Chapter 26 Grant
Several things happened when they brought out the cake. First, I heard a loud scream coming from the back.
“Oh my God. Get out!”
Fuck. That was Ruby’s voice.
I swallowed hard. The guests gasped in unison, and I was on high alert.
Stanley, the bodyguard who was stationed in the dining area, spoke into his earpiece. I fucking hated that I didn’t have one too. But I knew the drill in cases like this. I needed to make sure Ruby was safe, so I was up and through the kitchen doors and the first to arrive in the staff room.
Ruby was against the wall, holding a bag in her arms, looking at a guy who was clearly uninvited. He wasn’t a guest or staff.
Everything happened in quick succession. The guy lunged forward at Ruby, obviously not having seen me.
Where the fuck is the bodyguard in charge of this area?
“Where is Roger?” the assailant asked her.
As I blocked his path, I screamed, “Get the fuck out!”
His eyes widened. Ruby dropped the bag she’d been holding to her chest. It contained flour—which flew everywhere .
I caught the guy by one arm and then stepped behind him, grabbing the other one as well, immobilizing him. My pulse was beating at a million miles an hour. I looked at Ruby, seeing her eyes were wide and that she was shaking slightly. Shock was etched across her features.
Joe, the bodyguard covering this section, suddenly came in. “Fuck!” he exclaimed.
“Where the hell have you been?” I asked.
“Taking a break.”
I saw red. He was never going to work as a fucking bodyguard again.
“Grab him!” I barked.
He took over the perp, and I moved over to Ruby. “Babe, are you okay?”
Just then, Roger and Daphne stepped in.
“What’s going on?” Daphne asked. Then she gasped, seeing the flour all over and Ruby’s stunned expression.
“Finally! Man, what are you thinking, running that team into the ground?” the assailant spat at Roger.
My friend was stunned and jerked his head back, looking at me.
“How the hell did this happen?” he asked me.
“I take full responsibility,” I replied. But instead of going into detail, I put my arm around Ruby. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“You only care about money,” the lunatic continued yelling at Roger. “All those trades. You let your best players go and contracted cheap shitty ones who’ll lose the championship.”
“Someone get this guy the hell out,” Roger demanded.
Joe was already pulling him toward the back door to an awaiting police car one of my guys had called. The lights from the squad car were flashing through the back windows.
“Get him out!” I barked.
“We know the drill, Mr. Clifford,” Joe said .
I was in no mood for his nonchalance and screamed, “You’re fired!”
“I was—”
“Get the fuck out.” He’d failed to protect my woman!
Joe nodded as he dragged the assailant, who’d been yelling expletives at Roger the whole time, through the door until he was out of sight.
“I’m going back out to the guests to tell them everything’s fine,” Roger said.
I nodded. “Thank you.”
Usually, I would take over and interrogate the security team on how the hell they allowed this to happen. But right now, I didn’t care about any of that.
“Babe, you haven’t answered. Are you hurt?”
“No, not at all,” she replied.
I swear to God, my entire body relaxed at those words.
“Wow.” She looked up at me. “So I guess things like that really do happen in real life.”
Daphne burst out laughing, then hugged Ruby, putting her forehead on Ruby’s temple. “You truly are one of a kind.”
I swallowed hard. Fuck, I was still overwhelmed by how relieved I was that she was all right. If he’d done anything to her... I didn’t even want to think about that.
Daphne straightened up and patted Ruby’s dress. “You’ll have to get it dry-cleaned. But the party’s over anyway. The cake was already served.”
I cleared my throat. “Daphne, I’m sorry this happened.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
I frowned, but she only grinned. “I’m used to this. Roger gets accosted everywhere we go. Everyone thinks they can run the fucking team better than him.”
Ruby blinked. I stared at Daphne. I couldn’t recall ever hearing her swear before.
“Grant, everything is fine,” Daphne said. “But I think I should get back to the guests. ”
“I’ll take care of Ruby,” I said. “In fact, I’m taking her home right now.”
Ruby looked up at me. “No! I need to be here. It’s my restaurant. I’ll change into another dress so I don’t look like something the cat dragged in; I always keep something in my office. Then I need to speak to the staff and explain what happened.”
“I’ll come with you. As far as explanations go, I owe them an apology. After all, the entire purpose of setting all this stuff up was to keep this from happening.”
“Some people are so fucking unbelievable,” Daphne said. She was pissed, but rightfully so. Even though the guy hadn’t caused damage, it still soured the party.
Damn it, Grant, I reprimanded myself. This was exactly what I was supposed to prevent.
Once Daphne left, I tilted Ruby’s chin up and stared at her. “Babe, I’m sorry about this.”
She drew in a deep breath. “This isn’t your fault.”
