Page 86 of House of Scarlett
When we walkinto the restaurant on Tuesday night, Bump is bouncing like his normal insanely excited self.
“She’s meeting us here? Right? And she’s going to play games with us? Do you think she’ll let me keep her tickets so I can get a bigger prize? You always let me keep your tickets, Gabe.”
We’re meeting Scarlett at what might be Bump’s favorite place in the city—a restaurant that’s more about the arcade games than the food.
“She’ll be here. You’ll have to ask her about the tickets. I don’t know; maybe she’ll want a prize for herself.”
Bump claps his hands. “Maybe I could give hermytickets and thenshecould get a really big one. You think she’d like that?”
“I bet she’d be thrilled, bud. Look, there she is. Right on time.”
Scarlett walks through the doors with her straight blond hair shining under the lights. She’s wearing jeans, which is a first that I’ve seen, and a silky navy-blue-and-white plaid shirt tucked in at the front. She looks fucking edible.
“She’s here!” Bump rushes over to see her, and it makes me just as fucking happy to see the smile stretch her cheeks as she hugs him. The dude kidnapped her, and here she is excited to have dinner with him.
Like I said before, Scarlett’s a miracle. I can’t imagine any other woman who wouldn’t at least try to keep him at a distance.
Bump brings her over to me, and I lean in to steal a kiss from her lush pink lips. Makeup be damned.
“You look beautiful. Thanks for meeting us.”
“Thank you for inviting me. I’ve never been here, but I’m ready to play.” She looks to Bump. “Which is your favorite game? Which ones do I have to try?”
Bump launches into a serious debate centered around Skee-Ball and motorcycle racing as I give a sign to the hostess that we’re ready to be seated.
The three of us head to the table, but Bump never misses a beat. “We can race motorcycles first and then we can play Skee-Ball, and you can tell me which is your favorite, because I like old school and new school, and I’m good at both.”
“Don’t let him talk you into betting on it. Bump is a total shark when it comes to Skee-Ball.”
The pride on Bump’s face warms my heart, and helps take away some of the concern I’ve been carrying all day, since we haven’t heard from Bruce or Gerard about the contract for the fights to happen at Legend.
I know it takes longer than a day to draft the contracts that’ll make it a done deal, but I’m more worried about them not being able to get approval from whoever they might have to run it by. Q reached out to Black, but we haven’t heard back from him either.
I need all these pieces to fall into place if my plan is going to work, but so far, nothing’s moving. I have a meeting with some of my investors in less than forty-eight hours, and I need this plan to be sorted out beforehand. If I can tell them I have it all handled at the meeting, they’ll back off with their questions and let me run my business the way I need to. But considering the current state of affairs and who my investors are, they’re going to have a fuck load of questions that I’m not ready to answer yet.
Dinner goes quickly, with Bump carrying the weight of the conversation with Scarlett, at least until the food comes. Then he turns into a Hoover, and the food is gone in minutes without a single word from him until his head pops up.
“Can we play now?”
I pull out my wallet and peel off a couple of twenties. “You get started. We’re going to finish up and pay the tab, and then we’ll come find you.”
Bump stares at Scarlett. I know he desperately wants her to come with him, but he’s being patient, which is new for him. “Okay, but come find me. I’ll warm up on hoops, and meet you at the motorcycles, okay?”
“That sounds great, Bump,” Scarlett says, and he scampers off.
“I’m sorry about that. He’s always at level ten when we’re here. He has no chill when it comes to arcade games.”
Scarlett’s gaze follows him as he goes to change the cash for the swipe card that will unlock the hours of fun that will come next. “He’s a special guy. His enthusiasm is contagious. I haven’t been this excited to play Skee-Ball since second grade.”
“Bump’ll do that to you. You should see him at the go-kart track. He’s a speed demon. Half the time, he gets black-flagged and thrown off the track because he gets too into rubbing and bumping cars driven by little kids.”
“Well, I guess I’d be concerned, but considering he’d probably lap me within minutes, I think it’d be safe.” She takes a long drink of her water.
“Thank you for coming tonight. I know this isn’t your normal scene, but it means a lot to me and to him.”
She reaches across the table to cover my hand with hers. “If this is going where I want it to go, then I plan on Bump being a big part of my life too. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s my scene or not, Gabriel. I like new experiences. I want tolive, not stay locked away at Curated and never know what real life is like.”
I think about all the shit that’s still up in the air about the club, and all the ways things could go wrong. I won’t take Scarlett down with me, but there’s no chance in hell I can give her up again. I have to find a way to make this work for both of us ... and I really need those fights to happen at the club—with me and Bodhi Black headlining the event.
