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13
Theo
Switzerland
Idon’t know if Sophia Solomon is the dumbest chick on the planet, or the smartest. I don’t know if she’s taken classes on how to evade questions and play them off as something else, or if she really doesn’t have two brain cells between her ears to rub together.
I just know that I’ve been in this booth with this woman for ninety minutes already, and not once has she slipped and given me information on Checkmate and its side entities, no matter how I phrase the question. And I’ve tried. I’ve run the same question through her sieve-like brain thirty times in thirty different ways, but she has no clue about her accounts. She has no clue about her world or the filthy money that is washed through her business.
But somehow, despite this being the center of my entire existence and the very reason I’m here, it doesn’t matter to me anymore as I watch Libby stand between two men. One is the cop, and the other is drunk and belligerent.
Sophia sits beside me in the shortest skirt known to mankind and practically offers herself up, despite telling me earlier she’s in love with her man. She asks about my business, she wants to know what I can offer Checkmate, and she wants to know how our engineers can maintain such intuitive forward thinking. She wants to know why I’m in town doing the rep calls in person, rather than sending a regular division representative like I normally would. She asks questions in such an easy manner, it almost makes me suspicious she’s a genius in a bimbo’s getup, and she does it all with flirty grins and hungry eyes.
But she holds no allure the way the perpetually scowling Libby does. Her short skirt doesn’t make my heart thump the way Libby’s jeans do. I need to get Libby on the same page as me, and I need to get her herenow.
“I said no!”
My eyes come away from Sophia and stop on Libby as her drunk companion swings an arm out and smacks her.
“Go sit somewhere else. I was here first.”
Libby’s brows furrow when the man’s hand smacks her hard enough that it’s not a slap, but a deep thud. Drake’s brows pop, and I find myself out of my seat before I can control my movements.
Sophia’s words – something about the Gladiator security system – cut off mid-sentence as I blow out of the booth and inadvertently draw Libby’s eyes.
My movement distracts her, and the drunk dude is too fucking drunk to control himself.
When Drake tries to help him stand, and distractedly, Libby takes his other arm to help, but her eyes are on me, the guy swings around fast as a whip in an effort to be set free. His arm is like dead weight, a locomotive that cannot stop on a dime. He swings around fast, and his fist slams against Lib’s face and cheekbone so hard that blood explodes from her nose.
Drake slams the guy to the floor, but I find myself flying across the twenty or so feet that separate us so the toes of my shoes touch Libby’s, and I end up with one arm around her torso when her legs turn weak.
“Fuck. Libby?” I hold her up when her eyes roll and her knees buckle. It was more than a tap, and more than anything you get when sparring in a gym. You expect a clip on the jaw when you’re inside a boxing ring, but no one expected the slam that came for Libby’s face. “Lib? Babe? Wake up.” I help her sit on the stool she began in, and accept a tall glass of ice the barmaid drops down by my elbow.
Tears stream from Libby’s eyes as the right side instantly swells, enraging me as I wipe away blood and find a split lip.
He backhanded her so hard he split her lip, made her nose bleed, and her eye is swelling.
“Motherfucker!” I turn with the intention to pick him up and slam his face against the bar, but Sophia pushes into my space and spins me back.
“Hold her up before she drops.” She reaches out and accepts a hand towel from the barmaid, dumps the glass of ice onto the towel, and bundles it up to make an ice pack. Gently, Sophia pushes the ice against Libby’s face until Lib hisses and her body tenses. “Hold this.” She takes my hand and pushes it forward so I’m holding the ice. “If you go to him, you’ll get your ass arrested. The cop has got it, so now you take care of Libby.”
“I’m okay.” Libby’s eyes swing around the room as though she’s been spinning, spinning, spinning, then finally stopped and attempted to walk straight. “It’s okay.”
“Not okay.” Sophia bends to stare into Lib’s uncovered eye. “Can you see me?” She raises three fingers. “How many?”
Libby stares for the longest minute. The rest of the bar is chaotic shouts and moving people. The music is still playing downstairs, the people are still dancing, but upstairs, Drake is hauling the drunk guy to his feet and reading him his Miranda rights, and Sophia is slowly moving her hand in front of Libby’s face.
“Tate…? How many fingers?”
Finally, Libby’s gaze comes up. “Huh?”
“Fuck.” Sophia tugs a cell from somewhere in her tiny skirt and makes a call. “Luc? I need a house call. Yes now.” She laughs at…Luc? Brother to the twins? “Officer Tate just took a smack to the head. She can’t focus, I think her ears are ringing, her pupils are dilated. He got her good.” She pauses. “Yeah. We’re actually at 188. You’re coming?” She pauses, then nods. “Okay. See you in a bit.” She hangs up and tosses the cell to the bar, then she bends lower to meet Libby’s eyes. “I thought you were tougher than this? One drunk dude cold-cocks you, and you’re out? What the fuck is that?”
“Not out.” Libby’s hand comes up and wraps around mine for a brief second. Part of me thinks she wants to hold my hand. Maybe she craves my touch the same way I crave hers. But what she actually does is take hold of the ice pack and pull it all away. “He put stars in my eyes, but I’m good now. Drake?”
“I’m here, honey.” Drake pushes the drunk’s face against the bar and lets his eyes scan Libby’s busted face. When he’s done taking stock, he crushes the guy’s head until he squeaks. “Scanlon’s gonna spend the weekend in lockup. Fuck him.”
“Can you take care of the paperwork?” She frowns for no apparent reason. Blinking, blinking, blinking, she smacks her lips and hisses when she remembers it hurts. “I don’t think my brain can write reports tonight.”
