Page 77 of Boss Abroad

If I came out with April, but he’s discreet enough to leave it implied. Which I didn’t. Her coming out too was just a happy coincidence, so I take the schooling because I should’ve texted him the moment she joined us.

“Thanks, Terry. My bad.” I turn to Mia, who’s wiping her mouth clean on the back of her hand. I take no offense.

She points a menacing finger up at my face. “I’m washing my mouth with bleach and we’re never, ever talking about this.” She looks at the door April just left through. “Did you see her face? Poor thing. Let me go check on her.” She turns to me again, maniac eyes full on. “NEVER, Gunn, do you hear me?”

“Fine by me. Mia, just… Thanks?”

“YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT IT!” she yells and I raise both arms in surrender.

Time to face Noah. I’m still figuring out what to say—kind of disappointed I’m unable to crack a joke right now—but I think I should start saying there was no tongue involved. I don’t get to finish my line of thought before the fucker sucker punches me square in the jaw.

“What the fuck, Noah?” I’m disorientated.

“What the fuck, Liam?” He’s seething.

“Get your shit together, man. I’m going to look for April.” I suck the coppery taste from my ripped lip.

I search for her around the club, to no avail. There is no sign of April. I stop by the bar to get a tall glass full of ice and station myself on the second floor balcony to keep an eye out for her. I hold the cold glass against my lip and suck on one of the cubes, clinging to the hope that my face won’t get too swollen.

After a torturous amount of time—maybe a minute or two—I spot April and Mia at the ground floor bar. The barman is serving a tequila and my mind goes ‘that’s my girl’, but it’s Mia that downs it—not before she rinses her mouth with it and gargles like it’s fucking Listerine.

I don’t even remember going down the stairs, but I’m out of breath once I get to them. Mia sees me first and gasps when she sees my cut lip. “Gunn, what happened?”

April turns around and her hand inches up to my face, but she brings it back down, along with her eyes. She looks too conscious about how exposed we are.

“Ran into an altercation outside.” I can taste the blood again. The cut must have reopened. “But it’s all been handled and there’s nothing to worry about.” I deliver that second part, looking at April, trying to reassure her.

She closes her eyes a little longer than a blink. She’s thanking me. I don’t know if I’ve learned to read her or if I’m imagining things, but my message changes her stance.

“Let me see that under the light.” She sounds very Dr. Hadden, and I take her hand, letting her take the lead. We don’t go far. I stand next to a bright neon sign at the end of the counter and she inspects my face. “What happened?”

“It’s been dealt with. Terry arrived right after you left.”

She knocks on the counter and asks the closest barman for ice in a clean cloth. Her voice is firm and authoritative. That request sounded a lot like a demand, and the barman is back in no time with it.

“Liam, you’re not God.” I arch my brows in offense, and she almost smiles. “I appreciate your efforts, but you can’t control everything and everyone.”

She cleans the cut with a wet napkin, fingers light as a feather. Her concentrated face is too gorgeous and I focus on my breathing to give my self-restraint a fighting chance. “Hold this to your lip.” April hands me the ice wrapped in wet cloth, her stare climbing its way back to my eyes. “And stop looking at me like that.”

“Fuck if I can help it.” I don’t think I have a choice in falling for this woman.

Noah clasps my shoulders, preventing our talk from going any further. “Hey, how’s that lip? I’m sorry, I don’t know what got into me—” He makes his way from behind me to my side. “Oh. Hi, April. Didn’t see you down there.”

She plasters a smile to acknowledge his stupid joke. “Wait, you hit him? Not the guy with the phone?”

“Show me some respect, woman.” I interject. “Of course that waste of oxygen didn’t take a swing at me. But yes, my dear brother sucker punched me.”

“Why?” Her puzzled stare jumping from me to Noah is too cute. Fucked, I’m fucked.

My brother dodges her question by asking her something else. “Who’s that drunk talking to Mia? I’ve seen him before.”

“Oh, that’s Dom. You two met at that charity game.” She takes a double take on them and adds to Noah’s worries. “Let’s go rescue Mia. He gets very handsy when he drinks too much.”

“Go ahead, man. Punch someone who deserves it for a change.” But then the other shoe drops, along with my hand with the makeshift ice pack, and my head spins to April. “How the fuck do you know how handsy Physio Guy gets?”

“Excuse me? You just kissed Mia.” She grabs my hand and presses the ice back against my lip, a lot more forcefully than before. “You don’t get to be jealous right now, mister.”

I'll need some kind of surgery to remove the smug grin stuck on my face.

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