Chapter 28 - The VIP Lounge

Chapter 28: Chapter 28 - The VIP Lounge

The security guard reached for Jesse’s arm.

Jesse stepped back, just out of reach, and raised one hand.

"Hold on."

The guard paused, more out of surprise than anything else. People didn’t usually tell him to hold on.

Jesse looked at his name tag. MARCUS.

"Marcus," he said. "How about this. If you don’t throw me out, I’ll give you two thousand dollars."

Marcus blinked.

He looked at Jesse. Then at Kimberly. Then back at Jesse, like he was trying to figure out if he’d heard right.

"Two thousand dollars?"

"Two thousand. Right now."

For a second, Marcus actually looked tempted. Jesse could see the math happening behind his eyes. Rent. Groceries. A car payment. Whatever two grand meant to a man who stood in a hospital lobby eight hours a day watching rich people walk past him.

Then Kimberly laughed.

She tossed her head back, ponytail swinging, and laughed loud enough that the woman in the leather armchair flinched and dropped her magazine.

"Oh my God." She wiped the corner of her eye with one manicured fingertip. "Marcus, don’t listen to him. Look at him. He’s a church rat in a fine suit. He’s been in here three times and couldn’t even afford a consultation follow-up. He doesn’t have two thousand dollars. He probably doesn’t have twenty dollars."

Marcus’s face hardened again. He’d almost fallen for it, and now he looked embarrassed about it.

"All right, buddy." He stepped forward again, reaching for Jesse’s elbow. "Let’s go. Nice and easy."

"What’s your Cash App?"

Marcus stopped.

"What?"

"Your Cash App," Jesse said calmly. "Give it to me."

Marcus hesitated. His hand hung in the air, halfway to Jesse’s arm.

"Marcus." Kimberly sighed dramatically. "Seriously? Just get him out of here."

But Marcus didn’t move.

Jesse held his gaze. "Give me your Cash App. What’s the worst that can happen? You waste thirty seconds."

Marcus stared at him for a long moment.

Then, slowly, he pulled his phone out of his back pocket. He opened the app and turned the screen toward Jesse.

$MarcusTBell88.

Kimberly laughed again and shook her head. "Unbelievable. You’re really doing this? He’s just wasting your time, Marcus. Watch. He’s going to send you five dollars and call it a joke."

Jesse ignored her.

He pulled out his phone, opened his own app and typed in the name. He didn’t need to look at it twice. He’d remembered it the second he saw it.

He typed in the amount.

$2,000.00.

He hit send.

Marcus’s phone chimed in his hand.

He looked down at the screen.

His whole face went slack. His mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. He stared at the notification so long that the screen dimmed, and he had to tap it to wake it back up.

Then he looked up at Jesse with an expression Jesse had never seen on anyone’s face before. Not when they were looking at him, at least.

Awe.

"Kim," Marcus said hoarsely.

"What?"

He turned around and held his phone out to her.

Kimberly leaned forward with a bored roll of her eyes. She glanced at the screen.

Then she stopped breathing.

You received $2,000.00 from Jesse Byrne.

The laughter left her face so fast it was like someone had pulled a plug. Her mouth fell open. Her eyes went wide. She looked at the screen, then at Jesse, then back at the screen again, as if the numbers might rearrange themselves into something that made sense.

They didn’t.

Marcus turned back to Jesse. And then, to Jesse’s complete astonishment, the big man dropped to one knee in the middle of the marble lobby.

"Thank you," Marcus said. "Thank you, Sir. Seriously. You don’t know what this means. My daughter’s been needing braces for a year, and I’ve been..." He shook his head. "Thank you, boss. Anything you need. Anything at all."

The woman in the armchair had stopped pretending to read. The man by the water feature had his phone out, recording.

Jesse felt his ears go warm.

"Get up, Marcus," he said quietly. "Please."

Marcus got up. He was grinning so wide it looked like it hurt.

Then Kimberly was on her feet.

"Mr. Byrne!" Her voice had changed completely. It was warm now. Bright. Sweet as honey. She came around the front of the desk, smoothing down her blouse, her smile wide and dazzling. "I am so, so sorry. There must have been a misunderstanding. I didn’t recognize you at first."

Jesse looked at her.

"You recognized me just fine."

Kimberly’s smile wavered for half a second. Then she pushed right through it.

"Please, let me make it up to you. You wanted to see Dr. Ramsey and Dr. Kessler, right?" She was already moving toward the elevator. "I’ll go get them myself. Personally. Right now. Don’t you worry about a thing, Mr. Byrne."

"I thought they were busy."

"Oh, I’m sure they can make time." She laughed nervously. "For you."

She disappeared into the elevator.

Jesse turned to Marcus, who was still grinning at him.

"She always like that?"

"Every day, boss," Marcus said. "Every single day."

Kimberly came back five minutes later, slightly out of breath.

"Mr. Byrne, if you’ll follow me, please."

She led him down a quiet hallway past the main waiting area, through a set of frosted glass doors and into a room Jesse hadn’t even known existed.

The VIP lounge.