She huffed, displeasure clear as day on her face. “I’m just confused as to why you leave your child with a woman who is high. And your cat too.”
Anger flashed through me at her judgmental attitude. I leaned forward and stared her hard in the face. “You should get your facts straight before you go shooting your mouth off. For one, Lisa isn’t my kid. Two, that cat isn’t mine either. And three, the last place I would leave Lisa, if I could help it, would be with her own fucking mother.”
Surprise flared across her face. “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh is fucking right.”
“Scott..” Madison tried to shut me up.
I shoved my chair back and stood up. “Yeah, I’m out. Thanks for lunch but I’m going to go.”
“I’m sorry, Scott. Please don’t leave because of what I said,” Harlow apologised but I didn’t really want to hear it; people had one shot with me and she’d said more than enough for me to work out the kind of person she was.
“I’m not leaving because of you but I’ll be honest; I’ve got no interest in anything else you have to say.”
Her eyes widened and Madison sucked in a breath. She looked pissed off with me. “Fine. Go.” Yeah, I was in my sister’s bad books again but it was a place I was familiar with.
Without even bothering to say goodbye to J, Nash or Stoney, I left through the side gate. I stalked to my bike, gripped by anger, but I wasn’t sure who the anger was directed at. And my suspicion that it was actually directed at myself only served to annoy me even more.
H
arlow
I sat in stunned silence. Scott had just stormed out of Madison’s get together, because of me. I was mad at myself for causing this to happen, and really freaking shitty that I’d judged him incorrectly and actually voiced my thoughts out loud to him. It was so out of character for me to do that. I was the kind of woman who thought stuff about people but never had the guts to say it to their face. Keeping the peace was high on my agenda in life. For me to say what I’d said to Scott was so far out of left field for me that I was sitting here stewing on it and trying to work out why I’d opened my mouth.
Everyone else had just carried on as if nothing had happened after he left. This also surprised me. Not one of them got up and followed him to try and get him to stay. The more I thought about it, the more I felt the urge to go and catch him before he left, and apologise again.
I quickly stood, grabbing Madison’s attention as I did this. “What’s wrong, honey?” she asked.
“I’m going to go and apologise to Scott again. I feel awful about what I said.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “Pfft, don’t worry about him. Scott’s a moody bastard; it’s best just to let him go when he’s like this.”
Well that would explain why no-one was going out of their way to stop him from leaving. However, I still wanted to try apologising again. “No, I’m just going to see if he’s still out the front. I won’t be long.”
I followed the path he’d taken when he left, and hurried out the front. When I saw him sitting on his bike, I felt both relief and apprehension about approaching him. His face was a mask of anger and the moodiness that Madison spoke of was rolling off him. I stalled for a moment, but then threw caution to the wind and walked to where he was.
He must have heard me because he whipped his head around and turned his angry eyes on me. I held up my hands in a defensive gesture. “Just hear me out, okay?”
A minute passed as he contemplated this and then he nodded.
“I truly am sorry for what I said, Scott. Yes, I presumed you were Lisa’s father and Monty’s owner. Yes, I thought you were a shitty pet owner for not bringing him in sooner. And, yes I presumed that Lisa’s mother was your partner and that you were happy to leave Lisa with someone who was high all the time. Which then led me to the conclusion that you were a crappy father and human being -“
He cut me off. “Is that supposed to be a fucking apology? Because if it is, it’s the worst one I’ve ever heard.”
“No, this is the apology bit. I’m sorry that I judged you. You have no reason to believe me or even care, but I’m not usually this judgmental. In fact, if you were to ask any of my friends or family they would say I was the least judgmental person they know. They would also tell you that I never, ever speak my thoughts like I did to you. I have no idea what came over me today.”
He held up his hand to stop me. He didn’t seem as angry anymore. “As far as I’m concerned, you should always speak your mind. I’m not pissed that you did that. But as for judging me, yeah, that shit me. However, I’ve been sitting here thinking about it, and as much as I fucking hate to admit it, I can see how you could have come to the conclusion you came to.”
