Billionaire Beast

“What’s wrong?” he asks. “They’re really not weird people, I actually think it’s kind of romantic.”

“It is romantic,” I tell him. “It’s just—I’m still in the process of getting over someone right now, and everything is making me think of him.”

“I’m sorry,” he says. “If it helps at all, I know what that’s like. I got divorced a few months back. This is actually the first time I’ve really gone out since it happened.”

“It sucks, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah,” he says. “It does.”

We sit through an uncomfortable silence for a little while.

“Would you like another drink?” he asks. “It looks like you’ve got quite the tolerance.”

“Not so much,” I tell him, “but I would love another drink.”

If I’m going to get Dane off of my mind for good, this is probably how I’m going to have to do it: one good-looking fireman at a time.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Tracers

Dane

I don’t know how long we’ve been swimming, but I’m pretty sure I’m starting to play chicken with the “don’t get too drunk” rule. I’m not getting mean or even slurring my words that much, but I have to admit, I’m pretty sloshed.

Wrigley’s off at the other end of the swimming pool, cackling with one of her old friends.

Me, on the other hand? I’m making another trip to the drink table and trying to figure out what I can have that’s going to keep the buzz going, but not put me over the edge.

Before I can decide, though, Wrigley’s hand is on my shoulder and she’s telling me that we’ve got to get out of here right now.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“Someone’s coming,” she says. “Someone our guys in the hall can’t detain or turn around. Grab your shit and come with me.”

I should have known tonight was going to end this way.

I grab my clothes and Wrigley grabs my hand. She leads me to the women’s showers and whispers for me to get dressed.

It’s completely dark in here right now, I can only assume to throw whoever might go to the pool that there aren’t a bunch of recently-naked drunk people hiding in the women’s locker room.

“Did someone grab all the liquor?” I ask in a whisper.

“It’s taken care of,” a man’s voice answers from my left.

I guess we’re all in here.

If it’s a woman coming for a swim, it does occur to me that we’re probably going to give the poor lady a heart attack, all of us crammed in here. I can’t vouch for whether everyone’s clothed or not, the way Wrigley basically threw me into the room.

“If the guards think everyone works here, I don’t know why we’re worried about someone finding us. Everyone’s dressed, right?”

Wrigley answers, “The guards think we work here, but that’s not going to hold up for very long when someone who actually belongs here blows the whistle.”

“Is there a back way out of here?” I ask as quietly as possible.

“Yeah,” someone says, “but it’s in view of the door. If they’re coming down this hallway or they get in the pool—”

The sound of a nearby door opening silences the room. I lean toward the only minor source of light—the crack beneath the door—and listen for high heels.