Page 66 of Love your Billionaire Boss

“No, but you don’t need to be associated with them. The further you distance yourself, the better. In fact, Kev is no longer welcome here. Neither is the team.”

“But, Bridget. They bring in so much money, not to mention customers.”

Bridget held her hand up. “I don’t care. We’re a family. We’ll be fine without them.”

Cleo looked at Bridget, who seemed so confident in her decision.

“I can’t let you do that. This bar means too much to me, you, and your dad. I’ll quit.”

“No, you can’t.”

“I just did.”

Cleo gave Bridget a tear-filled hug before walking out of the bar. She knew none of this was her fault, but she couldn’t help but blame herself. She numbly got in her car and drove home. She had a lot to figure out.

Chapter 24

Kenny

As much as Kenny had wished his time on the road would get his mind off Cleo, she kept eating away at his thoughts. Despite his head being elsewhere, he played well. The team won every away game, which raised everyone’s spirits. Even Kenny’s. At least a little.

They had done the usual celebrating at the popular bars and clubs, but Kenny’s heart just wasn’t in it. He went through the motions, but just wanted to be back at the hotel. His teammates gave him a hard time at first, but then they just backed off and left him alone.

On the bus ride to the airport, Kenny opened his unanswered texts to Cleo. He had texted her a few times:

It’s me again. I just want to talk.

I’m worried about you. Please text me back.

Are you there?

All of his texts remained unanswered. He sighed as he clicked his phone to lock and put it back in his pocket.

“You okay?” asked Nico, eyeing him from the seat next to his.

“Cleo hasn’t texted me back all week.”

“Yikes. The silent treatment.”

“I just want to make sure she’s okay. It still doesn’t make sense that she just ditched the party like that.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty weird. She was really looking forward to the party and hopefully getting clientele.”

“Has Mae said anything?”

Nico shook his head. “Other than her loving everything, no, nothing. I even called Jonas. Seeing how off you’ve been this week I thought having some answers would help you out, but he didn’t know what happened. He just said everyone was raving about her. They wanted to hire her for another event, actually.”

“Really? That’s great.”

“Yeah, but she hasn’t returned their emails or calls.”

“She can’t be that mad at me that she would pass up on an opportunity like that.”

“I don’t know, man. Women are beautiful, but confusing creatures.” Nico shrugged.

Kenny nodded as he laid his head back against the seat. Why was Cleo being like this? Sure, he had messed up. She didn’t have to forgive him or talk to him, but to hear that she was giving the silent treatment to the team’s owners was a mistake. This was her big break and she was throwing it away because of a guy? Granted, he was a stupid guy, but still. It didn’t make sense.

He remembered being in the kitchen with her that first afternoon together, seeing her in her element as she moved expertly through the kitchen. He remembered her smile as she flicked through her recipe books. He remembered her biting her lip in concentration as she used her measuring cups to pour in the flour and the sugar.

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