Page 69 of Flyboy
"Of course," Maz and Ry agreed at once.
"Thanks." Jack reached down and grabbed Alyssa's hand. "Are you guys okay if we cut this short? Lys has been working nonstop for weeks and she's just come off a double at the hospital. She needs sleep so if you don't mind, I'd like to take my wife home."
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For the second time in as many minutes Jack's gaze dropped to his lap where his phone vibrated against his thigh. He read the screen and frowned before looking back up and attempting to refocus on the members of the board seated around the conference table. Except it was the second time Roark had called.
The board meeting was scheduled to go for at least another hour and Roark knew that because Jack didn't make a move without his head of security knowing about it, so if he was calling it had to be important—
His phone vibrated a third time. Before he glanced down, Jack knew what he'd see. Roark's name on the screen.
Holding up a hand, he stopped Keaton mid-sentence. "I need to take this." Jack hit accept and brought the phone to his ear. "Yeah?"
"We have a situation." Yelling in the background almost drowned out Roark's words and had Jack shooting up out of his seat.
"What the hell is going—"
"Gina is in the house," Roark cut right to it. "Sunnyville PD is on the way."
"Call Grant Malone."
An earsplitting screech filled his ear but he still heard Roark say, "Already done."
The shouting got louder, and Jack started to make out a few of the words as well as hear some kind of scuffle before a huge crash. Glass shattered. "What's happening? What did she do?"
"The cameras are rolling."
Fuck!"Keaton. Postpone" He tipped his head toward the door. "My office."
Jack didn't wait for a reply. He knew everyone in the room would accept his decree because he would never disrupt a board meeting unless it was an emergency. Rushing over the plush carpet, he darted into the hall and raced toward his office.
"Talk to me, Roark." Every muscle in his body was rigid, his heart beat so hard and fast his chest hurt, and forget his lungs. They were chugging as though he'd just finished a marathon.
He should have insisted Lys and Penny accompany him to Vegas yesterday after she'd finally agreed to attend tonight's ball. Instead, he'd organized for Roark to fly down with them later today because Lys had been scheduled to work at Mercy-Life until this morning. Neither of them had wanted to put Cochran on the spot to cover her. He hated letting the man down at the last minute which was why Jack had rescheduled his own shift for today months ago.
The noise in his ear tweaked his nerves. It wasn't helping that Roark had gone silent. Jack continued to listen to the fight happening in Sunnyville, and it was definitely a fight. There was an ear-piercing screech and more shattering glass, and Penny's voice. He'd never heard her sound so angry, so vicious. With the things she was screaming at Gina, it was a wonder the woman hadn't run for the hills.
Then again, the woman sounded as though she was too busy yelling at Lys to notice anything Penny said.
"You stupid bitch! You cost me two thousand! Who's gonna pay that? Huh? You? Your rich sugar daddy?" Gina's voice grew louder. Either she'd gotten closer to Roark or he'd moved closer to the confrontation. Neither put Jack at ease.
"Where are you?" Jack asked. Entering his office, he slammed the door behind him and stalked to his desk.
"Living room." There was some shuffling of the phone. "I'm trying to keep Penny from killing Gina."
"What?"
"Yeah, the girl is out for blood and she was in the kitchen making brunch for her and Lys when Gina burst through the front door."
In the kitchen…? "Fuck! Please tell me she doesn't have a knife in her hand?"
"Okay, I won't tell you."
"Fuck!" He pulled the phone from his ear and hit speaker; placing it on the desk beside his keyboard, he toggled the mouse to wake up his computer. His hand cramped, he gripped the small piece of plastic so hard as he clicked through to the security system that monitored all Townsend properties.
"Hmm…" Roark hummed before saying, "I've got uniforms coming in hot."
"Don't you hang up on me!" Jack could hear the sirens now.