“So, apology accepted?” I asked, pushing him. He didn’t seem like the kind of man to easily accept an apology.
He hesitated for a moment. “Yeah.”
He gave me a one word answer, and yet it felt like he’d given me something rare. I didn’t know Scott well enough to know for sure, but I sensed from his body language that he didn’t really want to give what he’d given.
I waited for him to get off his bike but instead, he moved to put his helmet on. “Are you still leaving?” I asked, and realised that I wanted him to stay.
He stopped putting his helmet on and gave me a pointed look. “I don’t do get togethers. Only came to this one because Madison would get pissy if I didn’t, and Madison in a pissy mood isn’t worth the headache. You gave me a good excuse to leave.”
I laughed. “Glad I could help you out then.”
“Yeah, thanks for that.” There was a hint of humour in his voice and he sat watching me for a minute. Finally, he put the helmet on, turned on his bike and took off without a backwards glance.
I stood on the footpath for a long time staring after him. There was definitely something about Scott Cole; something that made long forgotten desires come to the surface. As I stood staring into the distance, I realised that I’d liked it when he just sat and watched me. His eyes hadn’t moved from mine and somehow we’d connected. I’d felt it but I wondered if he had. I also wondered if it was even a good idea to be thinking these things because, let’s face it, Scott was bound to be heartbreak on legs.
***
T
he next day, I sailed through my shift at the vets as thoughts of Scott flitted in and out of my mind. I’d memorised his muscles, the ink on his arms, his lips and his eyes. These images were floating around my head all day and I’ve gotta say, they made me a happy girl. Even my boss’s snarky attitude towards me all day couldn’t change my mood. Nor did thoughts of the bills my Mum was facing in her café.
A couple of hours later though, I completely changed my mind about Scott Cole. At the end of my shift, my boss called me into his office.
“Harlow, I’m going to have to let you go. I’ve had a complaint from Rod about the way he was treated the other day. The way you dealt with that situation was completely unacceptable,” he said, as he shuffled papers on his desk and did his best to avoid eye contact with me.
My heart started beating faster, and heat flooded my body. How dare he fire me over that idiot. “You’re kidding, right? You fire me without even getting my version of what happened? Rod is one of the rudest customers I’ve ever dealt with in my life, and you’ll regret choosing him over me!”
“I don’t think so. He’s one of my best customers; that dog of his is always in here getting something done. I can’t afford to upset customers like him.”
I picked up my handbag that I had placed on his desk, and stood up. “You know what? I don’t want to work for an idiot like you anyway. I think this will be for the best after all,” I snapped, and then stormed out of his office.
As I drove home, I assessed the events of the last week and decided that Scott had screwed with my life. My mother and I counted on that income from my job at the vet to help cover her mortgage and her bills from the café. Unless I found a new job really soon, I worried that she wouldn’t be able to cover all her bills, and wondered where that would leave us. If I ever saw Scott Cole again, I’d be sure to give him a piece of my freaking mind.
S
cott
“Fucking hell!” I yelled as I rifled through the beer invoice that I was holding. Moving my eyes from the invoice to J, I continued, “How fucking hard is it for them to get an order right?”
J grabbed the invoice from me and assessed it. “Before you take that temper out on the supplier, you’d better check with our staff to make sure it wasn’t them who fucked it up.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that, but brother, we need a new manager because neither of us is cut out for this shit.”
“I hear you. I’ve got some more interviews to line up.”
“Good.”
J looked at his watch. “I’ve got to head home. Call me if something urgent comes up, otherwise I’m busy for the night. And when I say I’m busy, I mean with a woman who you don’t want to fuck with.”
I held up my hand. “I don’t need to hear anymore. We won’t be bothering you.”
Nash wondered into the storeroom at that moment and the air thickened with tension as he and J watched each other. I’d thought that once Madison made it clear she was settling down with J, these two would start getting along but it didn’t seem to be the case. If anything, they were getting along worse than ever.
