Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
I’m sitting in my favorite spot in the backyard on the lounge chair, where I’ve been for the last half-hour staring at the trees. I didn’t bother removing the purse from my arm. It seemed like a lot of work. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that I just got fired. It makes no sense.
A vibration zings my ribs where my purse rests. I reach inside and grab it. “Hello?”
“Cali, are you okay?” Gen’s voice sounds high-pitched and panicked. “Mason said you left the casino escorted by a security guard.”
“Yup,” I choke. The rain of tears has dissipated, but my voice hasn’t fully recovered.
“What happened? Where are you?”
“Home. I took an Uber.” I gulp a deep breath and rub my nose, which is likely bright red from all the crying. “I was fired.”
“What? Why?”
I’m about to say I don’t know when a memory of the other night pops into my head. No. He wouldn’t… would he? Drake was pissed when he left. Pissed enough to take revenge?
“I—I don’t know.”
“This is crazy, Cali. You can’t get fired. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
I filter through the events of my last night of work, and the time I spent at the club.
Had I done something employees shouldn’t?
The casino gives drink tokens to employees at the end of every workweek, to be used at Blue bars.
Administration has no problem with drinking and gambling at their facility.
They’d probably be happy if we blew our entire paycheck on the house.
I drank and danced, which is no big deal. The thing that was a big deal was getting a ride from Drake and Jaeger punching him, an executive of Blue.
Would Drake take that out on me? In this way? Male pride makes men do stupid things. I sure as hell don’t know Drake well enough to say he wouldn’t have had me fired. He proved himself a jerk, possibly worse. Jesus.
And I can’t tell Gen any of this yet because I haven’t told her about Drake and Jaeger and what happened that night.
It’s too much to fill her in on over the phone while she’s working, and I want to do it in person anyway.
“Supposedly employees are provisional the first three months. The casino doesn’t need a reason to release me. The head of Gaming said—”
“You spoke to someone upstairs? They never bother with us.”
“Yeah, well, this guy did. He said I don’t fit the casino culture.”
“Are you kidding me? You’re a genius, soon-to-be Harvard Law student. Not to mention classy and beautiful. What are they looking for? Dropouts with bedhead and poor manners?”
Hmm, interesting theory. Some employees fit that description. “No, I don’t think that’s it, but I doubt I’ll discover the truth. They’re not required to tell me.”
“This is so weird… and not right.” She lets out a loud sigh. “Forget about Blue, Cali. Who needs them? You have a bright future ahead.”
I pinch my lips and breathe through my nose, holding down the ball at the back of my throat. “Right.” Having this job while I figured things out with school was my buffer, and now it’s gone.
Gen returns to work, but promises to come straight home after her shift. Talking to her had the positive effect of waking me from my catatonic state on the patio.
I only spent thirty minutes in the casino, but my clothes and hair carry the burnt tang of cigarette smoke. I want to purge every reminder of that place. I grab my favorite threadbare sweats and T-shirt, and take a shower.
Wet hair dangling down my back, I flip through television channels, searching for a smutty reality show to make my life appear normal.
My cell phone vibrates. It’s a text from Jaeger.
Jaeger: Have you eaten?
Cali: No. How did you get my number?
Jaeger: Gen. You like burritos?
Ah hell. Does Gen know he’s texting me? She must if she gave him my number.
He’s catching me during a vulnerable moment. I can’t say no. I want to see him. Nothing’s going to happen with Gen on her way home—though that wasn’t much of a deterrent the last time. I shove that thought aside.
Cali: Chicken, please.
Twenty minutes later, a knock sounds at the front door and my pulse jumps. It’s probably Jaeger, but I peek out the window anyway. I’ve had too many surprises, and with my suspicions about Drake, anything’s possible.
Jaeger’s silver truck shimmers in the light from the porch. I open the door and find him standing there in blue jeans and a heathered gray sweatshirt, a brown paper bag in his hands.
“Hey.” He glances at my sweats and smirks.
After his text, I rolled the waistband so I wouldn’t have a saggy butt and put on a bra, but otherwise, I look like crap. “Come on in.”
Jaeger sets the bag on the counter. “Cups?”
“Behind you.” I point to the correct cupboard and reach for plates, then set them on the table in the dining nook.
Jaeger walks over with a glass and two bottles of Dos Equis. He pours me one and gulps from his bottle.
I take a large swig, the carbonation burning my oversensitized nose. It’s no longer bright red, but it’s still stopped up from all the crying. “Ahhh”—even so, Dos Equis tastes like a little bit of sunshine—“I needed that.”
