Page 21 of Broken
“Okay, then. I’m going to call Vix and see what she says.” I pressed the dial button and hoped this would work out for us. Hopefully, Mr. Hampton wouldn’t mind missing the party. It seemed to be an annual event anyway, so he could always go next year.
I believed Theo was good enough at planting trackers, so we wouldn’t have to worry we’dbe discovered or that Vix’s father would end up being blamed for everything. In fact, if we got caught, maybe we could pretend we’d attacked or kidnapped the people who were supposed to go so we’d get their invitations. And Vix’s father had plenty of guards around him too, so if something went wrong... No, I wasn’t going to think about that. Theo and I wouldn’t get caught. I had to think positive,or I’d never dare to do anything.
Chapter 12
IT TURNED OUT VIX’S father was more than happy to let us go to that party instead of him. In fact, he’d been thinking of sending someone else for a while but had never gotten around to doing it.
“I’m really glad we don’t have to do anything business-related, just show up there,” I said as I walked out of the bathroom.Theo was busy with something that he was holding, and I assumed it was the tracker. When his eyes lifted to me, his jaw went slack.
“What?” I made my way toward him, swaying my hips more than usual, which wasn’t that hard to do in my black high heels. My red dress was very tight and coming just to above my knees. It also offered a nice view of my cleavage, and Theo seemed to be having a hardtime focusing. I was wearing a blonde wig and blue contacts, so when I stopped in front of him, I placed my hand on my hip. “Did the cat get your tongue or what?”
He blinked at me. It was a little weird to see him with light-colored contacts, but damn, he was hot in a white dress shirt and black pants. His tie was a little too loose, so I got hold of it and adjusted it.
“Don’t tell meyou prefer me as a blonde,” I finally said, my hand lingering on his chest.
“You always look beautiful, no matter what you put on.” His eyes bored into mine. It would be so easy to incline my head and capture his lips with mine. The way his gaze settled on my mouth made me realize he was thinking the same thing. Too bad I wasn’t supposed to mess up my make-up.
“You can’t keep that,” hesuddenly said.
“What?” A frown creased my brow.
“Your piercing.”
“Shit. I forgot.” Vix’s father didn’t allow his employees to have any piercings or tattoos. I hurried to the bathroom, and when I came back, Theo put on his suit jacket and ran a hand through his hair. He glanced across the room at his leather jacket, and a smile spread across my lips.
“Don’t tell me you also havea lucky jacket,” I teased.
“No, it’s just this...” He shrugged his shoulders as if he wasn’t comfortable in a suit.
“You have no idea how perfectly it fits you.” I grinned, letting my gaze travel up and down his body and showing him just how much I liked what I was seeing.
He licked his lips and glanced down at his watch. “We’re going to be late.”
“No, we won’t. Come on.” So manythings could go wrong tonight, but for some reason, I felt confident. I had Theo by my side, and even without a weapon, I was sure we could find our way out of trouble.
“THIS IS SO WEIRD,” I said as Theo and I walked into a spacious room filled with people. There were multiple tables with food and drinks, and a big dance floor. Some people were sitting at their tables at the other end of the room, while some were chatting and laughing in small circles.
“I know,” he said. My arm was looped through his, and we’d agreed that we’d pretend to bea couple because that would make it easier for us to go together everywhere and not get separated.
Theo now knew more about Vix’s father’s company than I did, since he’d spent the week researching it and learning everything we needed so he could keep up with the conversation if someone approached us, and all I had to do was smile and look pretty. Everyone was wearing expensive dresses andfancy suits, and the waiters were rushing around with tall glasses of champagne. The music was slow and kind of nice, but no one was dancing, probably because it was still too early.
“Do you see him?” I whispered to Theo after I looked around and didn’t see Jerome anywhere. It would be really funny if he didn’t show up, especially since we’d gone to so much trouble to get here.
“Not yet.”
“What are we going to do?” I had a feeling everyone was staring at us, or maybe that was just my impression since I felt a little out of place among all these people. The party was on the top floor, so there was a really nice view of the city.
I let go of Theo and went closer to a huge window while he stopped to talk to some guy. But as I kept glancing around the room, I still couldn’tsee Jerome. Was he late or was he not coming at all? Minutes dragged by, and I was already considering downing one of the glasses of champagne, but then Theo offered me his hand.
“Wanna dance?” he asked, and I furrowed my brow.
“In case you didn’t notice, no one’s doing that.”
“So what? It’s better to stand out than make everyone suspicious because you’re trying to stay out of sight.”His lips brushed my ear as he leaned in. “And I can see the whole room from the dance floor, including the elevators.”
“Okay.” At this point, I didn’t even care if Jerome was going to come or not. I placed my hand in Theo’s and let him pull me onto the dance floor. When his arm snaked around my waist and his eyes focused on mine, I forgot that we weren’t alone in the room. As we swayed inrhythm with the music, I wrapped my arms around his neck, just enjoying the sensation of his warm body pressed against mine. We’d never been on a date, and this was almost like one. If Jerome didn’t get here, I supposed we could use this opportunity and have some fun.
Theo’s grip on me tightened, except his gaze wasn’t on me but across the room.