Gerard was speechless. Dominic had never brought a date to a g before.
Dominic checked the time again, then turned back to look at him. Seeing the slightly wounded. expression on Gerard''s face, he said, "You want to be my date? Sure. I''ll pay for the best doctor and fly you out of the country for the surgery.
Neither Gerard nor Vespera said a word.
As they stepped out of the elevator, Gerard gave Vespera a look that seemed to say, "I tried." Vespera gave him a heavy nod in understanding, ike she was saying, "I know. I get it."
One more word from him, and heartless Dominicprobably would''ve gone for the kill. Who would dare talk back after that? She wouldn''t have, either.
Gerard was a good guy, but he was just no match for their president.
They split up in the parking garage.
At the thought of being nearly turned into a woman, Gerard decided he needed to hit a nightclub tonight to recover from the trauma.
Vespera followed Dominic toward his car. She then quickly took out her phone to send Reba a text. "Something came upst minute. I''lle to your ce tonight."
Reba didn''t reply. She was probably still busy.
When they reached the car, Vespera automatically headed for the driver''s side, only to find. someone already sitting there.
"Hey." A young man with short, tousled ck hair gave her a cheerful wave and a big white
smile.
He had a small ck cross earring in his upper car and wore a in white T- shirt. From his neck down to his arms, tattoos sprawled like inked vines.
For a second, she wondered if the car had been hijacked by a gang member. But why did this guy look kind of familiar?
"Is he cute?" Dominic bent down behind her, peering in through the window too. Vespera ignored the teasing. "Who is he
"The driver. Isn''t that obvious?" Dominic said.
"Very..." she replied.
Vespera didn''t ask further. Instead, she walked around and opened the back door. "Mr. Reid, please get in."
Dominic got in, and the door shut with a loud think. He watched as Vespera circled to the front passenger seat, and his expression darkened a little.
Vespera got in and greeted the driver. "Hi."
"Hi, I''m Calvert Duncan. Just call me Calzo," the driver greeted her cheerfully. "Alright, Calvert.
"Calzo," he corrected.
"Okay, Calzone."
"It''s Calzo, and it''s such a ridiculously good-looking name."
Vespera put in her earbuds and stopped responding.
Seeing she wouldn''t y along, Calvert gave up at least for now.
In the car, Vespera quickly touched up her makeup. Maybe it was because she
had too much on her mind, but she couldn''t focus.
It wasn''t until they arrived at the hotel where the g was being held that she
finally asked, "Who invited you on such short notice?"
"Alban," Dominic said.
"Oh, him? Are you two close?"
"Not really."
"Then why go?" she asked, confused.
Dominic turned to her with a warm, harmless-looking smile. "No reason. Just casually felt li showing my face.''
“Yeah, right. Like I''d believe that," Vespera thought.
That man didn''t even have the word casual in his vocabry.
Still, she did believe they weren''t that close. Thest time she saw them ying golf together,
it had been obvious that they were just standard business acquaintances. There was no way Dominic would ept ast-minute invite unless someone else was the real reason.
Just then, he lightly pressed a hand to the back of her head like he was guiding her forward. His smile was all-knowing. "It''s not that deep."
Which, to Vespera, only confirmed one thing. It was absolutely that deep.
She took a few steps before realizing how close they''d been walking, and she
hadn''t even noticed. Feeling uneasy by herck of and tucked
wareness, she shifted a few steps away some hair behind her ear. "Mm. Got it."
Chank
Dominic didn''t respond.
They took the elevator up to the floor with therge terrace. The moment they stepped into the venue, every head in the room turned to look at them. And almost instantly, Vespera spotted a few familiar faces in the crowd.