Page 9 of Behind the Scenes
“Leave.”
I didn’t miss the small, triumphant smile that spread across her face. As soon as the door shut behind her, I clicked the button on my desk phone that connected me to the receptionist.
“Give her name and photo to security,” I said as soon as she picked up. “Don’t let her come in again. If she tries, have her escorted from the premises.”
“Understood,” Ana said, then paused. “Are you still going to visit Mrs. Hayes?—”
“Shit,” I hissed under my breath.
How could I have forgotten?She was far more important than any other bullshit I was going through.
“Yes,” I said and stood. “Call her and tell her I’ll be a bit late, but I’ll pick up her favorite.”
I paused for a moment, letting my eyes fall over the fragrant blue flowers. They were the same color as the shoes I had picked out for the day.
Something zapped through me. A type of sinking realization that had my breath catching in my throat.
No one in my line of business believed in coincidences.
“By the time I’m back, have a file on Harley Hart and her associates,” I ordered.
I didn’t want to admit it, but those two seemed to know far more about me than I knew about them. And that was unacceptable.
The stark smell of antiseptic tickled my nose as I sat across from an occupied hospital bed.
Mrs. Hayes sat up with a satisfied smile on her face, both handscradling the greasiest cheeseburger I’d ever had the pleasure of seeing.
If I hadn’t come to terms with my own horrid relationship with my mother years before, I might try to seek a deeper connection with the older lady. Might try to cling to the kindness she gave me and pretend she was my mother.
But that would be silly. And a waste of time.
What wasn’t a waste of time was just being in her presence. Being a friend.
She was a stark reminder that some people were justgood. Not everyone went through life wanting to hurt others or looking for ways to change their lives.
Some people justlived.
“Soyou’rethe one who brings my mother that shit,” a familiar voice said from the door.
Mrs. Hayes’s eyes lit up.
“Sloan! I told you not to come if it was too out of the way?—”
Sloan entered the room, and a fresh-faced Lillian followed her with a huge smile.
“Guilty as charged,” I said with a smile and waved to Lillian.
Sloan owned the other half of the club Ax ran. On more than one occasion, I had found myself stuck in a courtroom with this girl, practically fighting forbothour lives since she couldn’t stay out of fucking trouble.
She had dyed silver hair, multiple piercings on her ears and face, and her pale skin was covered in tattoos. She never tried to hide them in court, much to the distaste of some of the other lawyers we dealt with. But her appearance wasn’t important. Not when she had me.
Lillian was her better half, an angel I had the pleasure of meeting at their wedding. They had eloped but shortly after had wanted something bigger. She had dark curly hair, slate gray eyes, and warm tawny skin.
I made it a strict rule not to intertwine my personal life with the clients’, but after spending so many hours with the flirtytattooed girl, I couldn’t help but have a special place in my heart for her.
And it’s nice to see two people fit so well together.
I gave up on my own once foolish dreams of love sometime in high school. As it turned out, teenage hormones were a distraction. One I couldn’t afford.
