Page 14 of Don't Bet On It
Tallulah didn’t think about it long. “Okay, but I would rather not go to jail because of Ryder freaking Stone.”
I was right there with her. “Just do it.”
IN THE END, TALLULAH FOUND ZIPTIES. We bound his wrists and ankles and stuffed a cloth napkin in his mouth to stifle his yells. He was furious when we left him in the back corner. He wouldn’t be able to walk to the door, so we were safe. For now.
“Whew.” Tallulah wiped a hand over her forehead. “That was a workout.”
I smirked and ushered her ahead of me as we made our way toward the exit. “We’ll make him Rex’s problem.”
“I’m fine with that.” She paused before opening the door. “For once, it was a pleasure doing business with you.” She almost sounded as if she was flirting.
I opened my mouth to say something back, but I couldn’t think of anything. I had no intention of flirting. I could be pleasant, though. When Tallulah opened the door, all notion of responding fled because her boss—Kyla Conners—was on the other side of the door.
The woman—she’d been management for a long time—did a double take when she saw us walking out of the storage room together. There was no explaining what we were doing because any explanation would’ve sounded bad. Thanks to that, I smiled at her and said nothing.
Tallulah’s cheeks immediately turned red. “I’m on my way to the high rollers pit,” she blurted, her voice unnaturally shrill.
Kyla didn’t immediately respond. Instead, she glanced between us. When she did speak, she said the one thing I wasn’t expecting.
“You’re not allowed to fraternize on company property with other employees.”
My initial instinct was to deny that was what we’d been doing. Admitting to what we had really been up to was somehow worse, though.
Tallulah took the bull—er, her boss—by the horns. “Thanks for the tip,” she said dryly.
“Make sure you don’t break the rules.” Kyla’s voice held a warning. “I would hate to have to report you to Human Resources.” With that, she shuffled down the hallway away from us.
“She seems to really like you,” I said for lack of anything better to say.
Tallulah merely shrugged. “She doesn’t think less of me than she already did. It’s fine.”
“Are you sure?” I hesitated before continuing. “I could have Rex smooth things over.”
Tallulah vehemently shook her head. “No, she’s already annoyed that he stepped in for me a few days ago. She hates me. Just let it go.”
“It’s not your fault,” I insisted. “We did the right thing.”
“Yes, well, it’s done.” She held out her hands. “You’ll tell Rex, right? I might not like Ryder, but I don’t want him dying in there.”
“I’ll tell Rex,” I promised. “It’s top on my list.”
“Then I guess I’ll see you around.” She turned and headed down the hallway without looking over her shoulder.
I watched her go, my stomach tight with anxiety that had nothing to do with Ryder and everything to do with her. “Yeah, I guess I’ll see you around.”
5
FIVE
Two weeks into my new job, I was ready to quit. Kyla was a monster. I couldn’t stand her. Weirdly, I understood where she was coming from, however. If my sister had lost a prime gig to nepotism, which was essentially what I was benefitting from, I would’ve been agitated too. That didn’t mean I was going to give up my position. It also didn’t mean I was going to hold back on the ranting.
“She’s awful.” I rolled to my back on Olivia’s penthouse floor and stared at the overblown chandelier overhead. “She hates me.”
Olivia sat on the couch, her fingers absently stroking her stomach. She was starting to pop. Unless you were in the know, her stomach was small enough that it could’ve been mistaken for a food baby. Only a jerk—or an idiot—would ever risking asking if she was pregnant.
“Do you want me to say something to her?”
I immediately shook my head. “That will make things worse.”