“Marcus asked me to pass along that he thinks he’s talked some sense into Blade. Thinks that Blade will pull back on his coke distribution,” Nash shared.
“What makes him so sure?” I seriously doubted this was true. Blade had now had a taste of the money coke bought in; he wouldn’t give that up so easily.
Nash shrugged. “Got no idea, brother. Just passing on the message.”
As Nash and I talked, J walked towards the storeroom door. “I’ll catch you later,” he said to me, ignoring Nash.
We watched him leave and then I asked, “Why’s he so dirty with you still?”
“Don’t know and don’t fucking care. J’s an asshole who I have no time for.”
“You still got a thing for Madison?”
“Fuck no, brother. She could do better than him though, and I haven’t been backward in telling her that.”
“I’d stay out of it now, if I was you. Now that J’s home, you don’t want to be fucking around where Madison’s concerned,” I warned him. There’d be hell to pay if J ever found out what Nash had been saying to Madison. And that was hell that our club didn’t need.
“I’ve said my piece and I’m out of it. Got better things to do with my time anyway,” he said with that Nash grin that meant only one thing; sex.
I chuckled; the mood now lighter. “I’m sure you fucking have, brother.”
“We need to hook you up, VP. You’re more moody than normal and some pussy will help that.”
He was right. “Yeah, but let me do my own hooking up. I don’t want the kind of bitches you’d find me.”
“Pussy’s pussy, brother.”
“No it fucking isn’t.”
“When did you get so picky? I remember a time when you’d take anything and everything on offer. Wasn’t so long ago.”
“Christ, what the fuck is this, Nash? Quilting fucking circle? I don’t want to sit around and dissect my sex life.” I started walking out of the storeroom, towards the office.
Nash followed me and along the way we ran into Velvet. A scowl crossed her face when she saw Nash but she quickly hid it and turned her attention to me. “The place is hopping tonight and there’s a shitload of dickheads in attendance. You might want to call in some more of your guys.”
Just what we needed. “Will do. You up soon?” Being the star of our club, there was often some problems with drunk patrons when she performed. We were down some security tonight so I wanted to be out there ready for any issues when she was on.
“In about fifteen minutes,” she answered me.
“How many boys you want me to call in?” Nash asked, his phone ready to go. Velvet was back to scowling at him which was strange. I thought these two were good friends.
“Get four of them in and tell them to hurry the fuck up,” I said to Nash, my interest in what was happening between Nash and Velvet gone. So long as it didn’t interfere with Storm or Indigo, I could care less about their issues with each other. “I’ll be out there soon. I want to keep an eye on you tonight, just because we’re down some men,” I said to Velvet.
She looked happy with this news. “Thanks, boss,” she said and then left Nash and I alone.
He finished up his call. “I’ll go out and check what’s happening.”
“Sure. Be out soon.”
He nodded and then left. I sat down at the desk in the office and spent a couple of minutes looking through invoices that needed payment or some kind of follow up. This part of the job was the shit part. We’d better have a new manager soon because it was headache material.
***
A
n hour later, I was kicking back with a beer. Velvet’s performance had gone off without a hitch, our extra security had turned up and the place seemed to be under control. Nash was sitting across from me at the table; once again, enjoying the show. From where I was sitting, I could see the front door and I was surprised to see Harlow stumble through it. The friend she was with was also stumbling; they’d obviously been out drinking for the night. How the fuck they ended up in a strip club was anyone’s guess. Harlow didn’t strike me as your standard strip club patron. I stood up, watching her intently. She was making a beeline to the bar even though any fool could tell she had enough alcohol in her system to last her for a long time. Suddenly, our eyes met and a shitty look crossed her face. She changed her direction and started towards me.
She kept coming until she was almost in my face, and shoved a finger at my chest. “Scott freaking Cole!” she slurred, “You owe me big time. I lost my job because of you.”
“What the fuck? Why?” I took a step back, to move away from her, but she stepped forward and maintained our closeness.
“You pissed that customer off and he put a complaint in about me. He’s one of our best customers so the vet chose him over me. Thank you very freaking much!”