Chapter Three

The next day, Dean and I were the first ones here; of course, Nichole showed up just before opening and Dean invited her into his office so they could get to work. I frowned as I headed into the bar and got ready for work. Natalie was the next one to come into work though she didn’t say anything to me, and then I wasn’t sure who came next. I busied myself getting ready for the day until Melina came in. I gave her a smile, and we worked in silence for half an hour, making small talk every now and then.

I glanced up at her a couple times. I want to know what she thinks. But I wasn’t sure if it was safe. Maybe Melina was a huge fan of Nichole. Maybe I was just being jealous that Dean wanted to spend time with her. At least, that’s what I told myself.

Finally, halfway through sweeping the floor, I stood and leaned against the broom. Melina caught my eye and stopped washing the table she was working on. She stared at me for a couple seconds as if she wanted to say something, but she didn’t. I took a deep breath and made my way over to her. There’s only one way to find out. And I didn’t think I could not know the answer, so I had to take the risk, and if she told me I was just being crazy and jealous, I’d probably believe her.

“So, what do you think about that new girl?” I asked, looking around to make sure no one else was listening.

Melina looked up from the fridge she was restocking, and then glanced around to make sure no one was in the same room.

“Doesn’t really matter what I think. I’m not allowed to have an opinion on the matter since after all it is Dean’s casino.” It wasn’t hard to hear the bitterness in her voice. My eyes widened.

“Did he actually tell you that?”

“Yup. I have no clue what her deal is, but I’m worried, and I’m not even his girlfriend.”

I felt my stomach knot. I hadn’t wanted to think about that, but there was no doubt he was spending a lot of time with her. I tried not to think about it too much, and I tried to remember that he was working, plus he was coming home from work and actually spending time with me, but that didn’t make anything all that much easier to deal with. It didn’t make me trust her more.

“I just don’t get why he’s not willing to admit that we saw her with Keith.” It came out before I realized it. I mean, did he not care that Keith had held a gun to my head less than two weeks ago?

“I’m not sure, sweetie.” Melina stepped away from the fridge she’d been filling and came over to me. Without warning, she pulled me into a hug. “Sometimes he does stupid shit. I wish I could hit him over the head with a blunt object so he could realize what he’s doing, but I can’t.” She let go of me and gave me a smile.

“Honestly, I’m just glad there is someone else who doesn’t like her.”

“Oh, we’re not the only ones.” Melina grinned a little. “Natalie hates her.”

I swallowed dryly. Natalie probably hated me, too. I took a deep breath. “Her? Don’t you mean Natalie hates me?” Natalie had spent her entire career here trying to get Dean to say yes to a single date with her, and then I came in, and Dean asked me out within my first week. Not only that, but after I tied him down, she kept trying.

“Natalie likes you, though.” Melina shrugged. “When she found out that it was you Dean was dating and not her, she was glad.” Melina looked around. “I have no clue what is going on with Dean right now, but it’s like everyone can tell she’s up to something except him.”

I bit my lip. “Well, we can’t just let him get controlled by some girl we know is out to do something.”

A smile spread over Melina’s lips. “I like your way of thinking; what did you have in mind?”

“Honestly … I have no clue.”

“I have an idea.”

Melina smiled widely as she looked around and then jumped back, clearing her throat. I spun to see what she was looking at. Dean.

“Hey, what’s up?”

His eyes locked on me. “I need to talk to you about something real quickly.”

“I—uh, okay.” Melina and I exchanged a quick glance before I followed Dean out of the room and into his office. Nichole looked up as we entered the room, sitting relaxed in the chair across from his desk.

I swallowed dryly, feeling like I was about to be fired or something. Dean wouldn’t do that … right? No. I doubted he would.

I took a deep breath and straightened my chest as my eyes locked on her. Positive body language, I reminded myself, like it as my first day here and Dean had been interviewing me.

“What’s up?”

Thankfully my voice came out a lot less scared than I actually felt.

“Nichole and I have been talking.” I was actually a little surprised it wasn’t her that answered. And that’s new? All you guys do is talk now. I didn’t say it because maybe, just maybe, it was my jealousy taking hold. Maybe he spent a hell of a lot more time with me than I was willing to admit to myself. Dean’s voice snapped me back to reality. “We’ve decided that it would be good for both of you if you and Nichole worked together on a couple of the projects. And most of all, it will clear up time for me to get other stuff done.”

Now that sounded like a low blow if I’d ever heard one, but I didn’t dare say it out loud.

I cleared my throat. “Will this be on top of the job I already do here?” I locked eyes on Dean.

“Of course.” My heart dropped a little. “But you will be getting double time for every hour that you spend here other than your scheduled hours.” Oh, so he was going to bribe me into it. Awesome. “What do you think of the offer?”

That I don’t have a choice but to accept. But I didn’t say it out loud. I just smiled and nodded.

