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His dark eyes bored into mine.
Controlled and composed.
Finley Salvatore was a loaded gun. One whose attention was pointed at me. He scowled and scanned me from head to toe, then pushed from his chair and strode toward the front of the room.
The two others followed him. I was betting everything came after Finley. He moved like he was the end result of everything. The finality. The goddamn answer to every fucking question that every existed.
Max and Pavlov moved with him, staring down the four other bodyguards in a pissing contest of epic proportions. Finley just waited, his tattooed hand ready to draw the gun tucked into the back of his waistband.
“Gentlemen, we’re all friends here,” Mr. FBI murmured, carefully crossing his arms over his chest, watching the displays of dominance. “And we abide by the Code.”
But they weren’t friends, that was easy to see…and still not a damn word was spoken. It was both terrifying…and hot as hell.Heat moved through me, licking and lingering in places it shouldn’t as I watched the standoff of goons.
But it was Finley who gave a shrug, leaving his shadows to stare down the other four until a bark sounded.
“Just go,” one of them muttered with a sigh. “Or I’ll be here until I’m fucking eighty. Goddamn motherfucking Code.”
They left then, tails tucked between their legs. A slight twitch of his lips, and Max chuckled.Pissing contest won…I guess Max had the bigger dick after all.
“Ahhemm.”I jerked my gaze up at the sound, cheeks burning as Mr. FBI just stared at me. “Miss Eden?”
Shit.I jerked my gaze to Finley’s bodyguard, who also stared at me.
I shoved to stand on trembling legs and scrambled like the damn mouse I was, clutched my iPad to my chest, and hurried for the open door.
Footsteps thudded behind me in commanding strides. I tore through the door and scanned the darkened hallway, my gaze instantly stopping on the closed door to the sex romp.No way…not there…
Panic thundered in the veins at the sides of my neck. I winced, and desperation drew me toward the low murmur of voices at the end of the hall. I made my way back to the foyer, glancing at the sweeping staircase and the massive water feature that I’d somehow missed hurrying to class. One panicked look over my shoulder and I found the hallway empty.What the hell?
“You should’ve seen how Finley Salvatore reacted toward her.” The nasally blonde from the boat said loud enough that I could hear. I focused on the reason I was here and tried to ignore it. “Maybe he took pity on her. I mean, look at her, she looks like a nobody.”
I turned, and took a seat near the fountain, nervously biting my lower lip. But inmyworld, looks could be deceiving. A nobody? I didn’t think so. I had enough money invested in stocks that I could retire now at twenty and never have to work another day in my life. I didn’t need to wear fifty thousand dollars on my body to get attention.
“Madi…stop staring.” The guy leaned close. “Unless you want to…you know,bang her.”
Gross.
My face burned as Finley’s hungry stare came back to me.
“Jesus, there he is,” she whispered at the steady thud of footsteps. “And theretheyare.”
Speak of the Devil and he appears…I couldn’t look away. He was thunder and lightning all at once, dark and brooding, his gaze sweeping through the crowd.
“She looks like a damn nun. Do we even know who sheis?”
I inhaled as the words reached me, then slowly exhaled and busied myself with searching their faces, keeping my mind on the reason I was here, to find the damn contact.
Eden.My last name echoed in the space. I tugged at the high neckline of my top and cut my gaze toward them, watching as they turned their gazes away. This whole damn thing was a bad idea. How the hell had I ever thought I could fit in here? I should leave. I lowered my hand to the cold marble seat and went to stand.
But Finley still scanned the room, finding every woman before he moved on. That burn moved a little higher, reaching along my throat like a damn fist as that brooding gaze settled on me.Control me.That’s what he wanted to do. It was written all over his damn face, carved into every furrow of his brow. Nothing more than a command on those lips.
My pulse quickened under his stare as I lowered mine to the floor.
I wanted to meet his ferocious stare with my own. I wanted to be ballsy, to be likethem,and barkback the fuck off…
But I didn’t…instead, I took a step sideways, the backs of my legs kissing the icy marble seat as I used those same assholes who'd made fun of me as a damn shield. Still, I caught the cant of his head as he narrowed in on the movement and turned his head to his bodyguard.
The blonde lifted her hand and waved at Finley when he turned back, but his gaze went right past her without a flicker of interest.
