Page 7 of The King's Boy

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing when I turned and saw the shocked look on Malloy's face. There wasn't a lot that could faze the robust man. It was one of the reasons that he was my right hand. He was as steady as a stone.

Spencer, apparently, threw him for a loop.

"Did you see a woman in a red sequined dress on your way back?" I asked.

Malloy kind of shook his head and then squinted at me. "A red what?"

Spencer rolled his eyes before holding his hands in front of him, chest level. "Tits about this big, tight red dress that went to her thighs, long blonde hair?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember her." Malloy grinned as he wiggled his eyebrows. "She was pretty hot, wasn't she? That dress looked great on her."

"Oh, yeah." Spencer snickered. "That four-inch switch blade she was carrying went great with it. She really knows how to accessorize."

"Huh?"

"Spencer spotted her coming up behind me with a knife in her hand," I explained. "When I confronted her, she tried to feed me some bullshit story about spotting me from the dance floor and being compelled to come see me since I am so handsome."

Malloy cocked an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

Yeah, I thought it was ridiculous as well.

It wasn't that I thought I was a dog or anything. I was aware of my appeal to both men and women, but experience had taught me that most of that was due to the dangerous aura I presented rather than my square cut jaw or Roman nose.

"I want to know who she is," I told Malloy. "See if you can check the security cameras to locate her."

"There aren't any," Spencer stated.

I glanced to the far corner of the room where a black camera hung. "What's that then?"

"A prop," Spencer replied. "It makes people feel better if they think there is some sort of security system and someone manning it, but it's all fake."

"How do you know all of this?"

Spencer shrugged. "A friend dated the bouncer."

"You didn't?"

"Hell, no." Spencer chuckled as if he thought that idea was ridiculous. "Leather daddies are not my thing."

"Leather da—you know what? Never mind." I did not want to know. "Just go and see if you can spot her, Malloy. You might ask the bouncer if a woman in a red dress has left the building."

"Blonde-haired woman in a red sequined dress," Spencer stated. "There are a lot of red dresses in here tonight, but not a lot with sequins."

He had a point.

"Just see if you can find her," I told Malloy. "But be careful. She is armed."

I hadn't seen the knife, but I had seen her trying to hide something behind her back. I assumed it was the knife. There was also the fact that her story just didn't quite ring true for me.

"I'll find her, but I'd prefer if you returned to the hotel while I look into this."

From a safety standpoint, I could understand Malloy's desire to have me somewhere else. I just didn't like it. I'd never run from anything in my life. I didn't want to do it now, but then I looked down at the shorter man at my side. I might be able to defend myself in a fight, but could Spencer?

"Meet me back at the hotel when you're done." If there was someone out to get me, staying out in the open was not my best choice.

Malloy snapped his fingers and two of my guards rushed over. "Stay with him. Do not leave his side until you get him back to the hotel. If I find out that you did, I won't be happy."

The two men gulped before giving my second-in-command a quick nod. "Yes, sir."