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24
“Vee, what are you doing here?”Max asked.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I own this club. Is that a problem?”
“No, I just thought you said you were taking today off.”
Well, that was true, but sitting around at home and thinking about everything she lost was messing with her head. What she needed was to stay busy, and that’s exactly what she intended to do. She’d work herself into the damn ground if she had to. When she wasn’t working, she found herself going for runs until she was so exhausted she just fell into a heap and slept through her never-ending sadness.
“I return to my previous statement.”
He gave her a weak smile. “Right you are, boss.”
She walked through to the office, counting on there being a pile of paperwork to keep her occupied. When she got inside, she was not disappointed at all. With a sigh, she sat down and got to work.
“Hey, boss?”someone said outside the door a couple of hours later. Evangeline glanced at the clock, seeing it closing in on seven o’clock.
“Yeah?”
Rich opened the door but didn’t step inside. “You got a minute?”
“Sure, Rich. What do you need?”
“I was wondering if you could help me out,” he said nervously, his eyes darting around the office before he glanced over his shoulder.
“Come in, Rich, and take a seat.”
With a decisive nod, he did just that. “Thanks, boss.”
“So what can I help you with?”
The guy slowly lowered himself down into the chair opposite her desk. “I know I have no right to ask this of you…”
“Just ask me, Rich.”
“Right.” He nodded. “You gave me a job when I needed one. And now I’m curious to know if you’d offer the same to my brother.”
Her brows rose. “I didn’t know you had a brother.”
“He’s not a blood relative; we served together in the Marines. He’s fallen on some hard times—lost his job, his marriage fell apart and now he has to find somewhere to live. He’s going to crash with me until he gets on his feet again. I know you don’t owe me anything, I just thought—”
“If you vouch for him, Rich, consider him hired.”
“Really?” She nodded. “Thank you, boss. I appreciate it.He’llappreciate it.”
She waved away his thanks, feeling uncomfortable to be the focus of his appreciation. “Just tell…” She paused, waiting for him to fill in the blanks.
“Bear.”
“Bear?” she replied.
“Nick Watts is his actual name, but we call him Bear.”
Did she even want to know why? “Okay, just tellBearto come and see me tomorrow. We’ll figure something out for him.”
“I will.” Rich stood up, stretching out his hand to her. “Thank you, boss.”
She shook his proffered hand, then said, “Now get the hell out of here.”
