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“Have you never picked a woman up for a gala before?” I ask him. “You can’t just honk and wait.”
“This isn’t prom, Ash,” he snaps. “We’re not her fucking dates.”
I shake my head and get out of the car, leaning against the side of it to wait. Knox and Priest do the same, and Gage stays stubbornly behind the wheel, determined to keep having his little tantrum.
Well, whatever.
I glance at Priest, but there’s still nothing there. He’s checking out the building, looking around at the cars and the few people coming and going, but it’s like there’s nothing behind his eyes at all.
At least, not until the front door of the building opens and River comes walking out.
It’s almost funny, seeing her dressed to the nines in a sparkly black gown that looks fucking stunning on her, walking out of a shit hole place like this. The dress has a shimmer to it, as well as sparkly beads or something along the bodice. It’s sleeveless, showing off her shoulders and the tattoos that snake along her arms. It clings to her body in all the right ways, showing off her chest and her hips and then skimming down her legs just long enough to make you wonder about them. Her silver hair flows over her shoulders and down her upper back in soft waves. She’s done her makeup and has on some killer black heels, and all of us straighten up and take notice.
Something flares in Priest’s eyes for a second before he shutters it away again, and Knox looks like he wants to throw her down on the hood of the car and take her right here and now.
I can’t say I blame him for that. She’s gorgeous as hell, looking like a goddess even here in the parking lot of this shitty place.
She checks us out right back as she makes her way across the street to the car, and it’s kind of crazy how I can feel the change in all of us, just having her here with us again. It’s like we suddenly know which way is up again. Like we’re all pointed in her direction, where before we were spinning out of control or something.
It’s weird, but I’m not complaining.
A sharp bark from above is the only thing that yanks our gazes away from River, and I look up to a window on the third floor where her fucking dog has his paws up on the window sill. He barks again, tongue lolling out of his mouth.
“Shut the fuck up,” Knox says, laughing. “She’s ours for the night.”
I snort at the idea that he’s jealous of her damn dog of all things, but I guess out of all of us, Knox has had the hardest time dealing with River being gone. At least on the surface. He’s the one who hunted her down to invite her to this thing, anyway.
“Don’t yell at Jon Snow,” River says, finally close enough that we can hear her. “It’s not his fault you’re dragging me to this thing.”
“Dragging is a strong word,” I tell her with a grin, letting my gaze roam up and down her body shamelessly.
“Who asked you?” she shoots back, and it probably shouldn’t be this easy to fall back into our old banter, but again, who’s complaining?
She looks the three of us over, and I can see the heat in her eyes as she takes us all in. We’re all dressed our best, even Priest, and I can tell she likes what she sees.
That just makes me grin wider at her.
Knox is also grinning like a madman, and he eyes her with a hot gaze. “Good choice,” he says about her dress. “Black’s a good color on you.”
“I figured the red might be too much of a statement,” she says.
He shrugs. “You could’ve pulled it off.”
Priest doesn’t say anything, but a look passes between him and River that happens so fast I almost miss it. Well, at least he’s not completely dead inside, I guess. He can still take notice of how fucking hot she looks.
Gage blows the horn again, and River lifts an eyebrow.
“Don’t ask,” I tell her. I sweep down into a goofy, over-the-top bow and open the car door. “Your chariot, ma’am.”
She rolls her eyes at me and lifts her dress enough that she can get into the back seat without wrinkling it. She slides into the middle, and Knox and I get in on either side of her.
“Okay,” I say. “Now we’re ready to go.”
Gage doesn’t say anything, just starts the car and peels out.
It’s another one of those funny juxtapositions when we leave River’s little neighborhood and start heading for the part of town where the gala is being held. It’s all mansions and fancy hotels and shit, places that make sense for the kind of people who’ll be at this thing.
It’s being held in one of the big hotels, in the “Grand Ballroom,” which is just so fucking pretentious it makes me want to puke all over myself.
