Customize My Heart (4 page)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Samantha listened as Cameron told her about his relationship with Nicole. He spent two years in his own private hell. The girl used to run the front office of the garage and at first everything was going smoothly, that is until she moved in with him and she wasn’t making the money she thought she deserved.

Nicole started demanding more pay for the sales she made as well as living free in his house. She expected Cameron to take care of her as if she was his wife yet acting like a she deserved a piece of the business.

What pushed Cameron over the edge was when she started constantly causing trouble for him with his vendors and customers which drove them to go to his competition.

When he confronted her, she scoffed it off and quit. A week later one of his vendors came to him with the news Nicole now worked for his competitor and was banging him.

Cameron busted his ass for the next year, not taking a salary and living off his savings just so the garage can stay afloat. He was ready to throw in the towel when he saw Samantha’s Hemi ‘Cuda in the bay.

Once finished Cameron looked at Samantha and saw the tears in her eyes, it broke his heart to make her sad. She shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him tightly. “If I ever see that woman, I swear to God I will knock the shit out of her.”

Cameron let out a sigh in relief as he held her for a while. When Samantha finally calmed down she looked up at Cameron “so what we to do about her baby?”

He shrugged “so far it’s her sister. I can’t do shit until Nicole decides to show her hand.” Samantha scowled “well I can do a lot. I may not be as vicious as your ex, but I know enough people that the only place she’s going to find work is at a bunny ranch.”

Cameron laughed at his woman’s comment, god he was crazy about her. He picked her up and set her down on her feet. “Come on beautiful, dinner’s here and we’ve got nothing to worry about. If she doesn’t heed my warning, then you can have fun making her work on her back.” Samantha gave an evil laugh as they left the office to join the others for a late dinner.

They walked into the dining room when the aromas of lo mien and fried rice hit them. Samantha made her plate and sighed in contentment when she took the first bite. “Wow, this does taste like home, how do you find these places Jay?”

Jay Mancuso’s been their adoptive father for the last ten years keeping an eye on all of them. He made sure that they stayed in school and didn’t stray from the paths they were destined to walk, especially Vince. He took him under his wing and kept Vince Senior from abusing Vince, teaching him on how to get issues resolved without violence.

Jay patted his belly and grinned “you know I wouldn’t agree to move here if I didn’t have my Chinese food. A buddy of mine informed me some people from the old neighborhood moved out here and opened a restaurant, here’s the result.”

Samantha gave him the thumbs up “well you did good daddy Jay. Now, have you gotten a date on when my babies start the trip out here?” Jay nodded as he checked his phone for the schedule of Samantha’s move.

“I have little Mario taking pictures of the speedometers before they’re loaded onto the trailers. If they’re off by more than a quarter mile, let’s just say I know a guy.” Vince rolled his eyes as Cameron chuckled.

Samantha sighed “I don’t want to know Jay, my house closes on Friday next week. I want my movers to be here Saturday.” He confirmed the date again then went to make the calls for the moving company to start driving to Nevada in a few days.

She helped Lily clear the table and was ready to head back to the hotel with Cameron when she received a call from Brent. “You’re kidding right? Yeah I know I promised to handle it and I will. I’ll meet you at the airport.”

Samantha gave Cameron an apologetic look “I need to fly out to New York tonight. Apparently I have a few employees in my Manhattan hotel wanting to boycott and bring the union into my hotel. I promised to meet with the rebel rousers and negotiate.”

Cameron raised an eyebrow “don’t you have a board that makes decisions on those issues?” She shook her head. “Maxwell International is a privately owned company and I’m the sole owner. I won’t go public, too much stress worrying about trying to appease members of a board when I am perfectly capable of hiring and firing people willing to work for me. My father taught me that.”

Samantha gave a weak smile to Lily and Vince, they nodded in understanding. “Well, since you’re going to New York, stop by the house and give little Mario my regards.” Jay stated, she grinned as she got her things and then looked up at Cameron “want to drive me to McCarren International?”

Cameron smiled as he wrapped his arms around her, “You know I will baby, but don’t you have to get back to the hotel and pack?” Lily snorted “she doesn’t need to pack, she has Brent to do that for her.”

