Gian (Trassato Crime Family #1)(57)

“Yeah.” His hands slipped from my shoulders. “That makes sense.”

“I drove here, so we can leave when you’re ready, unless you’re too busy. I know you planned to work late tonight and everything. We could go tomorrow morning.”

“No. Tony and Sal can take care of everything here.” He brushed a kiss across my lips. “Wait here while I grab a few things from my office.”

As he disappeared from view, I remembered Carmela’s request for him to call her as soon as possible. “Shit,” I mumbled, weaving through the crowd, dodging elbows, drinks, and swaying torsos.

Holding up my phone, I pushed open the door to his office. “Gian, Carmela wanted you to—” The rest of the sentence died on my lips. The sight in front of me hit me like a hard punch to my solar plexus. A very naked woman was draped over the top of his desk like something out of a porn set. Frozen with shock, I covered my mouth to stifle the horribly embarrassing sounds crawling like spiders up my throat.

Not again.

Humiliation burned the corners of my eyes. I clamped my eyes closed, trying to scrub the scene in front of me from my memory.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

I’m okay.

My mind grappled for a response, only my mouth wouldn’t cooperate. I pried open my eyes.

The woman yanked a black dress over her head that looked more like a bunch of ribbons than an actual dress. Her face resembled a red tomato, and her skin clashed with her brassy hair.

“Excuse me,” she muttered her voice so soft I nearly missed it. “I need to use the bathroom.” With her panties and bra balled inside of her fist, she opened a door next to Gian’s desk and ducked inside.

He crossed the room, his footfalls echoing like gunshots in my head. “Calm down, Evie.” He brushed his fingers down the side of my bare neck, and my muscles tensed a little more. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“Let’s not talk about this now. Your family is waiting for you.” When I forced my hands between our bodies, trying to escape him, he squeezed me tighter. “You can take the car, and I’ll call a cab.” I fought back the nausea bubbling in my gut like I drank too many shots of tequila.

He pressed his lips to my forehead. “No. You’re not leaving here without an explanation.”

“I can’t do this again, Gian. I just can’t. It’ll kill me.” My voice sounded like I had swallowed a mouthful of gravel.

“Okaaay,” he said, drawing out the word like I’d been hit on the head, and I was incapable of making sense. “Apparently, I’m a little slow on the uptake, so you’re going to have to explain what you mean.”

“What do you know about my ex?”

His eyes burned with fury, and his lips thinned. “Enough to know he’s a spineless piece of crap.”

I rubbed my hands along the sides of my thighs. “Yeah, I caught him with that woman, and I don’t have any delusions she was the first. He only mentored women, and when I witnessed firsthand what that entailed, I realized it would never stop. Those women spent time alone with him, and he had power in the industry they wanted to break into. It was a recipe for cheating. It had the three As to create the perfect storm.”

“The three As? What the f*ck are you talking about?”

“Availability. Access. Alibi. When the three of those aligned, he cheated with immunity.”

“Yeah, so, what exactly does that have to do with us?”

“You own a nightclub. A lot of the employees are women. I would never know if you cheated, because this is your world. No one would ever tell me.”

He folded his arms across his chest. “Don’t ever compare me to him.”

“I’m not. It’s just…” I swallowed, uncertainty ballooning between us.

Angela slipped out of the bathroom door, her clothes now firmly in place. She dipped her head and slipped by me, smelling of booze and cheap perfume. She paused at the door, her hand curled around the doorknob. “Well, yeah, I guess I’ll get to work.”

I studied the tips of my white slip on sneakers. I couldn’t look at her, and I certainly didn’t want to have a conversation with her. Not now. Not ever. The memory of her sprawled out on Gian’s desk was embedded in my head, and it made me more than a little self-conscious. She embodied everything I didn’t.

She was carefree. I was uptight.

She had curves for days. I had long, toned muscles from years of dance.

She had fake breasts that belonged on the cover of some less than honorable magazine. I had a B cup on a good day.

Yuck.

“Don’t bother,” Gian barked. “I asked you in here to terminate your employment. You can pick up your final check and sign the necessary paperwork tomorrow when you’re sober.”

She set her hands on her hips. “Are you serious?”

“What do you think? You showed up to work drunk, you draped yourself over my guests like a prostitute, you sprawled your naked ass on top of my desk. Sounds like a lot of good reasons to fire you. Get the f*ck out of here, or I’ll revoke my offer to pay you for the last two weeks.”

“Whatever,” she mumbled, slamming the door with a loud thud.

“I’m going to go,” I whispered when the silence became unbearable.