Page 98 of Muted

The gulp of beer I just put in my mouth turns bitter, so I force it down before slamming my bottle on the bar top. “I’m not sure what boundaries you think would be necessary. It’s also a little presumptuous of you to start dictating things when you literallyjust nowhave some skin in the game.”

I’m not necessarily pissed at Chaz for making a move on my girl, but I do find it irritating that he’s decided to lay out ground rules. We both turn toward the door when we hear it open, and watch as Vance walks in, cocky as ever, sauntering over to us. Dropping his bag on the floor, he sits on a stool, leaving a few between us.

“So, you asked me to come in early. What do you need?” He completely ignores my presence, only directing his question to Chaz. I grind my teeth in irritation and suck in a deep breath to calm myself. I know Vance wasn’t informed of why he was asked to come in, so I’ll let this one slide.

Wadding up a dishtowel, Chaz tosses it next to the sink and plants his hands on the counter, grounding himself. I know I’ve pissed him off, so I do my best to hold back a smirk. Heshouldhave to work a little hard. Things have always seemed to go smoothly for him in the past. There’s nothing wrong with a challenge now and then.

“I want to talk about Susanna and the situation we’ve all found ourselves in. Establish some boundaries and expectations.” I roll my eyes so fucking hard and then chuckle when Vance sits up straighter, clearly not liking Chaz’s topic.

Folding his hands on the counter, he shoots a quick look at me, eyeing me up and down, then dismisses me before addressing our boss. I narrow my eyes and wish beyond anything that I can snap at him and tell him I’m about to be his boss too in the near future. See how quickly he’ll dismiss me then.

“I’m not opposed to having this conversation, but don’t you think she should be here for it?” Vance asks. A muffled curse filters out from the office, drawing our attention.

Lowering his voice, Chaz tells us, “Cliff is in there, panicking about something. He shouldn’t hear us if we keep our voices down. But I want to have this conversation before she gets here. Vance, yes, I do think she should be part of the conversation. Right now, though, she’s got a lot on her plate and I’d rather not heap more stress on her shoulders. We’re all adults. We can figure out how to navigate this to make things a bit easier for her.”

Vance tilts his head to the side, peering over at me again, this time with a little more acknowledgement that yeah, maybe I’m not as uninvolved as he thinks. “I’m not thrilled either,” I tell him, and he nods once in agreement.

“What does she have on her plate?”

Ahh, so maybe my little carebear hasn’t shared everything with everyone. Interesting.

“This is why I want us to have a conversation. I think sharing things about her with each other should be a line we don’t cross. She has to know that if she tells one of us something, it’ll stay between the two of us. I don’t want her to feel like she can’t trust that her personal stuff stays personal.”

I pause, considering what he’s saying, and realize that he’s right. Luckily, I’ve found that for the most part, I’ve kept our interactions private. It doesn’t help my curiosity about what Chaz and Vance might know, which raises the question…

“What if it’s a safety issue? Because I think if it’s a matter of that, rules should be off the table.” My question draws them both to their feet, tense over the idea that Susucouldhave an issue with her safety.

Vance rocks back and forth on his heels, then slowly starts piecing it together. “Well… if… if there’s a concern for her safety, I think weshouldknow. But I also think it would be hurtful to her if we didn’t include her inthatkind of conversation. That…” he trails off, looking at the floor as he thinks it through. “If that were me, and people were talking about serious shit in my life, making decisions without my input, I wouldn’t stick around.”

There’s a flash of something that heats his eyes, infuriating him, but I don’t know him well enough to know what he could have been thinking about. I’m annoyed that he’s arguing about my safety concern, so I poke back at the rich boy. “I’m sure you can understand that sometimes people don’t always make the best decisions for themselves. If you don’t care enough about her wellbeing, maybe you should evaluate what you’re doing with her, Vance.”

“Theo,” Chaz warns me, but I ignore him, staring down the spoiled piano man. I’m not worried about him being able to take me, but I may have miscalculated his commitment to her.

Stepping up to me, he brings us nose to nose. Now, I know I’m tall, taller than most, which is why I have the job I have. My height combined with my size, but I’ll admit, I never noticed that Vance is only a few inches shorter than me.

“I don’t need to evaluate shit. What weneedto do is have this fucking conversation with the woman we all seem interested in. She’s been nothing but honest about what’s transpired between all of us. I think she’s owed the courtesy of being included in shit that affectsher.”

I hold my hands up to ward him off, thankful that he takes a step back. The last thing we need is to throw fists. Susu wouldnotappreciate that without a doubt. “I’m just saying, I think it’s a fair question.”

“I don’t think we need to worry about it anyway,” Chaz says, interrupting us. “Without going into details, she’s fine right here.”

Vance and I both look at him, and he simply shrugs. Vance narrows his eyes and asks, “Speaking of you, when the hell did you come into the picture? I already knew about him.” He emphasizes ‘him’ with a finger jab in my direction.

The way Chaz smirks at Vance makes me burst out laughing. He continues to rankle our piano player. “I’m certain I’ve always been in the picture, unless you forgot what I witnessed and participated in?” Chaz raises a brow and crosses his arms, challenging Vance to argue with him.

Vance sputters, wanting to argue, but we all know he doesn’t have a word to say to that. Finally, he spits out, “I thought you were just… I don’t know what the fuck I thought. But I thought it was an ‘in the moment’ sort of thing.”

“She’s gone after you guys, too? Why am I not surprised?”

I jerk my head toward the office and find Cliff standing in the doorway, arms crossed, and a vile smile spreading over his face. The asshole doesn’t fucking stop. He simply shrugs, continuing with his fucking nonsense.

“Maybe she’s been partly honest with all of you, but she’s certainly been feeding me some bullshit. I’m not going to sit by and let her play me as well. You all can do what you want.”

Chaz scowls at him. I’m going to clear this shit up right the fuck now, just in case anyone here has doubts, which would surprise me. I burst out laughing, holding my stomach as I bend over. My hair falls free from the tie holding it back and when I stand up, I shove it out of my face.

“You’re so fucking full of shit, Clifford. That girl wouldn’t fuck you, let alone let you close enough with a ten-foot pole. Get out of here with that nonsense.” I’m still laughing as I turn my back on him, dismissing his ridiculous claim. My smile immediately falls from my face when I glare at both Chaz and Vance. “He’s just trying to create dissension. You both know she would have been open about that, and there’s no way in hell she’s getting near him.”

My gaze stays on Chaz a bit longer, silently reminding him of what we suspected the other week and how he had driven her to run from the bar practically comatose.

---