Chaos & the Geek (Grace Grayson Security #1) - Elizabeth Stevens Page 0,17
and I snapped at the same time.
Rollie held his hands up, his trademark smirk on his face. “All right. Slow your rolls, gentleman. I was just interested in why Hawk’s giving us the ‘off-limits’ speech now.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Rollie rocked back on his heels, his smirk growing. “Well, only that you’ve known us for fucking years and not once has this been mentioned. We talk about her all the time. Fuck, I feel like I already know her. But not once have you felt the need to tell us not to go near her.”
“One could extrapolate either you’re worried about us finally meeting her on Sunday, or Chaos has been misbehaving–”
“I’ve done nothing of the sort!” I said too loudly, as the same time Hawk said, “He knows better than that.”
Hawk kicked his chin to Nico. “This muppet on the other hand.”
Tank looked at me, eyebrow cocked in question and I cleared my throat. “Our resident nerd seems to think Amber’s…cool,” I said.
Nico’s cheeks got a touch of pink to them. “Yeah. I said she was cool. What’s wrong with her being cool?”
There was a lot wrong with him thinking she was cool. But I’d already had two too many outbursts in the last few minutes concerning her, so I bit my cheek to stop myself saying anything. Rollie had no such qualms.
Rollie grinned. “Oh, the O-Lord wants to give her a private lesson in…” he petered off and frowned.
“Yeah, I was wondering where that was going,” Hawk sniggered. “Dipshit thinks he knows everything about tech.”
“I know more than you!”
“Ah, Mr Grayson and company,” came a voice to put a stop to our ridiculous bickering.
I turned on my polished heel and nodded to our client, thankful to get everyone’s minds on work.
“Mr Nelson, thank you for trusting us with your safety.”
He waved a hand at me and smiled. “Oh, five big, strapping men? You have my utmost trust, boys.”
Rollie smiled. “We aim to please, sir.”
Mr Nelson smirked knowingly. “So, I’ve heard. Just don’t remind my husband. Now, the guests are set to arrive from five…”
The rest of my night was as boring as usual. Keep an eye on things. Be the relay man between Mr Nelson out in the party and the behind the scenes people. Be stern and foreboding so the guests knew there was a security presence – Mr Nelson liked us to be obvious, to be visible. He said it made him feel more important because none of his friends ever had any reason to justify hiring security, although how much of that was a joke I never quite knew as most of his friends had hired one or more of us at some point. He was one of our more generous clients though, so we bent over backwards to accommodate him. He was also just a nice guy.
Tank pulled off visible with ease by his sheer size alone. Hawk and Rollie were also excellent at making sure people knew they were around and very intimidating, as well as cheeky when anyone even vaguely flirted with them. Thankfully Nico was hidden away behind computer screens most of the night as he was the least foreboding of the lot of us and the one with the least patience for jobs that required acting a part other than just nondescript security.
Finally, the last guests left, and Mr Nelson dismissed us for the night. Nico ripped his tie off at the first possible opportunity, while the rest of us just loosened them a little. We said goodnight, and the boys and I went in our own directions.
I dropped my bag in my office as I pulled off my jacket and ran my hand over my hair. There was something about messing it up at the end of the day that made it really feel like the day was over. I headed for my bedroom to change, trying to remember if I had any leftovers in the fridge when I realised I smelled something familiar. It was mild, merely a lingering scent, but it made me think of family dinners and laughter.
It was definitely vague, and I was acclimatising to it by the second, but it was there. I just couldn’t work out what it was.
Suddenly, adrenalin surged and I was ready for whatever it was as my eyes scanned the penthouse. I was just about to spring into action when I realised that the slumped figure at the dining table was Amber.