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"Oh, come on, Lily. I get the issues, mate, honestly, but you wouldn't be the first Interpol agent who fell for an assignment."
"What?"
"Hyde and his wife met when he first started at Interpol. She was in Witness Protection, involving some murder case he was working. Apparently, they fell in love and married three days after she testified at the trial and was released from the program."
"No shit."
"Yeah, don't let anyone try to tell you how to feel. I get the risks, but you're young. If Jax tries to have you disciplined, you'd do well to use that bit of information against Monroe." She grins.
"How did you know Jax was thinking about calling Monroe?"
"Lily . . . I'm the most well informed person here. I know everything about you guys, remember?"
I give her a sad laugh. "Yeah."
Someone clears their throat from the doorway. I spin around to find Blake leaning up against the frame, hands in his pockets, a bemused look on his face.
"Yes?" Sammi raises one of her eyebrows.
"Jax needs to talk to everyone." He locks eyes with me and winks, spinning on his heels and strutting from the doorway.
I stand with my mouth slightly open.
"Come on," Sammi says walking around me. “Fix ya face, mate. You look like a jelly fish stung you, and that man winking can’t be that painful.”
I close my mouth and shake my head. I don't know what the hell Blake is doing to me, but part of me likes it . . . the other part, not so much.
Sammi takes her usual place next to Hayato. I've always suspected there was something romantic between them, but they hide it well. As I approach the island, Dresden meets my eyes and shakes his head slightly. I raise my eyebrows in question and he looks down at his hands.
"We need to discuss this charity event for next Saturday," Vlad says, refusing to look directly at me.
"Okay, what's the plan?" I lean forward to rest my elbows on the island.
I'm situated between Jax and Blake, careful not to touch either of them by accident, trying to ignore the energy emanating from Blake.
Caleb gives me a tight smile, while Miranda looks like she wants to rip my head off my shoulders. Her cheeks are blood red, her eyes glossy and full of contempt. Vlad straightens himself and I bring my gaze back to his face.
He's the protection specialist, which is what we need for this. This isn't an intelligence mission. The sole purpose is to allow Blake to attend this stupid event and make sure no one tries to kill him while he's there.
"Sammi and Hayato will be in a communications area close to the main location. We'll be going in later this week to set up security cameras of our own while Sammi taps into the ones already in place by the owner."
Sammi smiles. She loves breaking into other people's security systems.
"Jax, Rhett, Dresden, and I will be inside the building keeping an eye on things. It won't be suspicious for Mason to have personal security. Not when the threats on his life have been publicized."
"I'll be staying in the car in case we need to make a quick escape," Jameson chimes in quietly.
"So, that just leaves Lily," Jax says meeting my gaze.
Everyone's staring at me. Talk about uncomfortable. "What about me? Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"We need you to go undercover with Mason, Lily . . . as his date."
"Um, no," I say, standing up straight. I don't risk looking at Blake. My eyes stay locked on Jax and his pleading gaze. "No, Jax. I'm not dressing up and waltzing around some stupid ball. Isn't it enough I follow him around all day as it is?"
"We know, Lily, but we need someone close to him at all times. There'll be over a thousand people at this thing," Vlad says. At least he has the decency to sound ashamed of even posing this as an option.
"Jax, I can't." I let the desperation saturate my voice.