Christmas with my Three Best Friends (Lucky Lady Reverse Harems)

Chapter 3

3

Shay

T hree days later, I’m dealing with yet another gym-related crisis. The same as always, actually. Things were looking too good after my moment with Marius. Even the coffee we had on the way to work the next morning was the best I ever tasted. It made sense for the universe to remind me that life is anything but easy.

Alice is late. For the umpteenth time. I’ve lost count of how many mornings I’ve spent rushing out of the house and through the whole frickin’ city to open the gym because Little Miss Can’t Be Bothered to Use An Alarm Clock couldn’t wake up.

It's a good thing some of our customers have my number. The regulars have gotten used to this mess, but the newer folks don’t like it. People have busy schedules, so when they come to the gym, they’re allocating certain segments of time for it. When they can’t get in because the receptionist is late, it messes with their schedules. I completely understand their frustration.

I reach the gym running from my car to the front doors, where a throng of customers is already waiting. Checking my watch, I realize Alice is over thirty minutes late. This is getting worse, and I can barely look these people in the eyes as I unlock the doors and go in to turn the lights and everything else on.

“Shay, don’t worry too much about it,” one of the regulars says to me as I manage to get behind the reception desk and start signing them in, one gym pass at a time.

“This is unacceptable,” I mutter, my blood boiling as I force myself to smile and nod and apologize to everyone else while simultaneously handing them locker keys. “Utterly unacceptable…”

Some of these people give me the stink eye. I feel responsible. This is my business. My brand and my company. I put a lot of work into this place, and I certainly can’t sit idly by and watch an airhead with too-long nails and big doe eyes ruin it for my partners and me.

It's bad advertising from the get-go, and I’m pretty sure at least two of the customers I’ve seen this morning won’t be coming back next month. I give myself a minute’s worth of deep breaths while I go into the gym room and turn the machines on before I get back behind the reception and get everything else into full function. The computer, the tills, the card scanners. The lights on the refreshment fridges. The music and sound system.

One by one, the illuminated signs and art on the reception walls light up. Our logo shines brightly behind me, and I feel as though a worse disaster has been averted.

I’m thirsty and in desperate need of coffee. I spent most of my night dreaming about Marius. Jax and Richard pitched in. I was devoured by three men, and when my phone rang earlier than I’d expected, I damn near cried because I’d been pulled out of the sweetest and most decadent dream. They’ve been particularly attentive to me since the email conundrum. They smile more. They find reasons to be around me more often—new clients, new strategies and ideas for next year, anything that can get them into my office outside our regularly scheduled meetings and practice hours.

I thought it would be disastrous for our professional relationship. To my astonishment, it’s only brought us closer. It’s pretty difficult to untangle, truth be told. I’m still embarrassed out of my mind about it, but I’m rolling with the punches. Marius is infinitely closer to me. Sweeter. He follows me with his gaze whenever I’m around. I can feel him staring even when I’ve got my back turned. We shared an incredible moment the other day. When I remember those precious minutes, I feel the heat rising. That fire burns voraciously, the flames consuming me on the inside. I need more. So much more.

Shaking the thoughts away, I remind myself that there’s a crisis here to focus on. I didn’t even get a minute to myself for coffee, so it’s the next thing on my to-do list. The customers continue to arrive, so I sign them in while the coffee machine brews my magic potion. The early birds are already migrating from the lockers into the gym. Hip hop music blares through the speakers, a compilation of fast-paced trap-style pieces designed to awaken and motivate the crap out of our gym rats.

As soon as I take my first sip of hot coffee, I see Alice coming in. She looks pretty in her uniform—a black and red polo shirt with our logo and a pair of black jeans, her black hair pulled back into a tight bun, but she’s clearly just fallen out of bed.

“For Christ’s sake, Alice!” I snap.

“What? I didn’t hear the alarm clock!” she replies, frowning as she walks behind the reception desk. “I think I need a new phone or something, but you don’t pay me enough for that.”

The audacity is enough to send the blood boiling right up to my temples. “Are you serious? You’re half an hour late repeatedly, and you’re blaming us?” I reply harshly. “Alice, this can’t keep happening. I understand you’ve got a life outside of work, and I wholly encourage that because I have a life, too, but so do our customers. You’re late at their expense. Some of them called me, and I drove up here in a panic to open the gym because they were outside waiting! Do you not realize how embarrassing that is for us? For you?”

“They could come in later,” she mutters, unable to look me in the eyes. This wretched pride is going to be the death of her, I know it. “Who the hell comes to the gym at six in the morning, huh?”

“People who pay your salary,” I shoot back. “You could always find another job. No one’s keeping you here against your will.”

Alice looks up and raises a contemptuous eyebrow. I know she hooked up with Richard long before we started the gym, but I’m pretty sure she still relies on him to bail her out when she does something stupid. Her tardiness is likely to cost us customers, though. And I doubt Richard takes kindly to anyone who makes his bank account bleed, no matter how pretty she is or how good she may have been in bed.

