Ella’s head jerks, and her blue eyes widen. “Are you serious? You let him stay the night?”
“I didn’t have much of a choice.” I shrug. “He doesn’t have anywhere to live.”
Alana tips back half of her margarita. “That’s the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard.”
I cut her a look under my lashes. “Oh yeah? I remember you coming up with some pretty lame excuses about Thorn Beathach.”
She chuckles, the sound happy. “Yeah, that’s probably true.” Then she sobers. “But you’re not going to get involved with Alexei, are you? I mean, come on. He’s a murderer.”
“Like Thorn isn’t?” Ella instantly snaps. “We were just talking about sexy bad boys.”
Alana’s mouth tightens. “Neither Thorn nor Alexei are boys. Don’t forget that.”
I immediately try to squelch any argument. “Come on, Alana. We all know that Thorn runs the Irish mob.”
“I know.” Alana looks at Ella. “Right now, you’re under his protection, which you need.”
Ella reaches for her rum and Coke and takes several drinks. “I’m not entirely sure I am under his protection. His brother wants me dead.”
Alana rolls her eyes now. “Oh, come on. Justice doesn’t want you dead. Maybe excommunicated to a faraway island, but not dead.”
Ella laughs. “That’s fair. I did almost kill his brother, but I didn’t know you were going to fall in love with the guy.”
Alana smiles. “I know. I’m not mad about it. I think you were pretty brilliant. And plus, that’s a skill we may need someday,” she flicks a glance at me, “just in case we need to kill Alexei.”
I shake my head. “He’s not charging the crystals. If you infect the amethyst crystals that power the Hologrid Hub servers, you’ll end up killing Hendrix, not Alexei.”
“Hendrix is an ass.” Alana reaches for a bowl of miniature pretzels. She slides a pretzel in her mouth and chews softly so as not to bug me. Guilt instantly flushes me that my friends can’t enjoy a pretzel without trying to be quiet about it. It’s not my fault, but I still feel like an asshole. Alana doesn’t seem to mind.
She glances at her aquamarine-and garnet-encrusted watch. “I have about a half an hour more, and then I need to go create posts for Aquarius Social. It’s almost midnight.”
I’m not up to my usual state of holding the phone for her while she posts. I’m a little wobbly, to be honest. “Alana? How do you deal with that? The fact that Thorn runs the Irish mob?”
She sobers. “I accept all of him. Plus, I trust him to control the organization better than anybody else. I trusthim.”
Is it possible for me to trust somebody that much? To ignore the danger and crime associated with Alexei? A shadow crosses our table, and I look up to see dark blue eyes and thick blond hair. “Hendrix,” I murmur. It figures he’s at the hottest new club in town.
“Hello, Miss Mooncrest,” he says, smiling. He has perfect teeth. I’ve always admired people who have perfect teeth. Mine are close but no cigar. “I was hoping I could have a moment to speak with you.”
Alana draws back. She probably does feel weird, considering she was the last person to see his brother alive, and Thorn probably killed the guy. Of course, Cal Sokolov was a complete ass.
“No,” Ella says for me.
Wait a minute. I’m a lawyer on a case. Maybe Hendrix has been drinking. “No, that’s all right.” I scoot from the booth and waver on my four-inch heels.
Hendrix grasps my elbow. “Are you all right?” He leans down, smelling of dusky cologne. He has to be a good six-foot-two and is well muscled. The rugged planes of his face are rather attractive.
“Yes, I’m fine.” Besides my kitten heels that had been unfortunately destroyed by fire earlier that day, these four-inch Louboutins I snatched at a secondhand store last month are my favorite.
“I’ll bring her right back to you.” Hendrix winks at Ella. She glowers at him. I’ve always liked her overprotective side. She looks tiny and defenseless, but she could destroy his life with a couple of keystrokes if she wanted.
Hendrix leads me graciously across the VIP area to a quiet booth where he settles me before sitting across the glass table.
“Can I get you a drink?” He lifts one finger to signal the waitress.
She hustles up, her bosom swaying, and practically shoves both boobs in his face as she leans over. “Can I help you?”
Crap. If she gets any closer, she may smother him.
