“Where’dhego?”Jessiehappened to say loud enough that Katarina could hear it. The music was ear-cloggingly loud, to the point she just assumed if Jessie needed them to stop, he’d just tug her. He’d already spent most of the night directing her around.Affectionately and playfully, of course, but this was the Jessie Show tonight.Sera and Ellie were making out somewhere on the edges of the dancefloor and she’d done a few less than professional dances with their plastered pack of pixies. Katarina clocked the second they arrived at the casino that she was playing the bit of arm candy. Nik and Rex tagged along but kept their distance the whole night and Jessie washammingit up. While he was always delightfully hammy…tonight he was being extra himbo. She would have asked him at the poker table why he was putting on a show, she didn’t. Not after Pinstripes sat next to them.
If there was ever an award for most obvious super villain, Pinstripes would win. He was smiley in an awful way. He followed them from poker to dice to slots then to the dance floor. It hadn’t escaped her notice that he lingered in a booth, not too far from them, and never lost track of the pair.You gotta be The Executive or one of his goons.Katarina was hot. Smoking, sexy, sensual, a creature of pure intoxicating desire in her favorite club dress!Which surprisingly still fit given that I bought this fucker in college and after we got married, Gill stuffed it in the closet.How Sera found it while she was rifling through the house for my stuff I’ll never know!But even a succubus in a good dress didn’t warrant that much attention.
Especially given his attention was mostly on Jessie. He hardly talked to her. Let alone looked her way, his gaze seemed locked in on her dance partner. And while Jessie was a looker, and Katarina could see why anyone would drop trouser for Jessie…Pinstripes meant business. Not the kind that Jessie would enjoy. Or Katarina, for that matter.
Which led her to pausing their dance to follow Jessie’s searching gaze across the dance floor. Pinstripes was gone. So was Nik, which made Katarina’s skin prickle. She tugged Jessie with her, the pair weaving off the dance floor. Through warm bodies and the heavy scent of alcohol in the air, they stumbled out into the open air at the barstools. Rex rushed up to them.
“What happened to Nik?” Jessie asked.
“Where’s the creepy Pinstripe Suit guy?” Katarina added as she scanned the room for him.
“I don’t know. Nik was coming back from taking care of Gill and immediately decided to pick a fight with the guy!” Rex called out over the music.
Alarm bells rang in her head as Katarina jerked to stare at the younger Bonesaw brother. “Gill?”
“Yeah, he was downstairs. Don’t know in what state he was in.” Rex glanced at Jessie for guidance. “What’s happening? Nik just took off.”
“Shit.” Jessie stormed past his brother toward the hallway. Katarina and Rex raced to keep up with him, barely getting in the elevator before it closed behind him. It took a few minutes to convince her heart to take a break and stop racing. While she’d had a martini or two, she was not tipsy. Succubi, when well-fed, weren’t easily intoxicated.And I’ve been rather well taken care of tonight.Between Jessie kissing her, encouraging her to feed in hopes it would keep his knot at bay and the overt sexual aura that hung over the dance floor, she should be going into a food coma. She was pink in the cheeks and fanning her face.
“You, okay?” Rex murmured.
“Yeah, fine,” she managed to speak through a choked throat. She couldn’t stop the rising panic in her veins.Gill’s here? Fuck. Why are you here?
“Rex, take Katarina home.” Jessie’s snapped command, however, had the opposite effect as Rex telling her Gill was here. It was a frosty bucket of ice. It made her teeth ache with how hard they clenched. It cleansed her of the frenzy for long enough for her to get her bearings.
“No, absolutely not.” Katarina twisted to face him in the tiny, but stylish tin can they floated downward in.
“I promised to take care of you. That includes taking care of Gil. Rex, take Katarina back to Ma and Pops—”
“You don’t get to decide how to take care of my ex-husband like that!” She barked.
Jessie’s eyes flashed her a warning as the door to the elevator whooshed open. “If he’s working for The Executive, then he’s likely here to hurt you or worse. I’m not about to let that happen.”
The three of them peeled out of the elevator, but Katarina stopped Jessie before he could charge toward the heavy crowds on the main casino floor. She snatched him by the forearm and jabbed a finger in his face. “I’m not leaving.”
Jessie inhaled sharply through his nose so hard the little black ring he’d put in for style that night flipped up and smacked his nose. After a calming exhale breath, he huffed, “Fine. But if he so much as irks me or lays a finger on you, I’m breaking his spine in two.”
“I can agree to that.” She put up her hands like white flags. “If he wants to play stupid games, let him win stupid prizes. But, don’t decide things for me like that.”
Jessie sighed, corrected his posture, then extended his arm to her. “Sorry, baby girl, you’re right.”
“Thank you” Katarina tossed her hair over her shoulder flirtily before taking his arm. “Now, let’s go see what’s going on then find Nik.”
Jessie tugged her in sharply, forcing her to stumble into his chest. Cupping the back of her head with his other hand, he ripped her into a kiss. Heavy, a groan of desire rumbling up his chest, she smiled into it as he teased her tongue out to play. While she felt a little guilty making-out in front of Rex…she almost forgot about him. That was until he cleared his throat while Jessie’s hand roamed down her backside.
“Uh…guys. The CEO’s goons are coming this way.”
Jessie groaned, pulling away from Katarina’s lips. “It’s The Executive, Rex.”
“That’s not as ominous. I would have called myself the CEO, the crime executive...obviously?”
Katarina twisted from Jessie to stare at Rex, ready to give him so much shit, when she saw who Rex was talking about. The goons in question did not belong to The Executive. Her heart sank, stomach rolling up into a tight ball. “Those guys don’t belong to The Executive,” she sighed, slipping away from Jessie. “They belong to Gill.”
A pack of lawyers, all dressed in two-piece suits and displeased scowls. Of the five of them stalking up to Katarina, she knew four of their names. Three of which were at her wedding. Two she knew how they took their coffee as they’d spent long hours at her home or at the office with Gill. And one was Gill’s best friend. Katarina exhaled heavily as she stepped in front of Jessie and Rex, “What do you want, Jack?”
“Katarina!” Jack beamed, reaching for her like he usually did, going in to kiss her cheeks. Her whippy tail slapped his hands away and she jerked backwards to avoid his skin touching hers. He paused, blinking rapidly in confusion.
“We’re here…to uh…” He trailed off for a moment, clearing his throat and adjusting his tie simultaneously. “Assist our client Mr. Hurley in seeking out damages.”
