Chapter 29 London #4
"Deal." Leo twirls me again, this time away from him, and puts his hand on my waist, leading me beautifully.
The last time I danced was with Archer, but I shove that thought away, enjoying this moment here now.
"Admit it," he says. "You're having fun." Leo dips me, holding on to my back and preventing me from hitting the floor.
I stare up at him with an involuntary smile on my face. "Fine. It's not a terrible time."
He pulls me back onto both of my feet, more people joining around us as the music starts to fade.
"One more," I tell him. "Then we can get a drink."
He winks at me, and we dance through the next song, Leo twirling and spinning and dipping me here and there—this dress, this jewelry, this entire night making me feel like a princess, the only thing missing is my knight in shining armor.
The song stops and I do too, a bit out of breath.
"I think I'm ready for that drink," Leo says to me, his cheeks flushed, somehow making him even more handsome than he was before. With his hand on my lower back, he guides me across the dance floor and over to the bar, putting his finger in the air to get the bartender’s attention.
"Listen, don't let it go to your head," I tell him. "But every woman in here is looking at you."
He grins and orders our drinks, turning his back to put his elbows on the bar while we wait. "Come here with one woman and leave with another. That wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me."
"Then why are you scanning the crowd searching for your next victim."
"Victim?" he scoffs. "Any lady would be lucky to go home with Leo Sin."
I take the drink the bartender brings, grateful I've commandeered Grace's rich date.
It isn't that I don't want to contribute to the charity, I just don't have as much disposable income as the rest of the people in attendance.
Luckily, they picked me up on their way, otherwise, I might not have been able to cover the Uber to get me here.
"What made you guys choose that last name?" I ask him while stirring my almost third tequila old-fashioned.
"How much has Archer told you?"
I breathe deeply through my nose. "Do you have to say his name?"
Leo takes a drink out of his glass and puts his other hand in the air. "Geez, didn't realize you were so sensitive."
"I'm not sensitive."
"Whatever you say." He does another glance around the room before giving me his attention. "Long story short, we all changed our names when we aged out and collectively agreed with Sin, since that's what we built our freedom with."
"With sin?"
"Yeah, I mean, you know, pride, greed, wrath, so on and so forth. We weren't exactly virtuous. It just sort of fit. It felt right, so we went with it." Leo catches sight of something and his whole body tenses. "Shit." He pivots to try to block his view with me. "Hide me."
"What?" I glance over my shoulder, catching sight of a round, old man who's approaching. "Uh, I think it's too late."
"Mr. Sin," the old man croaks. "It's me, George Bannon."
Leo sighs and throws on his best poker face. "Mr. Bannon, hello. Pleasure seeing you here. It's been a while."
"I've been contacting your office," George tells him. "Your secretary keeps saying you're out, and I keep thinking what a busy man, that Mr. Sin."
Leo fakes a laugh. "Yeah, that's me." He wraps his arm around my shoulders. "Let me introduce you, Mr. Bannon, this is London Smith. London, George Bannon, owner of Bannon Gaming."
I shake George's hand and he barely gives me a second glance as he focuses on Leo.
I zone them out, not wanting to be a part of whatever that is, and assess the growing crowd of people mingling here and there.
Through a massive set of doors, the tables are being set, dinner no doubt on the horizon.
Grace had informed me there would be drinks and socializing, then dinner, speeches, then after-dinner cocktails with the hopes of getting donors intoxicated enough to pledge more before they're done.
A couple dances in the distance, the man stepping on the woman's feet so many times she finally stops and breaks away from him, leaving him there red-faced and unsure of what to do.
A creepy older man stands just along the dance floor, his eyes roaming every single woman in eyeshot range of him.
He focuses on a tall blonde wearing a black dress hugging each one of her curves.
I wander from Leo a bit, and watch the creep watch her, my attention splitting when a jet-black-haired woman approaches him from behind, bumping into him and offering him an apologetic embrace.
I almost buy it as an accident until I see her slip his watch off his wrist and tuck it into her palm, the move so fucking slick I'm impressed.
I keep my sights on her as she lands three more unsuspecting targets, securing a pair of cuff links, another watch, and a wallet.
