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“Who’s Charlie?” Lennon asked.
“My sister's piece-of-shit ex-boyfriend. He broke into her place in Nebraska and stole everything he could sell.”
“What an ass. Did you call the police?”
Daria frowned. “The police wouldn’t have done anything. Charlie’s dad is the president of the town council.”
“Who cares? The law is the law.” She slapped her palm against the table to emphasize her point.
“In our town, the law sides with whoever has the money to control it.”
“But you’re not in Nebraska anymore, little sister, and you’re not alone.” I blamed my next sentence on the fact there was more alcohol than blood in my veins. “My man is the king in Atlantic City. If I asked him to, he’d smash Charlie beneath his two-thousand dollar loafers like a nasty bug.”
“Damn straight, baby.” Zak’s deep voice growled in my ear.
I startled, whipping my head around only to crack my forehead against his chin. “Ow.”
“Fuck, are you okay?” He immediately dropped to his haunches beside me, stroking his thumb gently over the place above my eyebrow where we collided.
“What are you doing here?”
“We came to give you ladies a ride home.”
I hadn’t even noticed the two men behind him. Dimitri was dressed casually in faded jeans and a burgundy polo, a far cry from his typical dress shirt and tie. He greeted all of us, but interestingly enough, his mahogany eyes never strayed far from my sister. Kasimir, on the other hand, stood with his arms crossed over his expansive chest, looking like he had better places to be. And he hadn’t changed out of the dark suit he wore to the office.
“It is getting kinda late.” Lennon yawned, tapping something into her phone. “Thanks for the offer, but my apartment is out of the way. It’s on the south side of town. I’ve got a ride share coming to pick me up.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Dimitri waved off her concern. “It’s not a long drive.”
“Are you sure?”
“Cancel it,” Kasimir barked.
“Dial it down a notch, Caveman.” Lennon rolled her eyes.
I pushed up from the table and immediately regretted the decision. First, the alcohol I’d consumed was wreaking havoc on my equilibrium. It felt like the top half of my body swayed to the right while the bottom half went to the left. Zak noticed, steadying me with an arm around my waist. The second reason had everything to do with the fact I’d overdone it. Even though I’d used my crutches most of the day, the prosthesis had been on for close to eight hours. The longest I’d worn it before today was four hours. I needed to take it off soon.
“Where’s Makari?” I asked Zak as we left the VIP section. His hand, which was low on my back, just above my ass, twitched. It was rare to have one of the foursome missing when they were all around.
“He’s busy.”
“Why do you sound pissed?”
“Because I am, but not at Mak.”
“That’s not cryptic at all.”
He chuckled. “Sorry, baby. Mak’s working. I’m angry about the situation, not him.”
“One more question.”
“Anything.”
“Is he safe?”
He cracked a gentle smile. Maybe it seemed silly to him. Of course Makari was safe. They were big, strong, gun-toting Bratva after all. Who in their right mind would mess with Zak or the boys? But Machail had, hadn’t he? So it wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility. I was allowed to worry, dammit.
“He’s good.”
