Page 12 of Shamelessly Loyal
“No.”
Arms folded, Lainey glared up at him.
“Excuse me?” he growled at her and took a step forward, and I went to meet him. At my motion, he froze. For one long second, we just glared at each other. If he took another move in her direction, I’d kill him.
His expression promised much the same.
"You heard me,” Lainey yelled at him. “Have you lost your mind? Fighting out here? Why are you guys beating this guy up? Do you want to get arrested? Cause if you want that, I’ll call the cops. Right. Now.”
The laughing idiot started laughing—again. “Fuck me, Lainey, don’t be such a little bitch.”
Adam swung around, only this time, his fist slammed into his friend and knocked the asshole down. He didn’t say a word to him, just looked at me then at Lainey.
“Fine. Get back in the hotel,” he said.
“Not without you two. I apparently can’t trust you and I also came down to thank you for Emersyn’s cake. I was going to actually ask if you wanted to join us, but you’re not going up there all bloody and gross.”
A half-laugh escaped me.
That snagged the angry bird’s attention, and she glared at me. “I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but now it’s time for you to go—while I have them distracted.” She paused. “Oh my god, what did you do to his pretty face?”
Adam snarled when she would have taken a step toward me, halting her in place. Smart man didn’t touch her, though. “Lainey. On the count of three, if you aren’t moving in the direction of that hotel, I’m throwing your ass in our car and going home. One…”
She made a face. “Jerk.” Then shot me an apologetic look. “Sorry, I never get to see my best friend.” Then she turned.
“Two.”
“You really are period cramps,” she snapped.
The asshole looked right at her, pulled out some bills from his wallet and tossed it at me. They fluttered into the wind and scattered around us. “For your trouble,” he said, then looked at Lainey. “Now. Go.”
She went, and he grabbed his friend, hauled him to his feet, and then said to me, “Don’t ever let me see you again, Mister.”
I chuckled. “Or what?”
He stared at me.
“And keep your money, dick. I’m not for sale.”
With that, I walked away from them, awareness of their presence keeping me on alert. I made it back into a side door of the lobby, avoiding the main portion. Last thing I needed was cops coming after me. I made it back to my room, pausing only long enough to hear Lainey’s laughter along with Ivy’s, before I let myself in the room.
Fuck, my bruises had bruises. I stopped dead when I found Sarah Jane lying on my bed.
“Oh my god, are you all right?” She sat up, concern all over her face.
“Getting better,” I told her and threw the security lock on the door.
ChapterThree
LAINEY
Pretty Boy didn’t rush back with my bag. In fact, I’d been sitting there in my own clothes when he returned. To be honest, putting on previously worn clothes was not ideal. Not wearing his clothing was far more important. Sitting around in a towel, while making a point, would have left me in a far less powerful position.
There was a small fridge in the corner. It didn’t have much in it, but I helped myself to a sealed bottle of cold water. Food could wait. While sipping the water, I made my way around the room. The shelves contained textbooks, law books, books on art appreciation, and more than one on the world of dance. There were magazines too.
Most of them were three or more years old, yet I recognized a few. They had articles about Emersyn in them, and he’d marked some of the pages that had picture spreads.
Her brother.