His arm shot out and stopped me. “I hope you’re on your way to my bike.”
I pulled free and stepped back. “Definitely not,” I spat out. “I need to fix what you just broke.”
He reached out for me again, but I turned and sprinted down the hallway to Smitty’s office. Once there, I knocked just as Sebastian reached my side.
“We’re going home,” he ground out between clenched teeth.
“You can go home. I’m going to talk to Smitty and pray I still have a job.”
He didn’t get a chance to answer when Smitty called out from behind the closed door for me to enter.
I did so without delay, and once inside, I pushed the door shut behind me. Sebastian followed, stopping the door from closing when his big body collided with it.
Instead of an apology, I shot him a glare. Head held high, I walked up to Smitty’s desk.
“What the hell is so important that you need to interrupt me?” he asked, his eyes never leaving the papers on his desk.
“Please don’t fire me,” I pleaded, deciding to skip reasoning and go straight to begging.
Smitty looked up, his beady eyes landing first on me, then moving to Sebastian and widening slightly.
“Why would I fire you?” he asked.
The gossip hadn’t reached him yet. I still had time to tell my side of the story. Which was probably not much better than the reality, but I had to try. Losing this job would be a colossal hit to my income.
“There was an incident,” I began.
“As long as you stay off the stage, you’re not fired,” Sebastian cut in, his voice barely controlled.
I turned to him. “Since when is that your decision?”
“It’s always been my decision,” he said, turning to my boss. “Smitty, tell her she’s not fired so we can all get on with our night.”
“You’re not fired,” he said, then looked at Sebastian. “But I wish you’d reconsider letting her on the stage.”
Sebastian took my hand in a tight hold and pulled. “Nonnegotiable. And you have to find a replacement for her tonight.”
“On such short notice? Are you insane?” Smitty sputtered.
Sebastian shot him a look that shut him up immediately, and he put his hands up in surrender. “Of course. No problem.”
Next thing I knew, I was getting dragged down the hallway by an enraged hot guy who thought he had the right to tell me what to do.
His hold wasn’t painful, but it was strong enough that there was no escaping. And instead of looking at me with concern, everyone we passed had a smirk on their face.
“Where are we going?” I huffed, my short legs working hard to keep up with Sebastian’s angry strides.
“Home.”
“But I could still help out at the bar. They could swap me and Crystal. She sometimes goes onstage. In turn, I could cover her shift.”
Instead of a response, he dragged me through the door, nodding at Kai, who was manning the entrance tonight.
“I’m off for the rest of the night. You’re in charge,” Sebastian barked on his way past.
“You got it,” Kai called to our backs.
Well, tonight could have gone worse. And I thought I did a pretty good job up on that stage, right up until I got dragged off it. I didn’t even get to show off my favorite move where I swung around the pole. Shame.
