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As soon as I finished getting my shoe on, I stood from the couch and turned to face Louie. He raked his eyes over me from head to toe. “You look gorgeous.”
I gave him a small smile and grabbed my black clutch before walking to him. He watched me as I approached, still admiring every inch of me. I took that moment to admire him as well. He was dressed in a dark blue, almost black suit, sans tie, and a black button-up shirt underneath.
He grabbed my hands. “You’re going to turn heads tonight.”
“The whole point of going to The Underground is to be noticed.”
“They’ll more than notice you.”
I tilted my head slightly as I stared up at his unreadable face. “Feeling jealous?”
His thumb rubbed my ring finger on my left hand. “Maybe I’d feel better if you wore something that said you were claimed.”
I couldn’t stop my surprise from showing.
“I didn’t like it when Ivano brought up marriage as a way of securing an alliance,” he said.
“I would never—”
“I know.” He took in a calming breath and exhaled it slowly. “I want to remove their audacity to ask. I don’t want anyone looking at you like you’re a prize available for the taking.”
I smiled, enjoying his possessiveness. “Then you and Jamie better pick out something hard to miss.” I didn’t know how we would achieve what he was hinting at, but I knew the three of us would find a way to figure it out.
His smile matched mine and he gave me a small kiss so I wouldn’t have to reapply my lipstick. Holding hands, he and I walked out of my room. Dean, Asher, and Finn were waiting in the hall and followed us as we made our way downstairs.
Rourke and his goons were waiting in the foyer with Nicoli, Dario, and some of their enforcers. They all watched me as I came down the stairs. “I apologize for the wait,” I said as I walked up to Nicoli. He was wearing a black-on-black suit with the top few buttons of his shirt undone.
He took in my appearance with a grin. “Worth the wait, as always.”
I glanced around the room. When I didn’t see who I was looking for, I turned to my goons. “Where’s Brenna?”
Finn took a step away from our group, intending to go look for her, when we heard Brenna say, “I’m here.” Walking fast, she came into the foyer from the hallway that led to the backyard.
I was a little wowed by her appearance. Her hair was iron-straight; her makeup was dark and shimmery and made her look like she was a few years older than she was. She had on a white halter top with sparkly silver beading, black faux leather high-waisted shorts, and black, chunky-heeled, lace-up ankle boots. Over her halter she wore her dual shoulder holster that held two Glocks. As she walked farther into the room, she slipped into a leather jacket.
I peeked at Nicoli and Dario, and as I expected, both of them were staring at her as if they couldn’t look away.
Louie squeezed my hand, requesting my attention. He was also watching Nicoli and Dario and when his eyes flicked to me, he gave me a look that said,Do you see that?He had seen what I had been picking up on for a while now.
“Are we ready?” I asked the room, and we headed out.
The cobblestone driveway was lined with black Escalades waiting to take us to Anarchy and beneath it, The Underground. As we walked down the steps to the cars, I leaned close to Brenna. “Where’d you disappear to this afternoon?”
“My mom sent me a message threatening that if I didn’t call her back, she’d check herself out of rehab,” she said sullenly. “I’ve been ignoring her calls for a while, and she resorted to blackmail to get me to call her back.”
“What did she want?” I asked.
She hid emotion from her face and voice. “To wish me a happy birthday. I suppose I should feel happy she remembered.”
We made it to the bottom of the steps, and I paused to tell her, “You’re allowed to feel however you want.”
* * *
Nicoli and our entourage walked around us as we made our way through the club. There were live bands performing tonight and I caught Brenna staring at the dance floor as we passed. Louie led the way to a single door with an Employees Only sign. Two Russian goons stood guard by that door and as soon as we approached, they opened it for us. We filed into a short hallway that led to four more Russian goons holding black leather boxes standing in front of an elevator.
One of the goons with a box asked us to disarm. Everyone began handing over their guns. Well, everyone except Brenna. One of the Russian goons eyed her expectantly and she let out a sigh. She shucked off her leather jacket and tossed it at Finn. He caught it with a glare. She slid off her shoulder holster with her two guns and handed it over. After she snatched her jacket back from Finn and went to put it back on, I saw the impression of another gun under her shirt behind her back.
Louie had told me in the car that they would disarm us before we could enter, but also that everyone who came here snuck in at least one weapon. As half of our group climbed into the elevator, I leaned toward Brenna. “Great performance.”
