Her Silent Revenge novel Chapter 33

Right back at you, munchkin.

Shit, if he carries on like this in life, he may need all the self-defense lessons he can get. And where is the boy's father, anyway?

I hope he's not ghosting him, making the kid act out.

Nothing screams bigger chickenshit coward than a man who abandons his own son and lets him turn into a brat with a chip on his shoulder bigger than a redwood.

"I am so, so sorry, Mr. Rory. Arlo, he's still working on his discipline with practicing his karate moves. Not his strongest point," Salem says, straightening her back and looking at me. No, not quite at me—her gaze lands on the wall just past me, like she can't bear to look me in the face. "He's been taking lessons for a while. I guess he got a little overexcited. When we get home, we're going to work on talking about our feelings, rather than taking them out on strangers."

"Am I a stranger now?" I growl. "Is that why he kicked me?"

Her face heats. "Um… he thinks self-defense means defending other people, I think. He's really good for his age, so his teacher moved him up to yellow belt with some of the older kids. But I think sometimes the verbal lessons go over his head."

"Do not!" Arlo stamps his foot impetuously.

Christ, I hope he has a dad to steer him right. I'm so not the man who's programmed for situations like this.

"Arlo, enough." She looks at me. "I'll talk to him. I promise you I'm not the world's worst mom."

"Hardly. You're managing him as well as you can, I'd say." I glare at the kid as she turns her back. "Never mind karate, though. He needs anger management," I mutter under my breath.

"You could use a refresher, too," she whispers as I head back behind my desk—the farthest away from her demon imp as I can get.

I'll ignore that comment this time.

"Did you find your books?" I ask, hearing the ice in my voice but not caring. "Take whatever you need. I want to lock up and get out of here sometime tonight."

"Don't you have staff for that?"

I raise my eyebrows. "My staff don't stay late just because I do. Only the owners pull insane hours."

I stand up and turn to the shelves, looking over our small marketing section.

"Here, this one's a banger. Dex and Archer will agree. We all read The Millionaire Beast Within a few months apart. Not long before we started cobbling together Higher Ends." I pass her the book.

She looks at the cover and eyeballs it skeptically.

Every time I start to wonder how drunk I was to have ever had a hot night with this hellcat, she goes and reminds me why.

One more nuisance thought I don't need in my brain.

Just like the hard-on from Hades I have to sit down to hide.

SALEM

All things considered—and there's a lot to consider—this gig could be worse.

Good pay, good benefits, I'm handling the responsibility, and there's a lot of learning every week.

Of course, the downside hasn't changed, and it's a doozy. It begins with Patton and ends with Rory.

One decent moment aside, I'm pretty sure working for him must be punishment for my sins from a past life. The job is perfectly rewarding— and although I don't want to admit it, the company sitter has come in handy a few times when Mrs. Gabbard wanted to spend time with her new grandbaby—but I just want to gag every time he texts me.

As the weeks drag on, he sends so many. A few, I could cope with.