Page 46 of Arrogant Bastard

Thick silence settles over the room.

I clear my throat. “Can we move this along?”

Axel’s gaze stays on her for another moment, and then he nods. “Now that that’s settled, sure. You were saying?” he drawls to no one in particular.

“Leave of absence. Unspecified length of time. Starting right now,” I repeat.

Axel rounds his desk and hitches one thigh over the corner. “Hell of a time to drop this on me, B.”

I try not to grit my teeth and realize I’m still not okay with the name he’s calling her. “It wasn’t planned,” I offer. “But it can’t be helped.”

He absorbs that and shrugs. “Well, if she belongs to you and you need to do this, then—”

“I swear to God, you say that again, and I’ll punch your lights out,” Faith snaps.

Enough of this shit. I walk up behind her and slide my hand under her hair to cover her nape. “You. Belong. To. Me. We’re doing this. Deal with it and let’s get it done,” I growl in her ear. “We’re wasting time as it is.”

Her lips part but she doesn’t say anything. After a moment, she exhales softly. I give her a quick squeeze, let go, and step back.

Axel’s brows spike, and he shakes his head. “Fuck me, I never thought I’d see the day.”

Faith throws him a glare. “Oh, whatever. Screw you, Axel.”

He rises and strolls over to his girlfriend. He stares down at her for a moment, drifts a finger over her mouth, and then turns around. “Fine, if you need to go, go. I have things to do, especially now that you’ve dropped this pile of crap in my lap.”

“Don’t be melodramatic. You’ll barely notice I’m gone.”

“You’re a fucking pain in my ass, B, but I’ll notice,” he says.

Now that I have evidence that Axel is obsessed with another woman who isn’t Faith, I choose not to let his words affect me too much.

“Jade will step in until you get one of the managers from your other clubs to fill in. The one at Viper Red should be fine,” she says.

I raise my eyebrow. “Jade?” I ask, although I don’t give a fuck who Jade is. But information is king, and gathering intel, no matter how useless it seems, is ingrained in me. Besides, I’m still one hundred percent sure that Faith is keeping something from me, so every fact is vital.

“She’s the receptionist downstairs. She’s started filling in on my days off, and she’s been great so far. I see no reason why she can’t step in for now.”

Axel nods, but his gaze and hands are moving over Cleo. “Great. Glad that’s sorted. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

“One more thing.” I look at her but Faith hesitates. “Tell him, baby.”

Axel gives us his attention. “Tell me what?”

She holds up the thumb drives. “I also came to give you a heads-up that I’m taking a copy of the client list with me. And the list of the applicants whose membership we refused.”

Axel doesn’t seem particularly disturbed by the news, but his hands drop and his gaze turns vigilant. “Okay…what the hell do you need that for?”

I shake my head before she can speak. “We’d rather not say. But it’s important that we have it. All of it.”

Charged silence pulses in the room. It’s to his credit that he judges the situation and gets what’s at stake. Not that it would’ve mattered in the long run. Hacking the club’s database will be child’s play if Axel decides he wants to be precious about it. But it’s easier and time efficient if we don’t have to.

“Fine,” he says. He reaches into his pocket, takes out a card, and holds it out to me. “If you need anything else, give me a call.”

I take it from him. “Thanks. If I can ever return the favor, let me know.”

Axel strolls forward and stops in front of Faith. Everything inside me tenses. He fucking better not be thinking about doing anything like touching her. Or, hell, kissing her. His eyes narrow on her face for a moment. “Take care of yourself.”

She nods.

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