Liam shook his head warily. “It doesn’t matter.” Bullshit.
“How’d you guys meet?”
“Here.” Liam said, already cutting back through the crowd towards the group while an odd feeling settled in my chest. What the fuck was he up to, running with guys like that? Cade too—another reason he was going to keep his filthy paws off Sara. I didn’t want her anywhere near The Society, and anywhere near whoever the hellthathad been.
Throughout the night, the group took turns rotating from the dance floor to the booth, taking breaks to refill their drinks and catch their breath.
Of course, there was only one person I cared to dance with, and all night my eyes were on her, just waiting for the right moment to steal her away.
I found myself alone for several songs when Riley stumbled back to the table by herself. “Doing okay?” I asked, wondering if she was even old enough to be in the club at all.
“Great.” She beamed.
I chuckled. “Just take it easy, would you? You’ve got your whole life to party.”
She rolled her eyes, and then asked, “Do you want to dance with me?”
“Why don’t you have some water? You look like you could use it.” I offered, pushing a glass towards her. “How did you get in here, anyway?”
After she’d chugged half the glass, she explained, “Gemma is one of my best friends. I can come anytime I want. I just have to come through the back.” She rolled her eyes, and I chuckled. “Her brother Dante owns the club.” Riley explained.Interesting.She rattled the ice in her empty water glass, looking bummed. “I was dancing with Cade, but I don’t know where he went. Have you seen him?”
“He’s a little old for you, don’t you think?” I mused.
“Not you too.” Riley rolled her eyes. “For your information, I’ll be twenty-one next month. If you see him, will you tell him I was looking for him?”
“Actually, I saw Cade in a meeting with Dante earlier.”
“You did?” Riley said, her demeanor shifting. “Oh.”
I sat forward. “What’s the matter?”
She looked around. “You don’t know?” Her eyes widened a little as she leaned in and lowered her voice. “Dante Leone?” She raised her brows as if I should know what that meant. The name did sound familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” I asked warily, turning the name over in my head.
“The Leones run the mob. Or they are the mob, I guess. I don’t know. Gemma doesn’t tell me, and I don’t ask. She just told me to stay away from her brothers—I heard Dante murdered his fiancée.” Riley said nervously. “But don’t tell anyone I told you that, though.”
I nodded, but I didn’t hear anything else Riley said after that, because I kept turning Dante’s words over in my mind.Liam and I have an agreement.
What the fuck kind of agreement did Liam have with the mob? And even weirder, why had Liam introduced us when he seemed anything but happy about it.
“There you are, Riley. We’ve been looking for you.” Jules lilted a worried mother hen. “Come on, guys, we’re all going to dance to the next song.” Riley popped up immediately, but I was still lost in thought as Jules motioned. “You too, Carter. You’re not getting out of this one.”
Drink in hand, I let the girls drag me out to the dance floor, and even though she wasn’t anywhere near me, my eyes were glued to Sara as shemovedto the music. Her short green dress shimmered, catching the light as it hugged her every gyrating curve. Except for a few shimmery, silvery straps across her bare skin, the dress was open-backed, and I was all lusty thoughts, utterly mesmerized by her—I couldn’t help it.
A little while later, Sara dragged a finger over my chest before she disappeared with Jules and Riley towards the bathroom, strutting away from me with a wink. I was getting incredibly desperate to steal her away for a dance when no one was looking, which, as the night ticked on, seemed to be getting harder and harder.
However, at that moment, I noticed Douglass had already found someone else to dance with. Someone who wasnotJules. I wondered what he was like when Jules wasn’t around at all. Fucking dipshit.
When the song changed and Douglass put his hand somewhere it definitely shouldn’t have been,I’d had it.
I finally gripped his shoulder and said loudly, “Your girlfriend has been gone a while, maybe you should go check on her?”Aka, what the fuck are you doing?
Douglass gave me an irritated look and lowered his voice to hiss, “What the fuck?”
“Yeah,” I mouthed back, shooting him a look. “What the fuck?”
He glared at me, wiping his nose. “I’m just having a little fun.”
