Plush Book 2: A Billionaire Romance Read Online Free

had done it. Marx. The look in his eyes as he had glared back at me when he left last night was a warning, not a parting shot. I wiped my cheeks and took one last look at the damage before I turned the corner and went back inside to find Tank.
    “Holy shit. I’m sorry Allie,” Tank said as we stood over the bike.
    “It’s not your fault.” I placed a hand on his arm.
    “I’d bet anything that Marx did this,” he said, looking my way.
    I nodded. “I know. Are there any security cameras out here?” I turned and scanned the edge of the building but didn’t see anything.
    Tank shook his head. “Not really. There’s one up there.” He pointed at the front corner of the building. “But I don’t think it’s facing this way. I’ll have Dean pull the footage just in case, though.”
    “Thanks, Tank.” I ran my fingers along the cuts in the leather, the rough edges that spelled out the despicable word.
    “It’s not true, you know.”
    I nodded, gulping back the lump in my throat. “I know,” I replied, my voice barely over a whisper.
    He came and set his huge arm around my shoulders. “Come on, let’s go check with Dean and I’ll get you a drink.”
    I let him take me inside the bar and he led me into the back office. He introduced me to Dean, the security officer that was on hand in case things got out of control. I had seen him breaking up fights before, but we had never officially been introduced. I sat next to him at his desk while he scanned through the footage from the camera that Tank had pointed out in the alleyway. It played out on one of the split screens on the monitor on rapid speed. I tried to keep up, but it was just making my head hurt even worse than before. As I sat and watched, it was all I could do to keep a fresh batch of tears at bay. I hadn’t been embarrassed to break down in front of Tank. He’d known me long enough to know that’s not how I normally am—but I didn’t want everyone else that wandered by to see me have a meltdown.
    I wasn’t sure why it mattered, but for some reason it did, so I took deep breaths and held my shit together.
    “There!” I jumped up and pointed wildly at the screen. Dean froze the video and I could clearly see Marx walking away from the building, in the direction of the alley. Unfortunately, the angle wasn’t the best and I couldn’t really see his face, but I knew the walk, the hair, what he had been wearing that night. It was definitely him.
    “Let’s go forward and see if we can catch a better shot,” Dean said, starting to move the video forward in half speed.
    I sat on the edge of my seat, fingers tapping the plastic chair at a rapid pace until Dean cast me a sidelong glance and I stopped, curling my nails into my palms to control the nervous habit.
    The camera showed Marx entering the alley, but that was it. The bike was in somewhat of a blind spot and Marx had kept his face down the whole time, as if aware he was being watched, so there was never a clear shot.
    I groaned and flopped back in the chair. “Fuck.”
    “Tough break,” was all Dean said.
    What.
    A.
    Teddy.
    Bear.
    I shot him an irritated look. “Tough break? Do you know how much it’s going to cost to replace that seat? It’s your whole job to make sure shit like this doesn’t happen!” I could hear my voice getting pitchy and hysterical, but I couldn’t reel it in. All the stress of the last two days compounded and it was going to get unleashed on someone.
    Dean’s face remained stone cold but he crossed his arms. “My job is to protect this bar and the people inside it and I do a damn good job dealing with you and your kind, who wanna come in here and tear the place up every weekend.”
    “Me and my kind ?” I repeated, unsure I had heard him right. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I jumped up out of my seat, my fists tightening.
    Dean stood up. His six foot plus build hulking over me, forcing me to take a step backwards. “Tank! Come get your