Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
She doesn’t have to say anything else. I know exactly what she’s talking about.
My fists clench, my whole body pumping with burning fire as I think about our new storefront initiative.
My business started with online sales, and that’s where the bulk of the revenue will continue to come from. But lately, there’s been a surge of nostalgia in pop culture – from TV and film to the resurrection in record players – and my company is seizing on that, opening various physical locations throughout the city.
Partnering with local businesses, we’re helping them to expand and open new locations. It’s something I’m damn proud of, truth be told.
And everything was going well.
We’re working smoothly, cooperating, not forcing our way in like some businesses our size are known to do.
Except for one thing.
Some motherfucker keeps vandalizing the stores.
“This is Tyrone,” I growl, clenching the edge of the desk so hard I feel like it might crumble under my grip. And it might if it means not hurting everyone in my sights. “Who else would do this?”
“Maybe it is,” Carmen agrees. “He certainly believes he has a reason to target you.”
I grit my teeth when I think about all the lies he told, all the shit my old business partner pulled, almost dragging the business into the dirt.
“But we can’t make out anything from the security footage. Whoever’s doing this is smart. They’re only targeting stores where the surveillance has blind spots. We haven’t been able to capture any video of them yet.”
My gaze slides over the city, already growing dark as autumn dusk turns the air hazy. Clouds drift by, looking so close I could reach out and touch them.
I try to calm down, warning myself anger will get me nowhere. Unless Tyrone were here. Then I could wring his neck.
“How many have been vandalized in total?” I ask.
“Seven,” Carmen says. “I can list them if you’d like.”
“No, it’s fine. Knowing the number is enough. Hell, even one is too many. What happened this time?”
“The same as the last one. A brick through the window.”
“The whole reason these local businesses agreed to partner with us is that we are supposed to enhance their business. Supply chains, our connections overseas, covering the overhead during difficult financial times… this was what I sold them. And now they’re getting shit through their mail and bricks through their windows. Seven, seven out of thirty-eight. That’s a very significant percentage.”
“And there is a little over a week until the launch party,” Carmen muses.
“Which means there’s plenty of time for this prick to do it again.”
“Or after.” Carmen interlocks her fingers, sighing unsteadily. “We need to catch this person, Jax. We have to.”
“Yeah, no shit.” I run my hand through my hair. “But we’ve been over this. If I start hiring security firms to protect these businesses up until the launch, the shareholders are going to freak. Not to mention the cost. We’re already bleeding money as it is.”
“Nobody asked you to invest in physical locations.”
I scowl, but I can’t complain too much. Carmen’s candidness is one of the reasons she’s so valuable to me.
“It’s important to me,” I tell her. “You know that.”
“Yeah, I know.” She sits back. “So what are you going to do about it?”
“Install more cameras outside the storefronts, in discreet locations. Hopefully, we’ll catch something. And reimburse the poor bastard whose store was vandalized. Quietly, if possible.”
She nods, but then she gets that look in her eye.
Carmen is a few years younger than me and she’s been my assistant for almost two decades, so I can read her well enough. Again something sinks in my gut.
“What is it?” I ask.
“It’s about the launch party. I can’t be your date.”
I stifle a groan. Carmen has acted as my date for every work function for the past several years. It keeps me from having to find somebody else, from having to go through all that effort when I know I’m not going to feel a damn thing.
Because no woman, ever, has made me feel anything.
No woman has ever piqued my interest, or even come close.
I’ve stopped searching. I’ve stopped hoping.
Maybe there’s something wrong with me. Maybe I’m defective in some way.
I want to feel that possessive certainty, that primal need, but it never ignites inside of me.
So Carmen comes with me instead, conveniently hiding the fact she’s got a long-term girlfriend, hiding the fact we’ve only ever been friends and would rather eat a crap sandwich than do anything even remotely romantic together.
“Why?” I ask.
“It’s Kelly’s nephew’s christening and I promised her I’d be there. I… I don’t want to disappoint her, Jax. Not if I can help it.”
“I know.” I nodded. “You’re a good person, Carm. Honestly. And I respect your decision. Even if it means going alone and being subjected to all that shit. All the tabloids, speculating if I’m ‘on the market’, and then… Well, you know what happens.”