“Yeah, of course. How about O’Sullivan’s?” The pub was low-key and quiet enough that they could talk comfortably.
“Um, you wanna go somewhere with more of a bite?”
Eva’s heart sank when Nika mentioned a nightclub that apparently just opened. The last time they’d gone out, they’d spent more time slapping unwelcome hands off their asses than enjoying anything the sweaty, chaotic atmosphere had to offer.
“I don’t know,” she murmured, thinking she’d much rather close up here with a bottle of wine and pizza and share the craziness going on in her life with her best friend.
“Please, Eva? It’ll be fun. I need to get out of here for a while.”
The casual comment immediately became Nika screaming for help. “Okay. Where is it and what are you going to wear?”
The street was familiar, but Eva winced when Nika said, “Something sexy. And you’re gonna wear the dress I gave you last year. You know, the one you said you’d never wear because you had nowhere to wear it. This is the perfect place.”
The short backless thing she’d received on her twenty-third birthday was nowhere near her style. But if it made Nika happy, she’d wear it. “Fine. I’ll pick you—”
“No! I’ll, um, sorry, I’ll, uh, take my own car. I’ll meet you there at ten.”
“Okay.”
“See you there.”
Eva hung up, vowing tonight would be the night she got the truth out of her friend.
But first, she had to go upstairs and see if she could do something with a dress that was really nothing more than a silky dinner napkin.
† † †
Gabriel dropped the kettle bell he’d been curling and grabbed an already damp towel from the end of the bench to wipe the sweat from his face. Some old-school heavy metal tolled through the hotel’s empty gym. Empty because he’d instructed his manager to close it up so that he and Quan could work out in peace.
Muscles tight and burning, he headed over to one of the treadmills lined up against the back wall. He stepped on and punched the right buttons to get the machine moving and was soon pounding the track with heavy feet, feeling as if he were running away from something he had no hope of ever escaping. He blinked the sweat out of his eyes and pressed a button on the panel to make it go faster.
Of course it didn’t help. Forty minutes and two bottles of water later, his body aching as though he’d just been beaten, no oxygen left in his bloodstream, he finally collapsed on the padded bench.
He snagged his phone and hit up a number. A click sounded in his ear, and then Jak’s, “S’all good, G. No one’s been around.”
“Has she left the house at all?”
“Nope. But she will later. She’s meeting the biker’s sister at a club downtown. Ten o’clock. Nick was pruning and overheard her on the phone. Said she didn’t sound too enthused.”
Jak would have also heard the conversation from the listening devices they’d placed in Eva’s house. Violating her privacy had been a necessity. They couldn’t be blind to her movements. Had to be aware of any plans she made.
Like tonight. A club? His innocent beauty in a nightclub? With a friend that was just as attractive as Eva but in an entirely different way? Fuuuck. The vultures would be out for blood the second the girls walked through the doors.
So would Gabriel.
“Stay close. Text me the name and location of the club. We’ll be inside just before ten. Let me know if her plans change.”
He dropped the phone next to his twitching thigh and bent to rest his elbows on his knees. Then he smiled. Looked like he was reverting to the old ways of picking up women in bars.
He tossed back a last swig of water before standing to throw the empty plastic bottle into the recycle bin next to the wall just as Alek walked through the opaque glass door, his Tom Ford looking overly formal against the black mats and training equipment. He slapped a folded newspaper onto the bench before going over and leaning against the mirrored wall.
“Not the kind of attention you need right now.”
Gabriel grabbed the paper and flipped it open. The success of last night’s gala was the headline, the story and two photos beneath. Photo number one was the front view of the Crown Jewel. Photo two was of him and Eva. The caption under the picture read Entrepreneur Gabriel Moore,