“No, I got him,” I say. “He’s my brother.”
Josh waves me off. “Then he’s mine, too. Keep your money, Ry. I’ve got him. I’ve had some massive poker losses to Reed over the years that I want to vicariously avenge.” Josh slides a mammoth stack of chips over to Zander. “Get him, Z. Make him cry.”
“Jesus, I’m getting it from all sides,” Reed mumbles, but his tone is jovial.
Zander thanks Josh profusely and immediately shoves all his newly acquired chips into the pot to match and then raise Reed’s bet.
“I like your style, Z,” Reed says. “But, seriously, Faraday, why are you always so damned protective of T-Rod? She’s a big girl. Let her make her own decisions. If I take a shot and it doesn’t work out, I promise I won’t leave her any worse for wear. In fact, even if her heart gets smashed into a thousand pieces, I promise she’ll nonetheless thank me for the ride.”
I clench my jaw tightly and focus all my energy onnotleaping up and throwing a punch. I glance at Henn and he subtly shakes his head, warning me not to react.
Josh addresses Reed: “I’m not gonna risk anyone ‘taking a shot’ with her and smashing her heart, motherfucker. She’s like a sister. Plus, on a selfish note, it’s in my personal interest to keep that woman from getting her heart broken. Last time she did, it took months for her to fully bounce back, and I happen to like T-Rod running my world at full capacity.”
“Speaking of T-Rod running your world, have you given her a raise lately?” Jonas asks. “You do realize you’ve had that poor girl doing the work of three people lately, right?”
“Dude, never worry about T-Rod getting herself paid—the girl’s a fucking shark. The best negotiator I’ve ever met, besides you and Reed, and I’m not even joking about that. She squeezes me for more than any of my friends pay their personal assistants, by far.”
“Oh, come on, Josh, T-Rod’s not just a personal assistant anymore and you know it,” Jonas says. “She outgrew that job description years ago.”
“True.”
“You know what we should do?” Jonas says. “We should find Theresa an official role at Climb & Conquer. Maybe put her on the sales team? Or, fuck it, maybe she should manage a regional team? I bet she’d kick ass doing that, she’s so good at juggling a million things.”
“No doubt T-Rod would kick ass at anything she tried,” Josh says. “But I don’t know. She’s too valuable to me to give her up.”
“Don’t be a selfish bastard. You’re not utilizing her to her fullest potential and you know it. T-Rod’s no longer the naïve girl you hired six years ago—she’s ready to spread her wings. Surely, you can see that?”
Josh looks thoughtful. “I’ll think about it.”
My heart is racing. Fuck. I don’t know what to say here to help Tessa’s cause—but I know I’ve got to say something. “I, uh, was talking to T-Rod the other day... by the pool,” I begin. “And she was telling me how much she admires the mission of Climb & Conquer. She seemed excited about your plans to grow the company.”
“See?” Jonas says. “T-Rod’s obviously thinking about this kind of thing, too. Look, maybe the next thing for her isn’t an official role at C & C, but all I’m saying is when you get back from your honeymoon, you should take a good, long look and think about ways to utilize her beyond making sure your fucking Lamborghini’s washed.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Josh says. “I’ll give it some serious thought, I promise. Thanks for putting a bug in my ear, bro.”
“Hey, you’ve got the charm and I’ve got the brains, remember? I wouldn’t wanna fall down on my job.”
Josh looks at Reed. “And in the meantime, keep your paws off her, you fucking menace.”
Reed laughs. “Fine. But only because it’s you.”
I breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Josh looks down at the cards in his hand. “From here on out, nobody goes near Theresa Rodriguez unless they’re planning to make her happy for the rest of her fucking life, and that’s final.” He looks up from his cards, straight at me. “Got that?”
“Got it,” Reed replies.
I subtly nod and Josh looks back down at his cards.
Oh my God, the hair on the back of my neck is standing up. I just realized something—something big.I want to make Tessa happy for the rest of her fucking life.
I look at Henn, my jaw hanging open, and he’s already staring right at me, his eyebrows raised, a question on his face. Without hesitation, I nod decisively at him, answering his implicit query and Henn flashes me a broad smile in return.
Holy shit.Iwant to make Tessa Rodriguez happy for the rest of her life.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” Reed says to Josh. “I’ve always wondered: how come you never made a play for T-Rod yourself? I can’t imagine withstanding the temptation, day in and out, for six fucking years.”
Josh shrugs. “Because Jonas would have killed me.”
