Shameless - Sybil Bartel Page 0,74

beers off a passing waiter’s tray. “Thanks man, I owe you.” Holding me firm, holding the two beers by the necks, Talon took us into the ballroom that was set up for dinner.

“Let me go,” I ground out, fighting in his grip.

“Not gonna lie, Seasons, you’re just like your mama,” Talon chuckled again.

“The name’s Summer, not Seasons you ass, and she’s not my mother.”

A grin spread across his face like he couldn’t contain himself. “Oh, you’re Seasons all right, darlin’. Hot like summer one minute, cold fury like winter the next. Yep.” He nodded as he kicked out a chair and unceremoniously dumped me in it. “Seasons.” Kicking out his own chair, he grinned at me. “Perfect nickname.” His smile disappeared and he sat facing me. Locking me in with his legs on either side of my knees, he held the beers close to his chest. “You got a problem with alcohol too or just drugs?”

“Fuck you.”

He handed me the beer. “Drink it.”

I crossed my arms.

“Or don’t.” He set my beer down on the table and took a long drag of his. “I kinda like a little winter every now and again.” He leaned back in his chair, casual as hell, and studied me.

Drinking his beer slowly, his pose relaxed with one arm resting on the table, everything about his body language was laid-back. But his eyes cut into me with the knowing precision of an interrogator and he stared at me like this was a standoff and he was winning.

Because he was.

I broke first. “What do you want?”

“You know what I find interestin’?” he asked, ignoring my question.

I didn’t give him the satisfaction of a response.

“I’ll tell ya.” He pushed up in his chair, leaned toward me, and rested his arms on his knees. “Little miss hotheaded Seasons has got a certain Marine all up in arms out there.”

“Fuck Thomas.”

“I ain’t talkin’ ’bout Tripod, darlin’.”

“He’s talking about me,” Shade’s deep voice interrupted from behind us.

I jumped in my chair.

Talon smiled knowingly. “See what I mean? Cyborg’s shadowin’ you, darlin’.”

A chill swept across my shoulders. “Cyborg?” Did I want to know?

“Yeah, a little flesh, a little metal.” Talon grinned. “If you know, you know.” He winked.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Talerco. Get the fuck out of here.” Shade snatched the beer from where it sat in front of me and set it on a table behind us.

Talon rose with the strength of a warrior but the grace of a panther. Holding his beer up to me, he smiled with mischief. “To worthy causes.” He slapped Shade on the shoulder and stepped around us. “Wrap it up Cyborg. I’m already workin’ on a decade’s worth of hazing material if Tripod becomes your daddy-in-law.” Laughing, Talon walked out.

SHE STOOD TO FOLLOW.

Like a fucking tool, I grabbed her upper arm.

Sucking in a sharp breath, she looked up at me. “Let me go.”

Christ, she was pretty. “You didn’t ask why we’re all here tonight.” Scratch that, she was beautiful. Beautiful and deserved better than an asshole like me.

“I don’t need to. Fallon hired security.”

I smirked. “A ten thousand dollar a plate charity dinner with Miami Beach’s richest fucks doesn’t need six Force Recon Marines to keep it in check, princess. Knight could’ve handled anything that came up and he never even made it downrange.”

“So what’s your point?” she challenged.

I didn’t have a fucking point. That was the problem. Why the fuck did it matter why I was here, or why any of the L&A guys were for that matter. Who fucking cared that we’d all forked over ten grand in the name of charity because Fallon Amherst had balls of steel and a lethal silent temper when she’d found out her stepdaughter had been shot at on company time. Telling Luna he could make a solid appearance at her charity event, with guests, or talk to her lawyers about reckless endangerment or some shit, Luna had put out the call for anyone willing to step up.

I would’ve come anyway.

Except none of that shit mattered. Summer hadn’t once looked at me like she had up on the mountain, and that should’ve been a red fucking light, but like a fucking pussy I was still standing here, holding on to her goddamn arm like I could change a single thing about either one of us.

“Don’t be pissed at your stepmother.” It was weak excuse for following her in here after Talerco, that fuck, cornered her. Which, knowing him, he did just to get a rise out of me,