“You and Vane should stop by for a few drinks this weekend.”
He shot me a surprised look, mouth twisted in confusion, so I quickly elaborated.
“JP and I are throwing a get-together. We have a few friends coming. We’re on a kickball team now, so our teammates from there are dropping in, and so is Vic, the owner of Triple X. He’s a friend, too. And Sugar, he’s a dancer at the club.”
“You’ve made a lot of friends,” he said carefully, as though he wasn’t trying to insult me but didn’t know what else to say. He glanced from the file on the desk in front of me to my face, uncertainty puckering his bow lips. I could seehowhe’d slept his way through college and into the internship, and I could also see why Vane wanted to keep him. Jax was good-looking.
“I have.” I smiled wistfully as I thought about the people that had come into my life because of JP. I’d made more friends than I ever did with my family’s connections, and their relationships with me were real, not faked to suck up to a Kalinski.
“Sure. I think I can convince Vane to visit.” His smile was genuine, and I liked not being in a war with him.
“JP said your friend gave birth to her baby, and you’re the baby’s godfather. Congratulations.” I assumed that’s what sort-of friends did, right? Congratulate each other when new members joined the family.
He nodded with a grin. “Not a fan of babies, but he’s a cutie. He’s going to be spoiled when he gets older.”
I laughed just as the door to the office slammed open. Mark fell through it, panting like he’d run a marathon. Turning wide and glassy eyes on us, he appeared ready to cry.
“We’re fucked.”
I startled in surprise because I’d never heard Mark swear. Standing immediately, Jax following, I strode around the desk and grabbed Mark by the shoulders, helping him to his feet. Panic seized my chest and I took a deep breath to settle myself. “What happened?”
“The mayor. Damn Ross. He….” Mark burst into tears, burying his face into his hands. I held him, but he clearly didn’t care if he stood or not because his knees gave out from under him and it took all my effort to hold him up. I’d always thought he was overworked and stressed; I’d waited for the moment he’d break, but I didn’t expect anything like this.
Jax came around to help me, grabbing Mark under the arm so we could drag him to a seat. He knelt in front of Mark and cupped his face. “Talk to us. What happened to Midberry?”
“I… I….” He cried harder and his entire body shook. “I worked sohardto make sure this didn’t happen. Ibeggedhim to stay away from the Courtesan. I never thought he’d do something so stupid.” He curled in on himself, and it took the combined strength of me and Jax to sit him straight again so we could stare into his blotchy, tear-streaked face.
“Talk to us. It’s my job, too.” Jax was gentle as he seized Mark’s chin and wiped at his face. “What happened to Ross?”
Mark stuffed his fist into his mouth, and I knew a breakdown when I saw one. He was losing his composure, which wasn’t good when it was happening to Mark. He had his freak-outs like everyone did, but he never acted like this, which meant something was seriously wrong.
His voice shook as he spoke, and it took a lot of effort to understand him. “Police said he… he… he was having sex with a man in the stairwell. I told them it couldn’t be true! I told… told them it was a stupid accusation. Slander! Security installed cameras ’cause they….” He sobbed harder and his shoulders shook. “They found used condoms in the fucking stairwell! They didn’t realize it was Ross doing it, or they wouldn’t have put the damned cameras up. And they said they didn’t know it was him when they first checked and saw someone was having sex there, and they called the police. But Ross wouldn’t do that. Hewouldn’t.”
I turned wide eyes to Jax, and he gave me the same look. It was Jax who said the words I was thinking. “Mark, did the police take Ross away?”
Mark buried his face in his knees, folding himself up again as he whimpered out a “yes” that made acid sit in my throat, the urge to vomit strong. Daddy had warned me Ross was out of control, and Vane said he had to be ready in case anything happened, but I hadn’t expectedthis.
“Fuck.” Jax had his phone out typing, but he didn’t get to finish the message he was writing before it rang. He answered the call. “Daddy?” Humming, he nodded. “Yes, sir. I know, Mark told us. We’ll be right there.” When he ended the call with Vane, he gestured for me to follow him, but not before he touched Mark’s shoulder. “Vane needs me in his office. Do you want to come?”
Mark nodded, and it took me and Jax helping him up to get him going. Guiding him through the hall and to the elevator was hell because we had to hold his weight, and by the time we got him to Vane’s office, my arms and legs ached in a way that told me I really needed to start going to the gym.
Daddy and Vane were beside Daddy’s desk, voices low as they conversed hurriedly with each other. Both looked as stressed as I felt, and when we opened the door, their concerned gazes shot to us.
“What happened to him?” Vane demanded, stalking over to us to help Mark to one of the couches in the waiting area.
“He finally broke,” I answered as I made my way over to Daddy, taking the hug he offered me freely. I buried myself into his chest. I didn’t know if the physical contact was for me or him, but some of Daddy’s tenseness bled from his body and he sighed. “What’s going to happen with the mayor?”
“We don’t know,” Vane hissed, his mouth contorting. He scrubbed his hands over his cheeks as Jax approached him and they had their own kiss and cuddle. They whispered something and Jax nodded at whatever Vane said. “I knew it would come to this. He’s been on the road to disaster for a long time now.”
“Do we knowwhy?” Jax asked.
Daddy shook his head. “Midberry is worse than Vane ever was.” He gave Vane a hard look when he seemed like he was going to argue. “It’s like he got off on the risk of losing his job.”
“He didn’t,” Mark whispered from where he’d slumped. His legs were pulled up underneath him and he trembled, his hair a bird’s nest now on his head. “He couldn’t have done it. He didn’t do it. He loved his job.”
Vane’s face twisted with a kind of anger I hadn’t seen from him before, even when he had me against the wall after I’d leaked the story about him and Jax. “If he loved his job, this wouldn’t have happened. Believe me, Mark, Ross did what they said he did.”
“We need damage control,” Daddy said, straightening and shifting away from me. This was my Daddy in his element, taking charge and doing what needed to be done, and I couldn’t help but be awed by him. My knees wobbled, that instinctual part of me wanting to fall to the floor in my special position for my Daddy, and it took everything in my power not to huddle at his feet. “The media will bite into this and it won’t be pretty. Vane, you should be ready to take over as mayor.”
