A Mess of a Man (Cruel & Beautiful #2)(104)

I decide to give Nancy a call to see how things are panning out.

When her cheery voice answers the phone, I can feel my lips curl into a smile. “How’s my favorite admin doing?”

“Sam! Oh my gosh, it’s so good to hear your voice. Can I tell you how much you’ve been missed?”

“I wish you wouldn’t because it’s going to make it harder to stay away. I can’t come back until next Monday,” I groan.

“Don’t you worry about a thing. We have you covered on all ends here. You wouldn’t believe what we have going.”

That’s an odd comment coming from her. “Okay, I’ll take the bait. Tell me what’s cooking over there.”

She snickers. “Well, at first it was World War Three. I thought Laney was going to call in the SWAT team to tear gas the place.”

“What are you talking about?”

I’m getting to that,” Nancy says. “But then there was a huge stand-off. They yelled and screamed. Threats—oh my God, you wouldn’t believe how they went at each other. And that sister of yours—she sure has your back.”

Now I’m totally confused. “Nancy, would you get to the point?”

“Right. So after the shouting match and the SWAT threats, we finally pulled them apart, and he convinced her he could be a huge help.”

“He? Who’s he? Nick?”

“No, not Nick. Ben. Ben Rhoades. He’s been working his butt off here, helping. Between your sister and him, they have kept this business running like a well-oiled machine, Sam.”

Holy f*cking shit. Ben? Laney and Ben? In the same room? And she hasn’t killed him?

“I can tell you she wanted to at first.”

I hadn’t realized I’d spoken those words out loud.

“Jesus. He’s been working for me?”

“Not only working, but doing about fourteen hour days here. I’m not kidding, Sam. He and your sister make quite the team. It was tense at first, when she had him doing everything from fixing the toilet to manning the phone, but now they’ve come to some sort of agreement. Oh, and I’m not supposed to tell you so don’t rat on me.”

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Apparently he doesn’t want you to know he’s doing this.”

I have no words for this. I can’t even think straight.

“Sam, are you there?”

“Yeah, Nancy. Hey, I’ve got to go. Thanks for telling me. And I won’t breathe a word to Laney.”

“Thanks. And we really do miss you and can’t wait for you to get back here.”

“I miss you, too.”

I end the call and stare off into space, thinking about everything that Ben is doing for me. What about his job? If he’s spending all that time at my business, how is he managing his own work? What is his father thinking about all of this? And he’s doing it with me not supposedly knowing about it. My brain is exploding with all this knowledge and I would be lying to myself if I said my heart weren’t warming to it.

There is a pad of paper and a pen on the coffee table so I start to list everything that Ben has done for me. As I’m reviewing my list, the mail comes and when I sift through it, Ben strikes again. He’s sent another gift in the form of food. But this time it’s an open ended credit for take out from the Carry-Out Concierge, a pricey delivery service from many of the downtown restaurants. I’m shocked. There is no spending limit on this, nor is there an expiration date on it.

When Lauren gets home from work, I show it to her.

“Woohoo, you hit the jackpot on this one, girl!”

“I can’t accept it. It’s too much.”

She looks at me like Yoda from Star Wars just rolled up. “Are you nuts? You have to accept it. After what that douche did to you, he deserves to empty out his bank account pampering your ass.”

“Okay, one, he already has. And two, I have to explain.” Then I fill her in on what he’s doing for me at work. “And three, with all the signals you’ve been sending me lately, I sort of thought you were Team Ben.”

She cocks her head and says, “Let’s get one thing straight here—I am always and forever Team Sam. And while I think Ben Rhoades is madly in love with you, that doesn’t negate the fact that he crushed my girl. Since he did that, the douche must pay and this is one way for him to do that. With this being said, do I think he needs to pay forever? No. There is a limit to my revenge. Take advantage of this for a while and then stop using it. If you want to see him, or talk to him, then call him. But Sam, you can’t string him along forever. That will only bring you down to his level when he hurt you and you don’t want to be like that. As far as your business is concerned, that’s one more area he’s proving himself to you.”

She’s right. If I’m going to make contact with him, I need to do something soon.

A couple of days go by with Lauren and I enjoying my latest gift in the form of fancy dinners every night. I’m not gonna lie and say I have zero guilt when spending oodles of Ben’s dollars on this stuff. But as Lauren says, payback can be hell.

Once more, the mail delivers another Ben attack. Only this time, it’s in the form of a letter. No gift from a fancy spa. Nothing from a fine dining establishment. This is a handwritten missive through and through. My hand trembles as my finger slides under the flap to open it. Am I willing to take this step? I feel my heart thumping in my chest. I know it’s pieced back together where he’s concerned, but has the glue dried sufficiently to hold all them in place? I’m so f*cking scared, sometimes I think that taking a breath will shatter it all over again. If that’s the case, what will Ben’s words do to me?