A Reclusive Heart (Hollywood Hearts #2)(76)

“I didn’t want to fire either of them in the first place, but after what Miss.

Johnson said I didn’t feel as though we had a choice and now look at the mess that we’re in,” Margaret said, running a hand over her tight bun as she walked over to the bar and gestured for him to get her a drink.

With a shrug he made hers a double as he asked, “Who is Miss. Johnson and what exactly did she say that cost me my job?” he asked, forcing himself to remain relaxed as he wondered who had just f**ked them over.

“Holly,” Rick drawled.

Nick looked around the room for the woman so that he could strangle her, but at some point she’d snuck off. He should have known the woman would do something when he sent her packing, but admittedly his focus had been elsewhere.

“Oh? What exactly did she say?” Nick asked in a bored tone as he took a sip of his drink, welcoming the burn as it coated his throat.

“Apparently she decided to go behind my back after I refused to allow her to return to help with the tour,” Rick said, surprising him. The woman actually tried to come back? That was a little odd.

“She claimed that under your direction Miss. Harris wasn’t getting much work done and you were ignoring your duties to be with her. At first we didn’t think much of it,” Jonathan said as he joined them for a drink. “But after that video, the tour cancelation and of course the complaints we received in the past couple of days”

“What’s this about complaints?” Nick asked, interrupting the man.

Anthony, who’d been pretty quiet up to this point, joined them for a drink.

“We started to receive calls that you and Miss. Harris were caught in several indecent situations over the past couple of days. There were also complaints that the two of you were constantly ducking out of conventions. When we asked Miss.

Johnson about it she reluctantly admitted that it was difficult to find you, you refused to help her and that Miss. Harris disappeared for a good hour, leaving the convention coordinators high and dry.”

“Why didn’t you ask me what happened?” Nick asked, pouring the man a drink and handing it to him. “I could have cleared this whole thing up. I don’t know about the complaints, but we never left a convention early. In fact, Jamie worked her ass off and stayed as long as it took to meet every single fan because she felt bad about them waiting to meet her and in case you haven’t noticed she’s painfully shy and that was a hell of a lot of stress for the woman, but she did it,” Nick said, noting the look his bosses, well, technically ex-bosses now, shared.

His little recluse had worked her ass off and shouldn’t be facing this bullshit.

She had enough to deal with. Her family screwed her over and lied to her and thanks to a few well placed calls he now knew they’d f**ked her over once again.

She just lost her home. She had a psycho on her ass and he’d be damned if he let them take away something she truly enjoyed doing.

“As far as Miss. Johnson is concerned,” he said tightly, “I’m afraid you’ve been mislead. During the brief time Miss. Johnson accompanied us on this tour she proved to not only be incompetent, but resentful as I explained to Rick. She caused problems that I was forced to deal with and she left Miss. Harris near tears. Before the convention was even over I decided that she was not capable of doing her job and asked Rick to remove her.”

“He did,” Rick agreed, finishing off his drink. “If you had explained what was happening I would have been more than happy to go over this with you.”

They let out a collective sigh as they shared another one of those looks that gave him hope that they’d let his little recluse back. “I apologize for the misunderstanding, Mr. Quinn. Would you please consider forgetting this incident and continuing with us?” Jonathan asked, looking suddenly exhausted. Not that he could blame the man since this little episode left his head reeling.

“As long as you allow Miss. Harris to do the same,” Nick clarified.

Jonathan didn’t bother looking at his partners as he nodded. “Consider it done.”

“Thank you,” Nick said, more than willing to let this go as long as his little recluse was safe and happy. He was just about to head after her when one of the secretaries burst through the doors. “The police are here and they’re looking for Miss. Johnson,” she said anxiously.

For some reason he really wasn’t at all surprised, he thought as he put his drink down and went to hunt down his little recluse.

******

“Stupid lock,” Jamie muttered as she gave up her attempts to break into the filing cabinet and rescue her poor lonely little coffee roll that desperately needed her attention.

She was a little stressed out and honestly, she didn’t do well with stress. She needed a sugar fix and she needed it quick. Then when she was done she fully planned on trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her life since she’d just lost her job and pretty much her contract within the last hour. Her game plan had been to follow Nick wherever he went, but now that she was out of that situation and thinking a little clearer she realized that he just might not appreciate that one bit.

After all he’d just lost his job and probably his reputation because of her.

Why would he want her to go with him? He probably wanted to get the heck away from her as fast as he could and she really couldn’t blame him.