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"Not another word about my girlfriend." I punctuated the point with a glare.
Martin grinned. "That's fine. I'm happy she's in my imagination."
As if I would let Martin anywhere near Alex. Luckily for Martin, he narrowly dodged a beat down thanks to an intervention. I pulled out my ringing phone and turned my back to my cousin. "Yeah?"
"Jensen. Thank God you answered. I didn't want to disturb Alex. You know how she gets, and she'd be freaking out right now.”
"Cassie? Calm down. What's the matter?"
"The pieces haven't arrived. No, scratch that. Some of themhavearrived. But notallof them. And I watched the guys load the truck myself. Alex is going to kill me. And just when we’ve started to become friends. Oh my God.”
This was so bad. "Cassie, calm down. Were there any other scheduled deliveries for the truck?"
"I was on the phone with the trucking company this morning, and they're looking up to see where else the truck stopped. But the problem is, I'm here at the gallery and I've only got maybe two-thirds of the pieces we promised. And I don't know a way to fix this. Alex put everything that she had at the studio on that truck, and I have no contingency plan if they can't find the pieces.”
My gut curled in on itself, and the bile rose. Alex had worked so hard for this. She was finally getting the recognition she deserved. She was selling her pieces. This gallery was going to open things up for her. She needed this. "Cassie, calm down. I'm coming. We'll figure this out together."
"What about Alex? Will she know there's a problem?"
"You and I are keeping any problems to ourselves for now. Besides, she asked me to look in on the gallery today anyway."
I hung up with Cassie and turned on my cousin with a grin. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go save the day for my girlfriend. You should be so lucky."
Chapter11
JENSEN
It had beena long time since I had been this angry. "What do you mean you don't know what happened to the pieces?"
I had the owner of the delivery truck shifting back and forth on the balls of his feet as he tried to explain. "I don't know what happened. There were two other stops, but things were supposed be loaded there,nottaken off. I'm trying to figure it out."
"You need to do more than try. Do you understand how long Alex Winters has been working for this gallery opening?” Instead of shouting, my voice went deadly soft. Cold. "You may already think yourself a success with your business. She is meant to do so much more than any of us could do. With her work she brings joy and light to people's lives. And you want to tell me that you don't know where those pieces are? Let me tell you how this is going to go. You're going to get on the phone, and then you're going to personally go to those other locations and do a full search for those items. And you will have them here for me tomorrow."
The guy darted a glance to Cassie, and I got in his face. "Don't look at her. Look at me. I'm the one you have to deal with if you can't perform the simple task of delivering what you were contracted to do."
The guy nodded vigorously, beads of sweat rolling down his temples. Granted, it was unseasonably warm for December in Los Angeles, but I wasn't screwing around.
After he left on his search for Alex's paintings, Cassie came over and blew a low whistle. "Man, remind me to never get on your bad side."
Looking over, I frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you've got your boxing gloves on. You were about to tear that guy a new one."
"Well, he pissed me off. It's his job to deliver. If he can't handle that responsibility, I’ll make sureeveryoneknows about it. By the time I'm done with him, he won't have much of a business."
Cassie stared at me for a moment, then the slow smile crept over her lips. "You really care about Alex."
Shit.Could she see? Did she know what lurked deep down in the recesses of my mind? "Of course I do. I should. She's my best friend."
"I wish I had a best friend like you, riding in on the white horse, all angry gladiator. I'm down for that."
I shook my head. "I'm not charging in on a white horse. I'm just trying to get that guy to fulfill his obligations."
"Whatever you want to call it, it's still fighting for her."
I frowned. "Of course I am. As if you'd do anything less."
Cassie shrugged. "Alex has a lot of people who want to see her succeed. So it's cool. In the meantime, when are we going to tell her about the missing pieces? Because as much as you terrified that dude, I'm not so sure he's going to come through.”
