Page 130 of Always You

“Damn, Toto. We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.” Jensen’s eyes bulge at the skimpy dressed air acrobatic girls hanging from the ceiling. The entire venue is decorated in the Knights’ signature black and white, while everyone in a suit and tie blends right in.

Including me.

But on the inside, I feel like all these layers of fabric are designed to be a deathtrap.

“Damn, I hate this damn tux.” I pinch two fingers between the collar of my dress shirt, hoping to relieve some of the heat building in my chest. “Next time, only invite us if the dress code is do-whatever-the-fuck-you-want-sexy.”

Jensen cocks an eyebrow. “That still doesn’t allow you to come in sweats and a hoodie.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Because that would be a slumber party,” Jason pitches in. “But I agree. Next time, I’m staying home if it requires us to dress upas monkeys.”

“Damn, you two can whine,” Jensen says as his eyes roll up. “I have had to do this bullshit once a month since I was eight. At least this crowd isn’t filled with uptight politicians and their cookie-cutter wives. Besides, it’s for charity. You wouldn’t want the world to find out Hunter Hansen has a frozen heart that cannot even melt under the gaze of orphaned children?” His gooey eyes ridiculously stare back at me from underneath his fluttering lashes.Fuckface.

“I care about the kids,” I rebuke. “But I could’ve done with a big-ass check and no tux.”

“No such luck, Hansen.” Jensen grips my shoulder, a shit-eating grin splitting his face, accompanied with a glint that screams trouble. “I’d much rather get torturedwithyou than without you.”

“Don’t you usually take Bodi to these things?” Jason opts, referring to Jensen’s best friend since he was twelve.

“Yeah, but he went to visit his dad on the East Coast.”

The three of us glance around the spacious room. Two open bars sit on either side of the room, while the front of the stage is conferred into a oak dancefloor. The rest of the space isoccupied by two dozen tables, with medieval suits of armor helmets and big black and white feathers sprouting from the top as huge centerpieces.

“You’d think this is Robert Davis's third wedding,” I mutter, referring to the owner of the team while we find our way to Jensen’s table.

“Yeah, Davis doesn’t have a budget for these things. Apparently, his first wife talked him into donating ten percent of his income to charity,” Jensen informs, pulling out a chair for Emily, while I follow his example for Laurie. He’s a fucking dickhead, most of the time, but it’s in these moments that it’s clear he wasn’t raised in small-town North Carolina. No, Jared James Jensen’s family is prestigious as fuck. “Said it was bad karma if he didn’t.”

We all sit down when a server appears, taking our drinking orders, and we chat a little until our drinks are placed in front of us. Laurie ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio or some shit, and she takes a sip before she almost gulps it all down.

“Oh my god… is that?” Laurie’s eyes narrow, zoning in on a couple chatting with a man I recognize as Johnny Pearce, the GM of the team.

Emily gasps when she fixes her eyes in the same direction. “Nicole.”

“Oh, you know Chad’s wife? She’s cool.”

Two sets of evil eyes whip Jensen’s way, and he winces from behind his bourbon. “Or not. Not cool, apparently.”

“She’s a shady bitch,” Laurie blurts like a fire-spitting dragon. “We’ve both auditioned with Armani a few years back, but she stole the job from me.”

“How is it stealing when you had to audition?” Jason says flatly, already bored with the conversation.

“Because… she didn’t even know about the job until I told her about it,” Laurie says earnestly, and even I see the flaws in that explanation.

“That’s not stealing,” Jason deadpans.

“It’s still a bitch move,” Emily counters with a resting bitch face, before she decadently lifts her glass of wine to her lips.

I see a dozen comments on Jason’s lips, but I shoot him a stern look, silently telling him to drop it.

“Ladies, I don’t care if you want to shoot daggers at Nicole all night, but behave. I don't want you to pull out your claws against my teammate’s wife.” His eyes fix on Emily while he links his fingers with her. A charming smile curls his mouth, but the dark expression in his eyes makes Emily shift a little in her chair.

“Of course not.”

Squeezing Laurie’s leg beside me, I nonverbally will her to look me in the eye to confirm the same.

Defiant as she can be, she keeps her gaze trained in front of her, feigning oblivion as I keep staring at her profile.

---