Page 13 of Jake

“Shit.” Jake fully stood and scratched his chin as he thought. “Can you listen in?”

Her blue eyes widened with surprise as her mouth formed an O in shock. “I-I would never,” she sputtered.

“I wasn’t accusing you,” he assured her. “Tell me how.”

“Absolutely not.” She sat taller and folded her arms with a huff.

He walked back to the other side of the desk and took a seat. He felt her watching him, but she didn’t speak and he pretended he didn’t notice.

She stood, catching his attention as she did. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to . . . ,” she trailed off and bit her lip before continuing, “I need to use the restroom.” She blushed prettily as she walked past him. “Don’t go behind my desk,” she warned softly, but there was something in her tone that let him know there was more to it than that.

Jake considered his options. He'd been mostly kidding when he asked to see if he could listen in on the conversation.

The relationship with Cade and his father was rocky, at best, most days. If they'd been locked in that office for a while, he knew they were arguing. Sadly, the walls were too thick to hear, and their voices must not have been raised at all.

After she'd been gone about a minute, Jake gave in to his impulses, and rather than attempt to listen in, he just opened the door to Cade’s office and let himself in.

“Hey, Cade, I need your help for tonight,” he said as casually as he could as he walked in.

Cade look shocked at the intrusion. His father looked more surprised than anybody.

“What are you doing in here?” Cade’s father blustered, his face already red.

“Well, I came to discuss a business venture,” Jake drawled lazily and sarcastically, as he always did with Cade’s father.

Cade acknowledged him with a stiff nod but didn't ask him to leave.

Jake took the seat next to his father across from Cade’s desk, crossing his ankle over his knee. He rested his arms on the chair as though he were casually attempting a business conversation.

“Oh yes, Jake. I forgot about our meeting,” Cade acknowledged the lie.

“That is irrelevant.” Cade’s father raised his voice. “Where's your secretary? Why did she not stop him from coming in? You are clearly already in a meeting.”

“My assistant is more than capable of handling her position,” Cade added, a threat to his voice.

Jake hadn’t considered that it wouldn't be a problem for her. “I think she slipped away to use the restroom, so I let myself in.”

“That is unacceptable,” Cade’s father complained. “You really need to hire better help.”

Cade stood, peering out at his father. “I think our conversation for today is done. If you’ll please excuse me, I do have a follow up meeting with somebody else.” Cade gestured toward the door.

His father contemplated it, but in the end chose not to argue. With one last look at Cade, he let himself out of the office, leaving the door wide open.

His voice carried back into the office as he yelled at Lauren, who must have returned already, that she needed to be doing a better job and should not be leaving her posts unattended. He couldn’t understand her mumbled replies, though the male grunt proved he was unimpressed with it.

Cade called her into his office. “Don't listen to anything he says. You know better,” Cade told her, as she came in and closed the door behind her.

She gave a small smile and a nod, cutting her eyes at Jake once and then looking back at Cade. “Was there anything else?”

“No,” he said. She let herself back out of the office, closing the door behind her and leaving Jake and Cade alone.

“So, what is this meeting about?” Cade asked as he sat back down behind his desk.

“It's about my date tonight, of course.”

“Of course. How did I not know?”

“I need to know who chose her for me,” Jake tried.

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