Rock Chick Revolution (Rock Chick #8)(108)

I grinned at him.

He leaned in for a touch on the lips, turned and walked away.

I watched.

Still grinning.

* * * * *

As I walked down the hall toward Ren’s office, I did it smiling.

This was because I’d never been to his office and if the inside of the building was anything to go by, his space, as well as my space, was going to be the bomb.

Holding a carrier with two of Tex’s coffees in one hand and a bag of LaMar’s in the other, I turned left at the tall, wood door with the burnished silver plaque at the side that said Zano Holdings Ltd. and juggled the bag as I pushed the fancy handle down.

I was curious to see where Ren spent his days. But as I walked in, I didn’t look around his office.

I looked at the woman behind his reception desk.

Dawn was sitting there.

Dawn.

Dawn, Lee’s ex-receptionist.

Dawn, who I hated because she hated me (and everybody, except Lee and his boys; until they were picked off by the Rock Chicks that was).

Dawn, who got fired because she got caught on in-house surveillance badmouthing Jules while she was in the hospital after she got shot. Lee lost his mind, Luke lost his mind, and they dropped what they were doing in order not to delay in returning to the office and terminating her.

Dawn, who, until that moment, I was certain had crawled into the dark, damp, inhospitable holes beautiful but exceedingly bitchy women retreated to when they got their asses whupped (even figuratively).

Dawn, who was not hiding away in an inhospitable hole but instead sitting in Ren’s offices, glaring at me.

“What the hell?” I whispered.

“I heard you had a thing with Ren,” she snapped, totally still bitchy.

“What the hell?” I repeated, louder this time.

“I prayed it wasn’t true, but apparently God doesn’t listen to me,” she went on.

“What the hell!” I shouted.

“The only thing I can say is, I still have hope for Dom because everyone knows he has a wandering eye,” she kept at it.

“What the hell?” I screeched.

“Ally, Jesus, what’s the matter?” Ren asked, exiting a hall to my side.

For once, his powerful frame in trousers and a dress shirt did nothing for me.

“Dawn works for you,” I snapped, and it came out an accusation, as it should.

He didn’t glance at Dawn as he headed to me, but his face said a lot and all of what it said made me feel better.

Slightly.

In other words, he didn’t like her.

He got close to me, took the carrier of coffee then took my hand and spared Dawn a glance to order, “Hold my calls.”

“Of course, Ren,” she said, sweet as sugar on an eyes-hooded smile that said—right in front of me—she’d hold anything he asked.

Bitch.

Ren led me down the hall and into an office, which I again did not take in, mostly because I was fuming. He then led me to a big desk. He put down the coffee, grabbed the donut bag from my hand, tossed it with the coffee then pulled me loosely into his arms.

When he had me there, he said quietly, “Dom hired her.”

That explained a lot.

“Before he reunited with Sissy,” Ren went on.

Well, that was a relief.

Ren kept talking.

“I’ll admit, her attitude often leaves a lot to be desired. Lucky and Santo hate her. And she does not hide she’s attracted to Dom or me.”

Great. Just great.

Ren wasn’t done, unfortunately.

“She has also given us no reason to discipline or terminate her. I know she worked for Lee. but I saw her resume and personally checked her references. Although Lee said he had issues with her which led to her termination, he didn’t share those with me but did share they had nothing to do with her performance. Her other references were stellar. The other applicants didn’t come close. We were in a jam and needed somebody. So I agreed to take her on.”

His arm tightened and he dipped his face close.

“I see you aren’t fond of her, though I had no idea until now you weren’t, but she’s very good at her job, honey.”

“She’s a bitch,” I declared.

“That may be so—”

“No, Ren. She’s a bitch,” I cut him off to say. “The reason Lee terminated her was because she was on the phone in his office with one of her friends, who’s also likely a bitch, and she was talking trash about Jules when Jules was in the hospital.”

His jaw got hard.

I kept at it.

“Lee was not down with that so he got shot of her ass. And, heads up, you might wanna check your phone logs because they have cameras everywhere at Nightingale Investigations, and she was caught catting with her friends repeatedly.”

“Noted,” Ren murmured.

“And last, remember when I told you I wouldn’t hesitate to get into a bitch smackdown with a sister who was a bitch?” I asked.

He bit his lip and I knew it was to stop both from quirking, but I ignored that and he stopped biting his lip to answer, “Yes.”

“Well, just saying, she even looks at me funny, in your reception area you’re gonna have a knockdown, drag out, hair pulling, nails scratching bitch smackdown catfight that might be so extreme, it’ll make the papers.”