Samantha rolled her eyes. “Actually, he has my messenger bag. I have a change of clothing in the plane. Once we land, we’re heading to the main house and I’ll pack a bag and stay at Brent’s house.”

“When will you come back to Las Vegas?” Cameron asked, she thought about it for a moment. “I should be wrapped up in New York by Wednesday night. I have a few meetings here on Thursday with some of the other hotel owners we talked to today.”

Vince grinned then looked at Lily. “While Cam and I talked cars with the customers, Sam made deals with Bellagio and The Venetian in opening a hotel in Dubai.”

Lily looked at Samantha in shock, Cameron laughed “yeah, my little mogul here was sexy as she negotiated millions of dollars while wearing biker gear.”

Samantha scowled at him as she looked over to Lily “they’re exaggerating. I will however take you with me to Tahiti once we get the green light.” Both Cameron and Vince scowled at the women as they laughed at making them jealous. She hugged everyone goodbye then took Cameron’s hand. He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it as he led her to his car and drove her to the airport.

“Auntie Sammie, when can we move with you and daddy to Las Vegas?” Brent’s son Matthew asked, she smiled. “As soon as you’re finished with the school year, so about six weeks.”

The meeting with the employees at her Manhattan location went better than she anticipated. Sure she had to fire the assistant general manager and a few of the staff in the front office for causing the commotion in the first place, but in the end the crew pulled together and now were back to being the happy family she expected from them.

It was Tuesday night, their last day in New York and Samantha sat at Brent and Sirius’ kitchen table decorating cupcakes for the kids annual pre summer party held at the school.

Brent and Sirius had surrogate mothers for both children. Matthew was six and his sister Samantha was eight. She was honored when the couple decided to name their first child after her and was given the title god mother to little Sam while Vince and Lily were god parents to Matthew.

Sirius handed her a cup of coffee and sat next to her, grabbing a cupcake to decorate. “So, are we house hunting after the move to Las Vegas or am I to expect my husband to have one for us?” He looked lovingly over to Brent, he blushed.

“Baby, you know we’ve decided that we should wait until you get there.” Samantha chuckled “you’re staying with me until you two decide on a place. Now I don’t want you to rush, the house is the size of Brooklyn so you won’t be in the way.”

Sirius looked at Brent confused, he laughed. “You know Sam baby, she went big and now she’s going to beg for someone to stay with her so she won’t be so lonely in the house.” She scowled at her favorite assistant “hey, I got sexy man to keep me company.”

Sirius grinned “yeah, I heard you’re seeing someone, so spill girlfriend. I want details since my husband over there doesn’t like to share.”

She laughed as Brent scowled at Sirius then picked him up and sat him down on his lap, never once messing up the decorating of the cupcakes.

Samantha placed another one on the plate and sighed “what’s there to say, he’s handsome, smart, funny, and has tattoos that make me wonder what’s underneath the t-shirt.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow then scowled at Brent “and you couldn’t tell me this?” Brent sighed then pulled out his phone “look, here’s Cameron and Sam.”

He showed him the picture he took of the couple, Sirius squealed. “Oh wow he is cute, I should have you grow your hair out honey.” Brent glared at him “don’t even think about it love, I’m fine just the way I am.”

Samantha laughed at the bantering the happy couple had with one another. “Well Cameron’s been very good for Sam, she’s not such a workaholic” Brent stated, she smiled.

“Yeah well I’m going to hate what’s coming up after you and Sirius settle into my house. I need to get back to Tokyo and walk the building with the inspectors before we open in August.”

Brent groaned while Sirius gave his husband a squeeze. “It’s alright honey. I’ll have Lily and Vince to keep me company and the kids would love to spend time spoiling baby Emma.”

Brent sighed then kissed his husband gently “I know baby, I’m just being selfish.” Samantha smiled “once we get back from Tokyo, I want you to take Sirius and the kids to my apartment in Paris. I think you all need some family time before the kids head back to school.”

Little Sam squealed while Matthew clapped. Sirius jumped out of Brent’s lap to give Samantha a hug “thank you girl, you don’t know how much we need this.” She grinned as she hugged him back, she did know how much and she was making sure she took care of them.

