Page 74 of Violent Little Thing

When she saw him, she dove back into her car and started it up.

She forgot to close the door, though, so Black was able to catch her before she could put the car into reverse. Which she tried to do but couldn’t.

“I’ll bet the door being open stopped her from going into reverse,” Noe said. “My sister has a car like that. You can’t drive with your seat belt off, the door open, and it literally pulls you over if you take your attention away from the road for more than ten seconds.”

“Fancy,” I murmured, watching as Black handcuffed Seraphina and all but carried her to the cruiser.

I watched as she continued to fight, but she was so sloppy drunk that it was feeble at best.

Then she got in the vicinity of the news cameras that were at the mouth of the parking garage and…

“Wonderful,” I mumbled. “Now we have to deal with this.”

Cameras flashed. Reporters pointed.

“Why the hell are they here?” Noe asked.

“I can answer that.” A woman came in looking formal as fuck. She was carrying a clipboard, and she was staring at us like she knew us. “I’m Dottie. I was hired by Seraphina as a PR rep. She thought that our brand could use some help. She said,”—she leveled a look on Court—“that there was some bad press about to be had, and that we needed to do damage control. She failed to mention that bad press was her. I was doing a meet and greet with the reporters.”

“Seraphina hired you,” Court drawled. “Without consulting with us first?”

She shrugged. “Honestly, I wasn’t aware of the nuances. I applied for the job and got it. This is my first day.”

“This is the majority owner.” Noe came out from behind Court, and Dottie stiffened so completely that I just knew there was history there. “Dottie, Seraphina probably hired you under false pretenses.”

“You two know each other?” Court looked between them.

“Dottie is my ex-wife,” Noe murmured. “But she’s damn good at her job. At least Seraphina had the wherewithal to hire someone fully capable at doing her job before she pulled that stunt.”

“Cry for help.”

I looked at the older defensive head coach. “What?”

“That,” he said. “Cry for help. Rock bottom. Whatever it was, she’s done. Trying to flee from a police officer isn’t going to do her any good. Paired with all the bad publicity from when she killed y’all’s friend? She’s done for. You can’t sink any further to the bottom of the barrel.”

I didn’t know.

I’d bet my life she could go lower.

Twenty-One

The amount of time I’ve fucked around and found out, then continued to fuck around, is insane.

—Charleigh to Court

Court

We were wrapping up the day when Dottie came back into the office.

“Hey, I was leaving for the day but found your parents in the hallway. I let them up.” She stepped to the side to reveal two older people. Male and female.

It took me a minute to recognize them.

My parents.

I looked at Dottie, nodding my head in thanks even though I felt anything but appreciation that she’d let them inside my domain. “Have a good one.”

She smiled and waved, then took off with a skip in her step.