Two Bar Mitzvahs (23 page)

Laughing, I smacked her ass as she turned and ran off to retrieve Ava. I followed after her while texting a “home in the a.m.” to Mase.

Hannah put Ava on a leash before pulling her out of the Jeep and plopping her down. I watched the two of them striding alongside one another up the walkway. Our picture-perfect family of three struck me as very innocent—totally opposite of all the naughty plans I had for the next few hours.

While she slid the key into the lock, I slipped my hands around her hips and lowered my mouth to her neck. She shivered under my touch.

I grinned. “I plan to do everything in my power to get you to break that early sleep promise.”

***

The following morning, I sat at my kitchen table in a fog. Too much sex and too little sleep made for a very satisfied, but groggy, Cade. I stared at the computer screen, but no valuable thoughts pinged between my ears.

I got up with a yawn, rubbed my eyes, and poured another cup of coffee—some Italian grind Mase’s girlfriend, Laura, had given to him to make him more “civilized.” I blew on the surface, then took a few sips on my way back to the table. Wasn’t bad, although nothing beat a cup of reliable Starbucks in the company of Hannah.

But Hannah and I had collapsed sometime shortly before midnight and woken only a few hours later. When she left for her shop before 4:00 a.m., I drove home with Ava, then sat down to start working through emails before tackling the to-do list.

Hannah’s “wet” comment last night flashed into my mind. Maybe I hadn’t tossed her off of her dock, but I had chased her into the shower. I smiled, remembering all the laughter. We’d had no problem extending our weekend fun. I looked at the time at the bottom of my laptop: 7:16 a.m., and I wondered what she was up to. She was probably running around in her apron, her arms covered in flecks of icing.

Damn. Now I want a cupcake for breakfast.

“Focus, Cade.” I forced myself to go through the list for Saturday’s event. There was still a shitload of stuff to do. Every item had been ordered, but inevitably things got screwed up without double checks. Sometimes wrong things got delivered even with them. Which left us to sort out the mess, flying by the seat of our pants with makeshift solutions.

And that was on a good day. We had Selfish Bitch to contend with on this one.

I sighed, a twinge of guilt running through me for reminding myself of the bad parts of Madison, like I did every time I thought about her. I got that it was my own self-protection, yet a part of me felt sorry for her. Her struggle after being beaten, wanting to be accepted, turning to me for help—tugged at me. She had a vulnerable goodness under that steel-spiked exterior. But the reasons why she hurt others—hurt me and hurt Hannah—didn’t justify her reckless actions.

That’s why I wanted to try to prevent as many glitches as possible. Not just because the double bar mitzvah was a big event, but also because I suspected I’d have my hands full with damage-controlling whatever next idiotic stunt Madison might pull.

As I opened the latest two emails from Suzanne and reread their contents, it struck me that no amount of preplanning would prevent every possible scenario. I couldn’t even
be
at both of the events at once. There’d be no way to monitor Madison on top of all that.

Two. I need two of me.

We would all have to dig in and do our best for one hectic night. Then it would be over. And whatever stress we’d gone through to accomplish it would fade away.

Then Hannah and I would be on a flight to a tropical beach, all the chaos behind us.

I answered Suzanne’s emailed concerns point by point. She was having difficulty securing the second photo booth. The vendor had two down for repair and the other two were previously scheduled at weddings that day. “Fucking weddings,” I muttered. I surfed the Internet for other possible suppliers, but came up empty.

The photo booth issue reminded me of all the sabotage that had happened to date and how I had yet to bring Kristen up to speed with the two health inspections—they’d clearly screamed Madison. I fired off an email to Kristen with a copy to Kiki, Kendall, Hannah, and Ben, outlining the details of what happened on Friday. I also asked if anything new had happened to any of them. Within twenty minutes, I got replies from Kristen and Ben. Neither had anything new to report.