CHAPTER EIGHT

“I’ll make sure Cameron’s here when they deliver the Impala.” Vince stated to the person on the phone while Cameron walked into the office.

It was ten o’clock Wednesday morning and Cameron was excited that Samantha was coming back this evening that he wanted the day to be over with.

He looked over to Vince as he placed their breakfast burritos on the desk. “Morning brother, is that the 67 Impala you’re talking about?”

Vince nodded as he grabbed a burrito and took a bite. “Tyler found the one we’re looking for to complete the orders we got last week.”

So far the garage’s been receiving cars from the clients at the car show. The parking lot and bay looked just the way they’ve imagined it would look once the business was booming.

They barely opened the doors Monday morning after the car show when they were receiving phone calls from people who didn’t attend but were wanting the services their friends were getting to their vehicles. Now they were looking at being slammed well into next year.

Vince and Cameron also decided to add a motorcycle section to the business since people at the show inqu
ired about purchasing a customized motorcycle. He looked over the schedule then called in Steve and Jay. Both men did great work so he decided to put Jay in charge of paint while Steve took the mechanical side of the business.

“I need to find a motorcycle mechanic. Doesn’t your boy build bikes Steve?” He nodded “Jimmie’s been customizing bikes since he was about thirteen. I’ll give him a call and have him sit with you and Vince.”

Cameron gave them the rundown of the work heading their way. He just finished his meeting when they heard the commotion coming from the bay.

“Where the fuck is Cameron, I swear to God if he’s not out here in two minutes, I’ll tear this bitch apart.” A disgruntle Nikkie stated as she stood in the middle of the bay, threating his employees.

Cameron and Vince hurried to their feet, ready to confront the crazy woman when they heard Samantha. “You must be Nikkie, I’m Sam.”

They just opened the door when Samantha pulled her fist back and punched Nikkie right in the jaw. Nikkie fell over in shock, wondering who the hell punched her in the face. She was getting up to charge Samantha when Cameron and Vince stepped in to break up the fight.

Cameron had a hold on Samantha while Nikkie tried to wriggle her way out of Vince’s grip. “Let me go asshole, I’m going to kick that skinny bitch’s ass then I’m going to sue you guys for allowing her to assault me!”

Jay snickered as Steve rolled his eyes to the situation. Cameron whispered in Samantha’s ear “baby, let me handle this, okay?” She glared at him then finally nodded.

Cameron turned and faced his ex pest. “I’ve warned you Nicole, if you ever came into my garage and caused a scene I would have you arrested for trespassing. Now you have one of two choices, leave and forget this happen or go to jail. Your choice.”

Cameron was so pissed off, Samantha can feel him shaking in her arms from the adrenaline rushing through his body. She rubbed his back to soothe him, he relaxed a little.

Nikkie was still fighting with Vince when the police officers showed up at the garage. Cameron realized Samantha knew there would a confrontation and called them before she hit Nikkie.

They went up to Cameron and Samantha to get their accounts on what occurred when Nikkie yelled “the bitch punched me in the face, look!” She stalked over to the officer and showed the bruise forming on her left cheek.

Samantha held back a snort while Jay took over. “I don’t know this young lady but she took a fall in the bay, I saw it happen. The signs around the garage state if you’re not an employee we won’t be liable for any accidents caused.”

The officer looked at Jay then back at Nikkie, Sam was lucky Nikkie wore five inch stilettos and one happened to snap when she hit the floor.

Nikkie hissed “they’re lying! Ask them, they’ll tell you.” She pointed at the other techs, they rolled their eyes, and they knew who to place their allegiance with.

Scott, their junior painter was the first to speak up “we saw nothing. One minute we were working on the El Camino, the next we heard her screaming.” The other techs confirmed while the officer took notes, Cameron had enough.

“Officer, this woman is my ex-girlfriend. She’s been warned to stay away from my garage and has a restraining order placed against her.” The officer’s partner came back from his check on everyone’s license and confirmed that Nikkie indeed had a restraining order, as well as an injunction against her for a previous trespassing incident which happened at the garage.

The officer looked over to Samantha and handed her license back. “I apologize Ms. Maxwell for the inconvenience. Mr. Davis, do you wish to press charges?”

