I knew I looked good, probably better than I ever had, but still, it was hard to stand next to Eloise. She was so beautiful it was hard not to cry a little inside. She was decked out in tight leather pants, a sheer red top over a jeweled bra, metal spiked heels, her hair straight and sleek. Her makeup was club perfection, making her green eyes pop.
“Wow. Hot.” Theo’s eyes widened when we stepped out, his gaze running over my body. Of course, he only had to change into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt to look hot. “You look so sexy.”
“Thank you.” I grinned, taking his hand as he led me into the car already filled with several people. A woman I didn’t recognize was behind the wheel, but I stiffened when I saw Lennox sitting in the SUV. He peered in my direction but looked around me, his jaw twitching with disgust.
What the hell was his problem? Did he have a thing for Theo or something? Is that why he hated me? It usually took people a little longer to find out I was an odd duck.
“Spencer, this is Peter.” Eloise patted the shoulder of the bodyguard sitting in the passenger seat. “He adores me so much that he can’t bear to have me out of his sight.”
The man ignored her, talking into his earpiece, clearly used to Eloise’s manner, which I still couldn’t wrap my head around. Sitting, I couldn’t exactly tell, but he appeared to be a few inches shorter than Lennox, in his late thirties with short dark blond hair. He was one of those guys who could blend into the background, neither handsome nor homely. Pleasant, but you’d forget the moment you looked away. He wore all black like Lennox, but that was where the similarity stopped.
I sort of understood why Lennox made a perfect bodyguard. He looked like part of our group. He was young and gorgeous, wearing dark jeans and a black T-shirt snug against his beefed-up chest. With his scruffy jaw and bored expression, anyone would think he was a friend of Theo’s, not his bodyguard. I couldn’t deny the man was hot. Like uncomfortably hot, where you couldn’t quite look at him, but his arrogance and painfully awful personality dropped him quite a bit in my book. Not that girls would care about that when he walked by, but he was someone who made me happy that Theo was holding my hand. I hated men who thought they were too good for everyone, looking down at you for even trying to talk to someone like him.
I originally thought Theo was that way but was so happy he proved me wrong. Instead of dating the cliché and picking a girl of high rank, he chose awkward me.
“Stay close to me in here, okay?” Theo whispered in my ear, bringing me back to the present, my hand in his as we hit the underground club.
I cocked an eyebrow at him, the dim light in the space barely enough to make out his face. It made a perfect place for royalty to escape. No one would probably even know they were here.
“This is not a normal club…” Theo paused, licking his bottom lip. “There’s a little more you don’t know about my sister.”
“What?”
“Theo!” His name rang out, and a guy strolled up to us, his arms open in greeting, taking our attention to him. Charlie’s smile beamed across his face as he walked toward his friend, looking like he just stepped off a plane from a tropical island, his skin deeply tanned, setting off glowing blue eyes and overly white teeth. Hazel and Ben followed him.
“Hey!” Theo surged for his buddies, bubbling with excitement, the guys giving each other the backslapping man hugs, but he grabbed Hazel, pulling her into a deep bear hug. “Shite, I’ve missed you guys.”
“Missed your pompous arse too!” Ben’s hand pushed back his longer “bedroom messy” hair.
“Eloise!” Hazel gave Theo’s sister a hug. As usual, she looked like she just stepped off a runway in Milan, radiant in a short rawhide skirt, five-inch heeled booties, and a barely there tank. Her golden blonde hair was perfectly wild, accenting her bright red lips.
“Ellie!” Charlie swooped her up, twirling her around. “Good to see you!”
“Funny, I feel quite the opposite.” She winked as he set her down.
“You break my heart.” He clutched his chest, looking overdramatic.
“You don’t have one.”
“Right! Never mind.” He dropped his hands, snapping his fingers. “That’s why I’m such a dick!”
She shook her head, laughing, but stopped the moment she glanced over at Ben, her lips pursing. They both nodded to each other awkwardly, looking quickly away. In that brief exchange, I could feel intimate history clot the air, telling me there was no way something hadn’t happened between them.
“Spencer,” Hazel greeted me, her upper-class accent curling around my name, leaning in to air-kiss my cheeks. “So good to see you.” She was one I actually thought meant it, unlike so many I ran into at school when I was dating Theo. She was so secure with who she was; she didn’t need to put anyone down to make herself better. I loved she wasn’t the stereotypical mean girl.
“Who wants a bloody drink?” Charlie clapped his hands, nodding back at the bar against the far wall. The guys sprang forward, locked on the bartender, letting us girls trail after.
The club was vast, dark, and very plain. A few sofas lined the walls, but most of the middle seemed to be left open for what I figured was a dance floor. It wasn’t the cool, hip lounges or cozy pubs we had usually gone to. This was the opposite of classy or sexy. There was even an overlying smell of dried sweat and bodies, but the room filled with every passing minute, its occupants ranging in ages and types. The club was apparently popular with this diverse crowd, but it seemed an odd place for the Prince and Princess of Great Victoria to hang out.
“Bloody hell.” Hazel blinked, her mouth parting, peering over my shoulder. “Who is that incredible specimen of a man?”
Following her gaze, I already knew who she was looking at.
“That’s Lennox.” I frowned. “Theo’s new bodyguard.”
“Fuck. Me,” she whispered, her pale cheeks flaming red. “He is gor-geous.”
“Yeah, and he knows it too.” My top lip lifted in disgust as I tried not to peer back at him again. Lennox and Peter stayed back enough to not look suspicious, but I could feel Lennox’s looming form nipping at my heels and breathing down my back like the big bad wolf.
“He is bloody hot,” Eloise confirmed with a hearty nod. “But Theo’s already warned me if I touch him, he will actually disown me this time.”
Hazel laughed. “This time, huh?”
“Yeah.” I turned to Eloise. “Did I pick up on a vibe between you and Ben?”
“A vibe.” Hazel snorted, still sounding elegant. “Oh, Spence… you don’t want to even touch that one.”
I glanced over at Eloise. Her jaw cracked together; her gaze filled with annoyance.
“Let’s get a drink, shall we?” She rushed forward, heading to the bar alongside her brother.
“What was that?” I asked Hazel.
“Let’s just say their past is sticky and complex at best. All I know is they were each other’s firsts a long time ago. Neither one will talk about what happened between them, but I think they still have a little thing for each other.”
Losing your virginity to your best friends’ sister. A princess. One you will have to see all the time. Yeah, that must be awkward.