“Yes, it fucking is. I’m in charge of security.”
“Part of me still can’t believe that this happened.”
“Are you sure you’re—”
“Yes, I was just scared. I mean, the guy burst in. I realized right away that he wasn’t a server because he wasn’t wearing a uniform. I figured maybe he was one of your guys at first, but then I really saw him for what he was. Then he started asking about Roger, and I knew what was going on.”
“He didn’t touch you?”
“No, of course not. I just got scared and stumbled into that wall.”
“Did you hurt your hand?” I gently touched the back of it, looking for injury.
“Grant, I’m fine, truly.”
I nodded, still shaken by it all. I should’ve secured the area better. I needed to see where the breach was made to ensure this would never happen again. I’d do that later, though—right now, I needed to be with Ruby .
“Grant, I need to talk to my team. What must they be thinking?” she whispered.
“I’ll stay with you.”
“No, you should go back to the party. Talk to the guests and—”
“My brothers can do that. You’re my priority, Ruby.”
She licked her lips. “Okay. Let me just change quickly.”
After we moved to the staff room, she said, “Can you wait outside and make sure no one comes in?”
“I’d rather stay with you inside.”
She nodded. “Of course.”
I wasn’t going to let her out of my sight for the rest of the evening.
“Okay, let’s see what I have here. Oh, they’re all just work clothes,” she said, talking to herself more than me. “I’ll take this one.”
When she took off her dress, I made a distinct effort to look away. I clearly couldn’t be in the same room as Ruby and not kiss her senseless. I wanted to touch her, but this was not the time for that—not at all.
She claimed that she was okay, but I knew how these things could play out. Sometimes adrenaline built up in the body, and one could only process what happened hours later.
“This should do.”
“You look stunning.” It was simple and black and fit her perfectly. Her beautiful blonde curls were messy, and there was perspiration at her temples and neck, but she was as gorgeous as ever.
She managed to brush off the flour from her skin and hair, though there wasn’t much, since most of it ended up on the floor.
“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”
“I can prove it to you.” I stepped closer, putting my hands on her bare shoulders, moving my thumbs in circles. “But perhaps it’s not the right moment. ”
She gasped. “No, it’s not. Grant, I can’t believe your mind went there.”
I pulled her closer. “I can’t believe it either. Then again, you make me do things that I never thought I would, Ruby.”
“Grant... the things you say... But we have to go to the kitchen. I need to talk to the team.”
She was right. I promised myself I’d take care of her later.
The rest of the evening was a blur. Ruby’s team was visibly more shaken than she was, but this was normal.
When you didn’t experience something firsthand, you built up scenarios in your mind.
But the facts were reassuring. The guy hadn’t been armed, and he hadn’t hurt anyone—he just wanted to insult Roger.
I’d received a few texts from Joe and Monte as they booked the idiot at the station, and he was getting out on a $500 bond.
I wasn’t thrilled with that outcome, but right now, I only cared about getting my woman home.
Roger and Daphne had successfully calmed all the rest of the guests. Everything wrapped up about two hours earlier than expected, and I was totally fine with that.
I did slip out for a bit with the team to the backyard to figure out how the lunatic got in, only to find out that he’d simply slipped by Joe. What the actual hell!
Later, I finally managed to convince Ruby to let me take her home while her team closed everything up. They planned on cleaning and rearranging the tables and chairs in the morning.
She was completely silent as we walked inside her house.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Honestly, I’m exhausted, but the event ran well, don’t you think? Except for that obvious glitch. Somehow, it still feels unreal, you know? But the guy didn’t try anything. He didn’t want to steal anything, or worse...” She drew in a sharp breath.
“But he could have.”
She swallowed hard. “I know. So let’s just thank the stars that tonight went the way it did and not worry about anything else. ”
It wasn’t that easy, though. She might be able to switch off work just like that, but I couldn’t.
“And now,” she said, smiling slightly, “why don’t you continue that dangerous thread of thought you had in the staff room?” She waggled her eyebrows.
I pulled her closer, kissing her forehead. “You’re tired, babe.”
“Not too tired for this—for us.”
I laughed. “I want to hold you. Fuck, you mean so much to me.”
She softened in my arms. “You mean a lot to me too.”
“Tonight, I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the thought that anything might happen to you.”
“Nothing did, Grant.”
“But it could have, and on my fucking watch!”
And just like that, my heart was beating erratically again. My thoughts were spiraling out of control.
“Grant, don’t. I’m here with you,” she whispered. “I’m good. I’m safe.”
“I’m not letting go of you tonight, Ruby.”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t.” She gave me a smile that lit up the room.
I needed to constantly touch her, to convince myself that she was okay—and that was exactly what I did.