Cameron looked at Vince and Samantha then nodded, the officer commenced on taking Nikkie away while she screamed she didn’t do anything wrong.

They walked back into their office when Cameron sat down in his chair, pulling Samantha with him.

“So tell me again, what brought you back so early? I expected to pick you up tonight.” She smiled as she kissed his lips “I missed you. I handled the crisis in New York and the house squared away. The movers will be here on Friday.” He looked at her hand, making sure she didn’t break it when she punched Nikkie, she smiled. “I told you I’d knock the shit out of her.”

He chuckled then he looked over to Vince. He huddled with the Mancuso twins going over the surveillance cameras. “Hell, we got proof Sam hit her” Cameron stated, Vince gave him a smug look.

“We’re handling it. Besides working on cars, these two know a thing about electronics.” The twins grinned as they fist bumped. Samantha groaned “god help us if the police found out what really happened.”

Rob snorted “they won’t if we do it right.” Trey nodded at his twin’s statement then added “besides, if we can’t do it, we know a guy.”

Now Vince, Sam and Cameron all groaned as the twins took the thumb drive out of Vince’s laptop then erased the footage of an hour prior. “Well take care of ya Sam” Rob said, Trey nodded as they walked out of the office.

Samantha looked at Vince “you better let Jay know what’s going on. The last time those two where unleashed on the public, I had to pay a pretty penny to get them out of the havoc they caused in Middle Island.”

Vince winced, remembering the incident then ran after the dastardly duo. “What did they do baby?” Cameron asked, Samantha shook her head. “Honey, the last thing I want to do is make you an accessory after the fact.”

He laughed as he wrapped his arms around her “welcome home beautiful.” She shivered then kissed him chastely on the lips “I’m glad to be home sexy man.”

Brent walked into Samantha’s office Thursday afternoon scowling. “Lee’s on the line, he’s getting push back from a few investors in Bangkok.” She cursed as she picked up the phone.

Samantha’s been putting off this trip to Bangkok for the last month, now she had no choice but to get her ass to Thailand. She wrote on a piece of paper and handed it to Brent. He nodded and hurried out of the office, leaving her to make arrangements with Lee.

“Brent’s on the phone for you.” Vince said as he handed the phone to Cameron. They were working on putting in the engine block to the El Camino when he received the call.

“Hey man, is Sam alright?” Cameron asked, Brent snorted. “She’s pissed off. She needs to head out tonight to Thailand and wanted to know if you cared to join her.”

Cameron stepped back and looked over to where Vince stood, he raised an eyebrow. “Why would she want me to go with her?” Brent sighed “because those assholes try to take advantage of her when she goes alone, and have no respect for me since I’m her gay assistant.” He said this in a disgusted tone, Cameron understood.

“Alright, I’ll get my guys set up and I’ll meet you both at the hotel at five.” Cameron ended the call and looked over to Steve and Jay “I’m going to be out of pocket for a few days.” They nodded as they went back to work.

Vince followed Cameron into the office “what’s going on brother?” Cameron sighed “Sam wants me to go with her to Thailand, apparently there’s an issue and they’re giving her a hard time because she’s a woman.”

He grimaced “yeah they have been dicks to her, she needs someone like you to install the fear of you in them.” Cameron chuckled as he went to the wall safe to get his passport.

“I’ll let you know when we land what’s going on. Will you be able to handle the garage and the movers?” Vince chuckled “brother you forget, I used to live with Sam and Lily at the main house. She’s so damn fickle with her shit, I bet she has it organized and wrapped up so that the staff will know exactly where everything goes. I’ll have Jay and Steve running the garage while I take care of the house.”

Cameron grinned as he grabbed his laptop bag and Oakley’s. “I’m going home to pack, hey, will I need a suit?” Vince thought for a moment then laughed “I’d bring one. You’re going into her world brother, you sure you’re up for it?”

He shrugged “for her, I’ll go to hell and back.” Cameron gave Vince a bro hug then called back as he walked out of the garage “give a kiss to my niece from me and her Auntie Sam.” Vince grinned as Cameron got into his Shelby, driving off to get ready for their flight.