Chapter 7
Ford
It was hard to put thoughts of Violet away, even when I was working.
The mayor’s gala was a cakewalk for us—Noble and Associates covered it every year, and I’d handled this security circuit so many times I could’ve done it blindfolded. Which was good, because my brain kept drifting back to Violet and that damn car that had caused her accident.
She’d been sure someone was following her, and even if I hadn’t overheard that conversation Christopher had on the phone out in the waiting room, I would have believed her.
She was a smart woman and not one to exaggerate things just to get attention.
If anything, she worked twice as hard to convince everyone she was fine, so the fact that she’d felt any unease at all about the car crash made me equally so.
I scanned the ballroom as I made another pass around the perimeter, my gaze sweeping over everyone mingling, chatting, dancing to the live band and enjoying the after dinner festivities.
I wondered if I should tell Violet what I’d caught during Christopher’s exchange on the phone in the waiting room, when it might not have anything to do with Violet at all.
The biggest thing that held me back was that I was fairly certain Violet wouldn’t appreciate me meddling, or even hinting at her brother being involved in anything questionable.
I saw her face when her brother walked into the room at the hospital.
She lit up. She talked more softly to him than to any of the rest of us, even Andrea—not just the love of a sibling, but of an older sibling.
I understood that kind of loyalty. I had my twin sisters, who were about Violet’s age, and I felt the same fiercely protective way about them.
Ultimately I decided that if I told Violet my suspicions—that her brother was involved in something shady—especially with no proof, I was pretty damn sure she’d punch me. Or kick me in the nuts. Probably both.
Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I was pulled out of my thoughts as I turned to look. A pretty blonde woman in a silver gown was making her way through the ballroom towards the restroom. She looked visibly upset.
Wearing a black suit myself so I mostly blended in with the rest of the gala guests, I tracked the man following her, apparently trying to talk to the woman while she shook her head and kept walking.
I drifted closer, trying to catch what they were saying.
Even if this was just something like a marital spat, part of our job wasn’t just keeping everyone safe but making sure that any disturbances were handled before they escalated, so the party itself wasn’t disrupted in any way.
Nobody wanted to hear a couple having a heated argument.
“Don’t be a fucking tease,” I heard the man say angrily as he grabbed the woman’s wrist and yanked her towards him, his other hand landing on her ass. “You act like you’re interested, and then you shut me down?”
“Yes, it’s called changing my mind because you’re acting like a jerk,” the woman snapped, sounding near tears as she attempted to shove him away, all to no avail. “Get off me.”
“Sir?” I said, intercepting them. “I’m going to have to ask you to let go of her and come with me.”
“Excuse me?” The guy’s tone was belligerent as he looked down his nose at me. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but this is a private conversation.”
The woman shot me a grateful look, and I kept my focus on the guy. “Sir, there is a zero-tolerance policy for sexual assault and harassment.”
The asshole abruptly released the woman, causing her to stumble back on her heels as he stepped toward me. “Harassment? This is my date—”
“And she said no,” I pointed out calmly. “She doesn’t owe you anything. Now, if you’ll please come with me—”
The man took a swing at me, and judging by his sloppy aim I suspected he was drunk.
Well, even if he hadn’t been, he wasn’t a problem for me.
I dodged his fist, taking the man’s wrist and twisting his arm behind his back, using his momentum against him.
My other hand grabbed a fistful of his jacket between his shoulder blades, so that I now controlled his center of balance.
He struggled and sputtered indignantly, but my grip on him didn’t falter.
I looked over at the woman. “If you’d like to press charges, we can arrange that.”
She shook her head, arms crossed in front of her, and I could see she was trembling a little. “No, thank you, I’m fine. I just want him to leave me alone.”
I nodded. That I could do. I steered the man toward the back exit so the mayor’s guests wouldn’t be disturbed. Personally, I thought a guy who didn’t understand the meaning of consent deserved a little public humiliation, but the mayor wouldn’t appreciate a scene and he was our client.
After leaving the guy with two of our men at the security post outside to deal with him, I circled back to check on the woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties.
An older man had his arm around her and was comforting her, and for a second I wondered if I had another issue on my hand before I realized they had very similar features—he was most likely her father, not another threat.
“Oh, Dad, this is the man that stepped in and helped me,” she said as soon as she saw me approach.
Her father gave me a hard, measuring look before extending his hand. “Thank you for handling the situation. Charles Hayward,” he said, introducing himself. “This is my daughter, Stella, and I appreciate you intervening.”
The name clicked immediately. Charles Hayward was a well-known powerhouse prosecutor in Vegas. Not someone a man like that creep wanted to cross.
“Ford Perish,” I said, then added, “I’m part of the security for this event. I’m just doing my job, sir.”
