Fallen Crest Home(31)
“Who says I am?”
“They’re the type that will come in, get drunk, and piss all over your place. Your carnival will get vandalized, and you know I’m right.”
Keifer’s eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t going to let them back in.”
“Firing Sam is the wrong decision.”
Keifer’s nostrils flared. “You already said. I’m still waiting to hear a good reason.”
“Put her in the beer garden. That’s where she and Mark wanted to work in the first place.”
“Every goddamn employee works their way from the bottom up. I ain’t putting any greenie in there. No new kid is going to pour my beer and fuck up my till. You got that?”
“So fast-forward the orientation,” Mason shot back, standing straight now. His arms lowered to his side, but that only increased the tension in the room. His voice remained deceptively calm. “Put them in the beer garden. We’ll come hang out. And if we’re here, everyone else will come, too. Quinn’s connected to the rich preppy group, and I’m connected to Roussou people. Put Sam somewhere we can be, to help protect her, and you’ll double your normal sales.”
“We do just fine on the weekends.”
“I’m not talking weekends. I’m talking afternoons. If you do your homework, you know there’s a good crowd at Manny’s every night. That’s our crowd. We’ll bring them here instead.”
I cursed inwardly. Heather would love that.
Keifer seemed to be thinking it over, his gaze skirting from me to Mason and back again. Finally, after a longer-than-necessary silence, he pointed to me. “This your boyfriend?”
“Yes.”
“Were those guys after you because of him?”
How did he—
He smiled. “Four on one girl? It’s always payback if that happens, sweetie.”
I flushed, but glared at the same time. “My name’s not sweetie. It’s Samantha.”
Mason came to stand next to me. “You can fire Sam. That’s fine. She doesn’t need this job. But she likes being here. Do what I’m suggesting and at the end of the summer, you can throw a big bash. Tell everyone Mason Kade is celebrating at your carnival before he returns to Cain U for his last year.”
Petey’s head whipped around, and Keifer went eerily still, almost glaring at Mason now. A vein popped out along the side of his jaw. “The football superstar? That kid?”
“Yeah,” Mason said. “That kid.”
Keifer jerked his head forward. “You that kid?”
“I’m that kid.”
“Rumor’s that your daddy’s pretty rich, too.”
“He is, and he’s marrying Sam’s mom. That’s how we met, and that’s why she doesn’t need this job. You’re the one losing out if you fire her.”
“Now.” Keifer barked out that word, leaning down to rest his hands on his desk. His jaw twitched. “I know that now, but the real question isn’t whether I want to miss the chance at those extra sales. It’s whether I want to deal with a bunch of spoiled pricks for the rest of the summer. You don’t think we can draw in our own crowd? You don’t think that’s what we do for a goddamn living, boy?” He waved to the door, dismissing us. “Get the fuck out of here before I change my mind and have those guys carted back in.”
Mason took my hand. “Fine.” He led me out of the office. Adam and Becky trailed behind us. We found Matteo and Cass sitting on opposite ends of the bench outside. They stood when they saw us.
“What happened?” Matteo asked.
“Sam was fired.”
Adam added to Mason’s short explanation. “The guy’s an idiot. He’s losing a ton of money. He should’ve listened—”
Mason interrupted him. “Where were you?”
“What?” Adam took a step back.
“You were there. You could’ve helped her.”
Adam’s eyes widened. He looked at me, then Becky before turning back to Mason. He coughed. “I went to get Mark. I’m the one who told Becky to get security. She’s the reason Petey even knew something was going on. We had no clue. They were behind the tent, and music was blaring. We couldn’t hear.”
That was bullshit. Petey might’ve been distracted because he was doing his job, but Adam would’ve noticed Caldron before he went between the tents.
“It’s true,” Mark said. “Adam came and got me. He’s faster than Becky.”
It felt off, but Adam’s bases were covered. I had another issue to deal with. I dropped Mason’s hand and rounded on him. “Did you do that on purpose?”