About an hour later, Mase stumbled into the kitchen while I reread Darren’s email about the music. Darren detailed out the rental of the proper equipment for identical setups in each room, the sound buffer required to avoid having an all-out decibel war, and his suggested configuration for each room.

“Morning.” I nodded without glancing away from the screen as I chased a thought hovering at the back of my mind. I pulled up the three different configurations: the one Kristen and I had initially suggested, the one Suzanne had countered with, likely as Madison’s mouthpiece, and the one Darren needed for easy electrical access without guests tripping over wires.

A headache began to form at the base of my skull, and I groaned at the task of trying to get everyone to compromise into one workable configuration.

“You left Ava out all morning?” Mase snarled as he opened the back door.

“She’s having a ball out there. Not one scratch or whine. From her, anyway,” I muttered.

“Dick.”

“Fuckhead.” I smirked and flipped him off without taking my eyes off of Darren’s diagram.

Mase snorted and sat down with a bottle of orange juice in one hand and a bowl of his custom granola blend in the other. As he poured the one into the other, my stomach lurched.

“That’s messed up, man.” I grimaced at the rank combination.

“Don’t knock it till you try it.” He held the bowl up to me.

I gripped my coffee mug like an anti-puke lifeline and raised it up in front of my face in self-defense. “No. Keep that shit to yourself.” A deep inhale of my Italian brew prevented upheaval.

His chuckle was followed by dog claws clicking across the kitchen tiles while Ava chased her treat-filled toy around the room. All the noise scattered my concentration. I leaned back in my chair and gave up on work for a moment. I needed a mindless break anyway.

“How’s it going?” Mase nodded toward my closing laptop, mumbling around a full mouth of orange-juiced granola.

I shrugged. “It’s going. The usual obstacles, multiplied by two parties, along with trying to anticipate any shit my unpredictable ex might pull.”

He leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs diagonally under the table, and dropped me a heavy look. “Thought Madison dumped you.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Thanks for the reminder.”

“So what’s eatin’ her?”

“Who knows. She cuts me loose, then what? Wants me? Crazy.” Simple explanation. No details required. Mase didn’t need to hear her deeper issues. And I wasn’t in the mood to share my struggles about them.

He crossed his arms over his faded T-shirt. “Figures. Only wants you when she can’t have you. Watch her. I saw the shit that went down at the bar. She gunned for Hannah the second you were distracted.”

I sighed and pegged a hard stare at him. He mirrored my concerns. Mase cared about Hannah like a protective big brother. “Yeah, I know.”

“You’re gonna have your hands full on Saturday with even less time to watch out for your ex. Hannah gonna be up for that? Are you?”

I scrubbed a hand over my face, growling at the unknown clusterfuck ahead. “Yeah, I know. And fuck, I sure as hell hope so.”

“You need to make room in your budget for security. I’d look good in one of those black ‘security’ T-shirts. And I would stick to Hannah’s ass like a chair coated in Superglue.”

I shot him a deadpan look. “Nice image. Who the fuck’s gonna to protect you from me, with you being
one with her ass
all day?”

He slid his forearms across the kitchen table, staring hard at me. “To protect our girl from harm, I’d take a bullet. Even from you.”

The corners of my lips twitched. “Thanks, man.” Mase had our backs as a good friend. It meant the world. “Somehow I don’t think Hannah would be thrilled about having a security detail. Try explaining to my woman that you’re there to protect her from an irrationally vengeful ex.”

He tilted his head, arching a brow. “I could pull it off.”

For a crazy minute, I considered his half-serious offer. “Nah. Not needed. Hannah has expressed repeatedly she wants to knock Madison on her ass.”

He nodded and leaned forward. “Sure thing. Offer stands. And whatever else you need, it’s yours.” He reached out a closed fist.

I nodded and knuckle-bumped him.

All the talk about Madison, and my earlier emails about Friday’s health inspections, fired an urgent need under my ass to confront Madison. “Okay, man. I gotta get going.” With a scrape of wooden chair legs, I stood, then grabbed my laptop and coffee mug.

