Page 64 of Laila Manning
I felt the familiar prickles of doubt trying to shut down the tingles of excitement and hope building from her testimony.
“You mean I can have my turn with the dark and dangerous King now?” I winked at her and then turned back to the mirror as she glared at me good-heartedly.
“Careful.” She warned. “You may be Carly’s sister-in-law, but I’ll still kill you for that man.”
“Don’t doubt her,” Carly added with a laugh. “She watched Zeke kill her mother while she fucked Ry in the next room.”
My eyes bugged out as an icy chill bloomed over my spine, and I could tell from the nonchalant shrug Elora gave she was telling the truth.
“I’m not exactly proud of it.” Elora chirped, “But I’m not ashamed either.” She pointed her finger at me with a pointed glare. “So don’t get any ideas.”
Raising my hands, I shook my head. “I’m apparently more interested in the man who did the killing than the fucking.” I shrugged. “Who knew?”
Carly snorted, “This conversation got weird, quick.”
“But hey,” Elora pointed out, “You forgot all your worries pretty quickly, didn’t you?”
I chuckled and glanced back at the reflection of the done-up woman staring back at me. “Yeah, I did. For now, at least.”
Chapter 16 – Zeke
“Ground rules.” Jed barked authoritatively from the back seat.
“Here we go.” Ryker sighed, rubbing his fingers over his forehead as I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye.
“Before you say another word,” I adjusted the rearview mirror to stare at Jed where he took up the entire backseat of Ryker’s large SUV, “Just know that whatever you tell me not to do, I’m going to do ten times worse just because you thought you could be the boss.” I raised my eyebrow at him as his jaw clenched while I drove through busy downtown traffic, nearing the event. “So please continue.”
“I fucking hate you.” Jed complained but turned to look out the window, ending any further rule-giving he was about to do.
“Yeah, I know.” I sighed, pulling the SUV past the police barricades to the private entrance behind the swanky hotel the event was being hosted at.
I parked the car and got out, scanning the buildings around us and the barricades on the street, keeping the riffraff out and allowing only the most elite of the VIP guests in for the evening.
“Perfect timing.” Ryker nodded to the black limo pulling up, sandwiched between two of our cars filled with men, convoying the most elite guests of the event in. “You look nervous, old boy.” He hit my stomach with the back of his hand as I buttoned my tux up, staring at the blackout windows, hoping for a glance inside.
“She deserves a perfect night.” I tore my eyes away as Elora’s personal guards flanked both sides of the car and opened the back door.
“She does.” Ryker admitted, pointing a glance at Jed, who squinted his annoyance at him.
“I’m not going to fuck it up.” He said defensively.
Before either of us could counter that obvious lie, Elora stepped out of the limo, smiling brightly at Ryker and stealing away the attention of everyone around.
She looked stunning in a dark blue velvet dress that reminded me of the obscenely big sapphire that old lady dropped into the ocean in that movie. But fuck it, she deserved her perfect night too, so I gave her a nod as she winked at me, stepping aside so the next woman could get out as Ryker guided her to the pristine carpet laid out just for them.
I could tell by the shoe alone; the next woman was Carly. Flashy and blindingly encrusted with jewels, it matched her white sparkly gown. It did some weird tuxedo thing where the skirt was short and tight around her thighs with a sheer tail of sparkling fabric flowing down to her ankles.
It was so Carly that it was painful yet entertaining to watch.
“Damn.” Jed grunted, stepping forward out of his trance to take his woman’s hand and walk her over to where Ryker and Elora waited at the entrance.
Which meant Laila was the last one inside.
Was she inside?
Did she back out and leave me standing here like a fool?
Did she let her fear get the better of her?
