Page 26 of Romance with Mr. Bossy Pants

I pull into the club parking lot when my phone rings. It's Chloe.

I answer with a dry, “Hello.”

But as I hear her frantic voice, my annoyance turns to alarm.

“You're out of your mind!”

Her voice is distant, and when I hear the clatter of dishes in the background, I realize that she must have pocket-dialed me.

Is she okay?

That’s when I hear a man’s voice.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

Then, a struggle and muffled sounds.

Is she being chased?

I don't waste a second. I turn the key in the ignition and whip the car around. I drive a lot faster than I should down these city streets, but something pushes me forward…an instinct to protect her. I run a red light, but don’t care. A sharp right turn, followed by a left…

She has to be near the office still if she just stepped out to lunch.

Then, there she is.

Seeing Chloe, I slam my breaks. There’s no mistaking the slit black dress she chose to wear today with a white blazer. She’s rushing toward me, chasing her is a man who makes my skin crawl just by looking at him.

I step up to them. “What’s going on here?”

They both freeze.

The man with breath that smells like a dumpster says, “This escort doesn't want to give the services she was paid for.”

I move directly in front of him, eyes piercing like daggers, nostrils flaring.

Chloe opens her mouth, but I raise a finger to have her give me a minute while I address the man. Not under my watch will a man disrespect a woman and get away with it.

“Repeat what you said,” I seethe.

“The escort….”

I raise my forearm and ball my brandished fist. “Call her that again and watch your rotten teeth grace the floor.”

He stiffens.

Exactly what I thought.

He bites his lip and points at her. “My boy opened a site. She charged him a hundred to see her. Boy told me I can hook up with her.”

“I didn’t!” Chloe objects.

Still facing the man, I say, “Ask your boy for your hundred bucks. He lied to you.”

“No,” he snaps, flinching slightly. “My boy is more honest than a priest.”

“Your good boy is a fraud. I don’t know what kind of scheme you guys are running, but we don’t owe you anything."

“But—” he stutters.

---