Chapter 23 – Sunshine #2
Jared always liked the vest look under his suit coats. Thought it made him look put together. I always thought it made him look like he was trying too hard.
“Jared, what are you doing here?” I asked him.
Except, of course, I knew. That’s why he’d stopped calling me. He must have found out what I was doing.
“Funny you should ask. I got a call from a former classmate. Harvard.”
Of all the freaking coincidences. Jared was Clive Bohman’s old college acquaintance? Of course, he was.
“Harvard,” Harmony repeated with just enough condescension, nudging me in the ribs with her elbow. “Sunshine was accepted there, too, but she went to Columbia instead.”
“Sunshine?” Jared asked, his beady little eyes narrowed.
Then he took the time to take in my clothes. The jeans that fit like a glove. Cowboy boots. Snap button down shirts, because Tag liked to watch me unsnap them.
I looked about as different as I could from the woman Jared knew from work.
I looked like a girl who grew up here.
I looked like Sunshine.
“For heaven’s sake, what are you wearing?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, cutting him off. “Jared, I’m aware of your former classmate being in town. He works for Land Management, who has some interest in this territory. But I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
“He told me you’re doing private consulting. You know that’s frowned upon by the firm.”
“You flew out here, on what I assume is the company’s dime, to tell me you’re frowning upon me?” My right eyebrow was in full effect.
“I came out here to find out exactly what’s going on, Kaitlyn,” he said. “Someone dies, you go to a funeral and then you get your ass back to work.”
“Who is Kaitlyn?” Harmony asked me.
“She is,” Jared pointed at me.
“She is?” Harmony was looking at me like she just found out I had an evil twin.
I would explain later. “Listen, Jared, there is nothing going on that I haven’t shared with the partners.
We had a death in the family. Upon looking into some business matters, we found deficits that needed to be recovered.
I, in particular, have a certain skill set that I was able to use to help my family. I don’t see what the problem is.”
“The problem is,” he said, leaning down a bit too close to my face, his finger pointed at my nose, “you should have been back in New York days ago. You’re on the cusp of making partner and you not being in the office is making your biggest client nervous.”
I was about to clap back that my client was nervous because Jared had stepped in where he wasn’t wanted, when a force of nature blazed past me. One second Jared was leaning too close, finger in my face, the next he was pushed flat against Harmony’s truck with an angry Tag in his face.
“What the fuck?” Jared shouted.
I saw Tag eye Jared up and down. “You don’t look like you’re from here, son. But in Last Hope we don’t take lightly to someone yelling at our women.”
“Get the fuck off me,” Jared spat in his face, but continued to twist against Tag’s hold. “Kaitlyn, tell him to back off.”
I snorted. “Oh, I’m sorry. You think I can tell Tag what to do? You’re definitely not from around here.”
“You’re assaulting me. I’m going to call the police.”
Tag looked over his shoulder at me, still not letting Jared go. “You alright, darlin?”
“I’m fine. You should let him go. He was just being pushy, not threatening.”
Tag looked at Jared. “Have I made my point?”
“Did you hear me?” Jared pushed back. “Let go of me or I’ll call the cops.”
“Darlin, you might want to let your friend here know we don’t have cops in Last Hope. What we have is justice. And I am that justice.”
I had to stifle a giggle. Tag was laying it on thick for the city slicker, but it was fun seeing Jared’s eyes get wide.
“What kind of place is this?” Jared looked to me. “It’s like I’ve left civilization!”
“We’re civilized,” Tag told him. “As long as you behave, son.”
“Stop calling me son!” Jared yelped. “We’re the same goddamn age.”
“It’s not about age,” Tag said, with derision in his voice. “Son.”
Finally, Tag released his hold on Jared’s suit and took a step back. Then he took my hand. “I’ll be taking her back to the ranch, Harmony.”
“Yep. You get all the supplies you need at the store?” Harmony asked him, even as we walked away.
“Wait. Kaitlyn. Are you just going to leave?” Jared took a step in our direction, but Tag pinned him in place with a look. “We have unfinished business.”
“Go home, Jared,” I said, with a shake of my head. “I don’t know what you thought you were going to accomplish coming out here. Berkley doesn’t own me. And stay away from my clients. ”
“You’re making a big mistake, Kaitlyn,” he threatened, as he tried to put his suit back in order. “The partners will hear about this.”
“Do I need to make this guy gone?” Tag asked me.
I could hear Jared’s audible gasp. “He’s teasing,” I told Jared.
“Am I?” Tag asked.
“You can let the partners know I’ll be back in New York as soon as my work here is done,” I said calmly, but firmly. “Which should be in the next few days.”
I let Tag walk me across the street and when I looked back over my shoulder it was clear Jared was at a complete loss as to what to do next.
There was no situation in his mind where I would choose to walk away from him.
There was a very real possibility that he would run back to Berkley and Brothers, and maybe even Mr. Berkley himself, and tell them what I was doing.
So, there was also a possibility that my partnership was in real jeopardy this time.
I took pride in the quality of my work, but I also knew about corporate politics. The truth was, Jared saw me as a threat. It was only his seniority as a partner that gave him any control over me. And that I was bucking that control had him panicked.
He said he’d been covering for me in my absence, but we both knew the truth. I made him look good because he knew I was better at the job then he was. As long as he kept me dancing on the edge of his partnership pin, he had control. But if the lure of that partnership waned, then so did his power.
“I don’t have to tell you, I could have handled that situation myself back there,” I said to Tag as he opened up the passenger door to his truck and gave me a hand up into the seat.
“Of course you could, darlin,” he said, as hopped up into the driver’s seat. “He was clearly a butt weasel. I’d put my money on your right eyebrow over that guy any day.”
I laughed, then lowered my voice to mock him. “ What we have is justice. And I am that justice, son.”
Tag let his head fall back and howled with laughter. “Yeah, I got that line from the western show everyone likes. Never thought I’d have a chance to use it. Did I sound scary? I thought I sounded properly badass.”
“Ridiculous cowboy nonsense,” I said.
“Hey, it could have been worse. He could have actually called the only deputy we have living in Last Hope. Gary is guaranteed to make any situation worse.”
My phone buzzed again with an alert and I checked my investment app. “Shit,” I said, again.
“Uh oh. Bad news?”
“We need to get back to the ranch,” I told him, trying not to sound too panicked. “I need to get to work.”
“On it, darlin.”