Royal Line (Tattered Royals #1) - Carrie Ann Ryan Page 0,11

Bummer. You would have really made my night.”

My cheeks heated, but I kept my stern face on. “I promise, I’m not that much fun. Now have you seen him or not?”

With a shrug, she lifted her head toward the bathroom door. “In there with some debutante.”

I tested the door to the bathroom, only to find it locked. The same woman who had hit on me told me there were stalls, so why the fuck had Lilith locked the door?

I knelt in front of the knob, pulled out my lock pick set, and had the doorknob turning in seconds.

When I stood and shifted to the side, I found Blue Cap. It turned out, there had been a reason he’d been watching Lilith.

Lilith was perched on top of the counter, her legs wrapped around Blue Cap’s waist, grinding her body on his as she snorted white powder off his shoulder.

I tapped my com. “Stand down. I located her.”

What I wanted to do was rip her away and warn her that her father was looking for her, but I didn’t bother. Instead, I marched back out, closed the bathroom door behind me, and stood watch, wondering how the hell this had become my life.

Her father’s directive had been clear. Keep an eye on her. Be discrete. And only intervene if her life was in imminent danger. Apparently, those were the terms Lilith had negotiated with her father, so my hands were tied—no matter how much I wanted to toss Blue Cap out on his ass. I had to stand where I was and hope…and wait.

You know how this happened.

Ordinarily, I refused to let the memories come back. But apparently, I didn’t have a choice tonight. With Phoebe gone, I’d had to pick up the pieces. And unfortunately, the price of putting my life back together meant jobs like this.

Sparrow’s voice was clear. “You got her, boss?”

“I have her.”

“I presume she’s alive?”

“Yes. Perfectly fine. She’s got a coke habit, but other than that, she’s peachy.”

“Jesus Christ,” she muttered. “Who even does coke anymore?”

“I know. Aren’t we the lucky ones?” I muttered.

“All right, where are you? I’ll relieve you and take her home.”

“No. I’ve got this. You watch the exits with Olly.”

I didn’t care who I owed favors to, but I was done with these things from now on. No more babysitting. At least, no more babysitting debutantes. There had to be more to life than this. There just had to.

Chapter 4

Kannon

That was unexpected.

My skin still hummed with adrenaline. When I deposited Little Miss Debutante at the car, Sparrow came over and checked in. “You all right, boss?”

“Fine. Considering that I had been all systems go before realizing the emergency alarms in my brain were nothing more than a debutante meeting her dealer for a requisite line of coke at an event.”

She laughed. “Let this be a lesson to you. Debutantes aren’t our thing. Women hiding from their husbands, that’s our lane.”

“Well, all of it is part of our job. Besides, the longer we’re around, the larger the favors are that get called in.”

She cocked her head and gave me a saucy smile. “Then stop giving out IOUs. Just because someone saves your life once or helps you walk across the street after a long day doesn’t mean they should command any of your time in the future. Pay them back in kind. With something small. Not like, ‘Sure I’ll watch your daughter at a big event and make sure no one tries to kill or kidnap her. Oh, and it’s okay to neglect to mention that your child is a handful with a coke fiend boyfriend.’”

“Right,” I grumbled. “And she was such a sweet kid.”

“Take off those rose-colored glasses. They don’t look good on you.”

“I hear you.” But I repaid favors. No matter what.

I let out a sigh and put my mind back on work. I looked at Sparrow and Olly and said, “Get her back to the plane safely. Check in when you’re done. And since you’ve been on it tonight, have Max do the report.”

She grinned at me then, and it occurred to me that Sparrow was actually beautiful. Sure, yes, she was attractive. Dark hair, green eyes. Medium-deep skin. Fit. Amazing cheekbones. But beyond the regular physical characteristics, when she smiled, her whole face lit up. And she could warm up a room with that smile alone, but she didn’t show it much. Sparrow was my focused one. If shit went down, she was the one I would likely call first.