Page 18 of Black Site

God, listen to me. I so need a vacation and I've only been working for him for four months. I start to take off my make-up when a knock makes me stop and reach for the silk robe hanging on the back of the bathroom door. I tie the belt tight as I move towards the door. The knock comes again and a small hint of fear creeps in. I still have psycho-ex to deal with along with making sure Lex has a great college year and taking care of eight men.

"Open the door, Liberty." Oh shit. I walk faster to keep him from knocking again. He must have been a cop in a past life to be able to beat on a door loud enough to let the person inside know you mean business.

On the other side of the door is a pissed-off Jim in a black tee that looks like it is going to give at any minute. Good Lord, the man is ripped. I'm so used to seeing him in dress shirts and jackets. Even at the club, he wore a black dress shirt. I had no idea his arms looked so...large that they would stretch the sleeves of a t-shirt beyond what it could hold. The one time I saw his bare chest it wasn't long enough for me to truly appreciate his body.

He waits for me to pull my attention back up to his eyes before he speaks again. "We need to talk."

Oh shit! What have I done now?

I hold the door open wider so he can step into my tiny apartment. Is this about the Croatian newspaper? Was I not supposed to read it?

"What the hell do you think you're doing not telling me the truth?" He doesn't sit but turns on me as soon as I shut and lock the door.

"I never lied to you. The paper was lying on the bench out front, anyone could read it."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about? What are you talking about?" Good Lord, he's lost his mind.

He hands me papers and my stomach starts to sink. It's the restraining order I got on the guy from the dating app.

I try to hand him back the papers but he's got his arms folded over one another and won't take them back. "This doesn't concern work."

"The fuck it doesn't." He spins around, "Don't you think this is something you should have told one of us about?"

"No! It happened before I started working for you. It's done. There is nothing more to say about it."

"Then why the hell did my men come to your place to pick up more clothes for you and find your fucking door standing open?" He reaches inside the pocket of his jeans and hands me something. It's a note written on the back of a receipt I left lying around my place. A receipt for a green evening gown and matching heels. I flip it over to read what was written. In big black marks, the note starts with the word whore.

Cheating whore.

You think you can cheat on me and not be punished for it.

When I find you I'm going to make sure you know who you belong to.

"This was in my apartment?"

"Yeah, it was." Okay, so I guess him threatening me might be of some concern to the people I work for but not enough to cause all the fuss Jim is causing.

I'm much more worried about Lexi who might have come home at the wrong time and been caught up in my drama. "Lexi?"

He looks like I've slapped him, "God damn it, woman! Are you really telling me the first thing you worry about is whether your kid sister might find out what you do when she goes off to college?"

"No, the first thing I think about is her safety."

He looks like he is about to have a heart attack at my words. "The kid didn't come home for Christmas, Libby. I don't think she is going to pop a surprise visit on you and find your stalker in your place instead of you."

My temper flares and even though I try to breathe through the anger what he said hurt, "Don't you talk about my sister like that? You have no right...,"

"I have every right when I'm the man helping you raise her."

Now I might be the one having the heart attack because I can feel my blood pressure rising. "Help me raise her? Help me raise her? Really, I must have been looking the other way when you dried her eyes when a boy from school broke her heart, or when she was an emotionally unstable orphan who didn't want anyone around her after losing mom and dad because I can't remember you being there."

He starts to say something but instead turns and walks across the room before turning back around to me, "You don't have to do it by yourself anymore and if I had known about you I would have helped then."

"I don't want anybody to help me!" Both of us are on the verge of shouting and I can only imagine what the neighbors are thinking right now. "I don't want your help with Lex. I don't want your help with this." I wave the paper in the air, "And I damn sure don't want or need your help with my life!"

I can tell I pushed too far a second before he comes over the couch for me. I spin around and high tail it to the bathroom but he stops me. He pulls me around right as I step over the threshold. "You might not want my help but you've got it and you will use it when it comes to protecting yourself. I'm sick and tired of you putting everyone else before you. It stops now, Libby."

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