Page 47 of Subbing For Santa

I eye him warily, a silent standoff of sorts happening between us before I finally accept his phone and drag my attention to the screen. Opening the web browser, I type in his name and do a search.

The first hit tells me all I need to know.

Griffin Marx. Son of Ewan Marx, one of Australia’s notorious crime families. Griffin is the seventh child of Ewan out of the eighteen, and son to Caroline Vincent, who split from Ewan some years ago.

Fuck.

Slowly, I glance up from the screen to his heated gaze. “You’re part of a crime family?”

“I wouldn’t call it crime, exactly.” He shrugs.

“What would you call it, then?” I ask, and he smirks.

“Business.”

My eyes just about bug out as my head swims with this knowledge.

What the fuck have I gotten myself into?

“I think you should go,” I whisper, my gaze dropping to his chest as I suddenly feel unsure of the man I’m straddling.

“Hey.” He lifts my chin, drawing my gaze up to meet his. “This is why I needed to test your courage.”

I shake my head, still confused. “Are you going to blackmail me or something? Is that why you chose me, knowing you had leverage with my part in the sex club scandal?”

“No. The Vixen’s Lodge Sex Club scandal is what drew my curiosity. It was watching you on camera from the moment you moved in that stole my attention. I do need to know though…” He hesitates, and I know I’m not going to like what he says next. “Are you into underage sex?”

“What?! No! You need to leave!” I surge up, but he comes with me, once again trapping my wrists in his grip.

“I’m not leaving, Aggie. I’ve already told you that. I just needed to know since the scandal involved a minor.”

“That minor is my friend, and that’s the last we will ever talk of it!”

He studies me for a long, drawn-out moment as my chest rises and falls with my emotions. “Ok.” He releases my wrists and pretends to button his lips.

I eye him for a long time, both of us standing with rivers of water dripping from our naked flesh in the bathtub.

“How did you get that list?” I whisper, almost too scared to know the answer. “It was meant to be destroyed.”

“Yes. By my family.”

My brows shoot high. “The Marx family are the ones covering my arse?”

“Yes. Your arse and the arses of some others on the list.” He nods. “Like the name of the minor involved in the scandal and her underage boyfriend that attended the club. The teacher who she is in a secret relationship with. Oh, and the cop and his secret boyfriend. I believe you had dinner with them last week when we played our first game.”

“Shane and Ben?” I gasp, worried he knows all about them, too.

“Yes. Police officer Shane Kent.”

Holy shit.

“Does he know it’s your family who stepped in to hide our identities?” I ask, concerned for my friend.

“Yes, he does.” Griffin nods, running his hands down my arms. “He also knows why my family recently moved into the area.”

“Which is why, exactly?”

“That’s not information you need to know yet.” He frowns and my brows shoot up.

---