I tried to keep my face straight, but I could see Cal beside me, starting to crack up, and even Dante had a smile on his face as he watched Arran dig himself deeper.
I burst out laughing and Cal went right behind me. Arran’s relief was instant as the tension on his face fell and he smiled.
“The panic on your face!” Cal laughed.
“Aye, alright. Ye got me,” Arran admitted good naturedly.
“Seriously though…,” I went on once the laughter had calmed. “…stop worrying about what I eat, Dante. It wasn’t my choice to eat badly before. It was necessity. Now that I can eat what I want, I do, and often. I love food. You don’t need to watch and count my every calorie,” I tried to reassure him. I looked up, meeting his eyes where he sat directly across from me, and he gave a small nod. Not much in the way of agreement, but I’d take it.
“Do you want to look at the dessert menu?” Cal asked.
“Definitely not,” I groaned. “Way too full. Can we get a coffee though? I’m not ready to leave yet. It’s nice in here.”
The steakhouse was kind of rustic looking, with wooden floors and wood panelled walls. It had great lighting that made a cosy and comfortable atmosphere without being too bright or too dark. Modern music played in the background, not too loud, but enough that it drowned out other conversations around us, so I felt we had some privacy. It was full, and the servers were busy, but efficient. It had just been a really wonderful evening, and I didn’t want it to end.
“You shouldn’t drink coffee so late. You already have trouble sleeping,” Dante warned.
“You worry too much, old man. You’ll give yourself an ulcer if you go on like that,” I threw back, and he just glared at me.
“I’m orderin’ the crumble anyway. Always do,” Arran spoke up.
“Me too. I’ll see if I can flag down our waiter,” Cal agreed as he turned in his seat to look around the restaurant. I looked around too, then remembered why I had been avoiding doing just that. There was a small table of two, sat just one table away from us, and at it were two guys. They looked young, younger than me at least, but they were drinking beers, so I guessed they had to be at least eighteen.
They’d walked in not long after us, and before our food had arrived at the table, every time I looked up they had been watching us, or more specifically, me. They weren’t even trying to be covert about it. They openly stared at me. It had freaked me out a little and I had looked away hurriedly before Arran, or worse, Dante, noticed and said anything. I had made a point of not looking that way again, not feeling comfortable being stared at, and definitely not wanting to start any trouble.
But when I lifted my head to follow Cal’s line of sight I caught them in my periphery, and they weren’t just watching me now. One of them had his phone out and he seemed to be recording me. I’m sure he thought he was being sly hiding his cell phone behind the drinks menu on the table, but I could see the camera poking out and aimed right for our table, and my direction.
I honestly didn’t want to cause trouble and ruin the evening. The two guys were young and maybe they just liked me, but even so, it was weird and an invasion of my privacy. Then when I considered what had happened in recent weeks and the threat that likely still haunted me, I knew I had to say something.
“Cal?” I leaned into him, since he was already looking that way anyway. It would be easiest for him to check I wasn’t making a mountain out of a molehill. “That table in front of us, two lads. Are they filming us?” I asked quietly. I felt Cal tense against where I was leaning into him, then his hand reached to the side and found mine, holding it tight as he looked to the table I mentioned, then turned back to his seat. I looked to him with worry and he nodded.
“Arran. Check out the table one away. Two teenagers. They’re filming Cara,” Cal told his brother discreetly, his posture remaining relaxed but his grip on my hand unrelenting.
I was tense and feeling anxious as Dante and Arran both, in turn, and so casually I would never have noticed if I didn’t know, glanced over to that table, then back to ours.
“Who are they?” I asked nervously.
“Just kids. They probably fancy ye,” Arran told me with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes the way it usually did.
“They’ve been watching me all night. I didn’t think much of it before though.”
“I’ll get the bill, ye tight fisted fucker. Why don’t ye all head out to the car? I’ll meet ye’s all out there,” Arran said loudly, looking to Dante as they seemed to have some silent and almost imperceptible conversation.
“Come on, babe. Stay close to me, okay?” Cal whispered to me while he pulled me up and helped me back into my coat.
“Arran…”
“He’s got the bill covered. Let’s go,” Dante cut in. Cal pulled me with him as we left the table, keeping his arm tight around meas Dante crowded in as close as he could behind us without it looking suspect.
Cal hustled me out of there as fast as he could without creating a scene. When I glanced back, just before we exited, I found Arran seated at the small table with the two teenagers now. Dante didn’t give me chance to see more than that as he came behind me and gave a slight shove to get me moving.
“What’s he doing? He just sat with them!” I protested as Dante and Cal kept me moving when all I wanted to do was go back and find out what was going on.
“Just let Arran handle it, okay? Let’s get to the car,” Cal said, pulling me tighter into his side.
“What if there are others? Those two were just kids, but they could have been bait!” I panicked as I turned to Dante.
“Bait?” he repeated with a raise of his eyebrows. “I think you watch too much television.”
