“Kenzie has mentioned what she calls your epic love story.” He hadn’t known she was talking about her handler at the time. He thought she’d been talking about her parents, who had nothing to do with her job.
“She can be a bit over the top,” Taggart acknowledged. “Sometimes I’m certain those two share a soul. Kala got all the dark stuff, but the truth of the matter is people take her seriously. Kenzie got the bubbly, happy personality that everyone marginalizes. She also got the deep need for drama. I worry she got that from me. I do like some drama, especially if I’m not actually involved in it.”
“I’m trying to be drama free, sir,” he promised Taggart.
“That’s what I’m telling you. She likes some over-the-top shit.” Taggart straightened up as a woman approached the microphone. “Just remember a little drama can be fun. I think I should probably get back into my jacket because I’m pretty sure I’m going to get to dance with my daughter. Maybe you should do the same. And Ben, don’t let the bad stuff keep you from finding the good stuff, but it’s okay to need some time. I understand how you could see this as a massive betrayal. I’ve found that the thing we need most is time and patience.”
The woman with the microphone invited Tasha and Dare to have their first dance as a married couple.
He was going to dance with Kenzie. He was going to hold her in his arms while surrounded by her family.
Wasn’t this the life he wanted once? The life he thought he would have before Manny took it all away?
What if he pretended he was normal for a night? What if he was here to support his friend and be with his girl? What if he could fit in? It wouldn’t hurt to spend one night pretending.
Kenzie walked up, and suddenly her hand was in his. “Aren’t they the cutest?”
He wouldn’t say Dare was cute. He liked her hand in his. He threaded their fingers together. “They are definitely in love. I like your family.”
Her nose wrinkled sweetly. “I’m sure my brothers were lovely.Don’t worry about them. They get paid to try to drive off potential suitors. I’m serious. They used to scare off my boyfriends and Dad would give them bounties. Travis talked a lot about his own poop. Seth would ask incredibly invasive questions and then he would write songs about the answers.”
He didn’t want to find her whole family fascinating. He was going to suggest they take a walk when his cell buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket. Unknown. Tim used a lot of burners. “I need to take this. I’ll be right back. Don’t dance without me or I’ll be a jealous ass. I’m good at that.”
Her lips quirked up like he’d said the exact right thing. Drama. Her dad wasn’t wrong about that.
He waited until he got to the door to the ballroom to accept the call and put the phone to his ear. “Hey, Tim, what’s going on? You hear something?”
“Oh, Benjamin, I hear everything.”
Ben stopped, the silky slide of that familiar voice a snake threatening to strike.
“How the hell did you get this number, Manny?” His whole body tightened, going into survival mode at the mere sound of his voice.
A low chuckle came over the line. “I have friends who own businesses that can get any information I need. The world is so beautifully connected now, isn’t it? Or perhaps I have some of your friends on the payroll and one of them didn’t mind sharing your number.”
His gut tightened. It wasn’t the first time Manny had suggested that he was surrounded by his people. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t managed to get people into positions of power, as Kala Taggart had recently learned. “What do you want, Manny?”
He was too smart to hang up. Manny didn’t like being ignored. He tended to give Ben a reason to pay attention, and it usually cost someone their life.
He’d read the reports about how Manny had disrupted one Taggart wedding already.
“I wanted to know if you’re enjoying the wedding,” Manny said smoothly.
He forced himself to not look around for the cameras that were obviously all throughout the hotel. It would be easy for Manny to find a way in. “It’s going great. You going to send a mercenary team in to giveTaggart a jolt of adrenaline?”
“Oh, I suspect that’s coming.” There was a deep chuckle in Manny’s tone. A certain arrogance Ben had studied over the years.
He didn’t know. Maybe he wasn’t in the hotel’s security system. If he was, he would know Taggart had caught his teenaged assassin and he would have asked different questions.
It would be easy to figure out Tasha Taggart was getting married. Lots of people got invitations, and Tasha had social media. Her existence hadn’t been scrubbed clean, so there was no reason she couldn’t post a million pictures.
None of which included her sisters.
How hard was that on someone like Kenzie?
“I ask again. What do you want, Manny?”
“I was lonely. I wanted to talk to my oldest friend. Is that so strange?”
