When the Dust Settles – Timing Read Online Mary Calmes

Categories Genre: M-M Romance Tags Authors:
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Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63469 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
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I had Eric and Jamal rig up a makeshift shower so Josie could take one. She needed to get all the fine little hairs off her body so she didn’t scratch herself to death. The boys attached a hose to the sink in the employee bathroom so there would be hot water as well as cold, ran it out the back door, and because a lot of the girls sunbathed on the roof before work, they had towels to hold up to give Josie some cover. It took time, but finally with her body washed and clothed, hair dyed, makeup applied, then being fed and hugged over and over, she stopped shaking and breathed. I realized I finally could as well.

After a thorough inventory, all of Josie’s things were accounted for, the guitar and amp being the most important of all. She must have thanked me about nine hundred times when I’d carried her out of my truck, her arms wrapped around me as though she were a young child and not a seventeen-year-old girl.

Meanwhile, I got a call from a sheriff’s deputy because the Barneses swore out a complaint against me.

“So what’s our next step here?” I asked him.

He cleared his throat noisily on the other end of the line. “Nothing at all,” he informed me, sounding nervous as hell. “Just, if you might see your way clear to letting Rand know that we let this whole incident drop, that would be good.”

“Yessir, I will,” I replied, putting the drawl in my voice. “He’ll be mighty pleased, I reckon.”

His exhale was audible.

People living in deathly fear of Rand Holloway was working for me.

By eleven Josie was taking a nap on the couch in my office while I sat at the bar and talked to Kevin, Callie, and Marco. I closed up early, at midnight instead of two in the morning, and had everyone on the floor in the employee break room a half an hour later. They were all sitting there talking, and it was loud.

Two days.

You wouldn’t think the place could go completely to hell in a handbasket in two days, but it most certainly had. Without me there, my restaurant exploded in anger, frustration, name-calling, and backstabbing. And while I was glad to finally know all of what was going on and have everything that was bubbling below the surface out in the open, I could have done without the drama.

I really hated drama.

“If one person doesn’t pull their weight,” I addressed my staff, all of them quieting at once to hear me, “the whole team gets dragged down.”

The room exploded in noise. People turned on each other, there was pointing, there was yelling, and I let it go because I could feel the tension in the room dissipate with just the volume.

Kevin walked over to me, and after a minute I nodded and he blew the air horn, which startled the hell out of everyone.

I stood, lifted my hands, and told them all to shut the fuck up. Once I had silence and fixed stares, I started again. “Why didn’t anyone tell me that JT was bangin’ every woman that came in here?”

Abruptly, no one could look me in the eye.

“He’s gone.”

And that fast, everyone was back to looking at me, suddenly hopeful, and of course I understood why. JT had been taking my money and doing no work for it, and they’d all thought he’d had my blessing to be that way, when the truth was far more ridiculous. I’d had no idea. I’d thought he was a good guy, but it turned out he was lazy and cruel and a womanizer. When Kevin and I busted him in my office having sex with a guest from the hotel, I fired him on the spot. Jamal and Eric really enjoyed carrying him out the back. Callie Pena, my office manager, had his paycheck under his windshield wiper, calculated out to the penny. She was thorough like that. Kevin offered to bleach every inch of my office, and I was fine with that.

My people were waiting for me to speak, so I said, “To replace him, as of today, Kevin has been promoted to manager.” I then tipped my head at Bailey Kramer, who was sitting in the back, holding Josie’s hand. “Bail, you’re the new assistant.”

She was stunned, and the smile I got, slow, sheepish, spreading over her features, showing off rows of perfect white, even teeth, made me break into one too.

“So now we’re good,” I announced. “Marco is taking over the head-bartender spot.” There was applause as he stood and bowed, promising he wouldn’t let me down. I knew he wouldn’t. “That’s it, get lost,” I said, excusing them all with my familiar sign-off.

More clapping, and as I glanced around at everyone, a feeling of calm washed over me. At least I could fix one part of my life, and since this was the most important, that was good. I liked providing a home for people, and it turned out that was what I’d done. Like Marco. After prison, a lot of people wouldn’t take a chance on him. The fact that I’d gambled meant the world to him and his family.



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