The tension around his mouth eased. “Oh, Megan. Dark hair, right?”
I nodded and gave him a tentative smile. “She says she always has fun here, and your house is beautiful.”
What the hell else did you say to someone to sound simpering? I had no idea.
Behind me, Addie called loudly. “There you are.”
She lurched forward, acting slightly drunk. “Oh my God, I’m so glad I found you. Where did you go? We girls have to stick together, right?”
Stellan nodded at one of his men, but I wrapped an arm around her protectively. “I’m sorry. We met at the bar. I think she’s had too much. Is there somewhere she could lie down or something?”
Stellan tipped his head to one of his men. “We’ll put her in a car and send her home.”
“No, no. I mean, I wouldn’t want her banned or anything. I think, honestly, your bartender has a really heavy hand. She only had the one drink.”
His brow furrowed. “Who is she? I haven’t seen her before.”
“I don’t even know her. I think her name’s Crystal or something.”
He studied me closely, and I just blinked up at him owlishly, doing my very best wide-eyed innocent act. He said, “Your skin is quite remarkable. You should never wear makeup.”
What the fuck? “Oh, yeah. I don’t usually wear much, just the eye makeup and stuff. I was blessed with good skin.”
Lies. I was wearing at least a pound of it to cover up that fucking bruise. At least the eye hadn’t gone full black, but my cheek hurt. But he couldn’t see it, because to him it looked like I had an excellent dot of highlighter on. “Do you think Crystal can lie down a minute? I know you’re a private person, but I don’t trust sending her off on her own.”
I held my breath for a long moment before he finally said, “Right. Come along.”
I hid my relief and followed Tusk. A massive bodyguard walked in front of him, and another followed behind me and a seemingly drunk Addie. He showed us to a massive room. A giant bed stood on the far wall in the center. There was a sitting area and what looked to be an insane closet. “Wow, this guest room is nice.”
He laughed. “This is anything but a guest room.”
“What, this is your room? Oh. I don’t think she needs to rest in here. I figured a guest room would be fine.”
“Never let it be said that I don’t take care of my guests.”
Addie teetered on over to one of the couches and flopped down.
She shoved her hand up in her hair and started scratching her scalp. “Oh my God, I’m so drunk. What was in that drink? I felt fine just a minute ago. Do you think he did something to my drink?”
Her eyes went wide, and I studied Stellan. “You don’t think that would happen, do you?”
He shook his head. “No. Not my men. They’ve all been vetted.”
Except, his usual bartender hadn’t been available, thanks to us. He’d had to call the service, and we’d sent him one of ours.
“You don’t think… I hope he’s not hurting any other girls. Maybe it was just a heavy drink. What do I know?”
A muscle in Stellan’s jaw ticked. One thing we knew about him was that he hated traffickers. He and his sister had been stolen from their home in South Africa and sold. He had escaped, but his sister had not. He might be a weapons dealer, and he might sell drugs, the kind that would kill millions. But he didn’t traffic in human beings, and the idea clearly made him ill.
I played into it and looked down at my poor friend, ‘Crystal.’ I stroked her hair back, surreptitiously handing her one of the pins from my hair that would complete the little knife she would eventually have in her hand. “You’re going to be okay,” I said reassuringly.
Stellan muttered to one of his guards. “Check on the bartender. If any of the girls look ill or like they’ve had too many, even though there’s a two-drink maximum, make sure they all get put into cars then are taken directly home. I want confirmation, you hear me?”
His guard nodded. The other one remained in place. Stellan laughed. “You don’t need to stay. These two are harmless.”
Those were my favorite words in moments like this. His second guard left, and Stellan approached. He leaned down over ‘Crystal.’ “I’ve seen you before, right?”
She smiled sloppily. “I’m a guest of Veronica’s.”
He nodded. “Ah yes, Veronica. She did say she was bringing one of the girls from the restaurant where she works.”
Addie shook her head. “I’m not from the restaurant. I’m her masseuse.” Addie passed his little test with ease.
He grinned. “Ah yes, my mistake.”
That wasn’t a mistake. I knew it, and Addie knew it. He was testing her. He didn’t trust her. Which made things a little more complicated.
I stepped forward. “Well, thank you, Mr. Tusk. You can go if you want. We won’t take anything. Take my purse and hold it if you want, but I’ll just sit with her if you don’t mind.”
His gaze on me was steady. “Why did you want to come to the party tonight?”
“Well, I don’t know. My friend said it would be fun. I just went through a breakup, and I wanted to do something interesting and exciting, I guess.”
“Well my parties are definitely exciting.”
He took my hand, pulling me closer to him. “You really do have the most incredible skin.” His thumb traced over my opposite cheek, the one that wasn’t bruised.
I held his gaze, biting my bottom lip. “Do you do this with all the girls?”
“Well, I like my women to come to me. I rarely leave my house. And I always select the best women.”
Gag me. “Oh yeah? What makes me the best?”
“Your skin, your smile.”
I dipped my gaze low, my finger gently roaming over one of the rounded bulbs on the clasp of my purse. I
