Page 158 of Brooklyn Cupid

“I have to meet someone before I go to the gallery. It’ll be quick. Will you come with me?”

“Of course. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah. I just… I’d like you to come with me.”

“Sure. Always. I can be your bodyguard.” He winks.

Somehow, him being next to me makes my nervousness about what comes next go away.

55

JACE

It’shot outside and overcast, but Lu insists we take the train.

I’m not a fan of the suffocating heat in the subway. Or the stench lifting off the tunnels, the hundreds of smells of food and sweat lacing in the air. But I love observing people.

We take a ride to a little Italian cafe not far from the gallery.

Lu is quiet, like she’s somewhere else.

I smile at her. She smiles back. She doesn’t tell me who we are meeting, but I’d go with her anywhere. Especially when she’s suddenly so unsettled when she should be reeling in excitement about her exhibition opening.

“You alright?” I ask.

She nods.

She isn’t, but she won’t tell me what’s up, and I don’t press. I’m here for her.

Her fingers intertwine with mine. She tilts her head onto my shoulder, and the Asian woman across from us glances at us and smiles at me with a soft nod.

Yes, this is us, in public, together. I want the whole world to know.

She keeps her hand in mine as we walk into a brightly lit cafe and take a front table.

Lu is nervous when I order coffee. She hasn’t had breakfast but packed a bag with clothes to wear for the exhibit tonight. She’ll be spending the entire day at the gallery and insisted she didn’t need my help.

That’s fine with me. I should give her space, though, after our night together, I want to be attached to her at the hip.

A black limo pulls up to the curb outside. A tall man in a suit steps out. Another one steps by his side—I know bodyguards when I see them.

The man in the suit walks into the cafe, and my heart sinks into my stomach.

This is a weird coincidence.

I know the man.

Fuck.

What the hell is Seth Gordon doing here?

I’ve never met him, but considering he is our employer, I’ve seen plenty of his pictures, studied his bio, his business records, his dealings with Reznik, and the crypto endeavor.

His eyes search the cafe then stop on our table, Lu, then me, narrowing as he slowly makes his way toward us.

I’m confused.

The man who is in the top hundred of US Forbes, the man who also deals with shady guys like Reznik, found me in a cafe in Brooklyn?

---