Page 97 of Gluttony
He winced. Was he? “I’m fine. I’ll get over it.”
“I’m not talking about the acting.”
Oh. Tony’s mother could see right through his act. She always could. “I don’t know. Sometimes I just don’t know. What if she doesn’t…” He inhaled deeply. His eyes turned downcast. “I mean, I couldn’t even keep my job. I left Daisy in the sewer.” How could he expect Bailey to…
“Stop it.” Mary took his hand and squeezed. “No one is perfect. Believe me, I know. Daisy will be fine. All we can do is our best, and when we mess up, we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and try again. Family forgives. Family gives second chances. Family shows up. This is the kind of person you are. Bailey knows that.”
He nodded.
She gave him a teary smile, and then Flint took her hand. He gave Tony a quick clap on the back and took her away.
And then Tony was on his own again. He checked his watch. Nerves flooded back, giving his limbs jitters. He tugged at his bow tie.Jesus.
Had he done enough to convince Bailey to come? Should he have picked her up, or called her? Maybe a dozen red roses... but that’s not what she liked. Maybe...Christ. He should have just gone to talk to her. This was so stupid. She wasn’t coming.
Seeing Tony’s nerves, Parker hung back briefly.
“Wayne Bosch’s wife hasn’t turned up,” he said quietly.
“Is that good or bad?”
Parker shrugged. “It was a long shot seeing if she had any info, anyway.”
Tony nodded, only half listening because another limo pulled up, and when his watch pinged with a message from AIMI, alerting him that this was his car, his heart stopped. A text message popped up on the screen.
“Go get ‘em, tiger.”
AIMI’s message amused him. Sloan must have programmed some more humor into the AI, or maybe she was learning from them all.
“Excuse me,” Tony murmured to Parker, and then went to the limo. He waved the driver away and opened the back door himself.
Ignoring the millions of flashes behind him, Tony only had eyes for the beautiful woman peeking up at him through extraordinary long lashes. His heart stopped, his mouth went dry. Slicked back and to the side in a low bun, a turquoise flower secured Bailey’s hair. She had some sort of shimmer over the naked skin her dress didn’t cover. Instead of holding his hand out, he told the driver to give him a few minutes, and got into the limo, shutting the door behind him.
Scooting to kneel before her, he put his hands on her knees. The dress felt amazing under his palms. Her legs were... that slit showing smooth skin up to her thigh.Focus, Tony,
“You look so beautiful,” he said. “Bailey, I’ve been an asshole. That woman kissed me. She was the stalker, but I had to take her away from you when I let her down. I didn’t want her taking it out on you. And... I’m a jealous dickhead. I saw you get in a car with this man, and when he kissed you, I—”
“He’s CIA,” she blurted. “We used to date, but we haven’t for a long time.”
He stilled. Wow. He’d thought, maybe, but did he really think she was still working for them? No.
She covered his hands with hers. A worry line pinched her brows. “He wanted me to spy on your family. He tried to use his familiar connection to sway me, but I told him I’m with you. I wanted to tell you that night, but you were in a strange mood, and then one night became two and I just thought, I didn’t need to burden you with it. I can see how it must have seemed to you, and I’m sorry.”
For a few breaths, his mind went blank. “What did you tell him?”
“I said I would see what I could do and made a dummy dossier with nothing special in it. But I haven’t given it to him.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “Even though there was nothing in there, it didn’t seem right. My loyalty is to you.”
“Why are they interested in us? Do they know we’re the Deadly Seven?”
She shook her head. “They think you’ve got ties with an international terrorist.”
“The Syndicate?”
“That’s what I thought at the start, but then if they knew about that, they’d know you were the Seven. No, it has to be something else. Maybe I can turn the tables and milk them for information.”
