Page 20 of Bulletproof

“Like what things?”

“Like people things,” he snapped at me, his hand suddenly on my shoulder, squeezing. “You are not to go near Eddie Liron or his brother, Cristo, or Adrian Miller again. Do you understand me? Are we clear?”

I wondered vaguely if he realized that I was a grown-up. “Dane⁠—”

“Are you listening to me?” he asked, his voice stern.

“How do you really know what kind of business Adrian Miller or⁠—”

“You used to work for me. You know how close my ties are to the construction industry. All the people I collaborate with will not work with Adrian Miller, and neither will you.”

“I don’t work with him now,” I defended myself. “I went with Jeff Franklin—who ditched me, by the way—and ended up meeting Eddie Liron. I hadn’t planned any of it.”

He nodded, his eyes locked on my face. The scrutiny was unnerving.

“What are you doing here?”

“It should be obvious that I’m going to have brunch at one of my favorite restaurants. I might remind you that I’m the one who brought you here the first time.”

Oh yeah.

“Where’s Aja?”

“Don’t try to change the subject. I want your word that you’re going to stay away from Eddie Liron; his homicidal brother, Cristo; and Adrian Miller.”

I gave him a long-suffering sigh. “Agreed. I’ll tell Eddie my brother said I can’t play with him anymore.”

The squint became an all-out scowl.

“Oh, for crap’s sake, is it ride Jory day? Because if it is, I missed the memo.”

“Let’s eat,” he ordered, walking away from me so I had no choice but to follow.

I threw up my hands in defeat.

“Do what I say,” he warned me as we rejoined the others.

He didn’t even have to turn around to know I was disgusted with him.

“Introduce me,” he commanded.

So, I introduced Dane to Michelle and Lisa and watched them both. Michelle took a breath and remained cool, but Lisa … I watched the woman puddle to the floor right there. She looked up and up, her head tilted all the way back so she could look into Dane Harcourt’s face. When he smiled, she, like everyone else, saw the flecks of mercury in his eyes. The shiver was adorable, her indrawn breath expected. But he wasn’t in the mood to be charming. He didn’t offer her his arm to lead her to the table; he grabbed me instead, shoving me ahead of him, pointing toward the back, where I only ever sat when I dined with him.

I did not tell Dane about agreeing to see Eddie Liron again. I didn’t bring up the fact that I was going to be introduced to his brother. Even when I felt my phone vibrate with the text message, I kept it to myself.

THREE

Ireally needed to stop having preconceived ideas about things. From the party at the place I had been at the night before, I thought I would be going to another big, fancy penthouse with a panoramic view of the city. What I got was a house in Highland Park, which was an enormous Renaissance Revival mansion. I had worked for an architect for five years, so I knew what I was looking at. If the number of cars in the driveway was any indication, the party was more of a small gathering.

When I knocked on the front door, Eddie answered.

“Hey,” he said, smiling at me. “You made it!”

I took the hand he offered me, letting him pull me into the beautiful house. The marble floors, the halls that were so wide that you could drive a car down them, the carved and polished wood—it was like being in a museum. And that made sense since Renaissance Revival was usually only seen in public buildings or homes of the very rich.

He was about to take my army-style jacket when another man came jogging up and said that plans had changed and everyone was heading out to a party.

“We can do this another time, then,” I told Eddie, taking a step back toward the door.