apprehensive.
James smiled at the woman. “Tell him the CEO of HC Enterprises
is here for a meeting.” He handed her his business card.
Slightly trembling, she pulled the phone from the receiver. “Mr.
McCray? You have some people waiting in the lobby to see you.”
On the other line they could hear Phillip melting down on the
woman in front of them. “God, he’s such a bully,” Ash murmured to
the guys.
“Sir, he claims to be the CEO of HC Enterprises. I think you may
want to take this meeting.” Looking over the men, she swallowed
nervously. “He looks menacing, sir,” she whispered into the receiver.
84
Rachel Cron
Hanging up the phone, she said, “He’ll be down momentarily. Please
have a seat. Can I get you anything?”
“Phillip McCray will be more than enough, thank you,” Sam said.
Several minutes had passed when the elevator numbers slowly
started to work their way down to the first floor. When the doors
opened, James had the pleasure of watching Phillip McCray pale,
noticeably. James had to work to keep the hard look on his face. He
had purposely brought all of them to intimidate him. He knew it was
childish, but he couldn’t help it. He was dying to see that look on his
face.
“What can I do for you gentlemen?” Plastering a fake smile on his
face, he was visibly uncomfortable.
James cleared his throat. “We need to speak with you, in private.”
“Whatever about?” he scoffed arrogantly. “We don’t have any
business to discuss.”
“Actually, we do,” James growled. “It’s in reference to Ms.
Stanton.”
A knowing look crossed Phillip’s face, and without a word he led
the group to a conference room off to the side. When the door closed,
Phillip turned to the group and grinned. “So has Rainne sent you to
inform me that she has finally come to her senses? Or have you come
to inform me that she’s been throwing herself at you? Frankly, neither
would surprise me. It’s about time for the first, and as far as the
second? Well...” Pausing, he looked at James with contempt. “She
always was one for fraternizing with the help.”
James lurched forward. He had every intention of throwing his
pompous ass through the nearest wall when he felt Alton’s hand push
flat against his chest and saw him step between them.
“Mr. McCray, this is about the warehouse you own on the 1800
block of Ford Street here in Fort Myers.” Alton always was the
peacemaker of the group. He was excellent at blurting things out, and
calming the situation before James could rebuke his action.
“Why yes, I do. It’s one of the many real estate investments I’ve
Punk Rox Warrior
85
made,” he stated proudly. “Why?”
“Who is the renter?” Alton asked, obviously getting as annoyed
with him as James was.
“Why would you need to know that?” he asked, sounding almost
nervous.
“We ran across something in our investigation that led us to that
warehouse,” Alton informed him coolly.
“I’d have to check my records.” He smiled coyly. “I have many
renters. It may take a few days.”
Exhaling slowly, a sinister grin crept onto James’s face. “That’s
okay, Phil . We have all the time in the world. We’ll just make
ourselves nice and cozy in your front lobby.” He held his expression
as he watched Phillip mentally unhinge in disbelief.
Turning on his heel, Phillip opened the conference room door and
bellowed. “Ms. White! Get me the file on the Ford Street property.”
After several minutes of Phillip standing with his back to them
agitatedly tapping his foot, Ms. White approached him with the file.
He snatched it out of her hands and proceeded to slam the door in the
poor, flustered woman’s face. Spinning in place, he slammed the
folder on the large, polished oak table. Throwing himself into a chair,
he sighed heavily.
Picking the file up off the table, James glared at him. “Do you
really feel it necessary to act like
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