’m in physical danger around any of them, but that doesn’t stop the impulse to spin around and run. I’m an adult, but that flight instinct is still there, the notion in the back of my head that if he doesn’t get a chance to speak then I won’t have to face being discarded.
