“He wasn’t a twat, exactly. I just couldn’t find him when I wanted to leave.”
She sighed. “You’re not home yet?”
“No. I took the tube.”
“You’re supposed to call me in those instances. I’ll come and get you.”
“What? All the way from Central London?” Her flat was located right above Vauxhall Station. Dexter and I lived on the edge of Chiswick.
“For my best friend, I will always turn up.”
“I appreciate that, but I was fine. I mean after I broke the statue.”
“What?” she gasped. “You were at the Van Linsted estate, right?”
“Yeah. Sure was. It was kind of humiliating. I didn’t know what to do, so I hid… in the closet.”
She choked out a cough. “Liv. Are you serious?”
“I know. Trust me I know. But then there was this guy, and he hid in the closet too.”
“Oh, this is getting better. Please tell me. This is better than Pornhub.”
“What? No. Boyfriend, remember?”
“Oh, him…” Telly and Dex had never gotten along. She always said he didn’t seem right for me. “Okay, fine. At least tell me he was fit.”
“We hid in a closet. I was hardly focused on his looks.”
“Lies.”
“Okay fine, he was tall.”
“How tall?”
Picturing him in my mind’s eye was remarkably easy. “Maybe six foot three. Maybe a little taller. Blond hair that looks a little bit messy, like it was too long, a ridiculously chiseled jaw with one of those cleft chins, you know? Ice-blue eyes. And he’s built like he’s got one of those V-things pointing directly to the promised land. And he walks like it too. Lean, looks excellent in a tuxedo.”
“I love how you say you barely got a look, but you’re describing Eric Northman.”
“What, from that show?”
“Yep, Alexander Skarsgård. Otherwise known as my secret baby daddy if I were into blokes. Basically, the perfect human specimen.”
“I guess he did look a lot like that. But I’m thinking more like Brad Pitt from Troy.”
“Okay, that works too. Wait, so you were hiding out from the party with a guy that looked like a cross between a hot Viking and a Greek god?”
“Basically, that’s it.”
“Please tell me you broke up with Dexter and had hot sexy times in your secret hiding place.”
“You have an overactive imagination. No, no such thing happened.” I bit my lip. “I mean, he did do this thing.”
I could almost feel Telly leaning into the phone. “What thing?”
“We were hiding, right?”
“Uh-huh.” I could almost visualize her leaning forward as she listened.
“And he had one hand on my ass and the other on my mouth.”
There was a beat of silence, then she whispered, “Oh my God, so hot.”
“Then people came in the office and we pretended they’d caught us… you know, in the middle of things. He ordered me to moan.”
“Jesus. Did you?”
I swallowed hard as I remembered that moment. “Yes, yes, I did. I did it so we wouldn’t be caught.” That sounded feasible… even to me.
“That is… Wow.”
“He did this thing where he kind of growled in my ear. It was very unnerving.”
“Look at you. You are the most frustrating human I’ve ever met in my life. This happens and you don’t call me right away?”
“Sorry. It all happened so fast. Weird thing though, he got into a fight with Bram Van Linsted before I left. Security escorted him out and everything.”
“I mean, not that I don’t believe that twat would have an enemy, but an actual physical fight? It’s so un-English.”
“Yeah, I know, right? And then the craziest thing was, he handed me—”
I’d been so busy yammering away with Telly that I barely felt the inertia before the push from behind which made my next words lodge in my throat. I stumbled and crashed forward, my phone skittering away. And then my face was zooming ever so quickly toward the ground.
I knew not to put my hands straight out and instead go forearms first and turn my head. But it was so hard to remember.
Down I went. When I rolled over onto my back, someone jumped on me, his weight pressing me into the wet pavement. Fear coiled in my gut, and my stomach churned from the little I’d eaten. Then he snatched my purse right out of my hand. “Hey. Stop that.” I tried desperately to remember what I’d been told to yell. The only good thing was I managed to buck him off. Wrapping my ankles around his, I lifted my hips then listed to the side, and he rolled right off me.
The bad news was he took off running with my clutch.
Jagged breaths tore out of my lungs, and my head simmered. My heart tried to break free of my ribcage. When I was alone again in the middle of wet pavement, it occurred to me that all he’d gotten was fifty quid, a credit card, and my favorite lipstick. Raspberry plum. It looked gorgeous on my brown skin.
Damn, and the shade was limited edition.
Plus side is you have your phone and the flash drive.
I patted my chest with trembling hands. It was still where I’d shoved it when I was on the bus. I didn’t understand the sudden wash of relief. Except now, I still had a reason to go looking for the Viking. Somewhere to my right, I could hear Telly calling out. I winced when I picked up my now cracked phone. My hands were scraped and were going to require some cleaning. “Telly?”
“Jesus, what just happened?”
“Well, it would seem I’ve been mugged.”
Ben
It could have been worse.
Really? How? How could it have been worse?
Sure, it smelled of piss and bad decisions, but if I was being honest, it was well worth it to hit Bram in his sorry face.
A guard appeared at my cell. “Mr. Covington?”
I looked up and grinned. “Mate?”
“Well, it appears that you are being bailed out.”
“Did you have any doubt?”
He frowned at me as he shook his head.
That’s it, fall for that nonsense. Just some rich kid here for kicks.
The role I had played was a perfect camouflage. I was led through processing and had to sign my name to collect my things. My watch. My phone.
Freedom. Now that I was out, I had to track her down. The woman in red.
Before I was through the final gate, I caught a glimpse of East and Bridge waiting for me. East gave me a smirk as he spoke. “Did you have to hit him?”
I shrugged. “We needed time. It seemed like a good idea at that moment.”
Bridge, however, looked well ticked off. “That was a fucking risk with the device on you.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah, that’s the thing. I figured once I put my hands on him, I was definitely going to the nick, so I ditched it.”
Both of them gaped at me. “What?”
East’s eyes bugged out. “Tell me you’re kidding.” He turned to Bridge. “Tell me he’s fucking kidding.”