Her eyes narrow, and I give her one last nudge. “Your choice, buttercup.”
She rolls her eyes dramatically. “Fine.”
I can feel the tension in Lily as soon as we step out of the car. Not that I blame her. I’m strung tight as a bow myself. All I can think about is how cruel I was to her the last time we were here.
The flash of a camera blinds me. Damn paparazzi. I pull Lily behind me and scowl at the bouncers standing nearby. “Move these fucks out of here.”
Xander shields Lily from the other side, and we hurry into the club. “I’m sorry, baby doll. The event was supposed to be private.”
Glancing around nervously, she shrugs. West finishes speaking with our security team and jogs over to us. “They’re gone now,” he assures us.
She chews on the inside of her cheek, and Xander asks her if she’s nervous.
She blinks at him, her eyes wet with unshed tears. Fuck, we are such assholes. “Kinda.”
He wraps his arms around her and kisses the top of her head. “I promise not to leave your side the entire night. Okay?”
She’s nodding against his chest when a bouncer approaches. “Your booth is ready, Mr. Archer.” Lily’s eyes widen on the man who just spoke, and my heart sinks.
Clearing my throat, I pull her from Xander’s arms and into mine. “José, I’d like you to meet our girlfriend, Lily. You might remember her from the Hellsgate launch? When I was a complete fuck-knuckle and left her standing in the rain.”
He nods, his eyes softening on her face. “I do.”
“She ever comes here again, with or without us, she gets treated like a fucking queen. You got me?”
“I understand, Boss.”
She gives me a shy smile. Fuck, I love this girl. I slide my hand to her ass, which is perfectly encased in a black leather minidress that fits her like it was painted on, letting every single person here know that she’s mine.
West tilts his head at the doors leading to the main room of the club. “Shall we?”
I give Lily a quick kiss on the cheek and step back, allowing Xander to escort her. It will sting a whole lot worse if he’s the one with his hand on her ass when we walk through those doors.
We enter the central area of the club, and just like everywhere he goes, Xander turns heads. This is his arena. PR is his domain. A world where image and appearance are king and one in which West and I prefer to take a back seat. Bree’s eyes land on him, and she weaves her way through the crowd like a heat-seeking missile. I bite back a grin when her face twists into a hideous sneer. Yup, she saw our girl and she is pissed.
“It’s so lovely to see you, Bree,” Xander says with a fake smile. “And I think you know my girlfriend, Lily.” He doesn’t take his hand off Lily for a second.
Bree looks Lily up and down, and my hands ball into fists. I glance over and find West smirking at me. “Pretty sure our girl can handle Bree,” he whispers.
Lily rests her hand on Xander’s chest, and he pulls her closer. “Oh, of course she does. She made up a bunch of lies about me, remember?”
Xander’s face lights with amusement. “You know, you’re right, baby. I remember now.”
Bree rolls her eyes. “I just told you what I’d heard.”
Lily takes a step forward, closing the gap between her and the other woman and making Bree flinch. “No. You flat-out lied, Bree. You knew exactly what you were doing. Because you’re a bitch.” Bree flinches again. “Yeah. I said it. I’ve known you were a bitch since we first met in college, but I was always too polite to say it until now.”
Bree purses her lips. “This game is all about being able to talk in the right ears, Lily. I simply told West and Zeke what they were waiting to hear. It’s not on me that they chose to believe me instead of you, now is it?”
I could kill the bitch for reminding Lily of that. But my fear that the plan will bite us all in the ass is soothed when Lily plasters a saccharine smile on her face. “I should be thanking you really.”
“And why is that?” Bree’s fingernails tap a nervous tempo against her leg, belying her bored tone.
“Because the make-up sex”—she tilts her head back and lets out a breathy moan—“especially with this one here …” She turns and runs a hand through Xander’s hair. “It’s out of this world.”
Bree’s mask falls completely, her beautiful face twisting and showing a glimpse of what she looks like on the inside.