Paisley song. His lips curled as if he’d just wandered into the unwashed masses.
Mack had never wanted to hit another human being so much in his entire life.
Actually, that wasn’t true. He’d wanted to hit someone else a lot harder before, but Royce was quickly rising to a close second, and for many of the same reasons. Men who hurt women were the lowest creatures on Earth.
Mack forced his jaw to release its viselike clench. “Can I get you a drink?”
Royce swiveled again, turning that fake-ass smile back to Mack. “Sure.”
Mack gestured tightly to the wall of liquor bottles on the wall behind him. “What’s your poison?”
“Give me your house specialty.”
“That’d be a Snot Rocket.”
Royce’s lips thinned in revulsion. “A Snot Rocket?”
“Shot of Jim Beam with a raw egg chaser.”
“Classy.”
“I can dig out a wine cooler if you prefer.”
Royce lifted his hands. “Hey, I’m adventurous. Snot Rocket it is.”
The bartender, who’d been hovering nearby, grabbed the bottle of whiskey, but Mack waved him off. “I’ve got this one.”
“Making it extra special for the VIP?” Royce asked, not even a hint of self-deprecation in his tone. He really thought of himself as the VIP.
“You know it,” Mack said. He poured a hefty shot, set the glass in front of Royce, and then cracked an egg into the brown liquid. “I’m supposed to warn you that consuming raw egg products can be dangerous to your health.”
Royce turned a soft shade of green, but this was a battle of manhood. He swallowed once, lifted the glass, and shot it back.
“So,” Mack said, bracing his hands on the edge of the bar. “What brings you by?”
“Heard you—” Royce stopped and swallowed hard as he set down the glass. The egg must’ve been sliding back up. “Heard you’re hiring.”
“I am. You need an application?”
Royce adopted the TV-show smile. “Good one. You ever wonder how I got so successful?”
“Not really.”
A nerve twitched along Royce’s jaw. “I like you, Mack, which is why I’m going to give you a pass on a small breech of professional etiquette.”
Mack snorted. “You’re going to lecture me about professional etiquette?”
“It’s bad form to recruit someone else’s employees.”
Warning bells clanged in Mack’s brain, but his mouth didn’t care. “So is sexually harassing your employees.”
Red splotches darkened Royce’s cheeks. Mack realized with a start that this was the face that the public never got to see. The face that had scared Jessica to the point of tears. The face that was going to feel the brunt end of Mack’s fist soon.
“Why don’t you and I stop dancing around this thing? Say what you came to say and get the fuck out of my club.”
“Olivia is dangerous, man. She’s unstable.”
“Is that right?”
“I should’ve fired her a long time ago.”
Mack nearly cracked a tooth from the tight clench of his jaw.
“I don’t know what she told you, but you listen to her at your own peril. She makes shit up.” Royce shrugged. “It’s sad, really, because she’s talented in the kitchen, and”—his mouth curled into a lecherous sneer—“in other ways.”
A blur of curly hair passed in Mack’s peripheral vision before he realized what was happening.
Oh shit. Liv. “You disgusting, lying sack of shit.”
Royce laughed. “Olivia. What a surprise.”
Mack grabbed her arm, but she yanked free. “I have never slept with you. Jesus, I’d rather gouge out my own eyeballs first.”
Royce shrugged again in the kind of way that said he was getting exactly the response he’d hoped for. “Told you, Mack. Unstable.”
“Shut the fuck up, Royce.”
“I should’ve kicked you in that shriveled-blob fish dick of yours when I had the chance,” Liv sneered.
Royce’s face exploded in red splotches.
Mack wrapped an arm around her waist and hauled her against his body. “Stop,” he hissed into her ear. “This is what he wants. We get riled up and make a scene, and suddenly neither one of us has any credibility.”
Liv pulled from his grasp. “You are not going to get away with this,” she said, pointing.
“Hey, Olivia?” He winked. “I already have.”
“Get the fuck out of my bar,” Mack growled.
Liv let Mack pull her away from the bar. “Come on. Let’s go.” He slid his hand down the back of her arm and clasped her hand so he could tug her along behind him to his office. Curious whispers and stares cataloged the entire thing. It would be a miracle if no one had caught some of it on video.
Liv stomped into the office, hands shaking. “I have never slept with him.”