Chapter 18

eighteen

. . .

Henley

My head was pounding. We’d interviewed a total of fourteen employees on day one. It was a full day. We’d had lunch with Bruno King, who had clearly had his employees coached, but we didn’t mention that. We remained neutral because we still had a long way to go.

And he was our client.

Easton and I rode up the elevator, and we were both quiet. It hadn’t been what we’d expected today. We thought we’d spend a few days here, get a beat for everything, and start putting our defense together.

But the prosecutor would have a field day with these employees if he put them on the stand.

“What a day, huh?”

“There was only one good thing that came out of this day,” he said, his voice low. His heated gaze met mine, and I could feel my cheeks flush.

“No pun intended.” I shook my head and chuckled. “So, what do we do?”

“We figure it out. We interview more people. Someone will be truthful. But we’ve got our work cut out for us.” He shrugged. “You hungry?”

“I could eat. But I’m also ready to get out of this dress and these heels, so I don’t feel like going downstairs to the dining room.”

“How about I order room service, and you go put on something comfortable and meet me in my room in twenty minutes, and we can come up with a plan.”

“Sounds perfect,” I said, as we stepped off the elevator and made our way down to our rooms.

I stepped inside my room and slipped off my dress, finding my favorite cozy sweats to wear. I tied my hair up on top of my head with my favorite peach scrunchie, then washed my face and padded back out to the room.

It had been a day.

There was a knock on the door, and I chuckled at Easton’s impatience.

“I thought we agreed on twenty minutes,” I said as I pulled the door open.

I didn’t hide my surprise that Jamison Waterman was the one standing on the other side.

“Hey, Henley.” His words slurred, and I stood in the doorway, blocking the opening so he wouldn’t try to come in.

“What are you doing here, Jamison?”

“Well, I got reprimanded today by your father. By my father. Apparently, everyone thinks I’m out of control. They’re making me take a leave from work. Your father could barely look at me. He claimed that I hit you in the face, so I came here to see for myself. And guess fucking what?” He widened his eyes dramatically. “You look fine to me.”

I internally chuckled at how irritated I’d been when Easton or my father had pointed out the bruise, yet Jamison acting as if it wasn’t there irritated me much more.

Denial is not a river, my friends.

“Listen, I don’t think you did it on purpose. I’m not even angry at you, but I am concerned. And if you think showing up here drunk again to apologize and then get defensive and deny that anything happened—it’s not a good look, Jamison.”

“You always thought you were too good for me, didn’t you?” He chuckled, ignoring what I’d said. “If you knew how many women want to line up to fuck me, you’d rethink being a bitch to me.”

I startled at his words. Jamison had always been pretentious and cocky, but I hadn’t seen this side of him. And now I’d been granted a front-row seat to two days in a row of his irrational behavior.

“You need to leave.”

“I don’t need to do jack shit, Henley. I came here to apologize, and you’re going to listen to my fucking apology. You’re the reason that I’m in this fucked-up mess. Because your father is making a big deal out of a little bruise on your fucking face.” He was shouting now, and my heart raced at not only his tone, but at the look in his eyes.

They were hollow and empty.

Cold and distant.

I stepped back and pushed the door closed, just as his hand shoved against the wood to stop it, and he pushed back.

“What the hell, Jamison! Leave now!” I shouted, as he tried to push his way inside the room.

“You’re not calling the shots, bitch!” His words stunned me.

Everything moved in a blur as he shoved my shoulders hard causing me to stumble.

Easton was suddenly there, and he grabbed Jamison by the back of the neck as he towered over him. He spun him around and slammed him against the wall across from my door and held him there.

“If you so much as lay a fucking hand on her, I will bury you so deep in the ground they’ll never find you.” Easton’s voice was calm and deep. “Henley, call the front desk and tell them we need security.”

I shoved a shoe in the door to keep it open, because I was worried about Easton being alone with that lunatic. I dialed the front desk, my voice shaking as I told them we needed security.

When I ran back out to the hallway, Easton had somehow moved Jamison to the floor, face down, and he had a foot resting on his back. It didn’t look like he was applying a lot of pressure, just keeping him still.

He looked up to see me. “Did you call security?”

“Yes.” My voice wobbled. “They’re on their way.”

