Page 24 of Loyalty (The Salvation Society)

Blair joins her, but I groan in annoyance. “That isn’t helping,” I say.

“Okay, I’m sorry. Listen, you stand your ground. You are a strong, independent, successful woman. You excel at your job. Show him that you are not going to be intimidated,” Blair says.

“And no judgement from us if you wanna give in to his offer,” Haven says, laughing.

“Yeah, thanks a lot guys,” I say.

“No one said anything about not mixing business with pleasure,” Blair chimes in.

I close my eyes, aggravated with them both. I need real advice, not this. I know they are kidding, well mostly, but right now I’m not in the mood. I’m pissed at Kegan and they aren’t helping.

“Thanks for the pep talk. I’ll call you guys later.”

I hang up to the sounds of them protesting, but I don’t care. I leave the bathroom and climb back into my uncomfortable bunk. One thing is right that Blair said, I’m strong, independent, and excel at my job. I refuse to let Kegan Donovan get the best of me.

The next morning, I shower and get dressed. I’ve decided to not even acknowledge what he said last night. I will act as if we didn’t stay up half the night talking until it turned bad.

“Morning,” I say, pouring my coffee.

“Morning.”

“Hey.”

“Ugh.”

I laugh at their responses as I put the sugar into my coffee.

“Morning, angel,” Kegan whispers, leaning much too close to me.

I straighten my back and step away. “Good morning.”

I move to the table and pull up the emails on my phone. As I read through them, I listen to the guys talk about the show again. They are all still floating on a high and it’s pretty cool to witness. Just as I am about to put my phone away, I get an email from Jennifer. I open it and she explains that we are stopping at a hotel tonight. She tells me to keep them in line because they are going to want to hang out at the bar. She says I need to stay with them and intervene if necessary.

Shit.

I send back a quick reply letting her know I’ve got it handled. I absolutely do not, but I will never let her know that.

I clear my throat as I put my phone down and they all look at me. “I just got an email from Jennifer,” I say.

“Great, does she want us to bend over so you can fuck us?” Everett asks.

They all laugh and start with comment after comment about what Jennifer wants me to do to them.

“I’m more than willing to bend you over and do the fucking,” Kegan says.

The guys nearly fall off the couch laughing, but Kegan keeps his eyes locked on mine. There is no sign of joking in his serious face. He sips his coffee, never breaking eye contact.

I sigh and look away. “We are stopping tonight.” That gets their attention, and they get a hold of themselves long enough to listen to me. “We’ll be stopping at a hotel tonight. She figured we could all use a real shower and bed. We’ll have dinner and a few drinks at the bar, but as your publicist, I am going to ask nicely. Please, keep it professional.”

“What’s that mean?” Lane asks.

“Yeah, explain,” Remi says.

I sip my coffee wishing it was a shot. “It means, don’t get shit faced, bang strangers in the bathroom, jump up on the bar and yell shots. Be the guys you are on the bus. Have fun without acting like damn fools or horny teenagers.”

“Oh yeah, that’s not gonna work for me,” Everett says.

They all laugh, including Kegan. I want to scream. I want to stomp my feet and tell them they are acting like damn children. But I won’t. I will be the professional I am being paid to be.

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