The weeks leading up to the grand opening of Tracy’s restaurant were a flurry of activity. There was a constant stream of vendors and new employees running in and out of the place from morning to night. At the center of it all was the waitress-turned-head honcho who, at the end of the day, felt about as lost as the day she chose to make it happen. The constant tornado of events made it almost impossible to concentrate on anything for more than a minute or two.The first few days, she avoided Gordon. After their sexual night together followed by the disturbing dream, she wasn't sure what to expect from him. But, he behaved as if nothing had ever happened between them. He was the complete professional, which was good because Tracy felt like everything was falling apart at the seams.Fortunately, Gordon stepped in to help, after finding her almost in tears because she got the wrong size onions. From that point on, the two worked seamlessly in tandem in a way that Tracy hadn’t expected. B

She hurried through the main lobby. There wasn’t another soul in sight, save for the two front desk clerks who waved her goodbye.Outside, posted against one of the tall, Romanesque columns holding up the reception area, Mr. Hayes waited for her silently. When she finally saw him, after almost walking past without a second look, her heart sank. She didn’t want him to find out like this. There wasn’t even enough time for her to process what Gordon told her, let alone enough for her to find the right words to say to him.She could only imagine what he thought, seeing his girlfriend come out of another man's hotel room late at night. There was really only one thing he could think and it broke her heart."What is going on, Tracy?" His voice was soft. There was a pain there that made her throat tighten.She stopped a few feet away from him and lowered her head."We need to talk," she said. “There's some things you need to know.”He swallowed hard and nodded, eyes dark and sad. The two walk

BANG!The gun went off. Tracy saw the brief flash at the end of the muzzle, and the bullet rocketed through the edge of her upper arm. She immediately cried out and fell to the ground, her blood spattering onto the gravel below. Red pain flowed down her arm.Mr. Hayes, whether through his prowess or pure luck, wrestled the man to the ground and climbed on top of him. By the time Tracy was able to clamp a hand onto her wound and stand up onto her shaking legs, Mr. Hayes had beaten the assassin into unconsciousness and was still going."Mr. Hayes," she screamed. He kept hitting the man, pummeling him into a red pulp. He was going to kill him if he didn't stop.He didn’t answer, but she still wasn’t close enough to reach him."Paul!" she cried out, desperate to keep him from making a mistake he would never forgive himself for.Hearing her call him that name made him snap out of his blood-hungry trance. He grabbed the gun from where it had fallen and climbed off of the man, never once tak