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He chuckled, nodding. “Yes. I tried to wear one of my ties but my mom showed up with a spare and whacked me. I knew she’d never check my socks though.”
Rolling my lips between my teeth, I fought hard against a laugh. Of all the ridiculous things he could’ve chosen, he chose socks that made it look like his calves were chicken legs instead. A laugh bubbled up out of nowhere and I covered my mouth to hide it.
Jaime’s eyes lit up and he grinned at me. “I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh.”
Sucking in a breath, I did my best to pull myself together. “Yes, well don’t get used to it. I’m still mad at you.”
He gave me a playful pout but before he could reply, the rest of the room started clapping politely and a long line of waiters streamed from the kitchen, bringing out dishes for everyone. A few more went around with more wine and the noise in the room raised as conversations started. Jaime tucked into his food almost instantly, inhaling what was in front of him. He only slowed when he noticed me watching him with my eyebrows raised.
“What? It’s good!” he protested.
Shaking my head, I ate more slowly. He was right, it was delicious, but I wasn’t going to embarrass myself by shoveling it into my mouth like an animal.
“So how’d she do it?”
Taking a large sip of wine, I glanced at him. “How did who do what?”
“How’d Jo manipulate you into coming out here? I tried the food angle, it obviously didn’t work. Did she threaten you with a gun?”
Choking on my wine, I whipped my head around to face him. “Does she do that kind of thing?”
Someone at the table snickered and when I glanced around, they all had grins on their faces. I’ll take that as a yes then.
I recognized CJ who drove me and Jaime around a few times across the table. He was trying really hard not to laugh and failing miserably.
“You’re talking about Jo. The woman who destroyed a known mafia boss’s home office for refusing to let her go to school when there was a threat on her life. And this was before they were married. Or even official.”
My mouth fell open and they all laughed. Another one I didn’t know nodded, his eyes crinkling at the sides.
“Jo doesn’t do anything halfway. If you piss her off, she’s going to rip you a new one. She’ll purposely pick me for self defense practice and knock me around knowing I can’t do a thing to her. Liam would shoot me for even trying.”
I’d expected this dinner to be awkward and tense like Jaime suggested, especially because I didn’t want to be here, however the group he steered me toward was all easy going and funny and I found myself relaxing and laughing along with them. They shared stories of the wild shenanigans the wives of the big three seemed to pull off on an almost constant basis. Even the calm looking one, Mariana, was known to get herself into trouble when she was hanging out with Jo and Gabi. None of their husbands ever did anything to stop them. These women had free rein to live their lives on their terms, with a few exceptions like a security guard following them around.
“So you were Jo’s security guard and you got demoted to watching me instead? What’d you do to him to piss him off?”
He opened his mouth to reply but someone answered for him.
“Jaime won’t lay off the flirting and Liam’s a jealous asshole. It’s his own damn fault,” Adam, one of the security guys replied, shooting him a smug grin when Jaime glared at him.
“I’m not fucking flirting. Is it my fault that he’s got no personality outside of pissed off mob boss? Some of us are actually fun to be around,” Jaime snarked.
Shaking my head, I took another sip of my whiskey. At one point CJ had produced a bottle and snuck it around the table. It was better than the wine and Jaime seemed surprised that I preferred it.
“I’m pretty sure if someone I was dating was acting like that, it’d put up some serious red flags. He probably thinks you’re going to try and sleep with his wife,” I pointed out.
Jaime’s mouth fell open. “Hell no! She’s like my sister!”
I shrugged. “I’ve seen you with her. You flirt. I’d be pissed off too if someone was doing that kind of thing to my spouse.”
“Wait, you two aren’t an item?” One of the few female security guards, a tough looking woman with a nose ring named Izzy, frowned at me. She was obviously drunk, her eyes hooded, but I still hissed at her.
“Absolutely not. I don't date clients or their employees.”
Her drunken gaze shifted to Jaime. “Still haven’t sealed the deal on that, huh?”
When I whipped my head around to face him, he had the decency to blush. “Shut the fuck up, Izzy.”
Pissed off and just a little more tipsy than I’d like, I shoved my seat away from the table and stalked off. I needed some damn air.
