Page 151 of One Bad Idea
"Oh." I paused. "Well whywouldn'tshe want that?" Even as I said it, it wasn't lost on me that Istillhadn't told Cassidy who owned the restaurant where she worked.
Forhersake, I didn't plan on telling her either.
But that was totally different.
Wasn't it?
Jaden gave me a hard look. "Youtell me."
"Why she wouldn't want a job here?" I gave a tight shrug. "Ican'ttell you, because I don't know."
He stepped closer. "Yes, you do."
Damn it.
Maybe he was right. Maybe Cassidywould'vehated working for Jax, even in a roundabout way. But I was in no mood to admit it, and besides, Jaden had been awful from the get-go.
I made a sound of annoyance. "Oh, like you care."
"I care about my brother."
"Oh yeah? WellIcare about Cassidy. And maybe if you cared so much about your brother, you'd realize how lucky he'd be to have her working here." I straightened in my seat. "Andyou'dbe lucky, too."
"You think, huh?"
"Yes. I do. They're great together." My voice rose. "What, you think she's not good enough for him? Because of her mom? Is that it?"
Jaden gave a bitter laugh, but said nothing in reply.
I waited for him to explain, and when he didn't, I demanded, "What's so funny?"
In spite of the laughter, he looked anything but amused. "You think I give two shits about her family? Or what she came from?"
"Well, you obviously do, or you wouldn’t have brought it up."
"No. I brought it up to make a point."
"Oh yeah? And what point is that?"
"Make thattwopoints."
"Fine," I snapped. "Go ahead. I'm all ears."
"One," he said. "He doesn'twanther as an employee, and mixing that up wouldn't've been good for either one of them."
The explanation – truthful or not – stung. It shouldn’t have. But it wasn't lost on me that Jaden and I had been mixing up business and pleasure for quite a while now.
And it wasn't working out, at least not for me.Not anymore.
I crossed my arms. "And the second point?"
"We both know why I made you work today."
"Oh, really? Why?"
"So you'd stay the fuck away from that nut-job." His voice hardened. "And her pimp."
The so-called pimp was the boyfriend of Cassidy's mom. Oh sure, she called him her boyfriend, but it was beyond obvious that it was more of a business thing.
