Page 17 of Bossy Ex's Brother

The next daybrought a whole new list of problems.

Brandon let me know upon arriving at the bar that I had a guest.

“Who is it?” I asked.

He gave me a secretive smile, gesturing with his chin. “You’ll see.”

I didn’t appreciate the games, so I gave him the finger before walking to my office. And then, when I got there, I saw why he was so amused.

I saw Jane sitting at my desk, prim and proper as always. She was in another one of those suits, and her hair was tied in a bun at the base of her neck. For some reason, that tempted me. I still remembered it loose, flowing down her back as her head was thrown back in pleasure.

She glanced at me and got to her feet when I opened the door.

“How do you keep getting in here?” I asked her.

She gave me an apologetic look. “Yesterday, I told them I was one of your women, and they let me in. I think it stuck.”

“Are you?” I asked, amused more than annoyed.

“Am I what?”

“One of my women.”

Her lips tightened. “No. But I need to ask you something.”

“Another sibling gone missing?” I mused with a wry grin.

“No. It’s more of something I can do for you.”

I shut the door behind me, my curiosity piqued. “What could you possibly do for me?”

“How about your club?” She straightened her spine as she spoke with a boldness that was so typical of her. “You need someone to manage it, don’t you? Hire me.”

SEVEN

JANE

It was a crazy idea that came to me in the wee hours of the morning.

After Bethany and I got home the night before, I pretty much crashed. My entire body was exhausted, but my sleep was restless, interrupted by panicked thoughts and memories from all the craziness that had happened today. You would think all the stress would have knocked me out, but leftover adrenaline was still running through my body. So were the thoughts of what I would do about my current predicament.

I was currently jobless with no savings to speak of and five mouths to feed, including my own. It was a crisis. And with Felix’s scholarship at risk, I couldn’t afford to rest on my laurels and sulk or rip my hair out in hysteria. I had to handle this logically. I needed to find a job quickly.

I wracked my brain, thinking of anything I could do. My options were limited without a college degree. So far, my experience has consisted of working at a library, a restaurant, and a gym. The restaurant was the only one that had given me enough money to be able to put food on the table for a while. Until my asshole manager started cutting back my hours, that is.Still, since that was the bulk of my experience, getting a job at another restaurant was likely the way to go.

But just how many restaurants in the city were hiring?

Unless I wanted to work as a waitress for a few years, my choices were slim. I knew that fact from my job search, and it was what kept me in a horrible job for so long.

I thought about going to beg for my job back, but just imagining it made me feel like I was chewing glass. It was that abhorrent. Seeing that asshole smirk and tolerating the abuse in that restaurant…I just couldn’t do it again. That was if he would even take me back, which I doubted he would.

Which meant I was entirely screwed.

I took a deep breath, trying not to have a panic attack right now. The house was quiet, so I could clearly hear the sounds of my breath rushing out of me. I was going to lose it. I’d held it together for so long, but I knew I was nearing my breaking point. How much longer? I thought. How much longer could I keep at this?

As long as I needed to. I had no choice because my family was counting on me.

Tomorrow, I would hit the streets and try to see if any restaurants close by were looking for a manager.

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