I sip my drink and consider going over there and befriending her, but when I glance over at Leo, I lose the mystery girl altogether.
She was right there, and it's like she vanished into thin air.
Maybe I dreamed her up entirely, my mind doing something to entertain itself while Leo is talking business with his friend.
"Yeah, we'll be in touch," Leo says while patting Mr. Bannon on the shoulder and walking past him, putting his hand on my back and ushering me away from there. "Keep walking, don't stop, please." He doesn't let up until we're a safe distance away.
"What was that all about?" I ask him, searching for the mystery girl from this new angle, her robbing four people the highlight of my entire evening.
I have no intention of telling anyone about it, because I support both women's rights and wrongs, and if stealing from the rich is what she does for fun, I say more power to her.
Leo downs his drink and takes mine out of my hand, swallowing down what’s left of it, too.
"Hey, what the hell!"
"Now we're even," he tells me. "By the way, thanks for checking out back there. I could have used your help."
"You were doing just fine without me, plus, that guy wasn't interested in me one bit. He had his sights on you."
"He's been begging me for years to merge with his company."
"And? What's so bad about that?" I chew my lip and wonder how expensive the drinks at the bar are and if I could afford to get us another round.
I rummage through my bag, sifting through the dollars to find something more substantial.
That's when I spot Archer's black Amex sitting at the bottom, staring up at me like it has a flashing sign.
No, things between us have finally settled, I shouldn't stir the pot by using his card.
Although…if he didn't want me to use it, he would have asked for it back.
Maybe he shut it off, that would explain why he hasn't said a word about it.
I guess there's only one way to find out…
but on the very likely chance that he did, I'm not sure if I have enough cash on me to foot the bill.
"His business is clean," he tells me. "To merge with mine, that would be suicide. Now, if he died, I could acquire it at a low cost, expand my market, and pinch out the competition. You get the gist?"
"You're going to kill the old man?"
"Moments like this, London, I see what he sees in you." Leo stares right at me and I could punch him in the throat for implying what I think he's implying.
"Can I borrow twenty dollars?"
With a sigh, Leo pulls out his money clip, sliding off a thick stack of hundred-dollar bills, licking his thumb and pulling a few off. "Here." He shoves them into my hand.
"I said twenty, Leo." I pause. "Actually, no, it's fine, I'll take your money.
" I shove it into my purse and clasp it shut.
"I'm getting us another round. I'll be right back.
Stay out of trouble and don't kill anyone until I get back.
" I leave him there, heading straight to the bar without giving him a chance to follow me, because if he did, then he'd see me pull out Archer's American Express and try to use it.
I don't particularly care if he knows but I don't want to lose face in front of him if it gets denied.
I go up to the bar and squeeze through a spot in the chaos, the last bartender who helped Leo coming right up to me.
"Two more tequila old-fashioneds?" He's already reaching for the ingredients without giving me a chance to interject, not like I would have anyway.
I tend to stick to the same thing once I get started out of fear of getting a gnarly hangover. It won't get rid of them completely, but it does lessen the likelihood of it happening.
"Please," I tell him and reach into my purse, latching onto Archer's black Amex, the weight of it gaudy in my grasp.
"Did I hear that right?" the guy next to me says.
He's attractive, with his long on the top, short on the side dark hair and bright blue eyes.
He's pretty in an annoying kind of way, like God decided to favor him a bit more than the rest of us.
"You're getting an old-fashioned with tequila?
Never heard of such a thing." He points to the guy. "I'll have one of those, too."
I force a smile and keep looking ahead, my brain taking far too long to realize that this man is attempting to talk to me and I'm blatantly ignoring him.
"Sorry, I'm being a total bitch." I turn toward him and extend my hand.
"I'm London, and yes, it's a weird combination but it's really good. Trust the process."
He smiles, exposing his excessively white and perfectly aligned teeth.
"Blake Manor." There's a sort of twinkle to him that makes me uneasy but I'm not sure if I should blame him or the entire environment itself, all this feeling a hint too on the nose for what I'm used to back home.
And here I am, an imposter among them with barely two pennies to rub together.
We shake hands and his touch lingers longer than normal.