I give Alex, who is standing next to me, a once over. “I thought you didn’t want any blood on your Tom Ford,” I tell him, then jerk my head at his chest, where Rizwana’s blood is splattered over his shirt, and the lapels of his jacket. “This looks an awful lot like the opposite.”
He rolls his eyes. “First of all, shut the fuck up, and secondly, no one hurts either of you assholes and gets to live, soyeah. Tom Ford be damned; that bitch deserved what I served.”
I smirk and ruffle his hair. “That is true.” I then click my tongue and gesture vaguely at Cignette. “Text her and ask her to change the exit route,” I say. “Ask her to move towards the kitchen.”
He nods. “You got it.” He pulls his phone out and does as I’ve asked.
I shift under Jayce’s hold and try not to curse as a throbbing pain ignites my left side.
Fuck Rizwana and her dead ass.
Cignette’s phone pings with a text, and I watch as she pulls it out, reads the message, and then looks up at her admirer with an apologetic smile. She tells him she has to go, and he nods and gives her a lust-filled grin before finally getting out of her personal space. She touches his arm and says goodbye, and I grit my teeth when the asshole takes that as an opportunity to check her out.
Cignette pivots on her feet and beelines for the kitchen, relief clear on her face.
I step out of Jayce’s hold. “I’ll manage on my own until we’re outside,” I tell him. “Don’t want the waiting staff to get suspicious.”
His jaw ticks – a clear sign that he wants to protest. He doesn’t, though, and instead just nods.
I start making my way towards the kitchen, and with each press of my left shoe on the carpeted floor, pain shoots through my side. It’s hard not to let it affect my gait, but I’m trying. I know I’m limping a little, but we’re very close to getting out of here, so I can’t fucking slow down now.
We reach Cignette, who is standing outside the kitchen. She gives me an uncertain look when she sees me walking on my own, but I give her a nod and gesture behind her. She sighs and turns, then pushes open the kitchen’s revolving door before leading me and the crew inside.
Every single staff member stops what they’re doing when they see her, and a chorus of “Good evening, Miss Adler” and “Can I get you something, ma’am?” fills the room as Cignette clears a path for us.
None of the staff even remotely notices me or the crew; they’re all too busy swooning over Cignette. And, as we reach the kitchen’s exit, I notice that a few of them sigh in evident longing when Cignette passes them by. If this moment could be played in slow-motion, it’d make for a hilarious SNL act, and if I wasn’t so damn amused by these fuckers, I’d have pulled their sockets out of their heads and shoved them into their drooling mouths.
I’m full of threats tonight when it comes to my Little Swan, aren’t I?
Cignette hurries out into 17thAve, then turns right.
The crew and I follow her, and now that I’m walking on rock-hard ground, the pain in my side has only multiplied. But thankfully, Jayce wraps an arm around my waist and guides my steps forward.
“You don’t have to do this, you know,” I tell him.
“I’d rather you not fall on your ass and make a fool out of yourself,” he jokes, but I can see the guilt on his face for how things turned out during the kill.
“Beating yourself up about what happened won’t change shit, Jay.”
He meets my eyes. “It won’t, but it’ll help me hate myself for what I let happen, at least.”
“Don’t do that to yourself,” Varsha says. “It was an accident; it wasn’t your fault.”
“It wasstupid– that’s what it was,” he spits out.
“And it’s in the fuckingpast,” Alex adds. “We dealt with it, and it’s over. No reason to let it overcome the present.”
Jayce doesn’t respond to that, but he does relax his posture a little.
The last thing I want him to feel is guilt. We weren’t aware that Rizwana was armed, nor had we hoped that she’d fight back. It’s things like this that make our job unpredictable, and even though I prefer to avoid collateral damage, in this case, I’m glad it was me and not Jayce or the others.
We enter the parking lot, and Cignette suddenly stops short when she sees Solo ahead of us. He’s leaning against his SUV, and when he glances up and sees her, his expression morphs from one of worry to one of complete stupefaction.
He instantly glares at me, knowing without words that Cignette’s presence here is on my account, but I shake my head at him.
He opens his mouth to say something, but I raise a brow and shake my head again.
He clenches his jaw, and his nostrils flare as he continues to glare at me, but he thankfully says nothing.
