Page 8 of The Heart

“Oh my goodness, I’msosorry,” she giggles out the words. “I must have lost my balance, it’s these damn heels.” She smiles, then gives the man a seductive look as she takes a long slow sip.

“That’s quite alright,” the man says, smiling as he places his fucking hand on her waist to steady her. Then he stares straight down to all the places the dress doesn’t cover, without even the courtesy of being subtle about it.

I grind my teeth.

Sebastian probably doesn’t have any teeth left to grind.

“I was looking for the restroom, do you happen to know where it’s at?” she asks, letting her fingers trail from his shoulder over to straighten his tie, biting her lip. Even pretending to be drunk, her motions are seductive as all hell. The man glances around the room, then checks his phone before relaxing a little.

“I don’t, but I can help ya find it.” He gives her a wicked smile, then glances around one more time before leading her out into the hallway.

I blink, then look over at Sebastian. He blinks too. In our anger over the whole situation, we failed to realize how she just got him out into the hallway and away from the crowd.

Like a fucking pro.

We follow after them, the man is completely oblivious that we’re trailing a few yards behind in an otherwise empty hallway.

“Oh! There it is!” Leena exclaims, still hanging all over him, as she points to a door clearly marked as one of the facilities.

The man leads her toward it and she presses a hand firmly to his chest, stopping him in his tracks when he tries to follow her in.

Bastard.

She leans in close, her body swaying just a little to reinforce that she’s drunk, while letting on that she’s really into him.

It’s convincing as fuck.

“Wait for me?” she says seductively, handing him her empty champagne glass and running her hands down his chest.

The man mumbles out some sort of protest, but she just turns on her heel and quickly disappears through the doorway, leaving him alone.

With us.

“Knife. Left, inside pocket. Likely no other weapons,” Leena informs us, her steady clear voice a stark contrast from her little drunken act.

Fucking asshole must have swiped it from the buffet table.

And that’s all we need.

“Chase and Campbell, moving in. Team One stand-by for backup,” Sebastian states, and we’re on him in a second.

“Team One copy,” Colton quickly replies.

“What the–” the man starts to say, but Sebastian has already grabbed him, securing his struggling arms behind his back. Leena’s empty champagne glass shatters on the floor while I relieve him of his weapon and slap the cuffs on his wrists.

The entire thing takes Sebastian and I less than five seconds. It always does. The way we work together is seamless, always has been.

Once the man is detained, we walk him to where Colton and Jace are running toward us down the hall. Sebastian shoves the man at our team, and they each grab an arm.

Then I feel familiar, delicate fingers lace around my bicep. I bend my arm, letting her hand slide down to rest in a posture befitting of our black tie attire.

“You fucking whore!” The man lurches forward and I instinctively pull Leena back, but he immediately stalls, letting out a grunt as he catches Sebastian’s fist straight to the stomach. He tries to crumple over in pain, but Sebastian quickly grabs the man’s facehard,leaning in close.

“What did you just fucking call her?” he grits out.

The man mumbles something in response, his words incoherent through Sebastian’s grip.

“What was that? I can’tfuckinghear you. What. Did. You. Call. Her?” Sebastian growls again, and I shift uncomfortably, trying to hide my arousal brought on from this entire situation.

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