At Teal’s begging, I harden my heart. It’s the only way I can deal with her. As Tanya helps her off the floor, I square my shoulders.
“I’ll pay you three months’ severance, and Tanya will find you a treatment center where you’ll be able to go to rehab. I’ll cover the cost myself. If you decide to go and complete it, I’ll help you find a job somewhere else when you’re ready. You need help, Teal. It’s time.”
With one hand clasped in her sister’s, Teal stares up at me like a princess who has just been told that her kingdom burned to ash.
“Rehab? I’m not a junkie!” She yanks on Tanya’s hand and jerks away. “I swear I don’t need rehab. Just some time. That’s all.”
As soon as she saysall, Teal kicks over the bottle on the floor, and liquor spills all over my shoe and the carpet.
“Jesus, Teal. We all know you need to go to rehab. You can’t beat this on your own,” Tanya says quietly as Teal gasps.
I grit my teeth and close my eyes for a second to gather myself and my temper, but Teal takes it as an invitation. Her body slams against my chest, and her vodka-tinged lips sloppily press kisses against my mouth.
My eyes snap open, but Tanya’s already got her by the shoulders, pulling her back and away from me.
“What the fuck, Teal?” her sister snaps, pushing her against the lockers.
“He loves me. I know he does. Cannon’s always loved me. Why else would he be so nice to me?” She struggles against Tanya’s hold.
“Fucking hell,” Tanya whispers, wrapping her arms around her sister to calm her with a hug. “Teal, that’s not true. You’ve made this up in your head.”
“No! He loves me! I know it!”
I look at Tanya. “Get her out of here without making another scene. She’s not coming back. Got it?”
Tanya nods with a sad look of acceptance on her face. “I’m so sorry, Cannon. I was going to tell her today, but I knew ... I knew she wouldn’t handle it well. I put it off to tomorrow, and it was a mistake. I fucked up, and you’re well within your rights to fire me too.”
“If he fires you, it’s because he can’t bear thinking about me, and that means he loves me!” Teal crows from her sister’s arms.
What a fucking clusterfuck. I shake my head and meet Tanya’s blue gaze.
“Find her a rehab place. If she’ll go, send me the bill. No arguing.”
Sadness etches lines deeper in Tanya’s face than should be there at the age of twenty-seven, but that’s not something I can change.
“You’re a good man, Cannon.”
“Take tomorrow off. Do whatever you need to do with Teal.”
I don’t reply to what she said about me being a good man. The jury’s still out on that, pending the results of the roofie test I still haven’t gotten back from Yoder. I make a mental note to call him tomorrow about the results, to make sure he hasn’t forgotten.
“I’ll get Grice, and he’ll escort you both down to the car out the back way.”
“Thank you.”
“No! I won’t go!”
Teal howls as I leave the break room and head back to my office, and I hope like hell no one else can hear her. When I step inside the hidden door, cigar smoke greets me in the hallway, where there should be none.
Fuck.That can only mean one thing.
Dom decided to hold a meeting tonight without letting me or the staff know, and he used the private elevator.
Except I’m wrong on one count—I find him sitting at my desk, ashing his cigar in a Baccarat crystal glass.
“Oh good, you’re here. Which means you can tell me why the fuck you haven’t dealt with Teal before it got ugly in front of club members.”
I open my mouth to reply, but he holds up a hand.