“Regardless, plenty of men wouldn’t have shown that kind of integrity or would have looked the other way.” Charles reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a business card, passing it to me. “If I can return the favor in any way, you just let me know.”
I accepted the card out of sheer politeness, and the two of them returned to the festivities.
“What was that all about?” Chase asked, joining me once I was alone again.
“Some guy wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I stepped in,” I told him.
Chase smacked me on the back, a smirk on his lips. “Better you than me because I’m not sure I would have had the self-control not to shove his balls up into his throat.”
I chuckled, and we parted ways to attend to the gala again until the night finally wound down.
Over our earpieces came the signal to start ushering people out and sweep the empty rooms. I moved through the motions, but the situation with Violet, and the woman herself, still gnawed at the back of my mind.
Once we were done, Chase and I walked toward the exit together. “Andrea and I are heading to the club tonight. Are you going to be there?”
I shook my head. “Not tonight.”
“Something wrong with your dick?” he asked, his eyes flickering with humor. “You haven’t been to the club since, well, that night Andrea and I took Violet there.”
I wasn’t sure if he was insinuating something, or not, but refused to say anything incriminating. “I’ve been busy.”
Usually I frequented the club a few times a week, and definitely on a Saturday evening, like tonight. So yeah, I knew my absence might be noticed.
The truth was, after Violet, I didn’t want anyone else and going to the club would just be setting myself up for disappointment. I wasn’t about to shortchange some other sub with my mind still focused on Violet.
“I was surprised to see you at the hospital yesterday, and more specifically, alone with Violet in her room,” Chase said, almost too casually.
I shrugged. “Andrea asked me to talk to Violet after what happened to her.”
“Right.” His gaze cut sideways, assessing me. “So, you wouldn’t happen to be the guy Violet scened with the night at the club, would you?”
Busted. “Might be,” I admitted.
Chase shook his head. “Don’t mess with her, Ford. You won’t come out on top and things won’t end well with someone like Violet.”
God, didn’t I already know that. “I’m not messing with her. She made her boundaries clear that night and I’ve respected them. But she was in a car accident. What was I supposed to do? Pretend I didn’t give a damn?” I realized that I cared too much, probably more than was wise with someone like her.
Surprise flicked in his eyes. “Just be careful. I’ve learned enough about my future sister-in-law to know she’ll cut and run the second she feels cornered.”
My jaw clenched. “Then I’ll make sure she never feels cornered. But I’m not the type of guy not to give a shit.”
“Yeah, I know, which makes you a good guy,” he said as we walked outside. He stopped before we parted ways to our separate cars, and so did I. “Look, I know how I’m about to sound—”
“Oh, boy,” I muttered.
“—but maybe it wouldn’t hurt for you to consider something more serious with a woman. Andrea thinks—”
“And there it is,” I interrupted Chase, giving him an incredulous look. “The relationship glow has officially gone to your fucking head and made you a sap. You’re doing that thing where you’re so blissfully happy in a relationship that you want your friends to be in relationships, too.”
Chase chuckled, not denying my claim. “I’m just saying, if Violet, of all people, is stuck in your head, then maybe you need to stop dodging your sisters’ blind date offers and let them set you up with a nice, sweet girl who isn’t going to drive you insane just for the sport of it.”
I loved my sisters, but they’d been trying to set me up with someone for the past few years since my return from the military, which drove me nuts.
“Yeah, I’ll pass on that.” Besides, maybe I liked being driven insane just for the sport of it…
especially if it meant one brat in particular.
“I’d prefer to meet someone naturally and see how I feel about them without my sister’s input.
A blind date is just all this undue pressure on both people, in my opinion.
” Not to mention trying to find a woman whose sexual preferences aligned with mine, which wasn’t an easy feat outside of The Players Club.
“I guess I’m just saying that maybe Violet is a reminder that you’re not as content with hookups as you thought…even if she’s not ‘the one’.”
That hit harder than I wanted to acknowledge. Chase wasn’t wrong, but owning up to it meant facing the truth—I wanted something that Violet wasn’t offering.
The problem was, she fit me. Not in the easy, polished way a “nice girl” might, but in a messy, chaotic way that got under my skin and made me feel like I’d met my match.
She was stubborn, rebellious, impossible to corral, and as much as those traits frustrated me, they excited me just as much.
I’d never connected with anyone like that, ever.
But she’d drawn her line in the sand and if I had any sense I’d put her out of my head, go back to the club, and find someone else who wanted what I had to give.
Only problem? Every time I thought about moving on, all I could picture was Violet’s green eyes flashing fire at me…and the way she looked when she finally let go and gave in to my demands. One night with her, and I was in too fucking deep with no way out.
Chase and I parted ways that evening, and the following Monday Sutton called me into his office with a new assignment, one that dropped Violet right back into my lap.
Just my luck. My biggest distraction was about to become my most tempting challenge.