CHAPTER 14
Travis
I was blown away at how beautiful Scarlett looked. I wasn’t often stunned into silence, but seeing her approach in her flowing blue dress, curled hair, and understated makeup had nearly knocked me over. The dress wasn’t too tight but showed off curves in all the right places.
I was going to have to keep my eyes off her in order to do my job of keeping her safe—and that wasn’t going to be an easy task by any stretch.
We chatted idly for a while as we waited for the other girls. Scarlett stood uncomfortably close to me, touching my arm on occasion. I was on edge, and all I wanted to do was to turn towards her and pick her up in my arms, kiss her passionately, and carry her back to her room...
So lost in my fantasy, it took a moment for me to realize she was still talking to me. I made an effort to listen better, all the while trying to keep my gaze on her face.
“...his yacht. They’ll probably go with him, I think. They can't resist the urge of a week-long party.” She sighed. “The thought of being stuck on a yacht for a week or more with those two is unbearable. So, I think I’ll still head to Prague. That’s still cool, right?”
I shrugged. “Whatever you want, Scar.”
She smiled back, our eyes locked for a second. Our reverie was interrupted by the sound of high heels clicking on marble floor.
“Hope we’re not interrupting you two love birds,” Raven said, wearing a short tight dress and ridiculous wedges. Lonette was dressed in a similar fashion, but with heels instead of wedges and a dress a bit longer yet showed more cleavage than was necessary.
In short, they both looked like strippers on a night out.
I stood up to my full height and crossed my arms, trying not to crease my shirt. “Right then,” I said, looking at the three in turn. “Let’s go.” I opened the door to let them through, and all three giggled as they left the suite.
As Scarlett walked through the door, I got a brief but wonderful view of her ass.
That just made my damn day, I thought, suppressing a grin.
Not having far to go, we arrived at the restaurant about five minutes later; both the hotel and restaurant were in the exclusive part of the city.
I struggled to concentrate on keeping an eye out for danger with Scarlett sitting next to me in the car, chatting away. Although it pained me to ignore her, I knew I had to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.
As we left the hotel, I had caught a brief glimpse of a few shady figures in a black nondescript saloon parked on the side of the road near the hotel. I had a feeling in my gut that something wasn’t right. That they were watching. Their car didn’t follow us, however.
I managed to get past the security on the door of the restaurant, surprised to find one of the bouncers was bigger than me. He was around 6’ 8”, dark-skinned, and mean-looking. I wasn’t scared of him at all though. I knew I would be much quicker than him, and that unless he was like me, his huge frame would be difficult to maneuver in a close fight.
As we entered the restaurant, we were ushered straight through and taken to a table at the back—one of few on a raised platform. It was almost in a closed-off booth, but the walls didn’t extend all the way around the table. It would be easy to keep an eye on the girls, so I relaxed a little.
I took the girls to their table, which gave me a chance to look at the diners at the nearby tables as I approached the platform. One table had a middle-aged couple, drinking champagne and staring lovingly at each other; they didn’t even notice us approach. Another table was empty but had a gold-embossed ‘Reserved’ placard on it.
The last table had what looked like an American family seated around it, chatting noisily and sharing from large plates of expensive food arrayed haphazardly on the table. There were about eight of them. A lady who I guessed was the mother, seated at the center of the table, caught my gaze and smiled warmly. I nodded in return.
No trouble, here then. Yet. Depends on who’s going to turn up on table number four.
I left the girls to their table, with Scarlett gazing longingly at me as I turned to walk away. I’d decided that it would be better if I kept a low profile. On the left of the restaurant as we entered was a long, ornate bar which stretched halfway down the building. I walked through the restaurant, surveying the patrons seated on the less glamourous but still expensive tables on the main dining floor. None struck me as dangerous. The only threat there was from rich and pretentious men who thought they were entitled to any woman they chose.
I saw quite a few that I’d like to punch. Fucking pricks.
I took a seat at the far end of the bar, turning my seat to face Scarlett and the girls at their table. My back was against the wall, and I put my feet on the footrest of the stool in front of me. It was surprisingly comfortable. I’d waited in much worse places for much longer, that was for sure.
My solitude was cut short as a smartly dressed and very professional barman quietly approached me. “What would you like, sir?” he asked with just a hint of a French accent.
