Over and over again.
TheletterI'd typed up the night before shook in my hand. The paper that stated to my employer I was giving my two weeks notice to find a replacement. Ef me.
I'd felt so guilty the days before as I hooked up my laptop to Sonny's printer. I kept thinking about Slim and his friendliness, Blake and his patience, and Blue and her quiet nature.
But I'd be lying if I said the person I thought of the most wasn't Dex.
All I could think of was the version of Dex I'd encountered in the truck on the trip back and forth to Houston. The one who talked to me about installing cameras and putting in extra bills into the cash registers at Mayhem to find their thief. The man who had opened up to me about his own crap-ass dad.
That was the person I'd thought of as I waited for the printer to give me my notice.
And it was that man that had me shaking in my boots at just the idea that I had to tell him I was leaving.
To my surprise, only Blake and Blue were at the shop when I'd driven by on my first attempt to drop off my notice on Monday. When I'd shown up for work on Tuesday, it was Slim who opened with me.
Each moment longer I had to wait, the more nervous and guilty I felt.
So when Dex showed up about halfway through the evening at Pins on Tuesday, I had to double check to make sure my big girl panties were on and finally go break the news.
And still, I wanted to vomit out my nerves.
Only the problem was that he'd shown up in a mood. He'd tilted his head up at me and Slim as he walked passed us and disappeared into his office. And that was my sign that something was adrift in the world of Dex.
Shit.
By the time I made my way into his office, he was sitting behind his desk looking too intently at the computer screen on front of him. The rim of his cap was tugged low on his head. A cigarette peeped out from between his ear andhat.
"Dex?" I asked him in a small voice from the doorframe.
He didn't even bother looking up. "Sup, Ritz?"
"You have a minute?"
"Now's not the best time," he warned. "I'm tryin' to sort this shit out."
What shit he was trying to sort out...I had no clue. But time was a ticking.
"I really need to talk to you though," I insisted.
Dex blew out a raspberry from between his pink lips. "One minute, babe."
Sheesh.
"What’chaneed?"
I couldn't summon the courage I needed to tell him verbally, so I shoved the paper across the desk.
Wordlessly, Dex picked up the paper, his smooth forehead was already lined with rows of frustration at whatever was bugging him. Those bright blue eyes moved in a line across the paper twice.
And then he balled it up and tossed it into the trash can, his expression unchanged.
Dex said one word and one word only. "No."
Umm...
"What?" I asked him in a squeaky voice.
His attention was already back on the computer screen he'd been glued to when I walked in. He simply lifted a single shoulder in a shrug and repeated himself. "No."
