Page 17 of Playing with Trouble

“We’ll make sure she looks after herself,” Andrea promised, her protective streak in full force.

The paperwork felt endless, but at last I was officially discharged.Relief washed through me.I wanted nothing more than to crawl into my own bed, shut my eyes, and forget this day ever happened.

Chase kissed Andrea goodbye, promising to see her tomorrow.Andrea and Christopher were both coming home with me now—oh, boy, that was going to be fun—and Chase was leaving with Ford.

But not before he grinned at me one last time and said, “Try to be careful from now on, Trouble.”

His little jibe was deliberate.He knew exactly how much that nickname would annoy me.The crash hadn’t been my fault, and it sure as hell wasn’t about me being careful.He clearly just wanted to push my buttons.

So I glared because that’s what I did best around this man.Ford winked with too much charm and slipped out.

Andrea glanced toward the door, then back at me, looking a little curious over that exchange.“Well, at least you’re feeling more like yourself,” she said with a smile.

I realized that she wasn’t wrong.Because when Ford was in the room, I did feel like myself again—snarky, confident, sparking with life instead of feeling shaken and small, especially after today’s accident.

Damn Ford for knowing exactly how to get under my skin.And worse, for making me like it.

CHAPTER7

Ford

It was hard to put thoughts of Violet away, even when I was working.

The mayor’s gala was a cakewalk for us—Noble and Associates covered it every year, and I’d handled this security circuit so many times I could’ve done it blindfolded.Which was good, because my brain kept drifting back to Violet and that damn car that had caused her accident.

She’d been sure someone was following her, and even if I hadn’t overheard that conversation Christopher had on the phone out in the waiting room, I would have believed her.She was a smart woman and not one to exaggerate things just to get attention.If anything, she worked twice as hard to convince everyone she was fine, so the fact that she’d felt any unease at all about the car crash made me equally so.

I scanned the ballroom as I made another pass around the perimeter, my gaze sweeping over everyone mingling, chatting, dancing to the live band and enjoying the after dinner festivities.

I wondered if I should tell Violet what I’d caught during Christopher’s exchange on the phone in the waiting room, when it might not have anything to do with Violet at all.The biggest thing that held me back was that I was fairly certain Violet wouldn’t appreciate me meddling, or even hinting at her brother being involved in anything questionable.

I saw her face when her brother walked into the room at the hospital.She lit up.She talked more softly to him than to any of the rest of us, even Andrea—not just the love of a sibling, but of an older sibling.I understood that kind of loyalty.I had my twin sisters, who were about Violet’s age, and I felt the same fiercely protective way about them.

Ultimately I decided that if I told Violet my suspicions—that her brother was involved in something shady—especially with no proof, I was pretty damn sure she’d punch me.Or kick me in the nuts.Probably both.

Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I was pulled out of my thoughts as I turned to look.A pretty blonde woman in a silver gown was making her way through the ballroom towards the restroom.She looked visibly upset.

Wearing a black suit myself so I mostly blended in with the rest of the gala guests, I tracked the man following her, apparently trying to talk to the woman while she shook her head and kept walking.I drifted closer, trying to catch what they were saying.Even if this was just something like a marital spat, part of our job wasn’t just keeping everyone safe but making sure that any disturbances were handled before they escalated, so the party itself wasn’t disrupted in any way.Nobody wanted to hear a couple having a heated argument.

“Don’t be a fucking tease,” I heard the man say angrily as he grabbed the woman’s wrist and yanked her towards him, his other hand landing on her ass.“You act like you’re interested, and then you shut me down?”

“Yes, it’s calledchanging my mindbecause you’re acting like a jerk,” the woman snapped, sounding near tears as she attempted to shove him away, all to no avail.“Get off me.”

“Sir?”I said, intercepting them.“I’m going to have to ask you to let go of her and come with me.”

“Excuse me?”The guy’s tone was belligerent as he looked down his nose at me.“I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but this is a private conversation.”

The woman shot me a grateful look, and I kept my focus on the guy.“Sir, there is a zero-tolerance policy for sexual assault and harassment.”

The asshole abruptly released the woman, causing her to stumble back on her heels as he stepped toward me.“Harassment?This is mydate—”

“And she saidno,” I pointed out calmly.“She doesn’t owe you anything.Now, if you’ll please come with me—”

The man took a swing at me, and judging by his sloppy aim I suspected he was drunk.Well, even if he hadn’t been, he wasn’t a problem for me.I dodged his fist, taking the man’s wrist and twisting his arm behind his back, using his momentum against him.My other hand grabbed a fistful of his jacket between his shoulder blades, so that I now controlled his center of balance.He struggled and sputtered indignantly, but my grip on him didn’t falter.

I looked over at the woman.“If you’d like to press charges, we can arrange that.”

She shook her head, arms crossed in front of her, and I could see she was trembling a little.“No, thank you, I’m fine.I just want him to leave me alone.”