Page 58 of Jordan

“Pepper!” I snapped. “What the fuck are you doing in my home?” My guards knew not to kill her. She knew it too. Her visits were rare. And yet, tonight of all nights, she showed up.

My anger didn’t faze her. She returned to Vivian and slung her arm over her shoulders. “Didn’t you know? Viv is my new bestie. We met at yoga a few weeks ago. We share everything, including all the ways I’d like to see you take a dirt nap and never wake the fuck up again.” Every word was said with a smile firmly in place.

I pushed my chair back and stood, leaning forward to plant my hands on the table. “Vivian, you’re fired. You don’t bring people into my home, let alone her.” I pointed at Pepper. Oh look, the knife was in my hand again. Maybe I could just nick Pepper with it. It wouldn’t kill her, although I’d feel better.

“You’re firing me?” Vivian asked, her hand to her mouth.

I looked at Irene. She was the only woman in the room I gave a shit about. I hired Vivian as a favor to her.

Irene held my gaze for a moment before shifting it to her daughter. “Viv, you know better. Jordan is very strict about who comes into his home. You have more access than most as his assistant, and you broke his trust. The guards let you in because you have clearance but bringing Pepper was too far, especially given how Jordan feels about her, which you very well know.” Another reason I kept Irene around, she understood me in this respect.

“Well, that’s rude,” Pepper said. “But it’s for the best. Viv, you can work for me.”

“You have a business now?” I asked incredulously.

“Didn’t you hear? I work for Dash as his personal assistant.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

“That’s fantastic,” Greer laughed.

“Viv, you can help me,” Pepper stated. “I hear Slater is looking for help too.”

“Raiden,” I growled. If he didn’t remove them, the knife that now sat on the table, thanks to Vail once again prying it from my fingers, was going to fly in Pepper’s direction. The knife at Vail’s place setting was going toward Greer afterward.

Raiden quickly got Vivian and Pepper into the elevator and called down to Barry. Someone should escort Vivian to her desk so she could collect her things.

I met Irene’s gaze again. “I’ll give you a check for her before you leave.”

She nodded and went back to the kitchen to grab butter for the biscuits.

It would cost me to get rid of Vivian, but it was about fucking time.

“Well, that was interesting,” Hartley said.

My son sat down and leaned his elbow on the table. “Let me tell you about Pepper Emerson.”

I knew this night was going to be long, but not this fucking long.

26

VAIL

The evening was supposed to be one with Jordan, us, his son, and his son’s partners. Instead, it turned into a fucking circus. There was a lot to follow as words were said and stories were told, but I got the gist of it. I was also happy to have met Romeo’s mother. She was a spitfire of a woman. She reminded me a bit of my sister with her take no shit attitude. It was no wonder Jordan and Pepper went back and forth, placing gifts for the other in Romeo’s house.

Pepper leaving with Vivian brought Jordan’s shoulders down and the tension drained from him. He could finally relax in his seat and enjoy dinner with his son. And us. I still couldn’t believe I called us his partners. Jordan didn’t know what to say, and I hated the sudden silence, so I jumped in to fill the gap.

Once everyone left, including Raiden, who was on the floor below Jordan’s home for the evening to give us privacy, Jordan poured himself a drink and stood by the tinted floor-to-ceiling windows in his living room that overlooked the city. “I still can’t believe that fucking woman was in my house.” Pepper and Jordan weren’t friends. They weren’t even acquaintances. I thought he hated Vivian more than Pepper now, which was saying something.

I stepped up behind him and put my hand on his lower back. “Hey, let all that go. They’re gone.”

He turned to me, his eyes dropping to my lips. “Make me think of something else.”

Taking the glass from him, I poured the rest of the scotch down my throat and set it on the coffee table. “Do you want to fuck me, Jordan?”

“What if I want Hartley to fuck you?”

“That’s up to him. I would love to have his hands on me, but what about you?”

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