Silas’s expression was thunderous and his jaw bulged as he clamped it shut. He looked as though he were exerting great effort not to let loose a torrent of obscenities, surprising since he was so well spoken and not as rough around the edges as some of Drake’s other men.
After a moment, when he’d visibly regained control of his composure, the tension eased.
“If you’re game, then I vote we have a weekly lunch date. I’ll bring takeout, whatever you have a taste for that week, and we’ll have lunch together. Sound good?”
She sent him a dazzling smile, unknowing of the effect it had on the closed-off, hardened man and the fact that something inside him softened when he thought himself incapable of experiencing such feelings. He’d been dead-on when he’d told Evangeline that she was special. In fact, she was one of a kind, and the fact that she had no clue made her all the more genuine. What might his childhood have been like if he’d had someone like Evangeline to shine light into the darkness of his unending despair?
“I’d love that,” she said, her excitement not at all concealed.
“Deal, then,” he said. “Just let me know a day when you’re free and Drake doesn’t have plans for you and you intend to stay in for the day, and I’ll come over and bring the food.”
She frowned. “But you can’t just drop everything on a whim and come have lunch at the drop of the hat.”
“Can’t I?” he asked, his tone serious. “I set my schedule and unless Drake has an urgent matter for me to attend to, everything else can be put on hold.”
Whoa. The more she became acclimated to Drake’s world, the more she realized that his “men,” though claiming to work for Drake, seemed more like partners—brothers in a sense—than subordinates who took orders from the “boss.” Clearly they set their own schedules and came and went as they pleased unless, as Silas had mentioned, Drake had an urgent matter that needed immediate attention. And she didn’t want to know what constituted an “urgent matter.”
“Okay, deal.” Then she frowned. “Do I have your cell number in my phone? I barely know how to work the damn thing.”
He reached across the island to pick up her phone. After fiddling with it mere seconds, he leaned over so she could see the screen where her contacts were displayed.
“Here’s Drake’s number,” he said, pointing to Drake’s name and the number below it.
“What are all those other numbers?” she asked, astounded by how many numbers were in her contacts.
“After Drake is Maddox.” He frowned a moment and punched a series of buttons, taking it from her sight for a brief period, and then extended it out so she could view it once more. “I took the liberty of moving my number directly beneath Drake’s. If for any reason you run into trouble, I want you to call me if you can’t reach Drake.”
She lifted an eyebrow but didn’t say anything, not wanting to inadvertently offend him. And well, it was sweet that he seemed to have taken over the role of her secondary protector.
“After me, there’s Maddox, Justice, Thane, Jax, Hartley, Hatcher, Zander and Jonas. I notice your parents aren’t in your contacts and neither are your girlfriends, so you should probably enter those. I can do it for you if you give me names and numbers.”
Evangeline wrinkled her brow. “Who is Jonas? I don’t think I’ve met him.”
Silas smiled. “You will. No doubt there. Drake will make sure that you’re well acquainted with all the men assigned to your protection.”
“Does Zander really have to be in my contacts?” she asked, not even trying to keep the irritation from her voice.
Silas surprised her by covering her hand with his and giving it a light squeeze. “Zander isn’t the asshole he can appear to be. Granted, you two didn’t get off on the right foot, but he’s a good man, and he’d go to the wall for any of us and now you. There is no way he would ever allow anyone to harm you under his watch. He’s rough around the edges and has the manners of a boar, but you won’t find many men more loyal than him. He’s not quite sure what to make of you yet, so you have him nervous, and that is not a feeling he likes or is well acquainted with.”
“I make him nervous?” she asked incredulously. “He could squash me like a bug with his pinkie finger!”
Mirth shone in Silas’s eyes, momentarily shocking her, because he was always so quiet and solemn. Serious. As though he rarely had reason to laugh or be amused by anything.
“None of Drake’s men know quite what to make of you yet. You’re nothing like they’ve ever encountered before, so they haven’t been able to figure you out yet, which doesn’t make them happy because they feel at a disadvantage. I think they are intimidated by you.”