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Relaxing in Wizard’s arms, Natalia glanced toward the SUV Antonio had spotted from the window. Beside it, a man in a long coat was placing something back in the trunk.
She stiffened in fear. It wasn’t what he was putting away that frightened her, but how terrifying he looked. She could see why Antonio had panicked.
“Who is he?” she whispered, not wanting to draw his attention.
Wizard followed her gaze. “Oh, that’s a buddy of mine.”
“He’s a friend of yours?”
“Yeah. That’s Reaper.”
CHAPTER 54
I HEARD THAT
“Iappreciate the introduction to Governor Benning.”
“You’re welcome, Diamond.” Natalia pushed a bag of nuts across the table toward the woman sitting opposite her. Opening another bag, she took out a peanut.
“The governor promised to look into why my license application is taking so long to be approved.”
“I’m glad I could help.”
Cracking open a peanut, Diamond looked at her quizzically. “Wizard said you never asked the governor for help when you were receiving threats, but you asked him to speak with me. Why?”
“He’s better friends with Arden than he is with me. I would have felt bad presuming on their friendship. Asking him to help you was different.”
“Not really.”
“It was to me.”
“Because you weren’t asking for yourself. You were asking for someone else.”
Natalia cracked open another peanut and popped it into her mouth before taking a sip of beer. “God, I hate beer.” She changed the subject. “I don’t understand why Wizard can’t stock wine for their Friday parties. He has every brand of beer imaginable, yet he refuses to buy even one ten-dollar bottle of wine.”
Diamond laughed. “You haven’t figured out that he’s a cheapskate yet? The bag of nuts should’ve given you a clue. One of the steakhouse employees is a Last Rider. Wizard has him bring over the nuts the customers leave behind instead of throwing them away.”
“He’s the nut.”
Their peals of laughter had Wizard and Knox stopping their pool game to look in their direction.
“Uh-oh,” Diamond whispered conspiratorially. “We need to be careful, or they’ll come over here. They’ll be afraid we’re talking about them.”
“Why would they be afraid?”
Crushing a nut between two fingers, Diamond avoided looking toward the men. “Knox will worry I’m telling you club secrets you may not know.”
Natalia’s interest piqued. “Like what?”
“Hmm.” Diamond pretended to consider the question. “Has Wizard told you that, if he’s serious about you, he’ll ask one of the men to be his backup in case something happens to him?”
Natalia nearly choked on the peanut she had just swallowed. “No.” Coughing, she took a sip of beer as she remembered the list she and Arden had jokingly made. “I didn’t know.”
“They do.”
“Who’s Knox’s backup?”
Diamond stared into her eyes. “He changed it recently.”