“I’m not leaving. I’ll try to get a new phone on a new plan, maybe,” Alice says.

“You’re making it sound like you’re doing us a favor,” I scoff.

If there is one thing I absolutely despise, it’s people who don’t give a rat’s ass about anyone else, especially when it’s their behavior hurting or inconveniencing them. I didn’t get this far to let Alice’s lack of professionalism destroy what I’ve worked so hard for. I’m putting my foot down with Richard if he doesn’t do something about it. Unfortunately, he makes all the hiring and firing decisions.

“It’s fine,” Alice says with a nonchalant shrug. “I mean, you opened the gym, so it’s fine.”

But Richard comes in, smiling and ready to start his workday, completely unaware of what just happened. Usually, I’d be just as pleased and as bright as he is, but this morning just ain’t it.

“Hey, ladies! How’s everything going?” he says, coffee in hand.

“Good morning, Rickie, baby! you’re looking fine as usual!” Alice exclaims, giddy and fluttering her fake eyelashes. She’s getting on my nerves.

“Good morning, Richard. Alice was late. Almost forty minutes. Again,” I say bluntly, then take another sip from my coffee while she gives me the hardest glare I’ve ever had to contend with. “Clients called me from outside the gym. I had to drive over and open for them. I’m pretty sure a few won’t be back.” I look him squarely in the eye. “We need to address this. Now.”

For a long, quiet moment, Richard’s enthusiasm sours, his gaze bouncing between Alice and me. The air thickens in the reception area, and even my coffee tastes bad in the aftermath of the drama.

“Alice, can you tell me why you were late?” Richard decides to calmly ask.

Granted, he didn’t have to rush over here to open the gym. I reckon he would’ve chewed her head off if it had been him instead of me. Yet Alice either doesn’t realize the kind of trouble she’s in, or she doesn’t really care as she stands up and straightens her back, making sure her boobs perk up through the polo shirt. I’m guessing this strategy works with most men, but to my surprise, Richard seems immune, his eyes never leaving hers.

She puts on a sheepish smile. “I had trouble with the alarm on my phone, Rickie. I’d buy a new one, but I can’t afford it.”

“You could buy an alarm clock instead,” he replies gently. “A ten-dollar one to simply plug in. I need you to put in more effort into this job.”

“Okay, I’ll do that, Rickie.”

“Richard, please. If you’re late again, I’ll have to cut your pay,” Richard states, his lips thin in irritation. “And if I have to cut your pay more than once, I’m sure you won’t like it. You’ve got student loans, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll just get one of those plug-in alarm clocks,” Alice replies, her voice a little less flirtatious.

“I think that’s a good idea,” he tells her.

It’s a dismissal of sorts, though Alice doesn’t see it that way. She lights up like a firefly when he’s around, and while I understand the brief and intimate history between them, I can tell he’s not into her the way she’d want him to be. Oddly enough, the thought brings me a sense of relief. Ever since that email went out, and Richard’s attitude toward me has consistently changed, I’ve become a lot more observant of the women constantly hovering around him.

Richard moves closer to me, takes my arm, and we move away from the reception desk and Alice. His leather-and-musk cologne breaches my olfactory senses and drowns me in my dreams of last night. I almost felt his hands on me, his lips on mine. I almost felt him stretching me, screwing me out of my head.

“Sorry you had to come in earlier than usual,” he says, his tone lower, sweeter he looks deep into my eyes. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay. Just a tad grouchy,” I chuckle. I can feel Alice glowering at us, but I deliberately ignore her, secretly enjoying the shift in Richard’s attention. “How’s your morning so far? I hope I didn’t ruin it.”

“You could never ruin anything for me, not even a minute in the day,” he replies, smiling. “We’ll figure this out. The four of us, Shay, we’re one hell of a team.”

“We most certainly are.”

“And speaking of. I’d like to schedule a meeting with you, Jax, and Marius before the weekend. My office on Friday? Evening, ideally, before we each head out to our own devices.”

Normally, I’d just nod and say yes. We have meetings on a weekly basis, anyway. But the sound of his voice feels… different. I’m not sure what the meeting is supposed to be about, and it’s making me nervous. “Sure, not a problem on my end. Is everything okay, Richard?”

“It will be. One way or another, I’m sure of it.”

“That sounds a tad cryptic,” I laugh nervously.

He inches closer and whispers in my ear, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “I like keeping you on your toes, at least occasionally.”

I’ve got nothing to say to this. I’m too busy quivering and getting all kinds of hot and bothered on the inside as Richard smiles and goes into his office. I watch the door close behind him with a familiar click, and fully aware that Alice is still eyeing me, I choose to take another sip of my coffee before I retreat into my office as well.

This week started with a bang, and I’ve got a feeling it’ll end with an even bigger one.