“I’ll take a whiskey on the…with ice.” I paused to survey the vast array of whiskey lined up behind the barman. “A nice one. Not too expensive, but not too cheap.”
“Ah…American, yes?” the barman said, looking surprised. “I thought you were English. You look like a… like a big James Bond! No?” He smiled before turning to select a bottle of whiskey from the selection behind him.
“Thanks…” I said, not really knowing if it was a compliment.
A large whiskey was placed in front of me in a fancy tumbler. “Here you go, sir.” The barman left me to my drink as he went to attend to a middle-aged guy who’d taken a seat farther down the bar.
I leaned back against the wall, taking a large gulp of whiskey and grunting in pleasure at the taste and the gentle burn as it went down.
Nothing remotely interesting happened for the next half hour. I nursed my whiskey, knowing I might have to stretch two or three drinks out over the evening. All the while, I kept a nonchalant pose, trying to stay still and fade into the background.
I wasn’t paid much attention, apart from the wistful looks sent my way by a few older women at a table nearby, whom I ignored.
I consciously tried not to look at Scarlett too often, her beauty standing out among her friends. She looked like she was enjoying herself immensely. Even her friends seemed to have loosened up, chatting, joking, and laughing with her.
A short while later, I ordered my second whiskey. As I did so, I saw a group of young men enter the restaurant. They walked toward the raised platform at the back of the restaurant, looking snottily down at the various diners seated at the lower tables as they did so. There were five of them, and they all looked sleazy and arrogant. They were all dressed similarly in tight shirts and skinny jeans with huge watches on their wrists. Two of them wore sunglasses, and one had on an all-too-revealing V-neck t-shirt that made me shudder.
Guess that’s what passes for fashion, these days, I thought. Money just can’t buy you class…
All five of them ogled the girls as they approached their table. Raven smiled back, Lonette pouted, and Scarlett looked pissed off.
I sensed trouble, knowing these guys would probably harass them if given half a chance. I suspected Raven and Lonette would likely give them more than half a chance though.
The five douches took seats around their table. Mr. V-Neck sat in the middle, looking like he might be the ring leader. When he didn’t take his large, gold framed sunglass off, I disliked him even more.
I relaxed though, not believing them to be any real danger. Plus, I could take them all down in a matter of seconds before anyone even knew what had hit them.
Still, I didn’t want any of them going near Scarlett. She was mine and after days of questioning myself, I finally knew for sure that she wanted me too. So if any of those guys so much as touched her, they would be going home in a fucking ambulance.
Nothing happened for a while, the guys seeming to lose interest in anything other than the expensive drinks they rudely ordered. I felt sorry for the young waitress serving them; she looked flustered at what were likely lewd comments from the guys, though I couldn’t make out what they were saying.
As the drinks continued to flow, their brash voices raised in volume as they tried to speak over each other. Visibly annoyed, the middle-aged couple decided to leave, their meals finished.
The American family looked like they were getting pissed off at the noise as well. Although they’d been a little loud themselves, they were respectful and hadn’t been disturbing anyone. After a while, the American mother approach the young guys at the table, presumably to ask for a little peace and quiet while her family finished their meal. Some of her kids were quite young, and probably a little too sensitive to what I could guess their conversations were about.
The guy in the V-neck said something, gesturing angrily, and his four sycophants laughed at the woman.
Right then and there, I could barely resist the urge to go and punch him right in his stupid sunglasses.
The massive doorman strode over to their table, glaring at the five of them. He said something quietly and gestured towards the door, giving them what looked like a last warning.
Bet they won’t say a fucking word now, I thought. And I was right about my measure of their character as they suddenly turned into the sheepish little boys that they were.
The woman returned to her table, scolding all five young men as she did so. She certainly had balls.
The bouncer returned to the door, making an ‘I’m watching you’ gesture with his hand as he turned away.
I refrained from gesturing that I was watching them too.
When the family left a little while later, the guys immediately resumed their loud banter. The pack leader gestured rudely at a passing waitress, and then said something else, pointing to the girls’ table.
I glanced over, seeing that Scarlett, Raven, and Lonette had finished their meals. The waitress returned with an expensive-looking bottle of champagne for them, which made Lonette and Raven beam and wink at each other. Scarlett, however, took a glass reluctantly when they handed it to her.