CHAPTER 8
CARA
“Oh my God! No one tell Terza, but I think that was the greatest meal of my life,” I gushed once the server had cleared our plates. I was way too full, having eaten far too much of the steak and multiple sides I had ordered, but it had been too good to leave.
“You need to eat more,” Dante grumbled, making me laugh.
“Seriously? I already ate so much that I’m not sure I can stand,” I laughed.
“Not now. At home. You never eat that much at home, and you just proved you can.”
“I just proved I shouldn’t. That was way too much. I feel ill, not just full, but it was so good. I couldn’t possibly eat like that all of the time,” I tried to placate him.
“Leave the lassie be, Dante. She has a good appetite. She eats plenty,” Arran added.
“I’m not sure how to take that,” I uttered as I stared across at him. He caught my gaze with question, then horror filled his face.
“No! I didnae…ye ken what I mean, Cara. It’s good ye have a healthy appetite. Yer too thin…ye need to….no’ that yer no’ beautiful. Of course yer perfect as ye are. I just…” he floundered.
I tried to keep my face straight, but I could see Cal beside me, starting to crack up, and even Dante had a smile on his face as he watched Arran dig himself deeper.
I burst out laughing and Cal went right behind me. Arran’s relief was instant as the tension on his face fell and he smiled.
“The panic on your face!” Cal laughed.
“Aye, alright. Ye got me,” Arran admitted good naturedly.
“Seriously though…,” I went on once the laughter had calmed.
“…stop worrying about what I eat, Dante. It wasn’t my choice to eat badly before.
It was necessity. Now that I can eat what I want, I do, and often.
I love food. You don’t need to watch and count my every calorie,” I tried to reassure him.
I looked up, meeting his eyes where he sat directly across from me, and he gave a small nod.
Not much in the way of agreement, but I’d take it.
“Do you want to look at the dessert menu?” Cal asked.
“Definitely not,” I groaned. “Way too full. Can we get a coffee though? I’m not ready to leave yet. It’s nice in here.”
The steakhouse was kind of rustic looking, with wooden floors and wood panelled walls.
It had great lighting that made a cosy and comfortable atmosphere without being too bright or too dark.
Modern music played in the background, not too loud, but enough that it drowned out other conversations around us, so I felt we had some privacy.
It was full, and the servers were busy, but efficient.
It had just been a really wonderful evening, and I didn’t want it to end.
“You shouldn’t drink coffee so late. You already have trouble sleeping,” Dante warned.
“You worry too much, old man. You’ll give yourself an ulcer if you go on like that,” I threw back, and he just glared at me.
“I’m orderin’ the crumble anyway. Always do,” Arran spoke up.
“Me too. I’ll see if I can flag down our waiter,” Cal agreed as he turned in his seat to look around the restaurant.
I looked around too, then remembered why I had been avoiding doing just that.
There was a small table of two, sat just one table away from us, and at it were two guys.
They looked young, younger than me at least, but they were drinking beers, so I guessed they had to be at least eighteen.
They’d walked in not long after us, and before our food had arrived at the table, every time I looked up they had been watching us, or more specifically, me.
They weren’t even trying to be covert about it.
They openly stared at me. It had freaked me out a little and I had looked away hurriedly before Arran, or worse, Dante, noticed and said anything.
I had made a point of not looking that way again, not feeling comfortable being stared at, and definitely not wanting to start any trouble.
But when I lifted my head to follow Cal’s line of sight I caught them in my periphery, and they weren’t just watching me now.
One of them had his phone out and he seemed to be recording me.
I’m sure he thought he was being sly hiding his cell phone behind the drinks menu on the table, but I could see the camera poking out and aimed right for our table, and my direction.
I honestly didn’t want to cause trouble and ruin the evening.
The two guys were young and maybe they just liked me, but even so, it was weird and an invasion of my privacy.
Then when I considered what had happened in recent weeks and the threat that likely still haunted me, I knew I had to say something.
“Cal?” I leaned into him, since he was already looking that way anyway.
It would be easiest for him to check I wasn’t making a mountain out of a molehill.
“That table in front of us, two lads. Are they filming us?” I asked quietly.
