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Shit…!
I almost kissed Cil.
In public!!
Part of me wants to punch this man for blowing my chance, but the other wants to thank him for saving my sanity.
Cillian pats my arm, stepping past me to hug him. “William! How are you?”
“I arrived this morning. And wow!” William looks around, smiling. “This looks incredible, my boy. Your grandfather would be proud of what you’ve done here.”
“Thank you so much,” Cillian says, before turning back to me. “Knox, this is William, a family friend and one of my dad’s oldest friends. William, this is Knox Adler—”
William stretches his hand out toward me, and I take it. “From Harknett 8? I’ve heard a lot about you and your team.”
“Hopefully good things,” I say, shaking his hand, and he laughs.
“Oh, everything I’ve heard about you lads is incredible.” He leans in so the couple next to us can’t hear. “But not everything is good.”
Cillian gasps, turning to me as if expecting me to solve the mystery.
To be fair, we’ve done enough shit that I genuinely have no idea which one he’s talking about.
I shrug, and Cil understands I’m clueless, so he turns to William. “What happened?”
“I was in business with Benedict Blanche,” William explains, and my jaw drops.
Oh, shit…
William bursts out laughing at my expression, while Cillian glances between us, clearly amused. “What did they do?”
“We?! Björn and Damián stole a vehicle.”
“A vehicle?” William laughs. “That ‘vehicle’ was a custom amphibious hovercraft.”
“Exactly. A vehicle.”
Cillian turns back to me, eyes wide. “Aren’t those things like half a million?”
“It was to stop human trafficking,” I point out.
“It was hilarious,” William says, and laughs so hard it makes me question if I should call Tae in case he chokes. “I was at the party when that bloody thing came out of the ocean, drove through the stage, and this gigantic Viking of a man launched himself into a lad.”
“An evil, armed, human-trafficking guy,” I point out.
“Right, so he jumped and crashed into an evil, armed, human-trafficking lad,” William emphasizes, grinning. “And while his Latino partner cuffed him, the Viking started snogging with a viscountess.”
“Oh, I’ve seen that in person,” Cillian says, excited to be part of the Harknett experience. “The fans go crazy when they see Björn.”
“What? Is snogging fans a regular occurrence?”
“Unfortunately.” I nod. “And we’ve told him many times that kissing random fans is going to get him into trouble.”
“And he doesn’t care?”
“He stole a half-million-dollar hovercraft because the jet ski rental guy was taking too long,” I say, and William laughs again.
“Right. So he definitely doesn’t care.”
