Page 51 of Rum & Coke

“Well, you said I wouldn’t need to strip, so I’m not exactly sure what I’m being hired to do.”

“You’re to sit by my side and watch a fight.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Am I Tessa or Scarlett?”

“Who do you want to be?”

I thought for a moment because I wasn’t sure. I was only Scarlett at Red Diamond and when I worked bachelor parties, but I was with my boss now. Deciding I was going to stick with Scarlett for stripping, I answered, “Tessa.”

Sebastian smiled, and it calmed me. “I like Tessa better.”

I smiled in return. “Thank you.”

We sipped our champagne as the driver drove us toward the arena. I had yet to go to anything at the T-Mobile Arena though there had been several concerts I’d wanted to attend. We pulled up to the oval building, and I looked out the window at a digital sign advertising the fight between Williams and Campbell.

“Who are you rooting for?” I asked.

“Doesn’t matter.”

I blinked. “Really?”

“I don’t come to the fights because I like the fighters.”

“Then why do you come?” The driver opened the door and extended his hand. I took it and slid out of the car. Sebastian followed.

“I come for business.”

“To find girls?”

“Not exactly. Red Diamond isn’t my only business.”

“Really? I had no idea.”

“I’m a man who loves money, and I do what I need to do to get it.”

I had no idea what that meant, nor did I care. I was only here to sit with him and get my thousand dollars.

A man in a black suit with a white shirt stepped behind us, and I turned slightly to look over my shoulder at him. He nodded once. “Who’s that?” I whispered.

“That is Mateo, my bodyguard.”

“You have a bodyguard?”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me. For one, I always have to get nachos when I come to a fight.” Sebastian winked at me and then hooked his arm with mine. We took a few steps until I stopped. He looked down at me. “What is it? You don’t like nachos?”

I snorted. “No, I love nachos, but I just need to know what you don’t want me to say. I’m not sure what you meant the other night, and I don’t want to say something I shouldn’t if someone does speak to me.”

“Do you seriously not know what I’m talking about?”

“I don’t think so.”

The wind blew, and he brushed a piece of my hair behind my ear. Something that Vinny had done too. Something Ionlywanted Vinny to do. “Then you have nothing to worry about.”

“What if I do say something?”