He must be desperate.
Rhett nods. “I know how he feels. Marko is fucking crazy, so we never know what he’s going to try next. And ever since Olivia went to jail, he’s on a bit of a rampage. It’s a game of cat and mouse and it has us all looking over our shoulders. Sooner or later, though, he will make a mistake, and then we will find him.”
“I hope it’s sooner rather than later.”
Natalie approaches and sits down next to me. “You all right?”
I nod. “I’m fine. I’m glad I was here to see Rake’s reaction. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man so happy before.”
“He deserves it. Are you ready to go home? We don’t want to get back too late—we both have work in the morning,” she says, tucking her dark hair back behind her ear. She lowers her voice. “And I don’t mind leaving before everyone gets too drunk.”
“I’m ready when you are.”
“I’ll start saying bye to everyone,” she murmurs, getting up, bracing herself on my shoulder and then walking toward her parents.
Rhett, who was watching our interaction, smiles to himself. “I knew she wouldn’t end up with a fucking suit.”
“You are getting way too ahead of yourself,” I laugh, slapping him on the shoulder. “Thanks for welcoming me into your clubhouse.”
“Thanks for getting Natty home safely,” he replies.
I get up and do the rounds, saying my goodbyes to everyone, especially to Rake and Bailey, needing to make a good impression with her parents.
I wasn’t born yesterday; I know how important that is.
“You make sure she gets inside her house safely,” Rake orders, staring me down.
“Of course,” I reply.
He bends down and lowers his tone. “And if you hurt her, no one will find your body. Do you understand me? I don’t care who you are. She is my baby girl, and I’ll stop at nothing. No one will be able to protect you.”
I clear my throat. “Yes, loud and clear. Happy birthday.”
I don’t bother explaining that nothing is going on between us, because I don’t think anyone would believe that.
And even though I took a lot of heat for a woman I’m not even fucking, I still had a good time.
I mean, it could have gone worse.
We walk out of the clubhouse together and I open the passenger side door for her before getting into the driver’s seat.
“I can drive,” she says, but she even sounds tired to my ears.
“Nope, I’ve got this. You relax. Besides, you already told me I was driving us back, remember?”
She smiles. “That’s right. I knew there was a reason I let you tag along.”
“You could hurt a weaker man’s ego, you know that?”
She shrugs. “I don’t want a weaker man, so saves me the trouble.”
I shake my head.
She is confident, sassy and kind of harsh.
Why am I into that?
She puts on an old-school hip-hop playlist and we head home. I grin to myself as I imagine her listening to this music on her way to work, then getting out of the car in her expensive, fancy-ass clothes and getting ready to kick butt in the courtroom.