Page 16 of Bad Seed

Justine heard the roar and rolled her eyes, but didn’t budge from the sofa where she was sitting. “What is the matter with you, and where’s my food?” she asked, and then gasped in shock when her father yanked her up by her shoulders and began shaking her.

“What’s the matter with me? The better question is, what’s the matter withyou?” he shouted. “I have hotelstaff ready to walk out because of what you’ve been pulling.”

Justine’s eyes welled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I told you Brendan hates me.”

“Oh, he said nothing about you. Not even the fact that you tried to cut his face. He refused to say a word. It was the rest of the staff that came to his rescue. Where the hell is that knife? Have you been putting your hands on him? Have you been accosting him in the halls? I can check security footage in elevators and halls, so don’t lie!”

Justine’s stomach knotted. She’d never thought of that. She let the tears roll. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just flirting a little.”

Larry glared. “Flirts don’t slice up the guys they’re interested in. Even once with your hands on him is out of line. Doing it repeatedly is called sexual assault. If he’d been doing it to you, he would already be in jail. And speaking of jail, he has two brothers on the Jubilee police force, and he is related to Ray Caldwell and his daughter, Liz Devon, our event coordinator. He’s fed up enough to press charges if it doesn’t stop, and I’m on the verge of being fired because of you!”

“We should have had this information sooner,” she muttered, swiping away the fake tears with both hands.

Larry stared. “What are you saying?”

She shrugged. “I would have steered clear of him, that’s what.”

Larry was dumbfounded, and it showed. “So, you’renot sorry it happened, just regretting you’ve been found out. Is that what you’re telling me?”

Justine should have been warned by the sudden quiet in her father’s voice.

“You can’t blame me. I’m bored here,” she said.

“Did you slap the clerk in the gift shop in front of customers? Did you chastise our waitstaff in front of customers?” he asked.

“So what? If you don’t keep people in line, they get sloppy,” she said.

Now Larry was shouting. “That’s not your job. You don’t work here. I do. You have no authority here at all. If I hear about one more incident that you’re involved in, I will put you on the plane with a one-way ticket back to Dallas. You can live with your mother. You’re just like her.”

Justine froze. “I’m not living with her.”

“Fine! You’re twenty-four years old. You can live where you want, but it won’t be under my roof.” He shook her by the shoulders. “Do. You. Understand?”

Justine twisted out of his grasp. “You don’t talk to me like that.”

“I just did!” Larry said, and headed for the door.

“What about my lunch?” she shrieked.

“Pick something from the menu or do without!” he shouted back, and slammed the door behind him.

Justine was in shock. Something told her that she’d just lost the edge of ever coercing her father into anything again.

***

Larry got back to his office, dumped what was left of his chicken salad sandwich in the garbage, pulled a bottle of whiskey from the bottom drawer, and poured himself a shot. He downed it like medicine, returned the bottle to the drawer, and then buried his face in his hands.

This might have been one of the most humiliating days of his life. Justine was out of control, just like always, only now she was too old to punish. He couldn’t ground her anymore. He couldn’t take away her privileges, and he didn’t know how to get rid of her. He couldn’t even call his ex-wife for advice because Justine was just like her. She would think the ass-grabbing was funny. She would call her daughter fiery for swinging a knife at a man. She was just as demanding as their daughter. He was still bemoaning his fate when his cell phone rang. He scrubbed his face with both hands and then answered.

“Hello.”

“Larry, it’s me, Joe. Just letting you know I sent your cut for the month to your Dallas account.”

Larry breathed a quick sigh of relief that it was the meat wholesaler and not another problem about his daughter. “Thanks, Joe. Much appreciated.”

“Oh…hey, I’m the one who’s thanking you. We just received a new order from the hotel purchasing department. It’ll ship out this week with the regular invoice enclosed.”

“Perfect,” Larry said. “Have a good day.”

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