It would suck to be away from Tess, but my dad had a point, I needed to figure out a way to run all three businesses. If not, I’d have to give something up. I’d opened the Rock Bottom and started the sports betting to prove myself—to prove that someday I would be enough to take over the business. Then it was Orbit and the card games. Over time it became something that represented me.
“Miller?”
Dad’s voice pulled me from my thoughts and I remembered what kept them caught in my throat.
“Thanks, Dad. I’ll be over there all day tomorrow.”
“Look over some of the guys in the service department. A few of them have potential.”
“All right. I’ll see you tomorrow.
I’d barely hung up the phone when it rang again. My mood already shot to hell, I swiped my finger across the screen, not bothering to look who it was and hit speaker.
“What?”
“Who pissed in your cheerios?” Dean chuckled.
“Dad’s busting my ass about not being at the dealership.” I leaned back in the chair and dropped my head on the back of the seat.
“That’s ’cause your too busy at Rock Bottom making sure no one puts their hands on your woman.”
“That’s bullshit. I can work better here.”
“Maybe you can, but you’ve brushed it off before. But that’s not why I called.”
“What then?’
“I found them.”
My head snapped up and I eyed the door, deciding if I should lock it before we continued. Tess had finally gotten comfortable enough to come in without knocking and although I had nothing to hide from her, I wasn’t sure I wanted her to hear this news just yet. My dad swore that the women we kept by our sides needed to understand what it was we did and while I had no doubt Tess understood that fully, that didn’t mean she needed to know what I’d do to her parents.
“Hold on.” I locked the door and took my seat again. “Tell me.”
“Turns out her stepdad is a plumber in a small town in Ohio. Her mom runs the office and the books.”
“She came all of the way out here from Ohio?” I wanted to slam my hand down on the desk, except it wouldn’t get me anywhere. I’d rather be it her stepdad’s face.
“I want them out of business. I don’t care what it takes. I also want them to know who put them out of business and if they don’t want me to ruin any other part of their lives, they’ll send anything of Tess’s to me and stay the fuck out of her life.” My voice was cold, hard.
“You got it.”
The sounded of shattering glass filtered through the door. Not unusual for a bar, except it wasn’t usually followed by shouting.
“Look I gotta go, there’s something I need to handle.” I hung up and raced from the room when the yelling increased in volume, mainly because one of the voices sounded like Tess’s. I ran straight into Derek, who looked as if he’d been heading toward my office.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Jason sent me to get you. Ray Wasden’s here. He’s drunk and acting like a complete asshole.”
The name alone sent a red haze across my vision, not to mention the fact that he was destroying things in my bar and obviously pissing Tess off.
“What the fuck?” I went to step around Derek when he stopped me.
“He was here a few weeks ago. Tess sent him packing and made me promise not to tell you. She was positive that was the end of it.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me, anyway?”
I went to push past him again, but he continued to block my path.
“She’s afraid you’ll think she can’t take care of herself.” Charlie walked back to join Derek.
“Goddamn it. Of course she can. Doesn’t mean she should fucking have to. Now get the fuck out of my way before I move you.”
I took one step around the two of them when Charlie’s next words stopped me from moving any further. “Jason and Evan were carrying the asshole outside when I came back here.” The air went quiet, the yelling now absent. “Maybe a chat with Ray in the parking lot will get your point across, and keep Tess in your bed?”
Charlie had a point. “Fine, but next time you see it you better step in.” I switched my gaze to Derek. “You hide something like this from me again, it will be your ass on the line.”
Derek’s eyes widened and he nodded once before making a hasty retreat back to the bar. Dealing with the bastard in the parking lot would have to be quick. I’d have to be very careful about keeping things to a minimum. Too many eyes that I didn’t trust.
I glanced around the lot and saw Ray standing next to his car, digging for something in the backseat. I walked up behind him and slammed him, face first, into the side.