His breathing ceased.
When I looked over, I saw the tightness that had overtaken his handsome features.
Then his hand wasn’t on my lower back; it was grabbing my hand, crushing hard.
“Run!”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Venezio
My biggest concern moving out into the hall had been someone standing around, waiting to see who it was that had been fucking in the bathroom. Because there was no way someone passing by hadn’t heard Steph’s soft mewls and loud moans.
Even just the memory of them had my cock twitching, ready to go another round.
I saw no one at first, though. No guest with a smirk and a camera handy. No employee with a frustrated head shake, worrying there might be something gross for them to clean up.
No one.
Until a shadow seemed to shift.
My gaze zeroed in, all my instincts knowing that it was never innocent when someone was using darkness as cover.
In the ballroom, the music had shifted from some crooning ‘lonely at Christmas’ song, to one about decking the halls.
It could just be an employee sneaking a second to vape, the more rational part of my mind suggested.
This was a fancy-ass event. I’d even eyed one or two personal security guards inside. I was pretty sure no one else had clocked them. But I knew what to look for: the tight posture, the waytheir gazes were always moving, how they checked in on their principals to make sure no one needed them.
Maybe it seemed crazy for lawyers to have security. But these were criminal defense attorneys. And there was always someone pissed off whether they won or lost their cases.
This place was secure.
There was no reason to suspect any sort of threat.
And yet my blood went icy.
Every muscle seemed to tense.
Any other day, I would have walked forward, faced the potential threat head-on.
But Stephanie was standing beside me, still orgasm-woozy.
I wasn’t going to put her in trouble.
The shadow shifted.
My guts twisted.
Because the light slanted just right across the man’s face.
Some people struggled with faces.
Everything about my life up to this point demanded I remember them, note them, recognize them even if they’d changed their hair, got ink, pierced something.
And that immediate recognition, the way my mind flew right back to that alley, to that truck, to the man I’d killed… and the one who’d gotten away, was the only thing that probably saved us.
My hand grabbed Steph’s.
