Page 20 of Claiming What's His

“I don’t know why, maybe the hangover was too strong, but she called off last night.”

I clenched my jaw, looking down the hallway and then nodded to her, “Thank you.” I went back to the elevator and inwardly groaned when Sebastian stood inside the car, riding up to my floor when I stepped in.

“Good Morning Mr. Jones.” He said with a particular smugness to his voice that I hated.

“Seb.”

He went back to reading through his paperwork and then tsked his tongue. “That’s interesting.” He said, looking over at me.

I raised my eyebrow at him in question and he passed the paper to me. Pointing to a line on a security report.

ID Theft:

Picture ID and security badge for Cora Valentine reported stolen at 9:57 pm.

Employee reported ID and badge were stolen in a mugging on the subway last evening.

“Mugging?” I snapped. “Fuck.”

Seb grimaced as I threw the paper back at him. The doors opened and I flew out of them to my office. Reid was walking down the hallway and met me halfway. “Hey man, glad to see you standing straight this morning.”

“Not now Reid.” I bit out and walked into my office and straight to my desk.

“What is it?” He asked, cueing into my mood.

“Cora was mugged last night on the subway. She called off today too.”

“What? Is she okay?” He asked, stepping around my desk to see what I was doing.

“I don’t know, she didn’t call me. Seb just showed me the security report from last night when she called in to report her badge being stolen.”

I pulled up the database of employee information and typed in her name. Her picture popped up and I forced myself to look away from it when I wanted to just stare at her beauty forever.

I jotted down her phone number and her address and then stood up, walking away from Reid and my office.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Going to check on her.” I answered as Veronica looked up from her computer, “Clear the rest of my day. I’ll have my phone.”

“But sir you have a meeting with –“

“I don’t care Veronica! I said clear my fucking day.”

“Yes sir.” She said as I got into the elevator.

“Let me know if she’s okay!” Reid yelled after me as the doors closed.

She was okay, she had to be. Because if she was hurt in the least, I’d never forgive myself for leaving her drunk and upset on the sidewalk outside of a bar last night when I should have been dragging her back to my penthouse instead.

That was what I’d been planning to do when I got to the bar, but then she wanted to spar with me, and I lost my cool.

When I got to the curb outside, my car and driver Franklin were waiting for me. He was in his forties and fit, ex-military but had a gentle look to his face that made him the perfect mix of bodyguard and chauffeur.

“Mr. Jones.” He said, tipping his hat to me and getting in behind the wheel.

I gave him the address and told him to hurry as I dialed her number in my phone and pressed send.

It went straight to voicemail, and I groaned. “Fuck!”