I felt Cal tense against where I was leaning into him, then his hand reached to the side and found mine, holding it tight as he looked to the table I mentioned, then turned back to his seat.
I looked to him with worry and he nodded.
“Arran. Check out the table one away. Two teenagers. They’re filming Cara,” Cal told his brother discreetly, his posture remaining relaxed but his grip on my hand unrelenting.
I was tense and feeling anxious as Dante and Arran both, in turn, and so casually I would never have noticed if I didn’t know, glanced over to that table, then back to ours.
“Who are they?” I asked nervously.
“Just kids. They probably fancy ye,” Arran told me with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes the way it usually did.
“They’ve been watching me all night. I didn’t think much of it before though.”
“I’ll get the bill, ye tight fisted fucker. Why don’t ye all head out to the car? I’ll meet ye’s all out there,” Arran said loudly, looking to Dante as they seemed to have some silent and almost imperceptible conversation.
“Come on, babe. Stay close to me, okay?” Cal whispered to me while he pulled me up and helped me back into my coat.
“Arran…”
“He’s got the bill covered. Let’s go,” Dante cut in. Cal pulled me with him as we left the table, keeping his arm tight around me as Dante crowded in as close as he could behind us without it looking suspect.
Cal hustled me out of there as fast as he could without creating a scene. When I glanced back, just before we exited, I found Arran seated at the small table with the two teenagers now. Dante didn’t give me chance to see more than that as he came behind me and gave a slight shove to get me moving.
“What’s he doing? He just sat with them!” I protested as Dante and Cal kept me moving when all I wanted to do was go back and find out what was going on.
“Just let Arran handle it, okay? Let’s get to the car,” Cal said, pulling me tighter into his side.
“What if there are others? Those two were just kids, but they could have been bait!” I panicked as I turned to Dante.
“Bait?” he repeated with a raise of his eyebrows. “I think you watch too much television.”
“Dante!” I snapped, annoyed he wasn’t taking me seriously. I was worried about Arran and I refused to leave him alone there.
“Breathe, trouble. As soon as you and Cal get in the car and are safely headed home, I’ll get back in there,” Dante told me with a smirk. “So do you maybe want to get in the bloody car?”
“Fine,” I acquiesced, following Cal as he led me to the black SUV and opened the back door.
“Is there an issue?” the driver asked as Cal and I climbed in.
I recognised him as one of the guys I had fought with back at the hotel in Chicago.
I was pretty sure his name was Brax, but Rafe had so many men on his payroll, it was hard to remember faces and names.
I knew I should try harder though. These men were willing to risk their lives for me, The least I should do is know their names.
“Nothing we can’t handle. Get them home and see them safely inside,” Dante ordered.
“Got it,” the driver agreed easily.
“Do as you’re told,” Dante barked as he pointed right at me.
“Still not a dog,” I reminded him with a glare.
“No. It’d be easier to train a dog,” he grumbled, then he shut the door before I could bite back at him.
“I really hope you’re the kind of friend I can call when I need help to bury a body,” I ground out with annoyance as I looked to Cal,
“Anytime,” he smiled. “Or I do know some chemicals we could use if you’re open to other disposal methods,” he teased.
“Everyone buckled in?” the driver asked, so Cal and I moved to fasten our seatbelts. Cal reached over across the empty middle seat and set his hand on my lower thigh as the car got moving.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Just annoyed our meal got ruined. I was having fun. I almost forgot about all of this other bullshit going on for a while there,” I sighed.
“We’re going to have a lot more fun times, gorgeous. None of the bullshit going on is going to stop us. I’m going to make it my mission to see you smile the way you did tonight, as much as possible.”
“Do you really think they’ll be alright? I hate leaving them there. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything?” I worried.
“You had to say something, Cara. With everything surrounding this family right now, you can’t keep things to yourself.
If anything is off, you speak up. And yes.
I’m confident Dante and my brother will be fine.
They might be teddy bears with us, but they’re lethal when they need to be.
They can handle whatever comes at them.”
“Really? You think Dante is a teddy bear,” I asked playfully. Dante was protective and caring in his own growly way, but he was not a teddy bear.
“Well, maybe that was a bad choice of words. A very grumpy, bossy, slightly terrifying teddy bear might be more accurate,” he chuckled.