“Okay, grab your cell phone and dial your father and hand me your phone.”

“She’s a fucking bitch!” Jamison shouted from the floor, and I was completely stunned by his behavior. We’d never had an issue or even an argument in all the years I’d known him. I’d never liked him much, but I didn’t know he was so aggressive and angry.

I dialed my father and hurried back out to the hallway while the phone rang, to see Easton applying more pressure and telling Jamison to shut his mouth.

I handed him the phone.

“Charles, it’s Easton.” He paused. “Jamison just showed up here, and he’s extremely intoxicated. He just got aggressive with Henley and tried to push his way into her room. We’ve called security.”

He listened intently as footsteps in the distance had me turning to see four security guards jogging our way.

“They’re here. This ends now. I won’t allow him to be around her. Do you hear me?” Easton growled into the phone.

“Fuck you, Chadwick. You’re a poor man’s version of me,” Jamison said, as the security guards told Easton to remove his foot, and they lifted him to his feet.

Easton ended the call, telling my father he’d call him back. I recounted what happened, and they informed us that there were cameras in the hallways, and the head of security was looking at the footage from the camera on our floor now.

“If the cameras collaborate your story, he will be leaving this hotel in a police car,” one of the men said. Three of the security guards surrounded Jamison as he shouted about getting them all fired and going on about how they didn’t know who they were messing with. They escorted him down the hallway and out of sight.

One security guard remained behind and apologized profusely.

“How the fuck did he know her room number and get up the elevator without a room key?” Easton barked at the man. “This is a fucking high-end hotel. How does that shit happen?”

“Sir, we’re looking into that now. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have more information. I’m terribly sorry that this happened.” He held up a hand. “Can you please write down your cell phone numbers, and I’ll phone you in twenty minutes?”

Easton jotted both of our numbers down, and I thanked the man for getting here so quickly. He made his way down the hallway toward the elevators, and Easton turned toward me and opened his arms, and I walked right into them on instinct. It was the first I’d noticed that he had no shirt on, as he was wearing a pair of gray joggers slung low on his hips, and his hair was wet. He smelled like mint and sandalwood. I rested my cheek on his chest.

“I’m sorry. I was in the shower, and when I came out, I heard shouting. I’m so fucking sorry I didn’t get here sooner. Did he hurt you?”

I pulled back. “No. I just, I don’t know what’s going on with him. He’s out of control. I think he was prepared to push his way into my room, so I’m grateful that you came when you did. What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know. I hadn’t seen him in quite a while before last night. The dude barely works and is usually remote and traveling, from what I’ve heard. I don’t know why they keep him on. And clearly, he’s got issues with alcohol and possibly drugs. He’s completely out of control.” He led me toward my room as my phone rang in his hand. “Grab your key so we can close your door. Let’s go to my room. This is your father, and we need to let him know you’re all right.”

I nodded and hustled inside and grabbed my key. He didn’t leave my doorway. He waited as he answered the phone.

“She’s all right. Yes, they have him downstairs.” Easton motioned for me to come across the hall, where he had the top door latch opened to keep the door from closing all the way. I pushed inside, and he followed me, letting my door close behind us. “Here, I’m going to put you on speakerphone so you can talk to her.”

“Henley, sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine, Dad. No one got hurt. He was just—I don’t know, he’s out of control.”

“Yeah. I haven’t seen him in several weeks, and I had no idea things were this bad. He works remotely most of the time, and Will had shared that Jamison had been traveling this summer, so I just thought we’d missed one another at the office because I certainly don’t go in every day anymore. But after meeting with Jamison today, it was clear that things are not good.” He cleared his throat.

“What does that mean?” Easton asked.

I dropped to sit on the bed as Easton paced in front of me.

“It means that Will opened up to me before Jamison arrived at our meeting this morning. Apparently, Jamison has a huge gambling issue, which they’ve been trying to hide for some time. He owes a lot of people money, and he’s taken large chunks of cash from his trust. Will tried to keep it hidden from the firm to protect his son. He and Bethany sent Jamison to Italy for a few weeks, thinking the time away would help. But clearly, he just spent weeks drinking excessively and going further into debt.” Bethany was Will’s first wife, Jamison’s mother, and I’d always liked her.

