Page 125 of Ruthless Legacy

He thinks he’s got me on a technicality. “It’s a shame you didn’t ask earlier, Malachi. You see, we’ve made the event a floor outing to celebrate her making it through Indoc, and we’re all sitting together.”

Thea says, “This is the first I’m hearing of these plans.”

“It was supposed to be a surprise. Pax is really excited about it. He’s planning the whole thing. Don’t tell him I ruined it.”

She knows I’m full of shit, but she doesn’t call me out on it. Instead, she says, “Malachi, how about we make plans for another time?”

He smiles down at her. Is that supposed to be a sexy smile? It needs some work. “I’ll hold you to that.”

When he walks off I say, “What do you think you’re doing, Pet?”

“Making friends with other prospects.”

“You have enough friends. If you want a new one, you have to drop one you already have.”

“How many times do I have to tell you? That’s not how friendship works. I’m not dropping LJ.”

“You can keep her. But if you want to add a dick friend. You’ve gotta get rid of a dick. There’s a set number of dicks you can have hanging around.”

“Really? Well, thank you for volunteering to remove yourself from the band.”

“Not me, Pet. I mean, useless dicks, and mine doesn’t fall into that category.”

“I beg to differ.”

“My dick is very useful and you know it.”

She waves her hand. “Do tell.”

“I use it to get you off. Oh, will you look at that? That means Holden stays, too.”

“Technically, that means the pair of you are spares, because I’ve already got a perfectly good dick on speed dial.”

I pull her close. “Yes, but we’ve already established you prefer more than one.”

“Hence me branching out to find new ones. You’ve got Eloise. Holden has whoever his match is, and according to Malachi, those women are who you’re taking to this LDR event. What do you expect me to do? Sit at your table alone and watch them fawn all over the two of you?”

“You want an escort too? Pet, that’s an easy fix. Pax’ll escort you.”

Even though I said she was sitting with us, I really wasn’t sure how I was gonna work that out, since the seating is pre-arranged. But this is perfect. As Pax’s escort, she’ll automatically have a place at our table in the seat that would ordinarily be empty.

I grab her hand, pulling her along. “Let’s go tell him the great news.”

“I don’t agree to that.” She tries to dislodge her hand from mine. “Finn, I don’t agree. I’m not escorting Coxsucker One to my first event.”

When we reach Pax, he drawls, “Oh look, who’s throwing a tantrum. Again. What’s the matter this time? You upset throwing yourself at Malachi didn’t work?”

That stops her complaining. I shake my head at Pax, warning him to quit. But he’s not catching on.

“We don’t like desperate. You should have figured that out by now. Passing Indoc is only the first step, and it’s not a guarantee that you’ll ever go any further in The League. You don’t even have a mentor yet, so that’s telling.”

“Awe, big guy. There’s that deflection again. I had a date all lined up, but Finn scared him off and pimped you out instead. So now which one of us is desperate?”

“Finn did what?”

“You heard me. He felt sorry for you and begged me to take you as my escort to the LDR event. I said no, of course.”

“Good.”

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