Jaeger smiles and pulls out four bundles wrapped in white paper. He sets three on his plate and one on mine. Neither of us wastes time before digging into our food.
“So,” I say in between bites, “I’m guessing Gen told you what happened?”
He nods. “Mason saw you escorted out. I talked to Gen.”
My face warms. This entire evening has been one huge kick in my ass. I’m certain I did nothing to justify being fired, but it’s still embarrassing, like having my credit card refused at the checkout counter because someone stole my card number. The finger points to me.
“Did she ask you to check on me?”
His gaze rises. “No. I sent myself.”
“And how did she feel about that?”
He stares at me for a moment, his gaze perplexed. “I didn’t ask.”
He doesn’t seem guilty, just matter-of-fact. I take another bite of my delicious burrito, stealthily studying his handsome face and broad shoulders. I can tell by the sauce that he picked up the food from my favorite taqueria. “Well, thanks. I appreciate you coming.”
Jaeger’s mouth pauses mid-munch. He stares at me for a moment before lifting his beer and swallowing. “What will you do? Will you look for another casino job?”
“I got the position through one of my mom’s contacts.
She told us about summer hires and put in a good word.
It’s late in the season. I doubt there are any positions left.
” I set my half-eaten burrito down and wipe my mouth with a napkin.
“I’m supposed to leave for school soon. I’ve saved enough money to get through the summer.
My mom’s in Carson City. I could always spend time with her. She’s been asking me to come out.”
Jaeger polishes off his burrito and bites into a taco, drumming his fingers on the table. “So you’ll have time to kill.”
I’m not sure why he sounds happy. Nothing about being fired seems positive. “I guess.”
Jaeger glances at my half-eaten burrito. “Finished? Ready for dessert?”
“You brought dessert?”
“Of course.”
He downs his last taco and we wash the dishes. I’m putting away utensils with my back turned when I hear rustling sounds coming from Jaeger’s magical paper bag. I look to see what he’s up to.
He sets a jar on the counter.
It’s… “You brought me green olives?”
He slides the jar to me, and I’m speechless for a moment.
I look up, and he’s smiling. “How did you know?”
“I’m observant.” He must see the question on my face. “You gobbled them like grapes at the casino lounge that first night.”
This is the sweetest thing a guy has ever done for me. I want to wrap him up, throw him on my bed, and have my way with him. I grip the counter and slow my breathing. “Thank you.”
Jaeger pops the jar open. He plucks an olive and stretches his hand to my mouth. I part my lips and he slips the olive inside. My tongue grazes his finger on the way out.
He stares at my mouth as I chew. “More?” he asks absently.
I nod. “What about you? You having dessert?” I pull out another green beauty.
He clears his throat. “Watching you eat is dessert.” He grins naughtily.
This is trouble. How am I supposed to stay away when he’s like this? My panties evaporate just looking at him, and then he’s funny and sweet and brings me green olives. I have no defenses.
“But I brought something else for me. You mind if we go out back?”
A change of scenery would be good. Outdoors—away from bedrooms—even better.
When Jaeger asked me to carry the paper bag outside while he went to his truck, I wasn’t expecting him to return with a mini hibachi grill.
What the hell? “You cannot still be hungry after dinner. You ate half a cow in carne asada.”
He chuckles and sets the grill on the cement. He pulls a lighter along with a protracting spear from his back pocket.
The man comes equipped.
He lights coals inside the hibachi and waits for them to heat, then pulls a bag of marshmallows from the paper bag. Now I know where this is going, and I like the way he thinks.
I sit back in my lounge chair and wait for Jaeger to roast a marshmallow. He’s one of those “golden brown all over” kind of people, while I typically set mine ablaze and see what happens.
By the time Jaeger deems the marshmallow baked to perfection, my mouth is watering. He slowly eases the golden ball off the spear and places it on a square of chocolate between two graham crackers.
He’s been a complete gentleman the entire time I’ve known him. He won’t try to eat that without offering me some…
With deliberate slowness, he brings the s’more to his mouth—
I whimper, and he looks over, eyebrows raised, as if he knows I’m about to tackle him for his food. “Would you like some, Cali?”
He’s teasing me. I’ve had one of the worst weeks of my life, and he’s teasing me.
I pick up a pine cone and chuck it at his chest. He deflects it easily and laughs.
“Give me a bite, dammit!” I say.
He shakes his head. “Bossy.”
“Yes, I am. Let that be a lesson to you.”