Page 110 of A Quick Buck

“Don’t worry,” Alistair urged, patting Noah’s hand. “They’re mostly harmless.”

“I’ll remember you said that.”

The dining room was packed with Alistair’s employees and their Gentlemen guests. The head of the table and the seat next to it had been left open, no doubt for Alistair and Noah, but every other spot was taken. Mickey was sitting at the end, to what would be Alistair’s left with Roger next to him, and Crybaby was seated across from Roger with Scout beside her. Junior had taken the chair by Roger, and Erasmus was standing by the doorway.

There was no sign of Mace or Medina, but…

Wait.

Sitting across from Junior was an extremely terrified Landon.

As Alistair and Noah entered the room, everyone at the table stood, clapping and cheering.

“Hey! It’s the man himself!”

“Mr. Star, come on down!”

“Yeah, now we can get this party fuckin’ started!”

Well, everyone was cheering except Landon. He looked like he was about to throw up.

Alistair waved, trying to quiet everyone down as he guided Noah to their seats. He pulled out the chair for him and laughed. “You’d think you all hadn’t seen me in years!”

“With the way you like to get nasty, there was no tellin’ how long you’d be upstairs!” Roger teased.

The room erupted into laughter.

Landon continued to look ill.

Noah scooted in with Alistair’s help, leaning back to catch Landon’s attention. “Hey! What are you doing here?”

“I caught hims sneakin’ around outside,” Junior said before Landon could open his mouth. “He said he was lookin’ for yous.”

“I swear, that’s all I was doing!” Landon pleaded. “Noah, please! You haven’t answered your phone or texts, and I was—”

“Shuddup!” Junior barked. “Mr. Star will decide what to do with yous.”

“He’s a friend of Noah’s.” Alistair took his place at the head of the table.

“Landon,” Noah scolded lightly. “Look, dude. You need to like, you know, buzz off for a little while.”

“Are you mad at me?” Landon frowned. “Is it because of the party? Because you got sick? Please don’t be angry! I swear I didn’t know!”

Noah resisted the urge to groan. “No, the party was fine. It was great, I promise. But, uh, while all my ‘family’ is here visiting, you should give us some space, okay?”

“Why?” Roger grinned. “I’d just love for him to stick around for dinner. Could be fun!”

Mickey’s expression indicated he did not agree.

“I don’t usually allow uninvited guests,” Alistair said, leaning on the table and thoughtfully scanning over Landon. “But I’ll leave it up to dear Noah.”

“Uh…” Noah hesitated.

The room was full of assassins and murderers.

Probably not the best place for Landon.

“Come on,” Noah said as he stood up quickly. “Lemme walk you out, okay, dude?”