“What’s wrong, Tesoro?” Immediately, Marco pauses his conversation with Chase in favor of giving me his sole attention.
“Nothing.” I smile sweetly up at him, because being a bitch in public isn’t the image I agreed to give when signing the contract.
“Don’t lie to me.” He’s being stern, but not angry, and I appreciate his self-restraint in public also.
“Dad, we need to talk.” The guy I recognize addresses Chase before looking at Marco and me to apologize for interrupting. I want to crawl into a hole. Halfway through his apology, he pauses and glances in my direction before returning his attention to his dad.
A blonde guy I also recognize appears at his side moments later, and squints his eyes at me, tilting his head to the side as he asks, “Do I know you from somewhere?” Another appears moments later. The guy who looks like a bronzed god studies me intently before turning their inquisitive stare to Marco.
Marco’s arm moves around my waist, and he pulls me closer to him, squeezing my hip.
“Not now, Travis. Find me later.” Chase raises his voice before pulling himself back together, nodding his head politely at Marco as he turns to walk away.
“Hey, aren’t you the girl with the phone?” The girl from the alley appears from behind the ripped, tall guy who interrupted us. I almost didn’t recognize her. She looks so different. Her long dark hair is pinned away from her face and falls in waves down her back. Her midnight-blue gown is so dark it almost looks black, despite the shimmer that makes the dress look like she’s wrapped in the night sky. She’s a long way from the casual girl who saved me.
I relax under Marco’s hold, remembering now that these are the guys who helped me the night in the alley, and not some crazy ex-client—which is a huge possibility in my line of work.
“I am. Thank you for all your help. My name’s River by the way, much better than girl with the phone I think.” A real smile forms on my lips for the first time so far this evening. I like this girl’s energy. “You’re Briar, right?” I know I had other things on my mind that night, but I’m in a better place now—albeit it a fucked up one—and I want to thank this girl and her men properly.
Marco stands stoically by my side, like he’s now my arm candy instead of the other way around.
“I am. This is Travis,” she says motioning to Chase’s son. “Sawyer St. Vincent and Cole Beckett. And who is this?”
She eyes Marco up and down, in a completely non-sexual way, but we’re girls, we speak the same code. I know she thinks he’s hot, same as the men she introduced to me, but we don’t say that out loud. Honestly, you’d think we were in a lion’s den with the feral noises the guys are making.
“The growly man with a tight grip on my waist is Marco.” She smirks at me, like she understands the growly thing a little too well as Travis pulls her into his side.
“Marco Mancini. Her husband.” I almost falter at the word husband. Almost.
The guy she called Travis raises his eyebrows in what looks like recognition or respect at Marco’s name before stepping forward to shake his hand.
“Travis Kensington.”
“These are the guys I told you about, they found my keys and phone.” I don’t want to get into specifics right now, because that would be awkward as fuck, so I’m hoping what I’m saying jogs Marco’s memory of the night I told him what happened in the alley.
“Chase’s son?” Marco’s eyes narrow in on Travis, questioning.
“Not that I like to admit it, but yeah.”
“Can’t say you got dealt the honorable dad card.”
Travis smiles. “You can say that again.”
He turns to the twins, a small smile on his face. “I know your mother too, I believe. St. Vincent you said?” The more playful one nods as Marco turns to Cole. “And I assume you’re the senator’s son?”
The giant beefcake nods once, not even a hint of a smile on his chiseled face and Marco relaxes beside me, his tense posture easing slightly. “Thank you for what you did for my wife. If you ever need a favor, here’s my card.”
Okay, so a favor from Mr. Mancini is a lot more thanks than I had planned to give, but there it is.
Another guy—I’m assuming the twin of the blonde because it’s that or I’m seeing double—comes up behind Briar and slides his hand around to her stomach, whispering in her ear. When I thought they were all her guys, I didn’t realize they were her… guys. I had thought they were all just really good friends, but damn, lucky girl.
“Thank you, Mr. Mancini. We may take you up on that offer sooner rather than later.” Briar answers, taking the card while Travis grips her waist tighter. I might have missed it if I wasn’t so used to paying attention to body language. He obviously knows Marco, but maybe he knows too much. He leans down and whispers in her ear, and she rolls her eyes so hard I worry a little for her.
“Sorry River, we’ve got to go. Give me a call whenever though. Sometimes we girls just need a chat that doesn’t involve all the peen.”
They turn and leave as quickly as they arrived, filtering through the crowd. Briar is quite a few years younger than me, but she comes across as an older soul. I like her, she’s ballsy.
“You didn’t need to do that. I can handle my own shit.”