14. Levi
Chapter 14
Levi
“T his was a dumb idea,” I say into the phone, once I’m far enough away from my office.
The one where Sienna is currently reorganizing like it’s her personal mission.
“Steele, settle down. And look at this for what it is. You need help,” Brody insists.
“Do you know how much time it takes to train someone to do new tasks? I can just do it myself in half the time.”
Brody huffs.
“You’re looking at this all wrong. And that’s my fault for letting you just take everything on yourself these last few years.”
“Nope, I’m looking at this pretty clearly.”
I move around boxes, pinching the phone between my ear and shoulder.
“If you ask me, I think you felt guilty, King.”
He’s silent on the other line.
“You there?”
“Yeah, I’m here. I’m just waiting for you to make sense.”
I roll my eyes.
“Admit it. You felt guilty about Sienna so you made up a job to keep her close.”
I hear him sigh. “
I’m not having this conversation right now. That’s not what happened. Not even close. And as for giving her a job… I saw an opportunity to help you and I took it. Now stop being an ungrateful ass and take the damn help.”
I squeeze the phone, pretending it’s his neck, because I can’t tell Brody that Sienna is more of a distraction than actual help.
How would he take it if I told him that everytime she bends over or licks her supple lips or does anything remotely normal for her, my circuitry goes haywire and activates parts of me that I would rather not admit to my best friend regarding the woman that is his daughter.
“We agreed to thirty days. Give her the thirty days, Steele. Now I got shit to do. If you wanna call me to bitch about things, do it after hours.”
“It’s Sunday,” I tell him.
“Yeah, game day. Or have you forgotten?”
“Shit. That’s today?”
I poke my head out in the hall to look at the paper calendar where I write down all of my commitments. There clearly marked is the seven o’ clock game I’m supposed to be attending with him tonight.
“I told you a month ago.”
“I know, I know. I’ll be there,” I assure him.
“Good, because the car is coming to pick you guys up at four o’clock.”
I look at the phone.
“Excuse me? You guys ?”
“Yeah, Sienna and her cousin are coming, too. Four,” he says again, and hangs up.
Gah.
Of course he didn’t think to inform me of this change of plans.
Originally it was supposed to be a time for us to sit together, relax, and let loose like old times.
Now… now I have to worry about the vixen I need to stay away from.
“Levi?” Sienna pokes her head out. “Levi,” she says again.
“Yeah?” I slip the phone into my back pocket.
Josie comes out of the office doing a little dance with her hands between her thighs.
“I think she needs to go potty,” Sienna points out.
“Oh, thanks.”
I rush over to the little girl, pick her up and carry her over to the bathroom. Once she’s inside, Josie pushes me out to give her some privacy.
And now Sienna’s babysitting my ex’s daughter. And doing a damn good job of it too.
The garage bay slides open and more voices fill the space.
“Nah, nah, nah,” I hear Joey’s voice say. “Two months? I bet ya I could have that running in a week.”
Kim scoffs.
“Pu-lease. Nobody can have that hunk of junk running in a week.”
They stroll in, leisurely and stop when they see me.
“Why are you two here?”
They look at each other, before Kim replies, “Are you saying I didn’t need to roll out of bed at 8 am on a Sunday because we’re behind on our builds?”
“Did you suddenly get bitten by some productivity bug?”
The toilet flushes behind the door and I hear the sink turn on.
“More like your assistant sent out an SOS,” Joey says. “I was all about her helping you, but I didn’t think that meant our hours were going up too.”
My assistant sent a text?
I look at them confused, before I call out to her. “Sienna?”
She pokes her head out of my office a moment later.
“Yes, Levi?”
“Did you text the crew to come in today?”
“I did,” she says.
“And you didn’t think to run it by me?”
She rolls her eyes.
“Oh, that. Levi, I sent a text for the crew to come in today since they’re behind on builds, and working one extra day this week will increase our productivity by thirty percent. I made a chart about it and everything, if you want to see it.”
She bats her long lashes and waits for me to say something.
I mean, I can’t really argue that logic.
Time is money, and the longer we have the current projects under our roof, the less money we make in the long run.
“Right.”
“Anything else?” she asks from the door of my office.
“No, carry on.”
She just turns and disappears back into my office.
Kim and Joey are still standing there waiting for me to say something.
“Well, you heard her. Get to work. Thirty percent productivity and shit.”
They both groan but obediently go to their stations.
The bathroom door knob jiggles signaling that Josie is done. And it’s perfect timing, because Ghost and Benji walk in next.
“Gang’s all here!” Benji announces. “And thanks for the overtime pay, boss. Could really use it with the holidays coming up soon.”
“Overtime pay?” I gave him a look.
“That’s what the text I got said.” Benji bumps his shoulder against Ghost’s. “Yours?”
Ghost gives a silent nod.
I smack my forehead.
“Sienna?”
She pokes her head out of the office again.
“Yes?” she says, with less patience this time.
“Overtime?”
“Uh, yes. That’s a given when you ask your employees to come in on an extra day,” she says, like I should know this.
I take Josie’s hand and lead her back to the office, face to face with the woman who is single-handedly driving my patience up a wall today.
“I told you, don’t do anything without running it by me.”
“Okay… was that supposed to be for the whole thirty days?”
“Yes,” I say. “Yes, it was.”
“Fine, then. Levi, I have something to run by you. You’re paying us all overtime to be more productive so we can get more customers and keep this shop thriving.”
I give her a hard look.
“That’s not running it by me, that’s telling me.”
Josie silently goes back to coloring on her makeshift desk, like there’s not World War III currently about to erupt at the doorway of my office.
“Do you want to get things done or not Levi? Because, if you ask me, holding onto control just for the sake of it isn’t helping anyone. Especially not you.”
“What are you even talking about?”
“I’m talking about how you feel the need to keep the world on a tight leash because if you let go you think you’ll lose it. But you’re doing the opposite. You micromanaging and not letting everyone run in their lanes is costing you, and it’s costing them.”
How is she psychoanalyzing me like this?
How does a young girl with hardly any life experience know precisely how to read me like a book when she barely even knows me?
“I micromanage because that’s the only way I can make sure things get taken care of.”
“No, you just don’t know how to let go, Levi.”
“God. You are just as hard-headed as Brody!” I say, pointing at her.
“Huh, well, go figure,” she says. “Guess it runs in the fucking family.”
She huffs out of frustration and brushes past me to walk out of the office.
“Where are you going?” I call out to her.
“To get some air, that office is feeling stuffy,” she says over her shoulder, pushing the door to the outside and drowning the space in temporary sunlight just before it seals shut behind her.
I turn around to see the crew staring at me.
“I’m not paying you overtime to make eyes at me,” I say.
Instantly, they all get to work, without another word.
It’s not that she’s wrong.
I know I have control issues. But what else am I supposed to do?
I know what it’s like to take your finger off the pulse. To be so distracted that you lose what matters most.
I keep things on a tight leash, because I fucking care.
At least… that’s what I tell myself.