Anger rose in Pepper’s throat. “Enough. Stop bringing other people into this. I have everything under control—”
But Charlene wasn’t listening. She just kept spitting out nasty words and accusations. “You really think Jack is going to stick around, little girl? He’ll get bored of you in no time and dump your immature ass.” The woman jabbed a finger in the direction of the computer. “Go get Parker. Now. At least your brother knows how to get things done. I want him to fix this.”
Fury and panic warred in Pepper’s gut, twisting her insides until her entire body felt tight and cold. No way was she bringing Parker into this messed-up situation. They’d only called a ceasefire the other day, with Parker admitting that he treated her like a child. Pepper refused to give her brother another opportunity to chew her out, especially since, as she kept trying to tell the aggravating woman, she really did have everything under control.
“Parker knows shit-all about this level of computer work,” Pepper replied, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. “I, on the other hand, have not one, but two backups of the project at my apartment.”
Charlene blinked. “You do?”
“Yes, and you would’ve known that already if you had let me finish.” Pepper clenched her teeth. “So right now, I’m going to pretend you didn’t say all those nasty things, and I’m going to fix this error. Which, by the way, was not a result of anything I did. Files get corrupted sometimes. It happens. I’ll go home and grab the extra drives, and we’ll be good to go.”
The other woman still didn’t look happy, but her cheeks lost some of their crimson red flush. “Fine,” she snapped. “Go get them. I’ll be done at the salon in an hour.”
“Fine,” Pepper mimicked. “I’ll meet you back here and we’ll get everything taken care of.”
Without another word, Charlene marched out the door, leaving Pepper to gather her equipment in stony silence. God. This was the last thing she needed. She’d stayed up half the night adding the newly found pictures to the stupid project in an attempt to impress Charlene, and instead of receiving a thank-you for all her hard work, she’d gotten a scathing verbal assault instead.
But she refused to let her mind linger on the hurtful words Charlene had hurled her way. She wasn’t a child. She was smart and mature and fully capable of handling this gig without running to Parker or Jack for assistance. In fact, she had no intention of telling them about the corrupted file. They had enough on their plates at the moment.
Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Pepper reached for her cell phone and quickly pulled up Kendra’s number as she hurried to the hotel lobby. “Hey,” she blurted when her friend answered. “I really, really need your help right now!”
Kendra’s voice was laced with concern. “What’s wrong?”
“Did you end up going to that shoe store on 23rd? The one down the road from the Grande Hotel?”
“Yeah, I’m there now. Why—?”
“Can you come pick me up from the hotel? I desperately need a ride back to our place. Like right now.”
“Sure, but what’s going on—?”
“I’ll tell you everything when you get here,” Pepper interrupted. “Just hurry.”
A beat. Then Kendra spoke briskly. “I’m on my way.”
Like a true friend, Kendra not only burned rubber into the parking lot, she burned rubber out, after Pepper leapt into the moving vehicle. She strapped herself in while pressed against the door.
“I am so glad you were in the area. I’m having the most incredibly shitty morning ever, but you’re a lifesaver.”
“You sound frazzled. Take a couple deep breaths, and we’ll get you home as soon as possible,” Kendra soothed. “But what the heck happened?”
“Technology sucks.” Pepper leaned her head back and took the advice, breathing slowly and trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. “I had a file failure, and to make it worse, Princess Charlene had to be there to witness my faux pas, so now I’m playing catch-up. I’ve got maybe fifty minutes left before I have to prove myself.”
“You have what you need at the apartment?”
Pepper nodded. “I was smart enough to make backups. Of course, I could have been even smarter and stuck the damn things in my pocket instead of leaving them on my desk.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Kendra said as they closed in on the apartment. “Only, you should probably double-check your files before you leave.”
“Definitely. I’m so paranoid it will totally be worth the extra two minutes to make sure everything is in order.” She glanced over at her friend, who was concentrating on pulling into one of the few parking stalls along the road. “Wait here for me?”
Kendra shook her head. “I have to run upstairs, too. I forgot a couple of things I need for later tonight.”
The two of them raced through the security at the front door and into the elevator, the slow ride leaving Pepper feeling as if there weren’t enough air in the teeny box. Gears above them clicked like a countdown timer.
Tick.
Tick.