An hour later, I showed up at the country club and phoned Suzanne from the lobby. “Hey, Suzanne, it’s Cade. Got a minute?”

“Sure, Mr. Michaelson. I’ll be right out.”

A few minutes later, Suzanne appeared in the hallway that led back to her office. I met her halfway. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go back to your office to talk.”

She gave me a short nod. “Absolutely.”

When we got there, I followed her in and closed the door. Suzanne took a seat at her desk, looking at me expectantly while I sat in the chair positioned against the wall.

I took a deep breath. Normally, I was a good read of people. And I sensed deep in my gut that Suzanne wasn’t loyal to Madison. Besides, Madison kept Suzanne on a really short leash with us, stepping all over her authority to handle our account. So I took a calculated risk.

“Suzanne, have you noticed anything unusual that Madison has done regarding our event—or us?”

Her brow furrowed. “I’m not sure I understand. Are you unhappy in some way with the event?”

“No. You’re doing a great job. We’re pleased in every way with how
you
have helped us. Let me explain.” I offered the details of our sabotage over the last month, including the two complaint-provoked health inspections.

Suzanne blinked hard, then stared at me as if she’d seen a ghost. “The other day I heard Madison on a phone call. She said she’d become ill after eating at a local establishment.”

Bingo.

She glanced down at her desk. “I have something to confess. When you were here for the sampling, Madison instructed me to bring you to my office and purposely delay you so she could speak with you privately. I overhead everything she said in the hallway afterward. I’m mortified that I had any part in that.”

I leaned back. “Thank you, Suzanne. Your honesty and observations are appreciated more than you realize. We’ve been waiting for a break like this to figure out what the hell’s been going on.”

Suzanne continued, “That’s not all. When I couldn’t secure the second photo booth, I looked into the two that were reserved for the weddings. I thought maybe we could double book one to be able to both use it that same day, if the times didn’t conflict. I found out one of the weddings was fake. It didn’t make any sense before. Now it seems to have an explanation.”

“Sure as fuck does.” Damn. I wanted to kiss Suzanne.

I blew out a hard breath, my mind racing. “How much do you have on Madison to be able to report her actions to the club’s board members?”

Her brows drew together. “With what you’ve said, and the things I’ve witnessed, it’s enough. Our board takes our members concerns very seriously. Madison is harassing you, professionally and personally. That hallway conversation she had with you could be considered sexual harassment: our general manager made a sexual advance to a subcontractor hired by one of our members. I’m pretty sure the board will want to talk with you though.”

“I’m good with that. Give them my cell and email.” I leaned forward, resting my forearms on my knees. “Other than the board, please keep this between us.”

“I will. By the way, I was finally able to secure the photo booth once the rental company confirmed there was no wedding at the reserved location. So we’re on with two for Saturday.”

“Perfect.” I let out a sigh of relief. “I’m going to talk to Madison, confront her. I want her scrambling on defense; she’s been on offense for too long. I won’t mention a word about our conversation though. You do your thing with the board members.”

“Do you think it’s wise to meet with Madison if part of our complaint is about sexual harassment?”

I stood and gave her a nod. “Give me a few minutes. Then tell her I asked to meet with her in the front lobby. There will be plenty of witnesses there to see and hear our conversation.”

“Okay. I will.”

“Oh, and Suzanne?”

She glanced up at me.

“Thanks again. We owe you one. In fact, if you ever need a job at a country club, I will give you a glowing recommendation for ours or any of your choice.”

She smiled. “Thank you, Cade. I appreciate your support.”

As I walked back to the lobby, a flood of details combined themselves, puzzle pieces clicking into place. The most upsetting one being Madison’s confrontation with Hannah at Loading Zone. Although I had some empathy toward Madison with what she’d been through, her damaging actions were all I could focus on at this point. In full protection mode, a hard edge toward Madison was all I could manage.