Boss I Love to Hate: An Office Romance(7)

“Brad! What’s going on?”

His panicked state was not helping my mood. Shit. Wrong move. I shouldn’t have called the biggest worrier of the family. He worried about everything—what the girls ate, what they were watching on TV, if they were getting too much computer time, even what they wore. Mason was the type to put our nieces in all organic clothing as though anything else would burn their skin.

Honestly, he was worse than their own father.

“I’ll call the school. I’m sure everything is fine.” I tried to calm him down but knew nothing would when it came to my anxiety-ridden brother.

“I’m coming home.”

And, before I had a chance to tell him that there was no need, the phone went dead.

I descended the stairs two at a time and went straight to the fridge, running my finger down the paper with all the emergency numbers and finding the school’s.

I dialed, and it went straight to voice mail, understandable with it being after hours.

The tenseness in my neck reached my temples. There weren’t many things I worried about, but not having any children of my own, my nieces were at the top of that list.

My phone buzzed in my hand. It was Charles, and automatically, I pressed End. I wasn’t going to pick up his call until I had his daughters right beside me so he could talk to them himself. I’d promised him that I had this under control. I had never broken a promise, and I wasn’t going to start now.

I called Mason again. “I’m heading to the school. No one is picking up.”

I was starting to get pissed off. If anything had happened to my nieces, there would be hell to pay. I’d be the devil incarnate himself.

His voice was riddled with worry. “No, I’ll head over. Just stay there. I’m already in the car, and I will be at the school in ten minutes.”

I had just called him. How fast was he going, ninety miles per hour? From Brisken, he was at least forty minutes from the school.

“You’re not going to be any help if you’re dead. Slow down.”

He huffed like I was ridiculous. “Just call me if you hear anything.”

I banged the phone against the counter.

One thing was for sure: I was going to take this babysitter by the tips of her ears and walk her out of my house and out of our lives once I found her.

Thirty minutes later, laughter bubbled through the foyer. Mary’s laughter. It was the one and only noise I wanted to hear. Immediately, my whole body went lax as I rushed toward the joyous sound.

“Uncle Brad.”

My adorable five-year-old niece, Mary, bum-rushed me, and I scooped her up in my arms and inhaled deeply, taking in her baby shampoo scent. She was blonde-haired with ringlets that framed her face. Her cheeks were painted in an array of colors—pinks, yellows, and blues. She cuddled against me, and I, VP of Acquisitions, should have cared that she was getting paint on my five-hundred-dollar button-down shirt, but I didn’t. This girl owned my heart, one of two in the whole world who did.

Annie sauntered in a moment later, followed by a not-so-happy, moody Sarah stomping behind her. Something was going on with Sarah. Becky, her stepmom, had said it was the beginnings of puberty, and I wanted to stay miles away from that.

“Where did you go?” My stare and my irritable tone were directed toward the babysitter.

“Six Flags Great America!” She smiled as though this were a good thing.

The theme park? Yeah, this girl is fired.

“Great. America,” I rolled the words off my tongue like it was a curse word, steady and in movie-like slow motion. I blinked and then stared at her as though she were shit I’d stepped on.

Breathe, Brad.

I didn’t even pretend this time. Pretending was long over. I had pretended the first couple of days when I arrived home from work, and they weren’t bathed. I had pretended that it was okay for them to be up at eleven when I had a late work function, and it was a school night.

But now? I was done.

Sarah was always the voice of reason, but she didn’t help the situation. “I’m the one who said you wouldn’t be okay with this. I’m the one who said it’s a school night, but Mary insisted, and every single person does what Mary says!” she yelled, making me reel back.

“I just wanted to go.” Mary pouted in my arms.

She blinked her long eyelashes at me, and I touched her button nose.

“See?” Sarah pointed. “This is exactly what I’m saying. No one wants to listen to what I have to say.”

Then, she bolted up the stairs, leaving me speechless, wide-eyed, and stunned.

Hormones. Becky said she’s going through changes. At twelve though? Isn’t that too soon?

“Uncle Brad … guess what I am. Can you tell from the paint on my face?”

Mary had two dimples, and when she smiled, she looked like an angel. An angel that never got yelled at. I could already feel my whole mood shifting into Mary Land.

I shook my head, needing to rein things in, so I placed Mary on her feet to deal with the help. “You’re a princess?”

She pouted again. “No.”

“A butterfly,” Annie smirked, sipping some of her Starbucks coffee through a straw, one that she probably charged on the credit card that we gave her to use, specifically for the kids.

The door flew open, and Mason stormed in, hands on his hips and breathless. “They’re not at the …” He stopped mid-step, taking the scene in, his eyes landing first on Annie, me, and then Mary. “Brad, I tried calling you, but you weren’t picking up.”