“Girl, I will dust your ass on this floor.”
The twins shifted and turned to her.
Toma and Kaede watched her too.
“Uh. . .” She widened her eyes at them. “This island is crazy.”
I swallowed. “She was just joking, guys. . .kind of.”
They returned to gaping at Rin and Deja.
“Damn.” Nika looked at me. She looked at the twins. She looked back at me. Slowly, she put the fork down on the tablecloth like it was on fire. “You’ve got bodyguards now.”
“That’s right. So behave.”
When Deja and Rin got to the table, we had some more rearranging of seats. This time Zo and Nika moved down, causing a rippling effect of others grabbing their plates and moving down too.
Rin pulled the chair out for Deja.
She sat down. “Thank you.”
Rin got behind his seat and remained standing.
Everyone just watched him.
Uh. . .are you going to sit too or what?
Then, Deja looked up at him. “You can sit.”
Rin did as he was told.
“What?!” Toma snorted first. It came out of him hard and fast like he had been holding it back for ten minutes.
Kaede laughed and hit the table. “Not the emperor himself being out-emperored.”
“If someone had told me, I would have never fucking believed this.” Daisuke pointed at Rin without shame and laughed so hard his ostrich feathers shook.
Then, Hiro and the twins followed with laughter.
Rin looked at them, every one of the Claws.
Just like that. . .they went silent. Yet the Claws kept their wicked smirks.
Meanwhile, the Fangs had different reactions. Across the table, Yoichi's mouth pulled into a polite line. Satoshi pressed his fingers to his temple in pure embarrassment. Frowning, Kaoru blew out pink smoke.
I leaned over in Deja’s direction. “I just heard what happened. Are you okay?”
"Girl, I’m having aninterestingvacation. I’ll tell you more later.” Deja always liked to keep her business close to her chest. I knew she wouldn’t say too much in front of all these men that she didn’t know.
Still, I had to get more information because my head was still exploding.
I gestured at Rin’s collar. “What is going on with that?"
Trying to pretend like he wasn’t being nosy, Hiro watched us and picked up his drink but didn’t take one sip. Reo and Kenji stared also.
Rin did not move, yet that bored expression remained seared over his face.
Deja had her face lifted, taking in the claw above us with pure fascination. She smiled and moved her gaze to where I was pointing. “What are you asking me about, Nyomi? The collar?”
