I pushed my hand through my hair, pissed at the interruption, pissed at the fear I heard in her voice, but mostly pissed at myself for letting things get this damned far. It’d been days since I’d slept in my own bed. Days since my wife said more than a handful of sentences, and fucking days since I’d been able even touch my wife. I was spazzing on just about everyone in my office.
Earlier in the day, one of my executives had asked me if Deborah had been out of town for the week, because that was the only time when I was on edge. I almost decked him. Luckily, a member of my security staff had stopped me.
“Tell them I’m busy. They’ll have to call back another time.”
“Uh, when would you like—”
“I don’t give a shit! Tell them to call back!” I hung up the phone, not wanting to hear anything more about whoever was on the line.
“You’re going to regret that.”
Lifting my gaze from the file on my desk I was trying to work on, I frowned at the six-foot-seven dark haired man, standing in my office’s doorway. “The hell do you want?” I growled at Rick.
“Our two o’clock meeting.” He gestured to the clock on the wall directly across from my desk.
I sighed. He was right. I’d hired Rick as the head of Townsend security, weeks after I’d been made CEO. I couldn’t trust any of the previous security staff seeing as how many of them had helped to keep my father’s secrets, or were just highly incompetent. Rick, on the other hand, had proven himself savvy, intelligent, and willing to get his hands a little dirty when things called for it. I’d made him an offer he couldn’t refuse—I allowed him to bring on the entirety of his staff from his own agency, plus have his own opportunity to hire whomever he’d needed to complete the security staff at Townsend. Not only did his security staff ensure the safety of Townsend Industries, but of the Townsend family. There were very few people I trusted taking care of my family. Rick was one of them.
That thought alone had the pit in my stomach growing larger. Just knowing that I’d somehow endangered my own son’s life, stole my very breath. I didn’t know if that knowledge, or if the look in Deborah’s eyes over the past week, was worse.
“Want to talk about it?” Rick asked, shutting the door behind him.
“Mind your damn business.”
He grunted as he casually strolled toward the chair, sitting in it and crossing his legs, giving me a smug look. He was obviously unintimidated by my attitude. Which was part of the reason I liked him.
“You can tell me to fuck off. Doesn’t mean I’m going anywhere. I’ve got two more years until I’m fully vested, anyway. Then I can cash out, retire on the beach, and never think about the name Townsend again.” Chuckling, he lifted his hands, clasping them behind his head, and leaned backward as if he was practicing for lounging on the beach.
“You’ll still be here in two years.” Rick could talk as much shit as he’d like, but I knew he’d retire and be bored inside a month. His ass would be back at Townsend so fast it’d feel like he’d never left.
“Whatever,” he grunted, sitting up. “This is about Deb and the kid, huh?”
I gave him a sharp glare that saidtread carefully.As grateful and fond of Rick as I was, I didn’t let anyone bring up my family.
“I’m just saying, you only get that gleam in your eyes when something’s affecting your family. It’s the same one you had when all that shit was going down with the leaks, your father, and that asshole you were friends with who tried to frame Deb.”
I pushed a few papers on my desk aside, not knowing what to say. He was right, I knew it and so did he. That didn’t mean I was up to talking to him or anyone else about it. But hell, I had no one else to discuss it with, seeing as how my wife wasn’t listening to my reasoning.
“How the hell are you supposed to know how to be a father when you had a shitty one?”
Rick’s response was immediate. He grunted and made a disbelieving sound with his mouth. “Hell if I know. Exactly why I ain’t having kids. You can mess those little fuckers up.”
I frowned. “Don’t curse in my office.”
He shrugged, unperturbed.
I went to respond but my desk phone rang again.
“What?”
“You have a visitor. It’s Mrs. Townsend,” my secretary stated quickly, likely out of fear of my reaming her out again.
“Send her in.” I immediately hung up the phone and headed to my office door.
“Welp, I know when it’s my time to go. Never been one to overstay my welcome, anyway.”
Despite his size, Rick easily slipped past me on his way out of the door. “Mrs. Townsend,” he greeted, as he and Deborah passed one another.
“Rick. Good to see you.” Her face was pleasant as she returned his greetings, but as soon as she turned to me, the placid expression she’d been giving me for days returned. At least it was better than thefuck youlook she’d been throwing my way for the first two days after Carter ran to her crying.
