Barrett shot me a dirty look. “We can’t all have the resting heart rate of a stoned sloth, Hold.”
I grinned back at him. “I’m just saying. I’m not angry. I’m just confused. What the fuck is going on?”
Dominic ran his stained hands together and growled. “That’s what I’m going to find out.”
“You can’t spank her when you’re this angry.” Barrett saw the astonished look on Dominic’s face and shook his head. “I don’t mean I think you’ll hurt her. I know you better than that, Dom. I just don’t know if it would be productive for either of you right now. Not without talking first.”
I glanced out the windows of the room and saw Nate staring down the hallway, watching for Sugar. Suddenly, I didn’t feel fine. “Put a leash on your man, Barr.”
Dominic growled. “Fuck this. I’m going to find her. I’m going to talk to her calmly and then I’m going to bend her over and spank her until we both feel better.”
Barrett tilted his head to the side and then nodded. “Yeah, sounds good to me.”
I shook my head as I calmly followed them down to Dom’s office. With my hands in my pockets, I was the picture of ease, but I was full of shit because I was nervous. I didn’t know what to expect from Sugar and I was in territory I didn’t understand. Still, as I passed Nate in the hallway, I took the opportunity to mess with him.
“Hey, Nate, man. How’s it going?” I wrapped my arm around his shoulder and grinned. “A word of advice?”
He blinked a few times, confused. I’d never had too much to say to him before, solely because we didn’t work in the same area. “Um, sure.”
“I’ve heard rumors about SJ’s boyfriend…he broke the kneecaps of a guy from her last job, if you know what I mean.”
Barrett suddenly grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me away from Nate. “Go home for the weekend, Nate. Thanks for the hard work.”
I grinned wildly at Nate as I walked backwards with Barrett. “His kneecaps were justdust, man.”
Barrett swore and shoved me toward Dominic’s office. “This is why we don’t let you come in that often. You sound like a fucking lunatic.”
I laughed easily. “Yeah, that was the point. He’ll think twice before making eyes at Sugar from now on.”
“Holden…” A grin he couldn’t fight stretched his mouth and he laughed. “You’re insane. You know that, right?”
“Sure, but I get the job done.” I looked up and saw Dominic stepping into his office. “She in there?”
“Yep.”
“Am I the only one of us confused as fuck?”
“Nope.”
I grunted. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
We hadn’t even reached the door to his office, and we could already hear Sugar raising her voice. Barrett and I exchanged a glance and walked in, closing the door behind us.
Dominic leaned against his desk, his eyes dark as he stared down at Sugar, who was pacing in front of him, pointing at him. I couldn’t tell if he was hearing a word she was saying as she spoke in a raised voice that grew higher the longer she went on.
“I’m allowed to have a bad day! You three and your…I don’t know! Attitudes! You don’t touch me and barely talk to me for a week and suddenly you think you can tell me what to do? No!” Sugar then jabbed her finger at me. “You, too! You haven’t said anything about the accidental sex tape we made! What’s wrong with you?”
Barrett, ever the peacemaker, moved toward Sugar with his hands raised, not unlike how he’d approached Dominic. “Can we talk?”
“Oh,nowyou want to talk?” She balled her fists at her side and shook her head. “No. No, I don’t want to talk to you now. I don’t want to talk to any of you. Clearly, you had your fun and you’re done. I don’t know what I was thinking. So stupid.”
Dominic straightened from his desk. “Sugar, you’re walking a thin line.”
She shrugged a lace-covered shoulder at him. “I. Don’t. Care.”
“Sugar.”
She was on a roll. She stormed over to me and poked me in the chest. “You didn’t call me or even attempt to say a damn thing after what happened in the parking lot. I don’t even know why you’re here.”