Chapter 8

EIGHT

SMOKE

Placing the pen on the line, I sign my name before sliding the stack of papers toward Kelly. She shuffles through them and smiles.

“That’s it. These are officially yours. Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of some commercial real estate!” she says as she slides the keys across the table to me.

I cover her hand in mine, making her eyes flare. Goddamn, I wish I could pull her into my arms right now and kiss her.

As happy as she is to be with me, she explained she wanted to remain professional at work. She didn’t want her boss thinking she slept her way into this sale. I get it, but it sucks. I want the whole world to know she is mine.

Still, I respect her wanting to keep her work professional.

Reluctantly, she pulls her hand out from under mine.

I clear my throat. “Thank you for doing this.”

“Anytime. I hope you’ll consider me for your next real estate purchase,” she says as she blushes, picking up the stack of papers.

“You know I will.”

We both stand, and I make my way to her side.

“I really want to kiss you right now,” I murmur.

“We can’t. I’m at work, but tonight…” she says quietly.

“Tonight.”

We walk out of the conference room and into the lobby, where her boss and that other douchebag are waiting around. She takes a step away from me, and I clench my fists.

“It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Saint. I hope the property is everything you need,” she says diplomatically.

“I appreciate you working so hard to close this deal for me quickly. We’ll be in touch.”

She bites her lip as her eyes drop to my lips before darting away, a pretty blush covering her cheeks. I hate that I can’t kiss her for all these assholes to see, but I understand her need to keep work and private life separate. Still, I want all these dickheads to know she belongs to me.

Reluctantly, I nod at her coworkers and head out. I pull out my phone and pull up the number I need as I get onto my bike.

“What’s up?” Gunner asks as he answers.

“Building’s ours. It’s time to get to work.”

“Tell us where to meet you.”

“I’ll text you the address,” I say before hanging up.

Quickly, I shoot off the text before putting my phone back into my pocket. As I put on my helmet, I eye the building. It just doesn’t feel right leaving without kissing the fuck out of my woman.

Next time.

Pulling out of the parking lot, I ride toward the property that’s now mine. The traffic is light, making the drive go by quickly. When I pull up, I find the guys waiting outside the gate.

“This place looks nice,” Tank says as I get off my bike to unlock the gate.

“Just wait until we get inside. It needs some work,” I tell him.

We close the gate behind us and ride up to the furthest building.

“This is the clubhouse, and the other is the shop,” I tell them as soon as we all shut off our bikes.

“Shop closest to the road makes sense,” Bear says.

We head up the stairs, and I unlock the door. I watch as the guys step inside, taking in the shell of a building.

“It needs work,” Tank says, making me tense. “But I can see the potential. I like that we can make it how we want it.”

“Fuck yeah, and right now it’s just us so we can make our rooms as big as we want,” Bear adds.

My shoulders relax at their excitement. I didn’t realize how nervous I was or how badly I wanted the guys to like this place as much as I do.

“Kelly said it shouldn’t be hard to get permits to add on, so I’m cool with it,” I tell them.

“Tell us how you see this place set up,” Gunner says.

Taking a deep breath, I start laying out my plans on how I envision the clubhouse layout.

“This place is going to be dope,” Tank says.

Bear cringes. “Never say that word again.”

“What’s wrong with dope? I heard some babes at the bar saying it the other night,” Tank says.

“Just don’t,” Gunner tells him before turning toward me. “I can picture what you’re thinking, and I like it. Can we check out the shop?”

I nod. “Yeah, let’s head over there.”

We make our way across the yard. As soon as I open the side door into the shop, I hit the switch to open the bay doors.

“Goddamn, you said there were a shit ton of tools already here, but I didn’t realize you meant it like this.” Gunner chuckles.

“Yeah, we will need to go through it and see what we want to keep,” I tell them as I rub the back of my neck.

“On the bright side, what we don’t want to keep we could sell or trade. It would be some easy cash,” Bear points out.

“True. What the fuck is this?” Tank asks as he holds up some object.

Gunner chuckles. “No fuckin idea, brother.”

“I think that should probably go in the toss pile,” I add.

Bear takes it from Tank. “Now wait a minute, we should probably do a quick Google search and see what it is before we trash it. For all we know, it could be something useful.”

Gunner crosses his arms and raises a brow. “Really? None of us have ever seen one, and we’ve worked in a shop for over a decade combined. So why would we now?”

Bear shrugs. “You never know.”

I shake my head and smile. “You guys ready to dig in and get started?”

Gunner rubs his hands together. “Let’s do this. Keep pile over there and the trash pile and sell pile outside the doors?”

“Works for me,” I say and the others agree.

“Hey, did you see that there’s a sound system in here?” Tank asks.

“Didn’t see that,” I admit.

“See if it works,” Gunner tells him.

