bodyguards protecting your delicate little ass?” She shadowboxed him, only gently striking him in the gut and arms as he kept his fists by his face and twisted his torso side to side, laughing more with each retreating step.
“Should I feel violated that you’ve been paying so much attention to my ass to know that it’s delicate?”
She added a little more power to her punches until his back hit a wall again. He bobbed his head to the side, peeking at her from behind his arms and clenched fists. Blowing out a slow breath, she relaxed her right fist, the one shoved into his gut, and kept her hand pressed flat to his abdomen. “Why didn’t you fire me, Coop? Send me back to Newark after I assaulted those workers of yours?”
“Because they probably deserved it,” he murmured, afraid to move with her hand pressed to him. He didn’t want to scare her away. Ian wanted her trust, even though he had no idea what he would do with it.
“Thank you.” Jersey worked her gaze up his body.
“For?”
“I’m going to sleep in a real bed tonight. I took a shower today, not a birdbath. Two meals … I had two meals today.”
Ian couldn’t hold back the twitch of pain pulling at his brow. Bed, shower, food … so basic.
“Jers?”
They turned toward the deep voice and the scarred face peeking out of the doorway to a room close to where Jersey left her bag.
Her hand dropped from Ian’s abdomen. “Chris.” She smiled, a genuine, happy to see him smile.
Ian followed her as she retreated to grab her bag. He caught a better look at her scarred friend who eyed him without blinking. They said nothing. Ian didn’t know what to say. All he could do was stare and wait. Wait for her friend to speak, to see if his words matched the hard look in his eyes, wary and conflicted.
“Chris?” Jersey cleared her throat and nudged his shoe with hers. “This is Ian Cooper, our boss.” She wedged herself between Ian and Chris’s body halfway out the door. She snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Hello? Can you speak? Maybe a ‘thanks for hiring us’ or something besides your cow-eyed stare? Are you drunk?”
Chris shook his head a slow inch at a time, not moving his focus from Ian. “Generous of you to give us jobs,” he mumbled.
Ian could barely hear him.
“He doesn’t like it when people stare at him. And he lost most of his memory in an accident, so he’s very distrusting.” Jersey lifted her eyebrows, giving Ian a tight-lipped smile.
Drawing in a slow breath, Ian held out his hand to Chris.
Chris ignored it, unblinking as his lips parted a bit. Ian pulled back his hand and slid it into his pocket.
“I see you survived your uh … first night.” Ian scratched his jaw. “If you’re new to this, it’s probably a little overwhelming. Just let Max know if you have any issues.”
Jersey cocked her head to the side, peering up at Chris. Without giving her a single glance, he grabbed her arm, pulled her inside the hotel room, and slammed the door shut.
CHAPTER NINE
Jersey leaned against the inside of the door as Chris rested both hands just above her head, breaths quickening like impending heart failure, or an asthma issue, or maybe even a panic attack. “I’m going to knock you on your ass if you don’t back off. And if you’re dying, nod or give me some sort of signal so I can call for help. Otherwise, you’d better tell me what the hell is going on with you.”
“It’s … him,” he whispered like someone had their hand around his throat.
“Ian Cooper. Rock star. Rich dude … yeah, yeah, so what? I didn’t take you for the type to be starstruck and acting all breathless over someone famous. And he probably shouldn’t have stared so long at you, but it’s hard at first to pretend like you haven’t experienced some serious physical trauma.”
Chris shook his head. His Adam’s apple bobbed with a hard swallow. “It’s him. The one who killed Dena and Charles.”
Jersey’s nose scrunched as she jerked her head back until it bumped the door. “What? No. You’re losing your shit, Chris. I’m patient with you when you have your nightmares or something simple sets you off and you start rambling about the voices in your head. I let your craziness slide, and I even defended you to the guys at Marley’s. But this