“It um, sounds interesting. I’d be happy to help you out in any way I can.” I didn’t take my eyes off Dean for a second as I spoke, wanting it clear that I was having a conversation with him—not Nichole. “And just to be clear, you are still my boss, right?”

“Of course! So if you two have any issues, you can let me know, and we’ll sort it out.”

The smile on my lips widened. At least I might have him on my side if she wasn’t being easy to deal with. Maybe this was my chance to deal with the whole situation. If I could catch her red-handed doing something wrong, he would have to let her go, right?

“So, will this need another contract or something?”

Dean beamed, clearly glad that I was onboard with this. “I’ll get one made up, just to keep everyone protected!” He reached out and touched my arm. “I’ll see you tonight, right?”

“For sure.”

I didn’t like kissing in the office, so instead, I just touched his shoulder before turning on my heel. Melina had a plan to deal with this girl, but now I had a way of getting close to her.

It took everything I had not to run out of that room and go right to Melina. Instead, I walked at a normal pace and strode back into the bar area.

“What did he want?” Melina sounded worried.

“Oh, he wants me to do a little extra work, with the help of Nichole.”

“He what?”

“Yup.” I raised an eyebrow, not really sure how I should feel about the whole idea. I knew I hated it, but I knew that was probably the wrong thing to feel. I bit my lip. “I have no clue why.”

Melina’s eyes narrowed. “Do you think it was her idea?”

“I have no clue.

“Either way. It might work out for the best. Like I said, I have an idea, but you getting close to her might be beneficial. Do you have any plans tonight? We need to talk somewhere that isn’t …”

“Where we won’t get busted?” I offered with a lopsided smile.

Melina laughed. “Yea.”

“I’m free,” I lied. I’d cancel with Dean; it wasn’t really a big deal anyways. If it meant getting to the root of this sooner, then I was more than happy to have to reschedule. “Is your boy picking you up from work? I can just take you to my place.”

“I’ll tell him not to bother; he can pick me up from your place, sounds good?”

“Perfect, just be warned I always seem to have houseguests all of a sudden.” Melina raised an eyebrow. “Katie has been hanging out more than normal, which is odd because she’s got this new boyfriend.”

“Maybe she’s worried about you; I mean, I think we all kinda are.”

“No, she doesn’t seem to be.” She seemed to be the only one who didn’t think I was going to lose it and go crazy or something. Honestly, I didn’t really know what everyone thought was going to happen, but they all seemed worried about me. “Anyways,” I looked around the room. “I’m going to sweep and mop the floors while no one is here, alright?”

“Sure thing; I’ll leave you to it. You know, before Dean starts to get worried.” She grinned, but I knew there was a little bit of honesty there because I didn’t want him to start asking questions either. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to lie to him if he wanted to know why Melina and I were hanging out—which meant I wasn’t going to tell him we were hanging out.

*

Sorry, can’t chill tonight. Will see you tomorrow at work babe. Love ya,

Rebecca.

I stared at the text for a lot longer than I should have, but that didn’t matter. My heart still dropped in the pit of my stomach as I looked at it.

“Everything alright?” Nichole asked, glancing up from the papers we were looking at.

“Oh, yea,” I lied. “It’s just Becca.”

“She’s your girlfriend, right?”

“Yes.” I felt my cheeks flush. “I don’t normally date my employees just for the record. But …”

“There are acceptions to every rule.” She grinned. “She seems nice though I don’t think she likes me very much.” She laughed softly.

“She does!” Okay, no she didn’t, but I wasn’t going to tell Nichole she was right. “She’s just … been through a lot recently, and it’s taken its toll on her.”

“I hope it hasn’t taken a toll on your relationship.”

“No, thankfully it hasn’t.” Right? I bit my lip. Maybe it had, and I just hadn’t realized it. I mean, Becca had never not wanted to hang out after work. But it hasn’t been that long, I tried to remind myself. And it worked, for a couple of seconds. Then I glanced back at that text message and bit back the urge to reply to it because I knew whatever reply I had, it wasn’t going to be nice, and I didn’t want to start anything with her. So I tucked my phone away and turned my attention to the girl in front of me.

“Are you sure you don’t mind working this late? I don’t want to keep you away from a boyfriend or anything.”

“Oh, don’t worry, there aren’t any boys waiting for me.” She gave a slow smile. “Have you met many men who like a woman who works more than they do?”

“Haven’t met many girls who like a man who works a lot, either,” I admitted.

“Well, I think it’s great Rebecca is so understanding about it.”

It was, and Rebecca was amazing about it, but I hadn’t even had to tell her I was working late since she canceled on me.

“She tries. I know it’s probably hard on her sometimes.” I swallowed dryly. I wanted to think it was, but still, I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d had when she told me her dad was in the hospital, and she’d known for 12 hours and didn’t think she should tell me. “She’s independent,” I said almost to myself more than Nichole. “And I respect that a lot about her.”