Page 26 of Devious Corruption

“His brothers. The taller of the three is Alexander; Kaz is the other one. It looks like Megan’s here; let me go save her from them and bring her over.”

“I’ll stay here.” I offer, better to keep my feet planted near the door for an easy exit if one is needed.

After she makes off, I pull out my phone and message Keith and Joey again. They’ve done a disappearing act. Once they heard that Lev wasn’t going to stop until he got the information he wanted, they stopped answering my calls.

If I can’t get them on the phone by tomorrow, I’ll have to go over to their apartment. I need something, anything to give Lev before he makes good on his vague, but dangerous sounding threat.

“Hi.” A man steps up to me with a Tinder-profile smile. “I just noticed you standing over here and thought you should have some company.”

“Oh?” I drop my phone back into my purse. “I looked that lonely, did I?”

“You looked a little lost. I thought maybe youwandered into the wrong party?” His chin drops. “But that’s all right, I don’t mind a little party crashing.”

He butts up to me, until the tips of his toes press against mine. I try to move back a step, as the thin pleather material of my flats aren’t doing anything to protect me from his weight, but he only presses harder.

“I’ve just never seen you before at one of these things. And you don’t seem to be with anyone. Am I wrong?”

“Oh. I’m a friend of Nicolette’s. I’ve never been to one of these parties.” I point down at our feet. “You’re standing on me; can you back up?”

“Shit!” He flusters, then steps back. “Sorry, I didn’t realize.”

There’s an honesty to the flush in his cheeks that makes me believe him.

“Are you all right?”

I laugh. “It was just a toe. I’m good. I’m Maxine.” I offer him my hand, and he takes it in a firm grip and brings the back of my hand to his warm lips.

“I’m Jaxon, good to meet you. So you know Nicolette?”

“Yes. What about you?”

“Oh, not Nicolette. I mean we’ve met, but I do business with her brother.” He stops a server passing with champagne and takes one, then puts my empty glass on the tray and replaces it with a fresh glass.

Before I can thank him, a dark shadow appears over my shoulder. The little hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I don’t even need him to speak to know who it is.

“Lev.” Jaxon’s eyes widen.

It’s as though some big hairy monster has come down off the mountain to terrorize the village below.

I sigh, taking a healthy swallow of my champagne.

“Jaxon.” Lev moves to my side. There’s not enough room for a single atom to pass between his arm and mine.

“Good to see you.” Jaxon shifts his weight to his back foot, leaning away as though preparing to flee if needed. “Do you, uh, know Maxine?”

“We’ve met,” I say before pouring the last of my champagne down my throat.

“Jaxon.” Lev leans forward. “Go away now.”

All color rushes from Jaxon’s face as he nods. It’s as though he’s become a bobble head and can’t stop his head from bobbing up and down in his rush to get away from us.

“Yes, of course. We’ll talk later.” With only a quick glance at me, he spins around and hurries off.

“Is there no limit to your rudeness?” I sigh with my question, making my best attempt at boredom.

If he could see inside of my body, he’d find how fast my stomach is trembling. How horribly quick my pulse is.

Lev takes one step forward, putting himself directly in front of me and blocking my view of the rest of the room. A server passes with more drinks, and I place my empty glass on it, reaching for another. If I’m going to deal with him tonight, I’m going to need reinforcements.