Page 57 of Lie With Me
“I didn’t even realize you guys were serious about trying already.” It seems so sudden. It hasn’t even been a year since they met, and so much has happened between them. I’m happy for my friend, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that a small part of me feels a little sorrow at the reminder of an experience I’ll never get to have.
“Well, you know Jackson. He can’t keep his damn hands off me.” She laughs.
“Or is ityouwho can’t keep her hands offme, Red?” the man in question says smugly as he comes up beside me.
Tripp goes around us to stand next to Ginny as I tell Jackson, “Oh, I think we all know who can’t keep their hands off whom. Don’t forget it was me at that hostess stand when you came looking for Ginny theday after you met her. She took you down with one pretty smile and a hard letdown, and you were a goner.”
“While I don’t argue that fact, don’t pretend she wasn’t attracted to me right from the get-go,” he bites back.
“So what? My girl made you work for it. Stop pretending like you’re some higher power’s gift to the earth.” I wave him away in pretend annoyance. This is what Jackson and I do. We banter, and it’s exactly why he kept Tripp and me apart, because when we all get going, it can become a lot.
“I’m sorry. I recall Ginny telling me you said I was gorgeous. And that if I weren’t soenamoredwith her, you’d climb me like a tree and swing from the branches.” He sneers with a feline grin.
“Wha…I did not…Ginny! Isnothingsacred anymore?” I sputter, my cheeks growing warm at being so blatantly called out.
Looking over, I see her and Tripp huddled together, watching Jackson and me like we’re a movie and all they need is some popcorn.
“You know, I once was afraid that they might have slept together here at the club, but now I’m actually kind of intrigued by this,” she tells him as she motions between her fiancé and me.
“Lenni is so bossy, and Jackson hates to be bossed around. I wouldn’t mind watching how that played out in the bedroom,” Tripp plays along, but the look he’s giving me lets me know he doesn’t mean a word. I have a feeling he intentionally leaves out thatI am, in fact,notbossyin the bedroom—but only when it comes tohim—as if any of us are actually okay with what’s being discussed right now.
“Oh yeah? You both want to see this?” Jackson scoffs at them as he reaches out and wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me into his side. Where I once might have swooned if Jackson paid me this much attention, I’m now revolted and try to push him away as I grimace.
“Nope, get your hands off her. Don’t like that one bit,” Tripp declares as he steps forward, reaching out to remove Jackson’s arm from me.
At the same time, Ginny cries out, “Jackson Edward Tailor, you get your hands off my best friend right now! Are you insane?”
“Certifiably, apparently.” Jackson all but pushes me into Tripp’s arms. “Can we table the bullshit for another day? I’d like to fuck my wife now. Preferably with no one else in the room.”
Tripp is already pulling me toward the door, muttering under his breath, “I fucking hate this place.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow!” Ginny calls out just as Tripp slams the door shut behind us.
Giggling, I let him pull me into him as we head back to the Grand Room. “You know, all that stuff I said about him was way before I met you. Don’t be jelly.”
As we reach the main door to the hall, he pulls me to a stop, caging me against the wall and ignoring that a guard is behind us. Usually, we have the sameguards, but over the last few days, there’s been a lot of changes with security.
“I’m fucking grape, raspberry, and even crab apple jelly. And I really want to drag you into one of these rooms to show you just how much.” His face looks pained, eyes bouncing back and forth between mine as he struggles with what he wants to say next. His voice strains as he presses his forehead against mine. “Has anything ever happened between you two?”
“Seriously? No! I can’t believe you’d ask that.” Pushing off the wall, I open the door and head into the Grand Room with Tripp right on my heels.
We haven’t even taken more than a few steps before a booker approaches me. “Miss Bianca, I have multiple clients in the wing who are requesting you this evening. I know you’re not working it, but it’s my job to tell you they’ve offered double, and one is even offering triple the rate.”
“She’s not doing it,” Tripp snaps as he grabs my arm and starts pulling me toward the exit. Chaos erupts as multiple security guards appear from the shadows and surround us.
“Hands off!” one of them snaps. It’s Luca, one of our most dangerous guards. It's not just the fact that he's six feet, ripped as fuck, and damn good at his job that makes him dangerous—though it helps. But that his father is Vinny Morroni, one of the heads of the Italian Mafia.
After Senator Mick Charles shoved Vinny out of a partnership at the club, Carmela made a deal to keepsome of his men on for security. Vinny’s been trying to get back into a partnership with her, but Mick doesn’t want to be involved with him for obvious political reasons. Part of the deal of keeping some of his men on was that Luca would be in charge of them, Carmela trusted him so much though that she ended up making him head of all her security.
Tripp lets go of me, holding his hands up as the guards press in on him. People around us watch the spectacle with wide eyes because this rarely happens.
“It’s okay, Luca. Don’t throw him out.”
“Are you okay?”
Tripp gives him an annoyed look before his eyes slide to mine. “I’m sorry for breaking the rules.”
“I’m fine. We’re okay.” I speak to Luca, but I’m looking at Tripp, trying to convey how I feel with my expression. I don’t want to fight with him, and I don’t know what is going on between him and Jackson, but I don’t want to add fuel to that fire.