Page 10 of Rebel

When I got to my feet, she extended her hand again and I reluctantly took it. I shook her hand just to be polite. I wasn’t at all sure she was in a position to do what I needed, or that she’d be willing to compensate me properly. Those two points were deal-breakers for me.

She said, “Bring all your paperwork so I can see what I’m up against.”

“Sounds good, you might want to have a proposal sketched out. Expect some changes based on my needs.”

“I get that you’ll want to have your say and that the deal has to work for both of us. We’re smart people. I’m sure we can work out a compromise.”

“Great. I’ll see you in the morning Lacey.”

***

The minute I hit the bar, Zoe came to sit beside me. She slid me a cold beer and I noticed she had one for herself as well. “Since I’ve never had the pleasure of having a good old-fashioned chinwag with the club president’s old lady or had herfetching beers for me, do you mind telling me what this is all about?”

“God, you are the prickliest man I have ever met. I was just wondering how your meeting with Lacey went. If you don’t want to talk, I’ll leave you to your own thoughts.”

“If you must know, I left that meeting with a bad feeling that Lacey has it in her mind that I’m going to end up being her employee, specifically, the little worker bee who is obsessed with the queen bee. If so, she’s barking up the wrong tree.”

“Now why would you think bad of her when you don’t even know her?”

“When was the last time a woman took a chance on me? Do you have any idea?”

She shook her head, clearly confused about why I was being so difficult.

“Let me just say, never. Not once has a lady like yourself and Lacey ever given me a chance, professionally or otherwise. That leads me to believe that she just wants to use me to save the farm, so to speak.”

“Then use her right back,” Zoe told me. “Storm told me about your grandmother. You need money, striking a deal with Lacey could be the way to make a little pile of money to get your own business off the ground. If you had money, you could rent office space and hire a bookkeeper, right?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I need in order to make my business work. If she’s willing to be reasonable, we might be able to work out a mutual compromise.”

“Look Benny, I realize that you don’t know Lacey like I do, but I can vouch for her. She’s good people. I can’t imagine her intentionally screwing you over. She’s really open and easy to talk to. If you have problems, just go to her, and talk it out. You can do that, right?”

“Yeah, I sure the fuck can. If she double-crosses me, I’ll drop her like a hot potato. If that happens, I don’t want it to affect my standing in the club. Remember, you and Storm orchestrated this whole thing, if it goes bad, it’s not on me.”

Zoe just shook her head. “Okay that was my best effort at talking you through your anxieties and clearing up any misconceptions you had about Lacey. You’re on your own from here on out.”

She got up from the table and stalked towards Storm’s office.

My new cat rubbed herself against my leg, so I bent down and picked her up. She rolled over in my arms and looked up at me with her big green eyes. I rubbed her tummy, wondering what was going through her mind right now. Since I stayed at the clubhouse on the weekends, she was okay with me here, but what would happen tomorrow? I didn’t like the idea of leaving her on her own too much while I worked.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lacey walking by. She barely glanced in my direction and kept on walking. Zoe’s friend was all kinds of stuck-up and I didn’t know how to handle her. Being an intelligent man, I knew that it was a ‘me’ problem instead of a ‘her’ problem.

As I looked down at my foster cat, I felt her dig her claws into my jeans. Reaching down to remove her paw, an idea formed inmy mind. “Hey Katy Purry, you want some pretty pantsuits to sharpen your claws on?”

Glancing out the window to watch her climb into her car, I decided to beat my fancy-pants boss at her own game. I’d suggest cat care as part of the deal and see just how much Lacey was willing to compromise to get what she wanted from me. Katy would stay in the office during the day, it was a win-win situation. What was the worst that could happen? Her saying no way? If she flat out refused, then maybe I could use that to get a concession I really wanted. Devious, I know, but I wasn’t planning to be totally cutthroat with the poor woman. We both needed this deal. I just planned to inject a little fun into the negotiations.

Chapter 5

Lacey

Imade sure to come into the office an hour early today. Benny was scheduled to be here in an hour, and I wanted to make sure the office was cleaned up in order to present it professionally. Mark Shepard left the office a complete mess when he left on Friday, with invoices littering his desk, used coffee cups all over the place, and unpaid bills filling the wastebasket. I cleared some of it up over the weekend and was determined to finish it up this morning.

My phone jingled just a few minutes before eight. After a quick look, I rolled my eyes and slipped it back into my purse. My old boss got extra bonus points for disengaging his ‘asshole gene’ long enough to try and lure me back with promises of better benefits. I might have been tempted if he weren’t such a creep and just plain mean. Only a complete idiot would sign up for more of what he was dishing out when I worked there.

When Benny showed up this morning, I was just putting the vacuum away. The office looked almost like I remembered it growing up.

“Good morning, Benny. I’m glad you decided to follow through with our meeting this morning,” I said with a smile.

He stopped short and glared at me. “If I say I’m gonna do something, I do it. A man is only as good as his word.”

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