“I can just watch.”
I sputter, never having gotten that response from a man who can’t take a hint before. The creep watches my mouth when I lift my drink to it and take a huge sip to keep from choking on his blatant desire.
“No thanks,” Sylvie says, completely unbothered by the man.
He gives one last quick grin before backing away, although he doesn’t go very far.
“Creep,” I say, taking another sip from the drink I swore I wouldn’t touch.
At this rate, I’m also going to need to call one of the cabs Sylvie mentioned earlier. Well, so long as that’s decided… I tilt the drink up, draining the entire thing before smacking the empty glass down on the top of the bar.
“Some guys are just assholes but being watched doesn’t seem like a horrible idea.”
I scoff, turning around once again to face my friend, my back to the Cerberus group. “Even if the whole time he’s measuring you for a skin suit?”
“He wasn’t that creepy,” she says.
“He was,” I argue, flagging down Drake for a bottle of water.
“Where were we?” Sylvie asks, her eyes skating over the entire back of the bar as if she’s tracking someone in particular. “Ah, yes. You were telling me how sexy Legend is tonight and how much you regret turning him down. I’d say he’s still interested. All you have to do—”
“We were not talking about Legend.”
“You sure?” She taps her finger against her chin as if trying to recall the conversation.
I tilt my head. Were we talking about that? I’d say no, but as she continues to grin at me, I can’t be a hundred percent sure.
“What?” I ask as her brows draw in.
When she speaks, her words aren’t clear, and I have to shake my head again to comprehend what she’s trying to tell me.
“I think that he’s… and all you’d have to… Don’t look at me like… know I’m right.”
“Sylvie,” I say, clamping a hand down on her arm.
She stops, her smile slipping away. “Faith?”
“Not right,” I manage, but the words to my own ears sound like I’m trying to speak under water. “Something’s wrong.”
Chapter 5
Legend
“Did she shoot you down again?” Grinch asks about ten minutes after I return to the table.
I don’t answer him because I can’t take my eyes from the third asshole of the night trying to flirt with her. The guy finally leaves, but he keeps his attention on the two of them.
“Legend? Are you even listening to—”
He clamps his mouth shut, his attention going to the two women at the bar when I lift my hand to silence him.
Right before my eyes, I watch Sylvie’s face fall. Almost at the same moment, I see Faith lean to the side. Her friend keeps her from falling over, but it’s enough to have me on my feet. I can feel Grinch right behind me, and I look back at him, noticing the other men and Slick right behind the two of us. Even Spade was paying enough attention to split off from the women he’s been speaking with.
“He drugged her,” I tell my friend, indicating the last man to approach them.
“We’re going to have some fun,” I hear Grinch tell the others. “But we can’t kill him.”
“Like hell,” one of the guys says, and I don’t know any of them enough to know who said it, but I like the way the man thinks.
“He put something in her drink,” Sylvie says the second we approach.
“I’m taking her home,” I say, scooping Faith into my arms and holding her against my chest.
Her friend doesn’t argue, and I know the other guys will stay behind and take care of the problem. Sylvie rattles off Faith’s address as I walk away. Grinch stuffs a set of keys to one of the SUVs we drove up here into the front pocket of my jeans.
“I’ll make sure the other guys get a ride home,” Sylvie says before I can tell the guys they’re on their own with transportation tonight.
“We’ll talk about this outside.” I turn my head to see Spade with his hands tangled in the asshole’s shirt as they urge him to his feet and toward the back door. It’s questionable whether homicide detective Colton Matthews will get a call tonight.
The men generally have pretty good control, but we’re also accustomed to operating under a different set of rules when we’re out of the country.
“No cameras out back to the left,” Drake says just as I turn toward the front exit with Faith in my arms.
Cold air hits me in the face as I leave the bar, and Faith clings to me, her fingers tangled in my shirt, but by the time we make it across the parking lot, that grip has loosened. I know it has to be the drugs in her system and not her realizing who it is that she’s clinging to.