Irresistible (Underneath it All Series: Book One) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

behind the main bar wasn't that expansive. There was just room for lockers, a small break room with a few tables and chairs, and the chrome metallic doors that led to the kitchen. Even if Gail was at her usual post, which was in the office out back watching Netflix, we still kept our conversations hushed because any noise carried. She seemed oblivious to that fact, and her laughter filled the tiny space and reverberated in my ears.
    I couldn't stop the heat from booking it to my face. I hated that I couldn't help but give her a reaction, and that was exactly what she wanted. Red faced or not, I dropped my smile and looked her dead in the eye until her laughter tapered off.
    “I’m sorry, sweetie.” She patted my shoulder. "Probably not a boyfriend. Family stuff?"
    This woman was a walking billboard for what not to do when managing a business. Things like crossing lines into personal territory and airing my shit to anyone within earshot, considering her volume was stuck on full blast.
    The part of me that believed she felt so little in every other part of her life that she needed to belittle every one else was silenced. Everyone had an Achilles heel, skeletons in their closet that they wanted to keep buried. My family, and the reason I worked two jobs (one of which wasn't technically legal) and put my education on hold, were mine. I hadn't shared every detail in my interview, but I had gotten emotional when they asked why I needed the job. The afternoon before my interview, my little sister Rose told me a man had tried to pick her up from school, claiming he was a friend of our mom's. Our mom didn't have any friends. She had boyfriends and debts, and not the kind of debts where bill collectors blew up your phone. Hers were the kind where they took cash...or blood.
    "Family thing, I bet," Gail mused loudly, completely ignoring how inappropriate she was being. "Your poor sister."
    She hadn't even said her name, and she had no idea how heavy the weight was that I carried, but the point was that I knew she didn't care. Red bled across my view and I felt anger bubbling in my chest. My temper had cost me jobs in the past and my rational mind told me to just walk away, but I was only human. She didn't get to air my private life, my story that I shared in an interview, with anyone that could hear. She didn't get to use my issues as ammunition.
    I stepped forward and made her take two steps backward. "If you ever talk about my family again-"
    Before I could finish the sentence that would serve as my notice, the chatter in the bar raised to a fever pitch, spilling into the staff area. Gail and I both craned our necks toward the noise, just in time for a couple of waitresses near us to echo the squeals. Whatever fever had possessed the club was contagious, apparently.
    Gail gave me a glare that told me we'd pick this up later and strode toward the main bar. "What the hell is going on?" she barked at one of the new hostesses, a petite blonde who practically jumped out of her skin when she squared off with the annoyed woman.
    "M-Mrs. Winters-"
    "I'm not married, and I'm not nearly old enough to be a Mrs. Anything,” Gail snapped. Only half of that statement was true, and she confirmed which half when she smoothed the area beneath her eyes like she was trying to make wrinkles disappear.
    "I'm sorry...Gail?" The girl said her name tentatively, like she was trying to defuse a bomb and was hoping she didn't cut the wrong wire. When Gail didn't bite her head off, she visibly relaxed. "It's just—he’s here!"
    "Who is he?" Gail asked excitedly, forgetting her annoyance. She rolled her shoulders back, making her huge breasts nearly pop from her shirt.
    "Jackson Colt!" The blonde's voice matched the ear-plugging pitch that echoed from the bar, like The Beatles or Beyoncé had just walked into The Red Room. Both Gail and I stared at the blonde blankly, so she followed up with, “He's like, super loaded and dates actresses but he’s super