Tank hooks his phone up and starts playing music. We each take a side of the shop and start digging through boxes. It feels good to do something productive. It’s going to suck going through all this shit, but it will be worth it.

I don’t know how long I work for when my phone rings, pulling me out of the zone. I smile when I see her name on the screen and answer.

“Hey, dollface.”

I hear her sniffle and tense.

“What’s wrong?” I demand.

Kelly

Moving to my desk, I sit down and watch Jax pull out of the parking lot through my eyelashes.

That man.

I’ve never been one for PDA, especially in the workplace, but now I get the appeal. It hurt having him walk away without pulling me into his arms and kissing me first. When he held my hand in the office, it took everything in me not to flip my hand over and hold his hand back, even if the angle would have been weird.

His touch grounds me yet makes me feel alive, and I can’t get enough of it. I can’t get enough of him.

The mobile notary smiles and says her goodbye as she also leaves.

“Kelly,” my boss says, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I look up and notice that Barry went back to his office, leaving the boss and me alone. “Yes?”

He takes a seat on the edge of my desk, slightly crowding me.

Very slowly, I roll my chair back, putting a little bit of space between us. Why do the men in this office have no concept of personal space?

“I just wanted to congratulate you on your first sale.”

I can’t help the smile that takes over my face. “Thank you.”

“I want you to know you have my blessing to keep working with those men and pushing sales on them.”

I frown, his words not making sense to me. “Excuse me?”

My boss laughs. “When a customer pays in cash, you do whatever it takes to keep them on the line. At first, I was hesitant to let you deal with them, but you did well and didn’t bother me. Now I get the commission without having to lift a finger.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean you get the commission? That’s mine,” I say, shaking my head.

He looks at me like he pities me. “Sweetheart, you work for me, and what I say goes. You didn’t do anything to deserve that commission, and last I checked, it’s my name on the title of this building.” He stands and pats my shoulder. “I’m sure you understand. Now get to work looking for another property to sell them. I have a boat I have my eye on.”

My mouth goes dry and I feel my eyes tear up as I watch him walk away.

I don’t understand. That commission is rightfully mine. I did all the work, never once bothering him or any of the other realtors in the building. I did it all on my own without help from anyone. It’s my name on the papers, not theirs.

He can’t take it from me. Can he? Is there something in my employment paperwork?

My heart aches, and my skin feels tight. With shaky hands, I fish my phone out of my purse and call the only person I know who will calm me down.

“Hey, dollface,” he says with happiness in his voice.

I sniffle as I try to calm myself down enough to talk.

“What’s wrong?” he demands, and his voice has an edge to it that I’ve never heard before that makes the hair on my arms stand.

I clear my throat. “I just needed to hear your voice.”

“Kelly, I need you to tell me what the fuck happened since I left you.”

“It’s nothing.”

“We both know it’s not, so tell me.”

“Hold on,” I tell him as I stand.

Leaving my desk, I head out the front door and lean against the window. The words just spill from my mouth as I tell him in great detail what my boss said.

“So yeah, I’m just upset and confused,” I tell him when I finish.

“You called me.”

“I did,” I say quietly as I shuffle my feet on the sidewalk.

“I can’t tell you how fucking pleased it makes me that you called me first. I like being the person you come to with your problems.” He takes a deep breath. “As for your commission, that’s yours, and he can’t take it.”

“I don’t know, Jax. It could be in my employment paperwork that he can,” I tell him sadly.

“Dollface, I can promise you that it’s not. But how about you let me handle this?”

I shake my head, even though he can’t see me. “I love that you want to handle this for me, but you can’t fight my battles.”

“Kelly, I’d go to war for you, you know that, right? Fuck, I’m about to get on my bike and head that way to cave some heads in, your feelings be damned,” he says, making me gasp.

“You would?”

“Fuck yeah, I would. The boys would too. We don’t like people, especially men, fucking with what’s ours.”

“I don’t know what to say to that. As much as I want you to come in and save the day, though, I can’t let you. This is my fight, not yours.”

Jax hums and changes the subject. “Are you done for the day?”

“I mean, technically I have four hours left, but I don’t want to be here. Why?”

“How about I come get you and we fuck off for the rest of the day?”

“But I’m supposed to be working…”

“Would you rather be with me or there where they don’t appreciate you?”

“You know I’d rather be with you,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“Good. I’ll be there soon, and do me a favor.”

“Name it.”

“Remain positive. This is all just a misunderstanding, and it will all work out. I promise.”

“Okay. See you soon.”

I hang up and sigh as I tilt my head back. The sun hits my face and lifts my mood just slightly. I should really head inside and get as much work done as possible before Jax comes and kidnaps me for the rest of the day.

Pushing off the glass, I reluctantly reach for the door. As soon as it’s open, I hear the phone ringing and roll my eyes.

Of course no one bothered to answer. Why am I even surprised?

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