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“My lips are sealed, Hailee, sorry.” He gave me a knowing smile, leading us to the diner part of the building. I’d asked for a specific booth overlooking the river. The Alley might have been Hailee’s Switzerland, but it didn’t take long before people noticed us, whispering and pointing as we followed Tate, my hand on the small of Hailee’s back.
“Everyone’s staring,” she whispered, her posture tense. I leaned forward, brushing the shell of her ear, and replied, “Let them look.”
I had no problem with everyone knowing she was mine. In fact, if I didn’t think she’d kick me in the balls, I would have kissed the crap out of her, giving them the show they were hoping for.
“I hope this is okay?” Tate said as we stopped at the last booth removing the handwritten ‘reserved’ sign. It was as private as it was going to get, but Flick had shot down my first suggestion of asking Tate for exclusive use of the place. ‘Do you know Hailee at all?’, she’d asked me with an air of amusement before proceeding to tell me I just needed to be myself—not Raider Cameron, but the guy underneath the bravado—and nothing else.
“It’s great, thank you.” I held out my hand and he shook it before leaving us to it.
Hailee stuttered, her eyes moving from the booth to me. “What is happening right now?”
“We’re about to eat dinner and then I’m going to kick your very cute ass at bowling.” I took her hand and gently nudged her into the booth, sliding in opposite her. “So, what’s good here?” I picked up the menu.
“I can’t believe you had Tate reserve us a table.”
“It could have been worse. I could have booked out the whole place just for the two of us.”
I’d expected to see her nose wrinkle at the obscene over-the-top idea, but it didn’t. Instead, her pupils dilated, that sexy-as-fuck blush spreading up her neck. “Would you have wanted that?” I asked.
“Maybe.” She chewed her bottom lip, desire simmering in her eyes.
My brow rose. “Yeah? Here?” I scanned the place quickly, imagining all the places I could lay her out and—
“Hailee?” A dark-haired guy approached the booth, his eyes darting between us.
“Hey, Toby.” Her
expression fell.
Toby.
My spine went rigid as I sat up straighter.
“Sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt, I can see you’re... busy.” He swallowed thickly. “I just wanted to apologize for what happened. You didn’t text me back and I...”
“You need to leave, now.” I ground out, my fingers curled around the Formica table.
“Cameron,” Hailee said gently. “It’s okay. Toby, this is Cameron, my—”
“Her boyfriend.” I locked eyes on him, sending him a silent message. Hailee’s foot kicked me under the table and I jerked in my seat.
“Behave,” she mouthed. “I’m sorry I didn’t text you back, Toby, but it didn’t feel right, not after...”
“Yeah, I get it.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I just felt bad about what happened, and I wanted you to know I had no idea Thatcher was going to pull that shit. He might be my cousin but that was not cool.”
“Are you done?” I said coolly.
Credit to him, the guy looked me right in the eye as he said, “Yeah, I’m done.” His gaze slid back to Hailee. “And I’m sorry again. I guess I’ll see you around.”
She gave him a little nod and he left, and I breathed a huge fucking sigh of relief.
“You didn’t have to be so rude.” Hailee scolded, trying, and failing to keep the amusement out of her voice.
“Rude? That was me being polite, Sunshine.”
“Cameron, come on...” She gave me a pointed look, but I wasn’t about to waiver. Not on this.
“Hailee.” I leaned forward, lowering my voice. “He took you to a party where you were drugged and...” The words lodged in my throat. “I’m never going to be okay with that.” He was lucky I hadn’t introduced my fist to his face.