“Jesus. You don’t just ignore a fucking problem and think a luxury vacation will solve it. They sent an addict away and probably gave him a credit card with no limit. That’s not going to fix the situation,” Easton hissed.

“I think everyone realizes that now. Will thinks he’s mixing alcohol with drugs and digging a deeper hole into his gambling problem. But I don’t know why the hell he came to see my goddamn daughter. He is no longer employed by the firm as of today, and Will and Bethany have him booked on a flight tomorrow to go to rehab. He needs help.”

“Well, he sure seems ready for rehab, considering he just showed up here wasted and threatening your daughter,” Easton said, running a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’ve got a call into Bruno because this is his goddamn hotel. I want to know how a man was able to go to the front desk and get your room number and make it up the elevator without a room key. It’s unacceptable. Un-fucking-acceptable!”

I’d heard my father angry before, but not like this.

“Dad, I’m fine. But I’m glad they are getting Jamison help. He’s not okay.”

“Will’s beeping in. Let me find out what’s going on.” He sighed. “Easton, can you stay with Henley right now? I don’t want her to be alone.”

“Yes. We’ve ordered dinner, and I’ll stay with her. Of course, I will.”

“I’ll talk to you both soon.”

I looked into those steely gray eyes and shook my head when he ended the call. “What a mess.”

The knock on the door had him moving in that direction, and I heard him speak to the person on the other side. “I’ll take it from here.”

He came walking in with the room service cart, filled with platters of food, and I chuckled.

“I hope you’re hungry. I ordered a ton of food.” He studied me as he pulled the silver domes off the plates.

“Wow. You’re not kidding around.”

He pulled the cart closer to the bed. “What looks good?”

“How about we split the burger to start?”

He cut the burger in half and brought the two plates over to the bed as he studied me. “Eat.”

“You don’t want to eat at the table?” I raised a brow and took a bite.

“I think you’ve had a day, and eating in bed is more relaxing.”

“Never guessed you to be a caretaker, Easton Chadwick.”

“Because I’ve never been one. I mean, aside from my family, I don’t get too invested in people.” He shrugged and then devoured his half of the burger.

“Meaning?”

He reached for the pasta and set a fork down on the napkin for me as he started eating the fettuccine.

“It means I’m invested in you.”

My eyes widened. “Because you’re my mentor?”

“No. Because I like you.”

I chuckled because he said it like it was a death sentence.

“Liking me does not have to be a bad thing, you know.”

“True.” His lips turned up in the corners. “I think it was that blow job that really sealed the deal.”

“Stop!” I shrieked, and he just laughed.

“Eat. You’ve had a long day.”

“So bossy.”

“You have no idea how bossy I can be, Princess.” His heated gaze said more than his words did.

I took another bite of my burger, and he answered the incoming call from security. They informed us that Jamison had gone to the front desk and said that he was my boyfriend. He’d slipped the guy working at the front desk a hundred bucks to get my room number. They insisted he didn’t get a key to the room, just a staff key that would allow him to take the elevator up. But Easton was livid.

They also informed us that everything was caught on camera, and he’d been taken down to the police station, so it was out of their hands regarding what happened from there. Easton ended the call.

“I can’t fucking believe that a high-end hotel like this would allow this bullshit to go on.” Easton paced some more around the room, as I lay on my back because I was full from our bed picnic and exhausted from the day, especially the last hour.

“I think it goes on everywhere. But I would certainly hope they wouldn’t have given him my room key.” I shivered at the thought.

My father had called three more times, letting us know Will had picked Jamison up from the police station and he was being admitted into a program in the morning.

Will had called and apologized to me, and even Bethany had phoned and cried and said how terrible she felt about the whole mess.

I was over it and exhausted and done talking about it.

I lay on Easton’s bed, listening to the sound of his voice as he blasted every single person who called, including Bruno King for allowing a breach in security at the hotel that he owned.

When the room was quiet, Easton turned off the lights, and I felt him crawl onto the bed and pull me against him. “I’d burn this fucking place down if something had happened to you.”

Had anyone ever come to my defense like this before?

Not that I could think of.

He is definitely invested.

And I wrapped my arms around him and moved closer.

Because I was invested, too.