Page 57 of Havoc

“I won’t. I promise.” I patted her arm. My stomach tightened as I looked at Morgan, who gave me the thumbs up and a look of assurance. Once they were gone, I glared at Grim then turned on my heel and headed for the bedroom.

“Where are you going?” he called after me.

“To get dressed.” I slammed the door just as he had earlier.

I wiggled into a silver dress, heels, and worked a boatload of dry shampoo into my hair. Thankfully, it had dried in waves, and with the help of some hairspray, it had a messy look. I needed to look like I was about to work a shift. I threaded some sparkly earrings on, and a few bracelets. A squirt of perfume, and I was ready to go in under eight minutes. Impressed with myself, I opened the door and found Grim pacing the hallway.

“Christ, Kenna,” he grunted but his eyes told me he was thinking all the wrong thoughts, “don’t you own sneakers?” He followed me out of the suite.

“Think about it, Grim. If I show up in sneakers and a hoodie, everyone would know something was up.” I stabbed the button, and we descended toward the lobby.

“For the record, I’m against this idea. What did Hanna say?”

“We never got time for her to say anything before you burst through the door and scared her to death,” I muttered and gained a glare from him as the elevator doors opened.

“That mouth of yours is trouble.” His hand landed on my back as he steered me through the lobby. “Shore will meet us at the back exit,” he said quietly just as Jayden intercepted us.

“Mr. Gates, I need a quick word with you, if you don’t mind.” He avoided eye contact with me.

“Not now, Jayden.” Grim moved around him.

“Sir, it’s important.”

Grim’s lip curled as he spun around and then seemed to remember we needed to play this out. “What is it, Jayden?”

“Mr. Sonny Conti is here, highly intoxicated, and he won’t leave. Given that Ms. Lodge,” he glanced at me, “just recently signed him as a client, I thought I’d ask how you’d like to handle it.”

Shit.

“Remove his ass.”

“Grim,” I whispered as Jayden cleared his throat, and I saw his glance go to Grim’s hand on my hip.

“Wait here.” Grim gave me a hard look then hurried away.

“Kid yourself all you want, Kenna. You two have something going,” he huffed imperiously.

“Jayden,” I stopped him as he went to leave, “we’ve nothing going on, as you say. We certainly aren’t dating—which, by the way, is none of your business if we were. I’m sorry I said I already had a date to the fundraiser, but I’ve tried countless times to express to you I’m not interested. You simply refuse to hear me.”

“I’ve known you for a very long time, Kenna. Excuse me if I thought there was something more there. I was wrong.” He gave me a quick look. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter anymore. I met someone the night of the fundraiser, and it’s going well.”

“I’m glad. Happy to hear that.” I looked over his shoulder and couldn’t spot Grim. I didn’t have time for this. My phone vibrated, and I saw it was Morgan. He wondered where we were. “Damn, Jayden, please tell Grim I simply couldn’t wait.” I stopped myself. “If you don’t mind.”

“Yes, of course.” He forced a smile. “I’ll tell him.”

“Thank you.” Maybe—just maybe—Jayden and I could be in the same room together and I wouldn’t have to cringe at the thought.

I found Shore waiting by the car, and he looked at me oddly.

“Miss Kenna, I understood Mr. Gates was coming?”

“He got pulled away by a client. I couldn’t wait. Let’s go.” I jumped in the back, and Shore quickly pulled out. I appreciated that he got the sense of urgency.

“How much trouble will I be in?” he asked as we stopped at a red light.

“I’ll handle him.” I sent Morgan a text that I was on my way.

“I’m sure you will.” He chuckled.

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