“Or put in the damn contact lenses that are in the bathroom. They’re a nice shit brown color,” Anson muttered.
I chuckled at that and lifted my sunglasses up to show him I had the contacts in.
“Wow, not bad,” Klaus said. “You pull off shit brown really nicely.”
I gave him the finger, making him chuckle softly.
E hung up the phone and came back to us.
“You good?” Anson asked.
“Yeah, man. All is well. Just my guys checking in on me,” he muttered. “I didn’t call and was gone all night.”
“Probably think you’re getting laid,” Klaus said, eyeing Ethan. “You doing that? Getting laid enough?”
Ethan scoffed. “Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m going to worry about it,” Klaus said immediately. “You have a hard-on for our girl. I want to know you’re clean. You said you weren’t interested in joining us, but just in case, we need tobe safe. Once she’s back, we’ll be celebrating. If you’re half the man you appear to be, I wouldn’t kick you out of the bedroom.”
“I’m not… Rosalie and I…” He looked at me. “We’re not. I-I can’t. We have a son. The guys and I. I can’t leave him.”
I inclined my head. I figured as much. I knew Enzo had a son. E wasn’t the type of guy to run out on people, especially once he loved them. It was clear to see he gave a fuck about the kid.
I could empathize.
“So his dick status doesn’t matter,” Anson said. “No offense, E.”
“None taken,” he said softly, his eyes back on me. He couldn’t see my eyes beneath my sunglasses, but I was looking back at him, too. God, he’d changed. It was a completely different person standing in front of me.
“We need to stop at the underground this morning,” Klaus said. “Dante messaged and said Ellis is asking for us.”
Anson nodded sadly. “OK.”
E looked at his feet. I didn’t like going back to the underground either, but Church didn’t live at the same estate. He had a mansion over another part of the underground, so it wasn’t exactly what it used to be.
“You don’t have to come with us,” Anson said gently to E. “We can meet up later if you want to join the hunt for today.”
E snapped his attention to Anson. “I’ll go with you. I’d like to meet Ellis if that’s OK.”
I held up my hand and looked to Anson, who cleared his throat.
“Listen, E, I think you’re a good guy. You know I do, but Ellis is our daughter, and she means the world to us—” Anson started.
“She’s Cole’s daughter too,” he said softly.
I frowned. I didn’t think Rosalie would tell him that information until she was certain she wanted Cole involved.
“She showed me a picture of her,” E continued. “I won’t tell Cole, but I do want to meet her. I just… I want to know her. I swore I’d keep Ellis a secret. I swore I’d not tell the guys I was talking to Rosalie. I will take those secrets to my grave if she decides she doesn’t want them to know. But please. Let me see Ellis.”
“Evan decides,” Klaus murmured. “He is her husband. He makes those decisions.”
I studied E for a long moment before nodding.
E let out a breath, and that was it. We left Klaus’s apartment and went downstairs to a blacked-out SUV Klaus had waiting for us with Frank, his old driver.
“Oh, a horseman,” Frank said as E climbed into the SUV. “Going to the underground. This should be fun.”
“Fucking drive, Frank,” Klaus snapped. “Arschloch.”
