Red creeps up his neck. “I know what I heard.”
I shrug. “And I know what I said. Guess it’s your word against mine.”
As his fury grows, Bellamy steps in front of me, likethatwill stop anything.
“Look, we’ve all had a few drinks and tensions are running high, so let’s accept this for what it is; a misunderstanding. My mate is a game developer and we were troubleshooting a kink with one of the characters in a project she’s working on. I swear, none of us are a threat to anyone.”
Speak for yourself, meat shield.
“Have a good rest of your night.” Following his lead, we head back to our seats as he murmurs, “Anyone they might mention it to will write it off on drunk ramblings. It’s fine, they can’t prove anything; the security cameras here don’t have audio.”
“How could you possibly know that?” I demand. “You didn’t know where we were going until two seconds before we arrived.”
Bellamy points at one of the cameras and rattles off some nerdy crap about models and capabilities that goes over my head, but sounds confident enough that I choose to believe him for my own peace of mind.
Doesn’t matter even if there was audio. Anybody lays a hand on my mate, I’ll cut it off. Problem solved. They only heard about her project anyway, they don’t know that she’s a mimic.
“Maybe we should get out of here,” my angel whispers, glancing nervously over her shoulder.
“No, it’ll make us look guilty if we run now. Besides,” Bellamy brushes a lock of hair from her face, offering a wry smile before stealing her from me and tucking her under his arm, leading the way to our seats. “I know what this place means to you. I’m not going to let a couple of nosey strangers steal your first real home away from you. We can still fix this.”
As soon as we’re back in our seats, Bellamy bursts my bubble by whirling around to hiss at me, “Aren’t you supposed to be some badass assassin or some shit? How the fuck didn’t you realize there was someone eavesdropping!”
Dick.
“Says the guy that practically waltzed into a man’s paneled van to be abducted.”
“They were my family,” Bell snaps. “OfcourseI didn't have my guard up that day.”
“You should have,” I growl. “Family is the most dangerous kind of threat. They can hurt you more than anyone because they know your weaknesses.”
His brow furrows, glancing between my face and Ever’s. “You know none of us would sacrifice you to save ourselves... right?”
My veins fill with ice as I freeze. “You fucking better.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“If our mate is ever at risk, you trade me in a fucking heart beat for her, you hear me? Zero hesitation.”
He gives up all pretense of fighting. “Only if you do the same.”
“I'd trade any of you for a single can of green beans if she was hungry. Maybe even if she wasn’t, groceries are expensive.”
“You know," my angel interrupts, “seeing as you're both obsessive stalkers, you’d think you’d get along famously.” She gives Bellamy the side eye. “One just prefers hacking my webcam, which I’lldefinitely be taping over now,and the other skulks around in the shadows. You guys are lucky I like you, because you do realize how creepy that sounds, right?”
So he didn’t tell her about the hidden cameras.
She makes a good point, though. If we combined our talents, we’d have eyes on our mate at all times.ThatI can get behind.
Having more people that worship my mate the way she deserves isn’t the worst thing. Even if he uses up all the hot water.
We settle into our seats, watching five peaceful moments of anarchy play out below us before we’re approached by several men. And, surprise surprise, they’re flanked by the new thorn in my side. The siren’s lady friends are nowhere in sight, though. A huge-ass motherfucker in a security shirt that’s straining to stay on rumbles, “You three need to come with us.”
“After how much tickets cost for this? I think not.”
Not like I paid for them or anything, but that’s beside the point.
Bellamy tries to de-escalate the situation. “Look, he’s just mad because my mate rejected him after he hit on her earlier tonight. Really, it’shimyou should be throwing out. The fact that he’s using his abilities on unsuspecting people is disgusting. That’s predator behavior right there. Someone should talk to his dates away from him to see if they’re actually here under their own free will.”
